Walden: Fix Loop Road

Rep. Greg Walden is urging the U.S. Forest Service to re-open the washed out Wallowa Mountain Loop Road “as fast as possible.”

“The Loop Road is a critical link between Baker and Wallowa counties and is a major tourism corridor that bolsters local economies,” he said Thursday in a press release.

Walden, a Republican who represents Eastern Oregon in Congress, plans to tour flood-damaged Eagle and Pine valleys on Sunday afternoon and then attend a public forum in Richland hosted by Halfway Mayor Sheila Farwell and Richland Mayor Dick Petterson.

The forum is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Eagle Valley Grange.

A 500-foot section of the paved Loop Road was obliterated by North Pine Creek last week when a combination of torrential rain and melting snow from the Wallowa Mountains more than doubled the creek’s volume.

The road was severely damaged in four other places along the creek.

The affected section is between the Loop Road’s southern end at Ore. Highway 86 and its intersection with the Fish Lake Road.

Walden met Thursday with Mary Wagner, regional forester at the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region headquarters in Portland.

Last year Congress allocated $3 million to repave the section of the Loop Road that follows North Pine Creek, said Judy Wing, public affairs officer for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

Forest officials are trying to determine whether they can use that money to repair the flood damage, Wing said.

The Forest Service might also be able to tap a federal fund for emergency road repairs, said Andrew Whelan, a spokesman at Walden’s office in Washington, D.C.

Walden also sent a letter Thursday to Ray LaHood, federal Transportation Secretary, in which Walden noted that: “Swift repair to the (Loop Road) and returning it to passable condition as soon as possible is of critical importance to the rural economies in Eastern Oregon.”

Local officials also continue to devote much of their time to the flood aftermath.

Fred Warner Jr., chairman of the Baker County Board of Commissioners, has been talking with representatives in Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s office about an emergency declaration.

That declaration could come Friday, said Mark Bennett, the county’s emergency manager.

County officials declared a state of emergency last week.

Bennett said a major goal is getting federal dollars through the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service to repair floodgates and irrigation ditches.

That agency could also be a source of money to help owners of homes that were damaged or are threatened, he said.

“We’re desperately trying to find some help” for Frank and Colleen Edwards, whose home on a bluff above Pine Creek near Oxbow is unsafe to occupy since the creek eroded about 60 feet of their property last week, Bennett said.

Wallowa-Whitman Supervisor Steve Ellis has re-opened to the public a section of the forest between the Eagle Creek and Wallowa Mountain Loop roads, Wing said.

Sections of both of those roads, and several others, remain closed due to flood damage, however.

Forest Service engineers are still waiting for streams to recede so they can fully assess the damage and estimate how long repairs are likely to take, Wing said.

The Loop Road is the most heavily traveled of the Wallowa-Whitman roads that sustained damage last week.

It is part of the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway, which is also designated as an All-American Road.

Walden said in the press release that the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners deemed the loss of the road enough of a threat to the regional economy that they will declare a state of emergency in Wallowa County.

Roads Closed

Road 39, Wallowa Mountain Loop

• From 1.4 miles north of Highway 86 to the north side of Lake Fork Bridge

Road 77, Eagle Creek

• From 1.25 miles southeast of Tamarack Campground to 1.7 miles northwest of the intersection with Road 7745, East Eagle Road

• From .5 miles northwest of Road 7015, Empire Gulch Road, to 2.25 miles southeast of Road 7720 Torchlight Gulch Road

Road 7745, East

Eagle Creek

• From 1.3 miles north of Road 77 to the end

Road 66, Fish Lake

• From the southern Forest boundary at the cattle guard and junction of county road 999, 5.1 miles to Road 6625, East Pine Creek

Road 7785, North Catherine Creek

• From the cattle guard 1.5 miles from Highway 203 to end of road

Road 6510,

Marble Pass

• From 240 spur to 605 spur