DISCOVERY BAY — The Peninsula Trails Coalition is changing its plans for building the Olympic Discovery Trail along Discovery Bay and is looking for donations to help make that happen.
Andy Stevenson, co-president of the trail advocacy group, said the trans-Peninsula pathway will run along U.S. Highway 101 rather than a former railroad grade as previously planned to avoid affecting a habitat restoration effort along the bay.
That restoration plan, being developed by the North Olympic Salmon Coalition, is expected to involve the removal of that grade, which follows the edge of the bay, and a railroad trestle seen as ideal for the trail that will eventually extend from Port Townsend to LaPush.
Leaving them in place would likely make the restoration project ineligible for grant funding, said Rebecca Benjamin, coalition executive director.
“We tried to design a restoration plan so that we could leave the railroad bed in part for the future development of the trial,” she said.
“However, the restoration plan with that as a constraint failed to meet” qualifications for funding.
“It would be really difficult to sell that design with the trail as a constraint,” Benjamin added.
Stevenson said the trail group has agreed to contribute $45,000 toward the restoration plan to include an alternative route for the trail.
So far, $26,000 has been raised, but the group is facing a March 31 deadline to find the rest, he said.
The group has contributed $10,000 of its own funds and has enough to fill the gap, Stevenson said, but he hopes additional donations can help make the difference.
“We can cover the cost by stripping every last penny out of the Peninsula Trails Coalition’s treasury,” he said.
“But if we did that, we would be taking funds that were obligated for other purposes.”
That, Stevenson said, would lead to delays in completion of other segments of the 126-mile trial, which stands at about 33 percent complete.
He didn’t have a time line for the completion of the trail at Discovery Bay, saying that it depends on funding.
About 6 miles of the trail has been built in Jefferson County from Port Townsend to the Discovery Bay Golf Course.
The trail has a gap of about 18 miles between there and Blyn.
Next, Jefferson County plans to extend the trail about 2 miles to Four Corners Road.
Donations to the trail group can be made through its website, www.olympicdiscoverytrail.com.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
