Jay Carlson, District Manager
Gregg Morgan, Recreation Planner
BLM Roseburg District
777 NW Garden Valley Blvd.
Roseburg, OR  97470

RE:  BLM Susan Creek/ Tioga Bridge Project

Thank you Gregg for meeting yesterday with Dale Greenley, Steve Evans and myself to show us the latest conceptual drawings of the Susan Creek Day Use project.  The drawing you provided was very helpful in our discussion and for clarifying the details to our Board later that evening.

I would like to offer the following comments:

While the addition of the bridge will certainly increase congestion and create a visual impact at this beautiful pool, we recognize the reasons and the need for the bridge and support the plans for trail extension and bridge.   We appreciate the effort made to completely avoid new construction on the River side of the highway.

However, we oppose the plan for the loop at the east end of the Day Use area parking lot.  This is a significant action within the riparian area of the North Umpqua River, being undertaken to address a problem that doesn’t exist.  You mentioned that the problem was that rafters take up too much room in the parking lot, particularly those vehicles with trailers.  Dale, Steve and I have a collective 124 years experience on the River, fish this area frequently all year long and we’re not aware of a problem requiring a solution like this.

• If RVs are creating a problem (although from our conversation that isn’t driving this plan), add “No RV Turnaround” notices to the highway signs for the picnic area and another one at the entrance.
• Any occasional problem with rafter’s vehicles can easily be resolved by asking them to park their vehicles across the highway at the falls trailhead.  These vehicle/trailer rigs are much shorter than most RVs and much more maneuverable.

There are two significant issues which are not addressed in this plan:  Lack of adequate parking at the new bridge trailhead and the existing parking lot drainage system which dumps untreated water into the North Umpqua River.  I urge you to take the money which would be spent on an unnecessary paved loop/parking area and use it to address these two problems.  I believe both of these issues must be addressed in any NEPA analysis:

• You are creating a significant safety and congestion problem with the absence of additional parking at the trailhead.  The parking area at the Abutments is already heavily used.  You are eliminating this and adding a need for more parking, which is not in your plan. The likelihood that people will double park along the highway, or encroach into the highway is very high, coupled with an increase in pedestrians and potentially horse traffic.

• The proposed loop would direct runoff from the paved surface onto the ground inside the loop and then into a drainage swale that runs into the River.  Are there standards for treatment or removal of contaminants (noting that Water Quality is one of the Outstandingly Remarkable Values in the W&S River corridor)?  Probably a greater impact comes from the existing piped drainage system for both lots, which currently drains untreated parking lot runoff directly into the River with no infiltration or treatment.

Again, we appreciate the effort you made to meet with us and provide the information.  We support the increased public, maintenance and emergency services access to the south side trail system.  But we believe the proposed parking loop is a mistake, and the money could better be spent addressing the problems noted above.

Thank you, 

Joe Ferguson, President