The Umpqua Post
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Wednesday, September 10, 2014 | Serving the Reedsport area since 1996 | theworldlink.com/reedsport | $1.00
Decision may open acreage in dunes BY CHELSEA DAVIS The Umpqua Post
COOS BAY — Siuslaw National Forest officials are closing in on a decision to designate new trails and open more than 500 acres for motorized vehicle access in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, two decades after a management plan was set in motion. There are 11 designated management areas on the dunes, which stretch from Florence to Coos Bay: Off-road vehicles are allowed in all 10B areas, while ORVs are only allowed on designated routes in 10C areas. These two sections make up 10,385 acres of motorized vehicle access out of the entire 31,500-acre dunes. “10C was originally planned for the protection of existing vegetation on the dunes,” said Michele Jones, Siuslaw National Forest district ranger for the Oregon Dunes NRA’s Central Coast Ranger District, at the Tuesday, Sept. 2, Coos County commissioners meeting. Five years ago, a work group was formed to recommend the best usage for these areas. Their biggest concern was the negative economic impact of possible closures. The final proposal would rezone 518 10C acres (of the 4,455 total 10C acres) to 10B. These acres include 10C sections dominated by nonnative invasive plant species — “they can go away and we’d be extraordinarily happy,” Jones said. But the 10C areas include “some of the rarest vegetation in the state of Oregon,” said Umpqua Watersheds conservation program director Francis Eatherington. “It is a botanical treasure trove out there,” she said. “It’s a very sensitive area, and motorized recreation in the wrong place can ruin thousands of years of habitat.” That’s not the drivers’ fault, she said. “What we would like to see is for the motorized recreation in the Oregon Dunes to be clear so everybody knows where they’re supposed to be,” she said. “I’m sure most people riding in the dunes want to do the right thing, but it’s difficult to know what that is. There are (few) signs and unauthorized trails through vegetation and rare plants. The people riding the dunes — they don’t know.” A final environmental impact statement and record of decision is expected in a couple weeks. The proposal would also designate an additional 2.3 miles of trails. “The intention was to designate those 10C routes within three years,” Jones said of the 1994 management plan. “We’re just now signing the draft resolution.” Other projects occupied their time, she said: Building campgrounds, trailheads and staging areas; finalizing an alcohol ban; designating sand camping; and providing ATV access to Riley Ranch County Park. Over the years, ATV drivers have pounded unauthorized trails into 10C areas. “For many years, ATVs were not capable of riding these areas,” she said. “With the onset of extreme sports and high-powered ATVs, we saw an explosion of user-created trails in the ORV areas.” The SNF received 1,400 comments on its draft environmental impact statement, which was published two years ago this fall. People had concerns about the trail-riding experience, rider safety, noise, impacts on vegetation, wildlife and wetlands, and impacts on visitation and local economies.
By Steve Lindsley, The Umpqua Post
Oregon State Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, second from right, participates in a panel at the Oregon Coast Economic Summit on Aug. 21. The panel included, left to right, Oregon State Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, Roblan and Newport Mayor Sandra Roumagoux.
Roblan organizes coastal summit THE UMPQUA POST The list of panelists was a who’s who of political figures, tribal leaders, port managers, business leaders and Oregon agency officials. The third Oregon Coast Economic Summit took place Aug. 20-21 at the Three Rivers Casino Event Center in Florence. It was hosted by area tribes and Oregon Coastal Caucus, made up of lawmakers whose districts are affected by activities on the coast. At the heart of the conference was Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay, and his staff. Roblan says the summit evolved from a summit he attended at UCLA while he was one of the co-speakers of the Oregon House in 2011-12. “They talked about, in that particular case, about how universities could be economic engines for their communities,” Roblan remembered. “These big foundations, that were formed, were actually pumping money into the local economy. “When I came back from that, my staff and I sat down and looked at (the summit) and realized that we could actually do a similar kind of thing with respect to the Oregon
coast.” When Roblan realized the economy was starting to slowly improve in Oregon, but only along the Columbia River and down the Interstate-5 corridor, they decided a summit would be important. “Recognizing that the coast was a big part of my district and the coastal caucus covers the entire coast,” he explained, “we decided that we needed to have conversations with people who can actually change the economy.” The Oregon Coast Economic Summit was born. Panelists this year included tribal chairs; Oregon state lawmakers, including Roblan, Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, Sen. Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg and Rep. Wayne Krieger, R-Gold Beach; Oregon Supreme Court justices, including former Chief Justice Paul De Muniz; county commissioners, including Coos County Commissioner Melissa Cribbins; U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden; 4th District Congressman Peter DeFazio; 1st District Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici and 5th District Congressman Kurt Schrader and Coos Bay Mayor Crystal Shoji.
Commissioner candidates continue to visit the coast Candidates for Douglas County commissioner continue to visit Reedsport and western Douglas County. Six candidates are running for the remainder of the term for the seat vacated by the retirement of longChris Boice time commissioner Doug Robertson. Former commissioner Mike
Winters was selected to fill the role until the first of the year. Winters pledged not to run for the rest of Robertson’s term, which expires at the end of 2016. Chris Boice, who lives in Myrtle Creek and owns Big O Tires in Roseburg is one of the six that is running. He has made many trips to Reedsport, including a recent stop in Winchester Bay. “Being a local business owner SEE BOICE | A6
Reedsport man gets probation in 2012 sex abuse case A Reedsport man was spared jail time after pleading guilty to sex abuse in the second degree from an incident that occurred in August of 2012. Timothy Hinds was originally scheduled to go on trial in August of last year. That trial was set back to February of this year and then to August. Hinds agreed to a plea bargain in the case last week.
“He pled to sex abuse in the second degree,” Douglas County Deputy District Attorney Steve Hoddle said. “He was put on probation for five years. He has to register as a sex offender. He has to complete sex-offender treatment. There’s no contact with (the victim). Sentencing for the case came on SEE PROBATION | A4
The directors of the Oregon Department of State Lands, Department of Environmental Quality, Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Land Conservation and Development as well as Brad Avakian, the commissioner of Bureau of Labor and Industries also attended the two-day event. Roblan says the idea of the summit isn’t to draw in names and the news media, but rather to give real answers to concerns on the coast. “Cities, counties ... making sure that they have what they need, from their perspective, to make their economy start to grow again,” he said. “Whether that be tourism or university research or ongoing research; whether it’s timber or fishing, all of the different aspects so the real people that help drive that economy are the local people who are trying to work with the individual companies that want to have a place to sit down and make that business happen.” The summit also allows local communities to get to know people in state government who have jurisdiction over regulations and have
THE UMPQUA POST The Reedsport City Council, Monday, approved a request that opened the door to create a new custodial/parks maintenance position. The newly-created job will free up some public works employees who had previously also been required to clean and maintain park restrooms. City manager Jonathan Wright said the city added a .3 FTE to an already existing part-time position. “That’s what we’re coming to council for tonight,” Wright said, “is to expand that position; not only for custodial but turning it into a fulltime position.” He said that would take pressure off maintenance employees. “Thereby alleviating the burden on our maintenance lead and maintenance worker to do street projects,” Wright said. “Focus on those larger-scale capital and levee-related issues that we have out there going on.” “Wouldn’t you agree,” Mayor Keith Tymchuk said, “that there are significant advantages to the city to let those lead workers focus on priority projects, rather than on open-
“Working Hard for You and Yours” Check Out Our New Site www.oregonhomesbythesea.com
Bill G.
N. Floyd
SEE SUMMIT | A6
Council OKs new custodial/ parks maintenance job
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financial resources to help. Seminars this year included: Tribal Contributions to the Economic Health of our Coastal and Rural Communities; Oregon Resilience Plan and Tsunami Preparedness: The Economics of Natural Catastrophic Events; Economic Analysis of Rural and Coast Oregon: An Outlook on the Challenges and Opportunities for Economic Growth, which included State Economist Mark McMullen; Judicial Review: Natural Resources and Environmental Law and Statewide Solutions for Regional Economic Development. Roblan said because of elections every two years, there’s a need to keep local communities involved. “Those people change,” he said, “and so there’s an ongoing need to get people up to speed, whether it’s the federal government or the state government; all the agencies and all the opportunities for resources to come in. “It’s great to have them come to the coast and have a place for all of our people, up and down the coast, to have those meetings and develop
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ing bathroom doors?” Wright said, with limited assets, anywhere the city could get an edge is an advantage. “More bang for our buck,” Tymchuk said. “We’re working on it,” Wright answered. The current, part-time custodian position pays in a range of $2,207.51 to 2,757.77. Wright said making it full-time would pay $2,322.50 to 2,934.40. The new position will be officially called building and parks custodian/maintenance worker. “It’s almost like it becomes a new, entry-level maintenance position,” Wright said, “that could expand to other areas, potentially.” “The way I look at this,” Councilor Frank Barth said, “our maintenance people … instead of mowing lawns and cleaning outhouses … they’re taking care of things that need to do with the (Umpqua) Discovery Center, the library and other places in the city that are more important.” The council agreed and voted unanimously for the new position.