Utah State University - » Restoration expert: Trail won’t affect riverside residents

Restoration expert: Trail won’t affect riverside residents

January 25th, 2016 Posted in Environment, Logan News

By Jake Hansen

A continuous trail along the Logan River wouldn’t interfere with the joys of riverside living for current residents, a restoration plan research liaison told the Logan City County on Tuesday evening.

While updating the council on river restoration efforts, Utah State University wildlife ecology and management expert Frank Howe said the trail could be built as part of an effort to make the river less prone to flooding and increase wildlife diversity, while still accommodating the expectations of current residents.

“We are not actually thinking of running the trail through people’s yards,” Howe said. “I think there are opportunities for us to take the trail away from the river, and when we have the opportunity to bring the trail back down to the river.”

The Logan River Task Force, of which Howe is the chair, surveyed 258 riverside residents about what they are willing to do to help the restoration project. 55 percent of residents responded to the survey. The details of that survey have yet to be released but the task force plans to implement residents’ concerns into the plan.

There remains resistance, though, on the part of some riverside homeowners.

“Why change something that has been very effective and that no one will see?” asked Bob Sears, a riverside resident who said he never received a survey. “They have been trying this for 20 years and nothing happens. We’ve never been close to having a flood either.”

Mayor H. Craig Petersen wants to keep it that way. He reiterated his belief that a restoration plan “could help reduce the threat of flooding.”

Sears and others will have another opportunity to voice their concerns when the next in a series of public meetings on the restoration plan is held Feb. 11 at the Logan River Golf Course.

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