I know that the one time I was there we found people target practicing at
the end of the road. I'm not surprised if the local residents are happy to
have the area closed off. It is a shame, though, that we have lost another
place for more peaceful activities.

On Sun, Mar 27, 2016 at 9:39 PM, John Bishop <bishopjg at earthlink.net> wrote:

> I tried to go birding at Post Office Lake today. Post Office Lake is at
> the end of the Lower River Road and is at the south end of the Ridgefield
> NWR. In the winter there are sometimes thousands of ducks, coots, and
> swans on the lake and thousands more geese and sandhill cranes in the
> surrounding fields. Some interesting birds have been seen here, in the
> last few months these include white faced ibis, snowy egret, common redpoll.
>
> The road is gated at mile 10, but until now you could walk or bike down
> the road about 1.3 miles to the refuge, then along the partially eroded
> road for good scope views to the lake. The road has collapsed into the
> Columbia River, hence its closure.
>
> Today I found a large number of concrete barricades with ?Road Closed?
> signs at Mile 11, a few yards past the single house on the road. I skirted
> around them, thinking that the road was just closed to vehicles, not
> pedestrians. As I was scoping a flock of geese, the resident of the house
> came over and told me I was trespassing and that the road was closed to all
> use.
>
> Apparently the state DOT recently transferred ownership of the road to
> Clark County, as described in this article from January in The Columbian.
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.columbian.com_news_2016_jan_29_wsdot-2Dgive-2Dfar-2Dstretch-2Dlower-2Driver-2Droad-2Dclark-2Dcounty_&d=CwIGaQ&c=C3yme8gMkxg_ihJNXS06ZyWk4EJm8LdrrvxQb-Je7sw&r=6nchVXC_5a7U784lKKQUiA&m=VQFD3TCBN2BS5z_Nq4V342-zFiWXUZKGMD-OWj6KkiI&s=3ysbdC0XcT63s2tU9aLjL3k6NXZTmDS7oF0_qhBe5us&e=
>
>
> The county is talking about eventually transferring ownership of the road
> to the adjacent landowners, possibly keeping an easement.
>
> It would be a shame if this route became private and we lost pedestrian
> access to view Post Office Lake. I?m interested in hearing what others on
> the list think of this situation - some of you are much more familiar with
> the history of this area than I am. Also, does ?Road Closed? really mean
> to all use and is it trespassing to go on it? I would think the county
> would make that a little clearer.
>
> John Bishop
> Vancouver, WA
>
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>
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