08/13/2019
The South Hills Nature Trail is being demolished! There were about 10 trees that fell down along the trail in January and the Public Works Office and City Manager just hired Melcher Logging to take out the “dangerous trees” on the trail. The trail may require a small amount of maintenance but they have gone too far. As of yesterday, they have taken out the 10 fallen trees along with three plies of other trees and also clear cut an entire area that was not affected. The piles of noble “dangerous trees” were all solid and healthy.
I have used the South Hills Trail 4-5 times a week for the past 25 years and 99% of the trees have withstood ice storms, heavy snowstorms, incessant rainstorms, strong winds, and microbursts - they do not need to be taken out. Many people use this trail daily for walking and running. I take people from the community on hikes there for the East Linn Museum to talk about the history of the area. I also take Jr. High students on hikes on the trail to identify local plants.
Please take a minute today to contact the Public Works Office, the City Manager and the City of Sweet Home to let them know you value this trail as a place of beauty and recreation; request to have the work stopped immediately before this trail is gone. The South Hills Trail is public land and we have a voice in what happens to it. The decision to destroy it was made without any input from those of us who actually use the trail.
