{"id":2337,"date":"2008-04-02T17:06:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-02T17:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/blog\/2008\/04\/02\/ode-to-a-road\/"},"modified":"2008-04-02T17:06:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-02T17:06:00","slug":"ode-to-a-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/ode-to-a-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Ode to a Road"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>What to do when you have spent five years trying to stop a massive federal road project to no avail? Take a walk and say good bye to the gentle one lane curves, old growth forest, and northern spotted owl (NSO) habitat. That’s what members of my community did in semblance of a Maori<\/a> custom to remember and honor the passing of an important place. As Hyampom, CA<\/a> resident Marilyn Renaker<\/a> described the event:<\/p>\n We are taking this opportunity to honor the beauty of the road, and also to honor the people who first built it. These days, the past is often bulldozed away without a second thought. We go on with what is newer, bigger, supposedly better. This road was the work of many people over many winters. With mules and horses laden with equipment, they made a path into a road. <\/a>They had to blast and clean debris and when they finished in 1923, an era ended. Cars entered Hyampom for the first time and the Land of Trails disappeared. Many of us will miss this old road, just as we miss the hardiness of the people who built it. We will miss it’s beauty, it’s familiar twists and turns. We will miss how it made Hyampom seem special–a hard place to get to, but worth it for the wise.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Hyampom Road is a 24-mile long, partially one lane road connecting this remote community of about 230 residents to the outside world. It is the only paved road into the valley that is maintained throughout the year. Residents agree that there are places on the road that need repair, but the federal government plans to turn this lonely road into a “forest highway”, increasing lane widths, blasting hillsides, logging old growth forests, creating fake wetlands to mitigate construction, etc. all in an effort to “improve forest access”. Meeting after meeting, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)<\/a> has stated that the road improvements are not for the citizens of Hyampom, and with Arnold speaking about building new dams<\/a>, we can’t help but feel paranoid our wild and scenic river will succumb to the water needs of Southern California. At a projected cost of over $50 million (in 2007 dollars), the federal government will be spending almost $220,000 per Hyampom resident on the road. With the current rate of inflation and fuel costs<\/a>, the total price will likely increase by $10 million, as the project will not be completed until 2015.<\/p>\n