Great Redwood Trail Hits One-Third Mark; Town Hall Tackles Funding, Safety, and Encampments

A rendering of what the Eel River trail segment will look like, from the agency’s website.

Senator Mike McGuire described the one-third completion of the Great Redwood Trail (GRT) as a “major milestone” during an online town hall event that included questions on funding, wildfire risks and addressing homeless encampments.

The Great Redwood Trail Agency is developing and managing the expansive northern section of the trail corridor and Elaine Hogan, its executive director, said the ambitious trail project will be “a game-changer for rural economies,” with over $100 million a year in revenue generation for the North Coast region.

Interest in the GRT runs high and the Aug. 12 town hall’s online attendance peaked at about 2,000 people.

McGuire highlighted the recent opening of the southern segment of the Humboldt Bay Trail, which now spans 14 miles between the cities of Arcata and Eureka.

A future phase will connect it to College of the Redwoods.

Openings of new trail segments in Willits and Ukiah are set for 2026, adding to what’s mapped as a 320-mile contiguous trail from the San Francisco Bay area to Humboldt Bay.

During a question and answer period, an Eel River rafting enthusiast asked about how maintenance of the rugged northern section of the trail will be funded and managed.

Hogan differentiated between the maintenance costs of the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA), the former manager of the corridor, and the trail agency.

Much of the northern segment will be low-maintenance “back country” gravel trail.

“We’re not trying to bring a train through the Eel River Canyon,” Hogan said. “We’ve had lots of proof that that did not work and was not economically feasible … having a small backcountry trail, we’re looking at significantly less maintenance costs than you would have seen.”

A notable funding source is Proposition 4, a voter-approved $10 billion bond for a variety of projects, including trails development and maintenance.

Hogan said her agency has secured an “ongoing operations budget for the next several fiscal years with strong state support.”

Projects funded by Prop. 4 may be exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) reviews and there was a question about potential environmental impacts.

“Regardless of how any new CEQA exemptions may or may not apply to segments of our trail, our commitment remains the same – clean up the corridor, protect cultural resources, and restore the land in partnership with the people who know and care for it the best,” Hogan said.

The deteriorating former rail line was referred to as a “toxic mess,” with McGuire describing the NCRA as a bankrupt agency that “ could give two flips about what’s out there environmentally.”

Asked about the “opposition” to the trail by landowners and tribes, Hogan said input from them is “already shaping the project” and are included as recommendations in the trail’s master plan.

“Our next steps are turning those commitments into action together,” she continued, including contracting with tribes for protection of cultural resources and “co-management agreements.”

Answering a question about potential wildfires related to trail use, McGuire said the state has worked with fire chiefs’ associations on purchasing “quick attack engines” that are “perfect for a quick attack when it comes to a small brush fire, to be able to get that out quickly.”

The state has also “significantly beefed up Cal Fire resources throughout the whole north coast region,” he continued.

Hogan described trail development as “an opportunity to strengthen our rural public safety infrastructure and bring resources to the north coast, not to deplete already-taxed resources.”

Her agency “will also have its own trained staff that are stationed out there as wilderness first responders and perhaps will become members of the volunteer fire departments,” she continued, adding that “the trail itself can also serve as a firebreak.”

On addressing homeless camps, McGuire said the GRT Agency is “taking this issue incredibly seriously,” planning for outreach, referring people to services and clean-ups.

Hogan said the agency will “partner with community-based organizations and local businesses” on the outreach and referrals.

Also during the town hall, trail extensions between Arcata and Manila, and from the Arcata skate park area to water district pump stations on West End Road were described as being in progress.

Answering another question, Hogan said there will be campgrounds every eight miles along the trail.

A potential flipside of economic development was brought up when a Garberville resident asked about whether residents will be “priced out of their communities” due to the trail.

Saying it’s “a really important question,” McGuire said rural areas “have been under-invested” and “we know, throughout the world, these trails are huge economic drivers especially for rural parts of the country or the state they exist in.”

Hogan said her agency will “listen to those rural artisans and back-to-the-landers who have been here for generations” and see if things like “farm-to-table dining and low impact camping” can offer new income for them.

A final project completion date hasn’t been determined but trail segments will be developed in stages over the next 20 years and McGuire concluded by saying, “We’re gonna do this right, not fast.”