Linn County may pick up another 13 miles of road to maintain, if the U.S. Forest Service vacates a 53-year-old easement on Calapooia Road south of Sweet Home.

Mike Rassbach, Sweet Home district ranger, and Sharon Cochrane, Forest Service real estate specialist, told the county commissioners this week of the federal government's plan to opt out of an easement that was initiated in 1954.

The county already maintains a hard surface road for about six miles along the Calapooia River starting at the junction of Highway 228 and Calapooia Road. A rock road continues for 13 miles to an intersection with Forest Service Road 2022, which begins on Highway 20 east of Cascadia.

Rassbach said the Forest Service has determined the road is expensive to maintain given the relatively small area of the forest for which it provides access.

Cochrane said the road was heavily damaged after the flood of 1996 and that the Forest Service and Weyerhaeuser, which owns much of the timberlands along the road, recently spent more than $600,000 bringing it up to proper standards.

Commissioner Roger Nyquist, pondering if the area might be used as part of a tourist-oriented bike-loop, asked if the road led through a "scenic area."

Rassbach said there is some old-growth timber, some stands that are 30 to 35 years old and some that were logged about 15 years ago.

"It's in good shape," Rassbach said of the road. "It is gravel and two lanes wide."

Old culverts along the route have been replaced with modern ones that facilitate fish passage.

"We feel good that we are leaving the road in very good shape," Cochrane said.

Commissioner Cliff Wooten questioned the Forest Service staff about the road topography, concerned that if it were too steep, it could be costly long-term. He was told it is not extremely steep.

The original easement agreement states that if the Forest Service ceases to maintain the road, it would be "reconveyed to Linn County as a county road."

Commissioners want to discuss the subject further with county roadmaster Darrin Lane before taking official action.

Alex Paul can be reached at alex.paul@lee.net or 812-6076.