By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews.com
A new suspension bridge planned for the Amanda Trail just south of Yachats has been scuttled for the time being because of the coronavirus pandemic and massive cuts to the budget for Oregon state parks.
Only a month ago, more than four years of work to replace a historically and culturally significant bridge over Amanda Creek just south of Yachats had the green light to proceed.
State, federal and local governments, along with a cadre of volunteers and two Oregon Indian tribes, brimmed with hope, knowing all the needed money and permits had been secured to build the bridge.
Then coronavirus emerged, taking down the coastal economy and plans to construct the $400,000 bridge with it.
“It’s been a hard thing to swallow, to say the least,” said Joanne Kittel, the long-time Yachats resident who has been a driving force behind the project for decades. “This is just tremendously sad for so many people.”
Trails advocates and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department say they are committed to replacing a 65-foot steel and fiberglass bridge wiped out in late 2015 by a massive landslide with a new, higher 142-foot suspension bridge that should be safe from future floods. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to pay $125,000 to help replace the old bridge.
However, with coronavirus having closed down the state parks and campgrounds upon which the agency relies for much of its operating funds, a new bridge is now officially tabled, said Dennis Comfort, state parks’ coastal region manager.
Comfort said the bridge remains a priority for the agency, whose engineering division was overseeing planning and design of the span. Without the engineers to work on it, the bridge project has to stop.
“We’re operating all of our parks at 50 percent of normal staffing levels,” he said. “The bridge is still a very important project for us, but the lack of engineering support and other layoffs mean we simply don’t have the ability to pull that off right now.”
Support for bridge still strong
Support for the new bridge remains as strong as ever with the numerous groups that have donated time and money to make it a reality.
Much of that sense of commitment comes from the symbolic and historical meaning behind the Amanda Creek Trail and bridge replacement project.
The trail is named after Amanda Du-Cuys, one of hundreds of coastal Indians forced at gunpoint by U.S. soldiers in the 1850s and 1860s to march up the coast – often barefoot and over flesh-cutting rocks – to a military facility near present-day Yachats.
Amanda, forced to leave her husband and daughter, is thought to be one of at least 300 Indians who died at the military camp between 1855 and 1870.
“This is a very spiritual trail,” said Kittel, who along with her late husband, Norman, put their 27 acres of land adjoining the trail alignment into a conversation easement to assure its permanent use. “It remains very heartening to see so much continued support for it.”
The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, along with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon, have donated money and worked closely with Kittel for years to help ensure the cultural and historical authenticity of the project.
Despite the replacement bridge’s Covid-related tabling, both tribes say are in this for the long haul.
“Joanne has been a true force in helping making this a reality,” said Doc Slyter, chief of the Coos Bay-based Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians. “We know that, with her help, we’ll get this bridge built yet.”
Total cost of the project is about $400,000, said state parks’ Comfort. Of that, about $300,000 is for the 142-long suspension bridge, with the rest accounting for engineering studies, plan designs and related work needed to accommodate the span.
In addition to money from the state and federal government, other major monetary contributions have come from the Yachats non-profit co-founded by Kittel, View the Future ($55,000); the Three Rivers Foundation, the charitable arm of the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, ($10,000); the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon, ($2,000); the city of Yachats, ($5,000); the Perpetua Foundation/Discover Your Northwest, ($3,500); and Lincoln County’s land legacy program, $15,000).
“One thing I know for sure is that we aren’t giving up,” Kittel said. “And I’m still looking forward to the day that all of us join hands and walk across our new Amanda Trail bridge.”
— Dana Tims is a YachatsNews freelance reporter who can be reached at danatims24@gmail.com