Your PUD News Release

Sage Hills Trail to close for the winter on Dec. 1

Chelan County PUD
News Release
11/19/2009

The Sage Hills Trail in the hills west of Wenatchee will close for the winter on Dec. 1, 2009.

Chelan County PUD, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust are working together on the winter closure to protect wintering mule deer and other wildlife. The trail will reopen to people on April 1, 2010.

The PUD owns about 960 acres in the hills west of Wenatchee and manages the area as a wildlife preserve with state Fish and Wildlife oversight. About a third of the popular Sage Hills Trail, managed by the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust, crosses the PUD wildlife preserve.

PUD officials also want to remind the community that all of the PUD-owned wildlife preserve is closed to public access, except for seasonal use of the official Sage Hills Trail in spring, summer and fall. While federal authorities allow limited trail access, the PUD is required to manage the preserve primarily for wildlife.    

In the past year PUD Fish & Wildlife crews and Land Trust volunteers have worked together to control weeds, reroute trails prone to erosion and restore sections of the wildlife preserve damaged by old trails and roads.

“We continue to work with the Land Trust and the community to protect wildlife as required by our federal license while offering public access to the section of the Sage Hills Trail that crosses the preserve,” said Gregg Carrington, PUD Energy Resources managing director. “With everyone’s cooperation we can allow the trail to be used most of the year and still meet our mandates to manage this area for wildlife.” 

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For more information, contact Von Pope, PUD wildlife program manager, at (509) 661-4625, or von.pope@chelanpud.org

Kimberlee Craig
Public Information Officer
(509) 661-4320, office
(509) 679-6858, mobile
kimberlee.craig@chelanpud.org