Editor’s note: The  public meeting at Woodman Hall on Feb. 9 at 3 p.m. is cancelled.

There are two new trails on Lopez this year and they have interesting stories. First, when “Six,” a resident of Hamlet House, wanted to visit the Lopez Island Medical Clinic, he got his walker and oxygen bottle and hiked down Village Road, sharing the roadway with trucks, SUVs and fast drivers. Lopez Community Trails Network was concerned about this dangerous situation.

County Public Works Department had no plans or funds to solve this problem, so LCTN volunteered to pay for and build a trail from the Hamlet to the clinic.

Today there is a trail along Village Road, on either side of the entrance to Lopez Village Market, within the road right of way. Funds and labor were donated. LCTN was helped by many employees of Public Works, Aaron Dye of LVM, the Hamlet, Lopez Sand and Gravel and the Hancocks whose property adjoins the trail. There are plans to extend it all the way to Washburn Place.

The second trail is actually the “first” trail for LCTN as it was this idea that sparked the organization of Lopez Community Trails Network three years ago. Eric Hall had the idea of connecting Hummel Lake with Spencer Spit with a walking route by building a trail from Port Stanley Road to Bakerview Road. That way you could walk from the Hummel Lake Reserve at Center Road all the way to Spencer Spit.

Public Works, who owns the old landfill site on Point Stanley Road, generously agreed to give an easement for a trail along the south border of the landfill site. Partnering with San Juan County Land Bank, LCTN planned, designed and has almost completed the first part of that connection. It’s a public trail, so give it a try. It’s just south of the entrance to the landfill site.

There will be a “Love Your Trail” work party at the Landfill Trail on Jan. 12 at 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.  We’ll be removing some fencing and cleaning up debris. Bring warm clothes, gloves and old clothes.

A trail building clinic, taught by professionals from the Washington Trails Association with help from the Bureau of Land Management and San Juan County Land Bank, is being planned for the spring. It will be open to anyone, especially trails groups and other stakeholders in trails throughout San Juan County, like Parks, Public Works, and conservation organizations. It will be a three-day event and cover planning, design, construction and maintenance of trails. Stay tuned for announcements.

LCTN meets bi-monthly. There’s a website with more information: LopezTrails.org. LCTN has sponsored trail building classes, National Trails Day events, as well as planning, designing and constructing trails.