The future of a former rail line that runs through fields, farms and a national wildlife refuge between Monroe and Corvallis has sparked a fierce controversy in rural Benton County.

Some county residents would like to see the 60-foot-wide, 18-mile-long right of way transformed into scenic trail for cyclists and hikers.

But that concept has drawn virulent opposition from the farmers and ranchers along the corridor, who say such a path would be incompatible with their agricultural work and would lead to vandalism and trespassing on their land.

After much debate, the Benton County Board of Commissioners last fall voted 2-1 to buy the right of way — known as the Bailey Branch line — for $486,000, using reserves from its property tax-supported general fund. The line, once used to ship products from local farms and sawmills, had been dormant for six years at the time, with its owner, Union Pacific Railroad, struggling to find a buyer at its asking price.

The county purchased only the right of way; Union Pacific kept the rails and ties, which it then sold to another company. Most of the tracks were dismantled this year. The county’s purchase covers an 11-mile stretch that runs from Monroe to about six miles south of Corvallis, and a seven-mile spur that runs west from Monroe to unincorporated Dawson.

For the purchase, the county used a federal law designed to maintain a rail line’s abandoned right of way with an interim public trail use. That process, known as “railbanking,” allows the “preservation of railroad corridors for possible future rail use,” according to the federal Surface Transportation Board, which oversees such agreements.

Benton County leaders say the goal of the purchase was to preserve the right of way for a future shipping or commuter rail line, however, not to build a trail.

Purchasing completely new rights of way through private property for rail lines is “incredibly expensive,” said Commissioner Linda Modrell. There is a clear public interest in preserving existing rail corridors for the long term, she argues.

“We don’t have the population to support this (rail line) now,” she said. “But in the future, it will be different…. Freight is only going to increase, and that’s going to increase truck traffic on Interstate 5, and all the emissions that come with that.

Since the purchase, county staff members have since been “making an inventory” of the property and its bridges and trestles, as well as devising possible interim uses for the corridor, Modrell says. Next, the county will seek public comment over the summer months, with hopes of creating a management plan by August or September.

But the farmers whose land is bisected or bordered by the corridor believe there is little doubt the county ultimately wants to build a trail.

“They’re going to try to put in a bike path,” said David Horning, a cattle rancher who owns a 400-acre ranch between Monroe and Dawson. “This whole public process, it’s kind of a smokescreen.”

Larry Venell, a farmer who bought the five-mile stretch of the Bailey Branch just south of Corvallis in 2010 and had considered purchasing other parts of the line, agrees.

“If (county officials) were planning to keep the corridor for a rail line, they would have bought the (track) infrastructure too,” Venell said. “It’s so expensive to put tracks back in.”

A bike and pedestrian trail would be a major headache for neighboring farmers, they say.

Unlike the infrequent, slow trains that used the line previously, a regular stream of cyclists could make it difficult and dangerous for farmers to take their cattle or heavy machinery across the corridor — which many of the farmers’ deeds allow them to do. Similarly, cyclists or pedestrians might complain or sue if they were hurt by pesticide sprays or dust clouds, Nusbaum said.

John Greydanus, a resident of nearby Alpine, says he’s a proponent of looking into the possibility of a trail.

“There are some legitimate, real concerns raised by the adjacent landowners,” he said. “But this is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the community.”

Emails to saul at saul.hubbard@registerguard.com . Follow him on Twitter @SaulAHubbard .