Repairs underway on damaged sections of Weiser River Trail

Repairs are just about completed on portions of the 84-mile Weiser River Trail that were damaged when the Weiser River exceeded flood stage in early April.
 Officials with the nonprofit Friends of the Weiser River Trail, which owns and maintains the trail, said the high water washed away gravel and caused some erosion in five or six places on the trail.  
 Most of the damage was minor, with the exception of one trestle over the Weiser River that was heavily damaged.
 FWRT President Pat Trainor said that places on the trail that were damaged south of Council have mostly been repaired, and the remaining areas in need of work north of Council should be completed in a week or two.
 The repairs include replacing tons of gravel on the trail and blading it in areas where it washed away and fixing some culverts along the trail.
 It could take a year or longer to fix the middle section of the Lortz trestle south of Starkey Hot Springs. The support structure under the bridge was washed out by the recent high flows on the Weiser River. The same thing happened in the flooding of 1997, Trainor said.
 The preliminary estimate to repair or replace the trestle is in the range of $20,000 to $100,000, plus the cost of engineering and design. The trestle, which is an old railroad bridge spanning the Weiser River, measures 95 feet from bank to bank. The middle of the trestle was washed away, leaving a 60-foot hole to fix.
 Trainor said the damaged trestle bridge has been blocked with barricades. Trail users will have to take a detour of about 2.2 miles on the Glendale/Fruitvale road from the Starkey trailhead to the old Fruitvale store and post office where they can gain access back to the trail.
 The FWRT does not have the money in this year’s maintenance budget to repair the trestle. The group will have to apply for grants and rely on fundraising efforts to raise the funds to repair or replace the trestle. It will take time, possibly a year or two, to raise the money and secure the necessary permits. The work can only be done during times of the year when the river is low, Trainor said.
 The FWRT applies for a grant every year to maintain the trail and repair winter damage, which includes grading, moving large boulders and cutting down trees and limbs twice a year. The grant money comes from Idaho Parks and Recreation through the Federal Recreational Trails Program. The maintenance work planned for this summer is from last year’s grant, Trainor said.
 Trainor lives near the Weiser River and said the high water he saw last month was reminiscent of the flooding that took place in 1997.
 On April 8, 2019, the National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the Weiser River at Cambridge as a combination of rain and accelerating snowmelt brought a swift rise in the river level. The following day the river reached 13.9 feet, nearly two feet above flood stage of 12 feet at Cambridge. Some area roads around Cambridge suffered some minor damage.
 The Weiser River also reached flood stage downstream at Weiser in early April. Low-lying fields were flooded south of Weiser and floodwaters flowed over U.S. Highway 95, forcing the highway to close for two days.
 The nonprofit FWRT was formed more than 20 years ago to convert the old Pacific and Idaho Northern railroad grade from Weiser to Rubicon (near New Meadows) into a trail for public recreation.
 Starting in Weiser, the 84-mile long trail passes through the towns of Midvale, Cambridge and Council. The entire right-of-way was deeded to Friends of the Weiser River Trail in August 1997 by the Union Pacific Railroad under the railbanking law.
 The FWRT is a self-funding membership organization that depends heavily on funds raised through membership dues, grants, and fund-raising efforts to cover ongoing maintenance and operational costs.