COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL March 30, 2016
Felony assault
charge fi led against
Cottage Grove man
Pollinators
welcome at
planned
garden sites
A
Stops along Row River Trail
will cater to Monarchs,
bumblebees, etc.
BY JON STINNETT
The Cottage Grove Sentinel
C
ottage Grove’s popular Row River
Trail features a number “rest stops”
of sorts, places where travelers can take a
break and recharge before continuing their
journey. This spring, a biologist with the
Cottage Grove Ranger District hopes to
add rest stops along the trail for different
types of visitors.
Krista Farris, a botanist with the U.S.
Forest Service, applied for and received
$9000 in Title II grant funding from fed-
eral timber receipts to build fi ve pollinator
gardens, 25 by 25-foot plots that she said
will cater specifi cally to several species
of birds and insects that are renowned for
their work in plant pollination.
Farris said the gardens aim to promote
food sources and habitat for species like
the Monarch butterfl y, which is in serious
decline in this area, in addition to western
bumblebees, Rufous hummingbirds and
others. At each stop, these visitors will en-
counter plants suited to their needs such as
Showy Milkweed, a favorite for the Mon-
archs, in addition to Oregon Grape, Red
Flowering Currant, Western Columbine,
Western Cone Flower and Horsemint.
Migrators such as Monarchs often follow
bodies of water on their long journeys, and
Farris said locating the pollinator gardens
along the Row River Trail should double
photo by Jon Stinnett
Forest Service biologist Krista Farris talks about the work that will go into
constructing a pollinator garden at the Mosby Creek trailhead.
as a way for human visitors to enjoy seeing
the birds and insects in their own travels.
She also hopes the gardens act as “weigh
stations,” where biologists, school groups
and others can track the status of pollina-
tors in the area.
“There’s a regional concern about the de-
cline of pollinators,” she said. “But a lot of
people are very interested in what happens
to them and supportive of our efforts.”
Habitat destruction and pesticides are
among the main culprits in the decline of
pollinator species, and there are many plant
species such as tomatoes that can only be
pollinated by certain insects or birds such
as the Western Bumblebee, which may be
on the verge of listing as an endangered
species. Monarch butterfl ies have declined
a startling 80 percent in the last decade as
the milkweed upon which they depend has
been removed from canals and ditches and
herbicides such as glyphosates have taken
their toll.
Last week, Farris offered a tour of sever-
al of the sites where pollinator gardens are
planned, including the Row River Nature
Park, Bake Stewart Park on Dorena Reser-
voir and the Mosby Creek trailhead. Each
offers interaction with human visitors in a
conspicuous location.
Students with the Kennedy High School
Conservation Corps will be constructing
the gardens, which are planned to include
plants of very local origin, in the coming
weeks.
“We want to include local genetics wher-
ever possible,” Farris said.
The project represents a partnership be-
tween the Forest Service, Coast Fork Wil-
lamette Watershed Council, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, the Row River Trail
Partnership, South Lane County Parks and
Recreation and the City of Cottage Grove.
Farris said the gardens should be planted
in April, in time for the Bikes and Blooms
event, which should help show them off on
May 7.
Missing Cottage Grove man located
T
he Cottage Grove Police
Department said Monday
that the search for a local man who
had not had contact with his family
since about Christmas came to an
end when the department received
notice that the man had been locat-
ed in Sacramento.
Relatives had reportedly not
heard from 44-year old William
Thomas Stuart, reportedly a mem-
3A
ber of the local transient commu-
nity, since late last year. Last week,
police said they were inclined to
believe that Stuart was alive and
well despite their inability to posi-
tively identify him.
On Saturday morning, Com-
mander Conrad Gagner said the
Sacramento, Calif. Police Depart-
ment notifi ed CGPD that during
a routine contact, it had located
Stuart in that city. Gagner said
that Stuart was located among the
homeless community there, and
was not charged with any wrong-
doing. Stuart is reportedly working
to come back to Oregon and has
been put in touch with resources
that could help him get back to this
area. There was no word regarding
his long absence, though police
said his parents have been notifi ed.
42-year old Cottage
Grove man was reported-
ly lodged in the Lane County
Jail at Sentinel press time
Monday after he was arrested
on an assault charge stemming
from an incident with his four-
year old son.
Commander Conrad Gag-
ner of the Cottage Grove
Police Department said that
the Department of Human
Services interviewed the boy
after relatives discovered
what appeared to be a burn
mark on his penis. During the
interview, Gagner said, the
boy indicated that his father
had burned him there with a
match, a story that was sub-
sequently corroborated by the
boy’s other siblings.
Gagner said that 42-year old
Clent Wayne Wilson was
contacted at work in Eugene
and sub-
sequently
arrested
on a
felony
Assault
III charge
on Friday
afternoon.
Clent Wayne
The boy
report-
Wilson
edly fi rst
told his
mother about the burn, and
his grandmother subsequently
took the child to the doctor,
who reported the incident to
DHS. Gagner said the boy was
very articulate for his age and
specifi c about the allegations,
which Wilson has reportedly
denied. The case is still under
investigation by the Lane
County District Attorney’s
Offi ce.
Local woman charged
with harming her child
A
nine-month old boy was
examined for evidence
of a fractured skull and his
mother is in custody following
her arrest last week, according
to the Cottage Grove Police
Department.
The boy’s mother report-
edly took him to PeaceHealth
Community Medical Center in
Cottage Grove for a well-baby
check, at which time police
said the doctor discovered a
“soft spot on his head where
there shouldn’t be one,” ac-
cording to Commander Conrad
Gagner. Doctors worried that
the boy may have a fractured
skull, and he was transported
to Sacred Heart at Riverbend,
where a CT scan confi rmed
their fears.
The Department of Human
Services, concerned that the
injury may have occurred due
to some kind of abuse, inter-
viewed the mother, who also
released the child’s medical
records to police.
G a g -
ner said
that dur-
ing a sub-
sequent
interview
with po-
lice, 21-
year old
Kendra
Ulmer ad-
mitted that Kendra Ulmer
she
had
been tired and frustrated and,
while trying to calm the baby,
she admitted to “shaking him
harder than she should have.”
Gagner added that Ulmer ad-
mitted that her own chin struck
the child in the head more than
once and hard enough to make
her chin hurt.
Ulmer was lodged in the
Lane County Jail on Friday af-
ternoon on a felony Assault III
charge, though Gagner said the
charge could become more se-
rious once the child’s condition
is more thoroughly examined.
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