Some trails affected by Columbia gorge fire will be closed up to 2 years, official says

Eagle Creek trailhead and campground in good shape after wildfire
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Gallery: Eagle Creek trailhead and campground in good shape after wildfire

By Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com

The Oregonian/OregonLive

Police tape and orange-and-white barriers walled off the burned epicenter of the Eagle Creek fire Friday, a reminder that trails in the Columbia River Gorge won't open soon -- in some cases not until spring and elsewhere not for a year or two. 

Rachel Pawlitz, spokeswoman for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, said the U.S. Forest Service doesn't know when those trails will reopen but that the agency is committed to making them accessible as soon as possible.

There's no timeline for reopening the cherished Multnomah Falls area, she said.

Officials granted members of the media access to the Eagle Creek trailhead area for briefings and photo opportunities Friday. Views from the area are emblematic of those throughout the gorge: Burned trees stand on the nearby hillside and tower over the parking lot, and there's plenty of scorched earth. Green foliage persists.

A suspension bridge that crosses the creek is mangled -- one of its steel cables having been snapped -- but no major structures at Eagle Creek have burned, according to Pawlitz. 

The working theory is that a falling rock sheared the bridge cable, Pawlitz said.

Gov. Kate Brown also visited the gorge Friday, tweeting, "It's going to take a while to fully understand the impact of this fire season, but we're committed to helping get everyone back on track."

Here are some highlights from Friday's tour:

  • The 48,831-acre fire remains 46 percent contained. "The containment won't change until fire season is over," incident commander trainee Jeff Dimke said. "The sides of the fire that we could get to have direct containment lines on it, about 46 percent. The rest of the fire is really steep, inaccessible and remote. ... So you expect to see smoke and flames until November or Christmas." He said the fire will only grow a little bit, if at all.
  • Allen Lebovitz, a fire spokesman, said sediment and trees that slide into creeks throughout the fire area will eventually create excellent salmon habitats. We'll see "near-term reductions in salmon productivity," he said, "but it's gonna get better over time."
  • A team of 15 to 20 officials arrived Monday to survey and identify the eminent post-fire threats to people, property, campgrounds, roads, trails and cultural and natural resources. Team leader Liz Schnackenberg said the group will produce a report of threats and potential damage mitigation measures and submit a federal funding request.
  • Schnackenberg said officials are already seeing rockfall and trees coming down. "We're already seeing some hazards that are a little unusual, a little bit higher hazard than we're used to seeing on these kinds of events," she said. Officials are also seeing debris coming down onto trails -- and the trails themselves crumbling at the edges in places, she said.

The gorge was already one of the state's highest-risk landslide territories before the fire, and the still-smoldering blaze has heightened that threat in many popular spots.

Among them are Angel's Rest, a 1,450-foot bluff near Bridal Veil that was badly burned in the blaze; Shepperd's Dell State Natural Area, a hiking spot along the Historic Columbia River Highway; and Multnomah Falls and the iconic Multnomah Falls Lodge, which firefighters saved from the flames.

Schnackenberg said her team is considering putting up a heavy-duty chain-link fence near Multnomah Falls Lodge to protect the lodge from rockfall.

The fire started almost a month ago, after authorities say a 15-year-old Vancouver boy was playing with fireworks along the Eagle Creek Trail over Labor Day weekend. 

The teen has not been arrested or charged, and an Oregon State Police spokesman said in an email Friday that "there is nothing new to report" about the investigation.

-- Jim Ryan
jryan@oregonian.com
503-221-8005; @Jimryan015

Samantha Matsumoto of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this report