Nearly two years ago, a local landowner put up gates on his
private property, restricting a stretch of a popular stretch of forest road
west of Bend. But recent funding from Congress will provide a long-awaited
work-around.
The Verheyden family’s closure of the stretch of Forest Road
4606 that runs through their property was a cause of outrage for members of the
public who enjoyed hiking and biking on the scenic route.
The U.S. Forest Service now plans to construct an alternate
route around the property, thanks to $700,000 in funding recently provided from
Congress’s fiscal year 2023 omnibus appropriations package.
“Basically we were trying to find the most direct
alternative to getting back to the 4606 Road off of Johnson Road, and this was
a pathway that takes advantage of a number of existing paved county roads and
then basically beefs up an existing forest service road,” Deschutes County
Commissioner Phil Chang said.
Chang sought federal funding for the project after it
appeared there would be no other way forward.
“I carried a request to our two senators, Jeff Merkley
and Ron Wyden, to provide a congressionally directed spending allocation to
restore access to those lands. And the senators were very kind and very
attentive in helping to make that happen,” Chang told Central Oregon Daily
News on Tuesday.
Chang said when the controversy first began, he was hearing
from many people in Deschutes County about access to their favorite playground
being cut off.
“It reached a point where I did not believe that we
were going to be able to resolve any of these disagreements to the point where
I thought we could restore public access through the original road that
connected to the original 4606 Road, so I started looking for an
alternative,” he said.
“Last year when this all was going down and I attempted
to speak with the land owners, Mr. Verheyden declined to speak with me,”
Chang added.
The Verheyden Family sent a statement to Central Oregon Daily
News today, saying they have endured vandalism and even physical assault as a
result of the public backlash.
They say they’ve spent half a million dollars already on
maintaining their section of the road, and have offered alternatives to the
county and forest service.
“The ongoing and misdirected public outcry suggests
that the Bend community would like to see the road reopened. Despite public
comments suggesting the contrary, the Verheyden family would as well, so long
as the county or forest service commit to paving and maintaining it,” the
statement read in part.
It’s an offer they say has been turned down.
“We really just were never able to find common
interests and find common ground in terms of what road maintenance would look
like and what what each party’s authorities were, and so we didn’t get very far
in the negotiations,” said Kevin Larkin, the Bend-Fort Rock District
Ranger for the Deschutes National Forest.
“No one has ever received such an offer to me, and I
would’ve been very interested in discussing that if such an offer had been
made,” Chang said.
It’s now up to the forest service to allocate resources to
get the project off the ground.
“Initially, we conducted a preliminary assessment of
what kind of work would need to go on on the ground. Now, we will actually go
into the process of conducting an NEPA analysis for this project,” said
Jaimie Olle, the Public Affairs Specialist for Deschutes National Forest.
“So we intend to initiate that this year, making sure that we include
adequate time for public comment.”
The forest service does not yet know how long that analysis
will take, when the public comment period will open, or when exactly the road
will open.
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