The murky, magnificent Eel River was once a highway for the Wailaki people, who navigated by canoe and hauled goods between villages in cone-shaped baskets. But the tribe was forced out during the Gold Rush and, decades later, a railroad was built along the river in this verdant stretch of Humboldt County. Perry Lincoln, whose grandmother came from one of those villages, today sees another affront — the Great Redwood Trail, a 307-mile path planned along the remnants of the long-gone railroad that cuts through his ancestral land. … Alicia Hamann, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Eel River, is among the ambivalent. She’s skeptical of bypassing the state environmental law, but sees the project as perhaps the best bet to address the railroad’s legacy of pollution and restore fish habitat. Creosote-soaked rail ties leach toxic chemicals into the soil, sharp scraps of metal litter the riverbed, and pollution remains from the timber industry the rail line once served.