Public Comment Open on Paved Path, Trails, and Trailhead

Project would connect Bend and Cascade Lakes Welcome Station. Comments Accepted until March 4.

A public comment period is open on the Bend Fort-Rock Ranger District’s proposal to construct a non-motorized paved path and trailhead between Bend and the new Cascade Lakes Welcome Station as well as mountain bike trails to connect the Cascade Lakes Welcome Station to the Wanoga and Phil’s trail systems.

Public comment on the proposal will close on March 4, 2013. To review the proposed action can go to the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests website and click on Deschutes National Forest projects: www.fs.usda.gov/main/centraloregon/landmanagement/projects .

“This project would establish the Welcome Station as a portal to public lands, provide connections between established biking and hiking trail networks, and create an opportunity for multi-modal access and alternative forms of transportation between Bend and public lands,” said Kevin Larkin, District Ranger for the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District.

The proposal includes:

• A new trailhead to accommodate approximately 20 vehicles, which would be constructed on the south side of Cascade Lakes Highway, approximately 0.5 miles west of Forest boundary with the City of Bend.
• A paved path (3.4 miles), which would connect the Bend Park and Recreation District ‘Haul Road Trail’ to the Cascade Lakes Welcome Station through the Cascade Lakes Highway bicycle and pedestrian underpass (located east of the intersection with Forest Road 41).
• A new trail to link Wanoga mountain bike trails to the Cascade Lakes Highway bicycle and pedestrian undercrossing.
• A 5.5 mile loop north of the Welcome Station to provide connections between Phil’s trail system, the Wanoga trail system, Seventh Mountain Resort, and Bend.

Project planning, design and potential future construction are funded largely through a grant from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byways Program.