The Great Redwood Trail Agency Takes Over the North Coast Rail Line
Press release from the Office of Senator Mike McGuire:
This [week], the Great Redwood Trail Agency took ownership of the North Coast’s crumbling rail line and kicked off the process to build what will become the longest Rail Trail in America.
After 30 years of controversy, massive policy setbacks, and near bankruptcy – the North Coast Railroad Agency officially ceased operations today, per state law passed by Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire.
The Great Redwood Trail Agency (GRTA), created by McGuire’s SB 69, now takes over the rail corridor and is charged with advancing the Trail Master Plan later this fall and building the Great Redwood Trail on top of the current rail bed. When fully built, the Great Redwood Trail will run from the San Francisco Bay to Humboldt Bay.
Senator McGuire spoke to the new GRTA at their inaugural meeting this morning:
“We’re finally transitioning away from an agency that for 30 years was the heart of controversy here on the North Coast – one that was full of project missteps, the focus of lawsuits, and constantly teetering on bankruptcy – the North Coast Railroad Authority will officially cease to exist today.
And now – thanks to thousands of mobilizing throughout this state – the Great Redwood Trail era has begun.
The Great Redwood Trail will be a game changer for our region and the Golden State. Transitioning this railroad right-of-way is a win-win.
The Great Redwood Trail will quickly become a landmark, world class, hiking/biking/riding trail that will run from San Francisco Bay to Humboldt Bay.
As stewards of the right of way, you know how truly special this corridor is… The Trail will traverse through some of the most spectacular landscapes on earth including ancient redwoods, state parks and national forests, golden oak-studded hills, lush vineyards and along the shores of the Eel and Russian Rivers.”
The Trail will serve not only as recreational, social, and exercise path, but will quickly become an economic driver for the north coast communities it runs through. Outdoor recreation was a $93 billion dollar industry in this state before COVID, and is coming back to that level quickly.
Under the new law, Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) will be in charge of the Great Redwood Trail from Larkspur to Cloverdale, and the Great Redwood Trail Agency will build the trail from Cloverdale to Humboldt Bay.
The State Coastal Conservancy, who is also in charge of the California Coastal Trail, will be working with the GRTA on the Masterplan for the Trail, a process that will start on July 1st.
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While I haven’t been following this closely … there never seems to be mention of all of the private property the trail will be passing through. What becomes of trespassing, injuries, damages, liabilities to said property?
I was wondering the same. I wonder about the dangers of people hiking it alone as well. I know I never will. People will veer off of it as well, like you stated. Trespassers. I know I wouldn’t want to own property it is going through. I’ll never understand how this got going with all the private land owners not complaining. I’m sure they will once they start having issues. Before I get a lot of guff for my comment, just ask yourself, would you want hikers and bikers going through your back yard?
Nope. I stopped walking the Hammond Trail, in broad daylight bc of the grown men popping up out of the trees n bushes . As the survivor of a vicious DV attack, it became re traumatizing rather than healthy. Shame.
People will veer off the trial looking for pot plants and worse…
They don’t seem to like mentioning the private property the trail will go through. If I owned private property that the trail was going through, I would be angry as hell! There will be poachers, liter including human poop and pee all the way along. Forest fires from campers also. Some of the folks I know along part of that trail will be using wild west justice for anyone found. The whole trail is BS!!!!
It seems to me the trail is on the right of way of the rail road , not private land… I can’t speak to the people who venture off the trail and get hurt or violate private property, no more than I could someone walking into your back yard tonight ?♂️
I believe the right of way is generally 50 ft. wide. Beyond that not the case. Can’t you imagine people deciding … oh I think I’ll camp here tonight, or (understandably) wanting to get to the river, or the small but always present % of people who think nothing of breaking into other people’s homes and property? Fires from the illegal campers? People getting hurt trying to get to, from or in the river? There needs to be serious liability protection for the adjacent landowners.
And since you mention it … how might you feel about someone who was walking down the street near your home setting up a tent in your back yard tonight? Campfire? Pooping in the bushes?
That Rail Trail is an obsolute waste of time and money. Miles of track and banks holding them are gone, bridges that are still standing are unsafe, tunnels have collapsed, etc. Anyone that knows the rail line I think would agree.
The tunnels that have collapsed is because people allowed access to thieves who ripped out the 12×14 beams and sold them to recycle lumber guys in eureka under false pretenses
We’ve had many tunnel fires…
Thanks Quest, I was not aware of that problem.
The McGuire Wilson Lyles pipe dream with no tobacco. Just crack.
Only a very tiny portion of the line goes through “ancient redwoods” and what part goes through a national forest?
Movement is good! Who is the GRTA? I give up, who is this? Trains are not a good choice, so this is likely an improvement, Are the rails recycled? The ties are toxic, so are the fish protected? Are the right of way rights along the tracks respected? Is this a bike trail or a four wheeler rip off route for land owners? Lots of details. Pay attention now. I am encouraged that there is CA Coastal Conservancy getting finally engaged in the no-brainer project of the defunct tracks. Great Redwood Trail goes inland and way outside of forests of Redwoods. Dos Rios is not in the Redwoods. Rail tunnels along the Eel River were historically sometimes under water, flooded, landslides are in this fault line geology, This is notice is good news, no need to worry is not the m
essage, though.
As part of the documents the NCRA filed they say they will not remove ties or rail. I guess that just means leaving them where they sit.
There is never going to be a trail through the Eel River canyon. They would need to remove all the rails and ties and remediate which they already said they won’t do. The common theme with this proposed trail is feeding the trail junkies kool aid that clearly has no calories.
There are uses for the rail both around the Bay and north of Willits but the McGuire gang is trying all they can to snuff that out. They keep pretending that no one wants the rail which is just not true.
The reality that this process has been held up for over 6 months while they try to figure out what happened with the Annie Mary line should tell you this is not a clear cut deal. All the trails already put on the A+M may have significant legal problems.
Meanwhile the Bay Trail South project has a design that cannot be approved or implemented. Instead of producing one that can, they may end up losing funding. I’m sure the county will try to blame someone else for their own screw up.
Where is all the supposed support for this? Not just the crack pipe fantasy but the real support?
I think the support for this are city folks, not us locals.
Besides the potential trespassing issues, tunnels that have not yet collapsed are still in danger of doing so.
Medical aid if somebody breaks a leg? No cell service right now, and access will be a bitch if medivac choppers can’t fly, and only a handful of roads actually go all the way to the river, and those have gates.
Wildfire danger is obviously vastly increased.
If the NCRR does not want to pull up the rails & ties, it tells just how limited canyon access really is. RR ties can be recycled by grinding at a facility near Flannagan, east of Susanville, along the CA – NV border
What a waste. Everywhere else in the country rail is embraced but not in Humboldt…..
Bum Camp highway for hundreds of miles
Yup.
Exactly and the area is way too large for a decent patrol or safety services.
The sheer number of empty windbag comments here alone tells me this is a great idea.
Considering the thousands of miles of rail-trails in this country, and the minimal amount of problems on them I think many of these concerns are overblown. And to be very un-PC, I think the issue of a “bums highway” is more a problem with overly soft state and local laws and their enforcement.
That’s it, start the Masterplan, last.
What could go wrong?
Fantastic! I’ve biked many rail trails throughout the world! They’ve all been superb. It’s about time we had a Rails to Trails system like this one to come! Thank you! What a great use of an old rail system. And for all you nay-sayers…if you don’t know anything about the Rails to Trails system and its management, Pipe Down!
This is going to be similar to high speed rail. Only a tiny portion of total funding ever available, only a few sections actually intended to be built, user numbers questionable. This is about the ‘environmental’ extremist goals of never shipping gravel from the Eel River and others who do not want to see trains running. McGuire is correct the agency was questionable and bankrupt, but it was summarily starved and never invested in. If you don’t fund the rail trail, and I doubt much of it ever will be, it will always be this joyous dream, just out of reach, always in some future that never comes. User numbers in the depth of the canyon are predicted at single digits per day. Where it is most expensive to build. Instead, we’ll get trails where we should have rails on the south (Willits-Cloverdale), trails where we should have rails and trails in the north in Humboldt Bay, and the middle will never be funded. But it accomplishes the goal of assuring there will never, ever be trains again. Thanks for nothing. As for all this trespassing talk — what are you talking about? Bums camp on the street next to my house and can trespass anywhere from the sidewalk. They don’t need a trail. There are rail trails everywhere. My objection isn’t to rail trails — it’s to this one that will never get built between Fortuna and Willits.
You do know that the Humboldt Bay Trail is rail-with-trail, right? As will the SMART section be, seeing as they have an actual railroad.
Are you saying that keeping the Eel River alive is something only extremists are interested in? I doubt that very much. I know Eel River gravel is nice stuff, but could it pay for the $5+mil to repair the tunnel and tracks?
For anyone who wants to know, the state did an assessment of the NCRA and the right-of-way, here. A large chunk of the cost is for cleanup, which needs to be done anyway. A two foot trail is easier to re-rout around obstacles than a railroad.
The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy has a lot of info about rail trails; Missouri’s Katy Trail is most similar to the GRT, if you want to see how they deal with it.
It will be for walking, biking, and equestrians only, no ATVs. There will be places to get off the trail, for emergency access and for hiking and walking parts of it instead of the whole thing, and I’m pretty sure there will be campgrounds along the way.
As for homeless people, I can’t imagine anyone going more than a couple of miles from money and food if they can avoid it. That said, anyone who wants to walk the trail, for whatever reason, is more than welcome to.