They call it the canopy project. And the center-piece of the $19 million proposal is a spiderweb of elevated walkways that would allow people to take an easy mile-long hike as much as 200 feet above the forest floor. Project leaders see it as an adventure beyond compare, a tourist attraction that would breathe life into a south coast economy still reeling from slumps in the timber and fishing industries...
"It's time the U.S. got this kind of a thing. It's time we got the kids in this country educated about our forests," says Diane Kelsay of Port Orford.
She and her husband, Bob Harvey, own Egret Communications, a nature-based tourism marketing company that has played a key role in the canopy project. The former Eugene residents conceived the idea after coming to Curry Country in 1995 to help with ecotourism planning, an effort that has led to a number of new businesses...
Along a small unnamed creek flowing into Chetco River east of Brookings, Hanscom and Harvey point out elements of a forest canopy that is the leading site for the elevated walkway. The 200-acre stand of state and federal timberland includes redwoods that are 1,500 years old and rise 225 feet above the ground, and Douglas firs up to 150 feet tall...
Preliminary plans call for a $20 admission charge for the canopy trail and lesser charges for the visitor center and other elements to be built at different locations around the county. Projections call for 70,000 visitors a year to the elevated walkway and nearly 200,000 to the visitor center and other facilities...
If the economic feasibility study shows the canopy project can operate in the black, fund raising will begin to cover the cost of construction and the first two years of operation. Project leaders have their eye on a $10 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant...
Not everybody has been enthusiastic... Mike Frazier, Gold Beach district ranger for the Siskiyou National Forest and a member of the canopy committee, supports the project but says people in the trees could lead to the departure of some tree dwelling species....
Still, canopy project backers remain undeterred. Hanscomb says many Curry County residents see it as a way to extract some economic benefit from the local forests where most of the timberlands have been put off-limits from cutting.
Scott Silver, Executive Director,
Wild Wilderness
248 NW Wilmington Avenue, Bend OR 97701
Phone (541) 385-5261 E-mail: ssilver@wildwilderness.org