Help needed for trail and bridge

Dear community, your help is needed. The Kreck Riverwalk Trail is in jeopardy.

After years of service to his community, Dr. Loren Kreck, resident of Columbia Falls for decades, and a local outdoor legend, stepped forward to make a gift to our community that would last forever. He offered a permanent easement across the land he had owned for more than 40 years at the foot of the Old Red Bridge to allow for a beautiful walking path along the riverfront. He told us that he wanted to ensure that generations would be able to enjoy that river view, an experience he had been so lucky to have himself.

Well over 100 volunteers worked alongside Loren to create the Riverwalk Trail. Hundreds of volunteer hours were spent carefully winding a path along the edge of Loren's property. We are so proud of this true community effort. Loren's gift set the stage for the Columbia Falls community to come together and build something wonderful for our town. Citizens from all over turned out for several workdays.

Local companies donated gravel, equipment, tools and food for the volunteers. Several professional trail builders helped lead the effort to ensure that the trail was built well and had minimal impact. Engineers donated their time and expertise to layout the trail; surveyors, landscapers, Girl Scouts, masons, grandmothers, third-graders - a stunning list of generous people came together to make this trail happen.

The city of Columbia Falls agreed to add the finished trail to the city trail system and take long-term responsibility for maintenance and upkeep. And Eagle Scout Lucas Bauman led local Troop No. 41 for his Eagle Scout project to plan, build and install a series of beautiful signs to mark the trail and to help ensure people respected the rights of the property owners neighboring the trail.

Now, this glorious community moment is threatened. Due to the repugnant activity of a group of vandals, criminals and thugs, the city is being asked to simply abandon this trail and let Loren's lifelong legacy drift away forever. It is our responsibility as a community to not let this happen. Let's stand up against vandalism and hooligans.

Do something to help. Please contact the Columbia Falls City Council and make sure they know you support the Riverwalk Trail and don't want to see it given away. Call the city at 892-4391 or e-mail them online at www.cityofcolumbiafalls.org/contact-us. This is a critical task, friends. Please take a moment to make sure your support is known - and please tell all of your friends to do the same.

How else can you help? The reality is that the area around the Old Red Bridge has become an attractive hangout for criminal types who have blighted the area and are threatening to destroy a local treasure.

Get involved. If you see inappropriate activity around the Red Bridge or on the Riverwalk Trail, please report it to the city immediately. The city has installed security camera monitors at the site, and the police department has the area on its routine patrol. But we as citizens can do our part, too.

If you enjoy the Riverwalk Trail, respect the rules, stay on the path and respect the privacy of those who live along the trail. And if you see anyone doing otherwise, speak up. This is our community, these are our trails, that is our bridge. We are all the beneficiaries and we are all responsible.

We believe the real solution to this problem is to remove the blight that has grown up around the historic bridge. As you know, Flathead County recently dealt a big blow to the effort to restore the Old Red Bridge as a pedestrian crossing by unencumbering the CTEP funds that had been dedicated to the project.

However, we do not believe this is the end of the line for this beautiful bridge. It will take the entire community to coalesce behind the restoration, to help fund it and to help demonstrate to the county how important it is to our community. Please do not lose hope in the Red Bridge. This is a project worthy of our community, and we believe it can happen.

Thank you, Columbia Falls, for being involved, for caring about what happens in your town. We are proud to be a part of this community.

The First Best Place steering committee and staff include Barry Conger, executive director, Hilary Hutcheson, president, Ron Nash, vice president, Dave Renfrow, Jane Ratzlaff, Jason Spring, Shayne Hatfield, Cindy Shaw, Patrick McCracken and Lindsay Becker, project director.