CONGRATULATIONS TO FERRY COUNTY

The Ferry County Rail Trail Partners (FCRTP) are pleased to announce that the rail banking agreement has been signed by Ferry County and counter signed by Kettle Falls Railroad/OmniTrax. Ferry County now has possession of and controls the 29 mile rail corridor from Republic (at the old mill site) up to the Canadian border at Danville . Please stay tuned for communications from the Ferry County Commissioners as to responsible use of the corridor during this transition period. It is not a developed trail yet! Please report any corridor abuse, such as unauthorized use and or damage to the corridor, to the Ferry County Sheriff’s office at 509-775-3132.

Now that this major step towards our rail trail has been taken there is much work to be done at the community level. At the regular Monday December 15 2008 Commissioners meeting the Board of Commissioners called for the formation of a “rail trail advisory board” to be comprised of local county residents, with outside experts in specific areas possibly being associate, non-voting members. Applicants for this board will be advertised for in the Republic News Miner, and selected by the sitting County Commissioners .

At this point the FCRTP would like to state that we respect and adhere to the mission statement of the FCRTP and the clear directive to date from adjacent land owners and county residents requesting any rail trail to be non-motorized and we courteously request that only non-motorized users be considered for this advisory board.

While the size and scope of this group has not yet been communicated publicly by the Commissioners,the FCRTP hopes that there is a diverse group of local rail trail advocates eager to apply to these advisory board positions. Adjacent corridor land owners, school board/school athletic program managers, hospital/health officials, history clubs, Backcountry Horsemen, river access advocates, wildlife/bird enthusiasts, cross-county skiers, bicyclists, Curlew Lake Association Board members, law enforcement etc. are all examples of groups we feel are paramount to sit on such an advisory committee. Further, it is our hope that the final selections made to sit on such a board reflect the clear majority of written public comments received to date as well as from the four rail corridor meetings – which support a totally non-motorized rail trial like the 80+ working rail trails in Washington State : fundable, maintainable, safe, quiet, good neighbor.

The FCRTP would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to the Ferry County Commissioners, Mike Ogborn/OmniTrax, and rail-banking attorney Charles Montaigne for all their hard work and cooperation that has resulted in the best news of this holiday season. Now its time for the community to come together and get to work