In the News

Officials broke ground Monday for a new 50-space parking lot at Trailhead Park for the Badger Mountain hiking trails in Richland. More than 200,000 visits were recorded last year on the 1,600-foot mountain, making it one of the most hiked mountains in the state. Lack of parking leads many visitors to park on Queensgate Drive, causing problems for residents. Tri-City Herald article

BY SARA SCHILLING

Tri-City Herald

The newest Badger Mountain trail is open after months of work and thousands of hours of volunteer labor. A ceremony is planned at noon Jan. 16 to dedicate the yet-to-be-named trail, which traverses Badger’s southern slope. “The people did this. That’s been true about each of our trails — it’s the people’s mountain and the people’s trail,” said Sharon Grant, a founder of the nonprofit Friends of Badger Mountain, which coordinates construction and maintenance of trails in the Badger Mountain Centennial Preserve. A hiking tour of the trail will follow the dedication ceremony. Work started on the new trail last March, stopping for the summer in May when the ground became too dry. It picked up again last fall. The work involved excavating more than1,000 yards of dirt by hand and moving and laying 290-plus tons of gravel. More than 400 volunteers helped with the trail project, some participating in one-time work parties and others regularly lending a hand. Of those 400 volunteers, five put in about 100 hours or more each, including one volunteer who logged about 250 hours, said Jim Langdon, trailmaster. The new trail is the fourth in the Badger preserve, and it offers a different experience. It’s been described as “rolling” and “gentle” compared with the steeper routes offered by the preserve’s other trails. It runs above an orchard “pretty much the whole length of the trail,” Langdon said. “You’re down low enough that you’re not hearing a lot of highway noise. It has a remote feeling to it.” While the trail doesn’t gain much elevation, its length has surprised some users. It’s 2.5 miles, with an access junction on the west end about a half-mile up the Skyline Trail and on the east end about three-quarters-of-a mile from Trailhead Park off Sagebrush Trail. That means the round-trip is at least six miles, depending on the junction used. So hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders using the new trail should take that into account and “plan your trip” accordingly, Langdon said. The price tag for the new trail came in at about $12,000, with a grant from REI covering the bulk. The Benton County Park Board is taking suggestions for a name for the trail, with a selection potentially to be made next month. The new trail quietly opened in December. Adam Fyall, the county’s sustainable development coordinator, said it’s “a big addition for us at the preserve.” “It’s a good thing for the community,” he said. “It’s another milestone for the county and, I think, a real milestone for Friends of Badger.” The county owns and operates the 650-acre Badger Mountain preserve. It’s the most popular county park and one of the most popular recreation spots in the region, with about 200,000 visits recorded in 2013. The 2014 visit tally hasn’t yet been released, but is expected to be soon. Meanwhile, county officials continue to work on a management and master plan for the preserve. Fyall said he’s hopeful it will be done this year. The county also applied for about $700,000 from the state Recreation and Conservation Office to purchase 200 acres on the nearby Candy Mountain to create a similar preserve. The application received a high ranking, and officials are to learn by this spring whether the money will come through. Friends of Badger Mountain is raising $800,000 to match the grant and pay for trail construction, with the needle currently sitting at $645,000 raised. David Comstock, vice president of the Friends group, said he’s been amazed at the community support. “We started this back in January (2014), and a year later we’re almost to the point where we’ve raised” enough to match the state grant, he said, adding that he encourages people who frequent Badger to consider helping out. “This is for the community’s benefit,” he said. “If you’re enjoying the experience you have on Badger Mountain, then help us create a new park on Candy.” For more about the group and to donate to the Candy Mountain campaign, go towww.friendsofbadger.org.

Sara Schilling: 509-582-1529; [email protected]; Twitter: @SaraTCHerald

Sara Schilling They look like off-road versions of a stretcher, with large, durable wheels. And they'll make a big difference for the firefighters responding to medical calls on Badger Mountain and the injured trail-users they're sent to help. "In the past, we'd have to get six or seven people up there and try to carry the person down, which is very labor intensive," said Adam Hardgrove, a firefighter with the Richland Fire Department. But the new rescue litters, or stretchers, can be managed by one or two people and will lessen the time it takes to get patients off the mountain. They'll also allow crews to provide medical care on the way down. "We can put our oxygen equipment in there, we can put our cardiac monitor in there ... we can start everything," Hardgrove said. He and several other fire officials and Benton County leaders gathered Wednesday to debut the two new litters. One will stay at the trailhead park off Queensgate Drive in Richland and the other will be stationed at the mountain's summit. They'll be locked up for use by emergency officials. Benton fire districts 1 and 2 provided the baskets, and the county bought the wheels and chassis, which totaled $1,600. The litters are part of a larger effort to improve safety and preparedness at Badger, which saw about 187,000 hikers in 2012. Color-coded markers soon will be placed along the trails to help injured trail-users relay their positions to first responders. The county and Friends of Badger Mountain are collaborating to make them. Hardgrove and Richland Fire Capt. Ron Duncan, who brought the idea of the litters and color-coded markers to the county, also have identified several landing zones for helicopters. Duncan said first responders see everything on Badger from sprains and bee stings to heart attacks. "We have a big variety of people that are climbing the mountain, anywhere from 3 or 4 years old up to 80, 90 years old," he said. "From our point, we want to be proactive." Other steps also are being taken to make the popular site safer. Benton Fire District 1 is working on signs for the trailheads that provide information on what to do if a fire breaks out on the mountain -- something that happened a couple of weeks ago, sparked by lightning. And fire and county officials are discussing more ways to warn of and prepare for Badger fires. "We're hoping to (use this approach) as a model for the whole county" as more hillsides are developed with trails, Duncan said. Benton County Commissioner Jim Beaver, who checked out the litters at Wednesday's gathering, said "the politician's job is to listen to the people who know best and try to bring something to the table to say, 'OK, what can we do to help?' " "From (commissioners') standpoint, thank you everybody who was involved in recognizing the problem and identifying the solution," he said. w Sara Schilling: 582-1529; sschilling @tricityherald.com; Twitter: @saraTCHerald