The city of Friendsville has declared its opposition to constructing a sturdy bike path by means of one of the crucial pristine areas of the Youghiogheny River, dealing a doubtlessly deadly blow to a controversial challenge that had already lined up hundreds of thousands in state funding.
Maryland
Md. town comes out against bike trail project in Youghiogheny River
“We can’t in good religion destroy this wilderness space which is not like some other to be discovered,” Schlosnagle wrote.
Friendsville’s letter caught supporters of the bike path off-guard, with some saying the city has accomplished a turnabout.
“I’m extraordinarily dissatisfied that the City Council would take that type of motion,” mentioned Wendell R. Beitzel, a former Maryland state delegate who labored to line up $4.7 million for the challenge.
“For my opinion, it exhibits there’s a scarcity of foresight and management on behalf of the city,” Beitzel mentioned. “I believe we offered a chance for them to have a significant entry path for individuals to have the ability to see and entry that fantastic useful resource that the state has.”
Friendsville’s declaration comes as opponents of the challenge — together with white water aficionados past the area who prize the Yock’s swift and twisty rapids — really feel momentum shifting following the election of Gov. Wes Moore (D). Opponents have additionally been cheered by Moore’s nomination of Josh Kurtz to move the Division of Pure Sources (DNR), which is charged with managing and defending the scenic river. Kurtz beforehand served as Maryland govt director of the Chesapeake Bay Basis, a nonprofit group devoted to defending the watershed.
“The temper type of modified after the election,” mentioned John N. Bambacus, a former state senator for Allegheny and Garrett counties who has lengthy fought to guard the river canyon. “That is the primary time any elected physique — and I would add, unanimously — has taken a place in opposition to creating the wild hall. That’s the importance of it. We had been hopeful that they might come round, and so they simply got here round.”
Opposition has additionally coalesced amongst rafters, kayakers and different outside fans. American Whitewater Journal issued a employees assertion in its winter 2023 version saying they typically like climbing and biking trails — not least when wanted to lug a kayak out — however the higher Yock was not the spot for such a challenge.
Opposition to the paths challenge stiffened final 12 months after the Maryland Common Meeting put aside funds for the DNR to start planning the path in a bit that’s protected by state legal guidelines and rules supposed to protect its primitive nature.
Backers, led by the nonprofit Garrett Trails, mentioned a climbing and biking path would supply better public entry to one of many Mid-Atlantic’s most wild and exquisite spots — however that’s precisely what alarmed opponents. They argued that developing a two-lane, gravel-strewn path within the canyon, together with two bridges, would mar the panorama, threaten endangered plant and wildlife species and convey crowds that might destroy what makes the setting so particular.
“When you undergo there and disrupt nature, you may’t return,” Friendsville City Council president Pamela S. Humberson mentioned. She mentioned that Garrett Trails and the 2 lawmakers who lined up the cash final 12 months — Beitzel and former state Sen. George Edwards — had not accomplished a very good job informing the city’s leaders or the general public about what they had been as much as. She mentioned all six council members, together with herself, had been unanimous of their help of Schlosnagle’s letter.
Edwards mentioned Friendsville’s management had proven help for the concept prior to now and accused opponents of spreading misinformation, saying nothing within the plan would violate the Scenic and Wild Rivers Act or its rules that shield that part of river. “Opposite to what among the opponents say, there may be nothing within the wild river regulation that claims you may’t put in a path,” Edwards mentioned.
Michael M. Dreisbach, Garrett Trails’ president, mentioned he hadn’t seen the Friendsville letter and declined to remark.
The mayor’s letter — which was dated Thursday and addressed to Sen. Mike McKay and Del. Jim Hinebaugh Jr., each Republicans representing Western Maryland — acknowledges that the city had been open to exploring the potential of making a path between Friendsville and Sang Run that might conform to state rules within the wild and scenic hall; the path would additionally finally match right into a broader community envisioned for the area to incorporate the Nice Allegheny Passage Rail-Path operating from Cumberland, Md., to Pittsburgh and the deliberate Continental Loop Divide Path in Western Maryland.
However because it grew to become clear that the $4.7 million can be used to construct a “excessive growth” path for two-way site visitors, together with new bridges throughout the river, the city’s management determined the challenge clashed with the decades-old mission to protect the river’s primitive nature, Schlosnagle’s letter says.
“So, I used to be type of dumbfounded,” Schlosnagle mentioned in an interview.
The letter — which Schlosnagle mentioned he handed to Moore personally at an occasion in Annapolis final week — urges lawmakers and the DNR to make use of the path funds put aside for the Youghiogheny River canyon for another route that might run between Friendsville and Youghiogheny Lake and embrace a brand new bridge over present bridge trestles.
The state parks company remains to be evaluating easy methods to use the $4.7 million, DNR spokesman Greg Bortz mentioned.
“Any plan would adhere strictly to the provisions of the Scenic and Wild Rivers Act,” Bortz mentioned in an e-mail. He additionally mentioned native officers and members of the general public can be included within the planning course of.