Coulee Corridor group continues tourism efforts

National designation is "big step forward"

OTHELLO — About five years ago, a small group of dedicated citizens from throughout the Columbia Basin banded together with the goal of promoting the history and events of the area in which they lived.

Last year those citizens celebrated as their 150-mile Coulee Corridor received recognition as a national scenic byway. That national designation by the U.S. Department of Transportation in September has led to continued efforts to promote tourism along the corridor from Omak to Othello, and everywhere in between.

"Everybody's talked like this for years and years," said Ken Caylor. "Now it's getting to be where it's a tourism item now with the national designation."

Caylor is the vice chair of the Coulee Corridor Consortium, a group of byway volunteers along Highways 17 and 155. The group's aim is to promote the history of the area, and promote tourism along the route. An Othello resident, Caylor resides at the south entrance of the corridor while the group's chair Tim Alling resides closer to the byway's north end.

Plans are in the works for north and south entrance signs, currently in the design stages. Caylor called the national designation a "big step forward," and has hopes it will continue to increase tourism efforts along the byway.

Plans are also in the works for expansion of the byway's southern entrance, Caylor said. Initial identification signs, with the logo depicting the roadway and rocky landscape throughout the Columbia Basin, had previously been placed along the byway's entire length by the state Department of Transportation.

"We're still working on the interpretive center in Othello," Caylor added, saying similar center plans are being worked on at the corridor's north end in Omak. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation have partnered with the consortium, and efforts have begun to install sculptures as part of a plan to also include more information kiosks along the route.

The Colville Tribe is one of dozens of partners in the consortium, which also includes the Audubon Society and Sandhill Crane Festival. Caylor said groups like those two have already increased tourism in the Othello area, with birding maps and the annual festival bringing higher numbers of bird enthusiasts to the nearby irrigation canals and reservoirs.

The consortium has itself unveiled maps and magazines highlighting the byway, which have been distributed throughout eastern Washington as part of the group's efforts to bring people to the corridor.

From the ice age floods to the scab land that formerly covered much of the Columbia Basin to the communities that were built with the construction of Grand Coulee Dam, Caylor said the consortium is trying to show the area's history and what has resulted.

The corridor began through the work of people like Othello resident Les Clemons, who formerly served as vice chairman of the consortium. Clemons died in a hit-and-run vehicle accident last January, and Caylor said officials have since continued to improve on the work of the byway.

"I think it's just a combination of all of us, the south end, north end, and the middle section to make this thing go," Caylor said. "I think it will help all of our communities."

Since the corridor's volunteers began their work the byway has expanded from the Grand Coulee Dam to Omak, and seven loops have been added for motorists who want to travel off the main corridor path. Caylor envisions corridor coverage getting even bigger in coming years, as volunteers look to add hiking and biking trails along the route.

Corridor enthusiasts will get the chance to highlight that route later this month, when the consortium holds its annual "Big Event" in Soap Lake. This year's festivities are scheduled for Jan. 28 at Soap Lake Middle/High School.

"It's getting to be a pretty big event, and it's an educational thing for people to get into the Coulee Corridor," Caylor said. "And it just enlightens people on what we're trying to do."