The last week in July brought good news to residents of Crooked River Ranch. The federal Bureau of Land Management signed off on a plan to add a second paved exit from the ranch, doubling the routes out that can be used in case of a wildfire or other emergency.

The decision, announced July 20, comes as the result of work by Prineville District BLM officials, Deschutes County and Crooked River Ranch residents. As a result, a 1-mile paved road will run southwest across BLM land from NW Quail Road to join Lower Bridge Road west of Terrebonne.

The road is unlikely to be built this summer, says Dave Palmer, president of the Crooked River Ranch board of directors. A public comment period remains open until late August.

But the bureau is already taking action on the decision. It must transfer the right-of-way to Deschutes County, which will transfer it to the Crooked River Ranch Special Road District. After all that is accomplished, the road district and ranch officials must come up with the money needed to create the road.

No doubt the wait will have been worth it.

Crooked River Ranch was developed as a recreational site in 1972, according to the ranch website, and now is home to about 4,000 residents. It encompasses 10,000 acres and currently has only a single paved access road for its residents. If residents were forced to evacuate because of a wildfire, they’d no doubt have to share their single road to safety with firefighting equipment coming in to quell the blaze. It’s a dangerous situation that a second road will improve dramatically.

On a second front, meanwhile, work continues on a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced by Greg Walden, R-Hood River. The measure, which has successfully made it through the House Natural Resources Committee, would trim the adjacent Deschutes Canyon-Steelhead Falls Wilderness Study Area by some 832 acres on the rim of the canyon. The change would allow the use of chain saws and trucks to reduce fire danger along one edge of the ranch.

While there’s no guarantee Walden’s bill will pass, the new access road by itself will improve ranch safety. That’s certainly a start worth celebrating.