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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 2019)
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2019 ❚ SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK Detroit Lake water levels drop for repairs Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Water levels at Detroit Lake will drop way below normal for dam repairs beginning Thursday, making access to the lake difficult to impossible for anglers through mid-January. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers typically drops the reservoir east of Salem in autumn to make room for winter flood control, but this season they’ll drop it even lower for “construction on two of the dam’s spill- way gates,” the agency said in a news release. The change won’t impact Detroit’s water level next summer, but it will result in closing the low-water Mongold boat ramp that allows boats to get on the res- ervoir for winter trout and kokanee fishing. “We closed the ramp this morning,” said Bob Rea, manager of Detroit Lake State Park, which manages the boat ramp. “Once you get the reservoir this low, the concrete ends and it turns to soft deep mud.” Anglers can still fish from the banks or carry a boat to reach the water, but any large motorized boat will be nearly impossible, Rea said. The reservoir will remain too low for the boat ramp through the middle of January, the Corps said. Water levels could drop as low as 1,425 feet and won’t rise above 1,450 feet. The “full pool” summertime level at Detroit is 1,563 feet. Previously, the Corps said they wouldn’t need to drop the reservoir so low for the repairs, but that changed recently, officials said. “Our understanding of the rehab work has expand- ed since starting it a few weeks ago,” Corps spokes- See DETROIT LAKE, Page 2A The winter boat ram at Mongold seen from the air, as the banks of Detroit Lake are visible more than usual. Detroit Lake's water level is almost 40 feet below for this time of year, raising concerns that the reservoir won't reach its normal 'full pool' summertime level. DAVID DAVIS AND KELLY JORDAN / STATESMAN JOURNAL Salem Harvest helps hungry Woman, volunteers rescue locally grown food to feed families Emily Teel Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Silverton Sheltering Service's executive director Hilary Dumitrescu and shelter manager Julia Marshall rest between last-minute preparations as they and other volunteers ready the new upstairs space at Oak Street Church for its 2019-20 season. The 30-bed shelter is open November through March, 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. CHRISTENA BROOKS/SPECIAL TO THE APPEAL TRIBUNE CHURCH EXPANDS WARMING SHELTER Shelter no longer a temporary operation this season Christena Brooks Special to Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Opening night, 2019. Tim Sutton and Cort Martin, of Wy’east Electric, talk quietly as they install a lighted exit sign over the back door and a ceiling fan on the 20-foot ceiling. Manager Julia Marshall and executive director Hilary Dumitrescu count teacups, napkins and dishtowels. Volunteer Joseph Schmaus – in a raincoat, jeans and a friendly smile – stops by to offer last-minute help. Such were the final preparations for the 2019-20 season at Silverton’s warming shelter. Every night, from now through March, Oak Street Church will open its doors to those without a place to sleep. “Our shelter’s mission is very simple,” said Dumi- trescu, who leads Silverton Sheltering Services, which operates the shelter as well as a day center in the base- ment of the city’s Community Center a few blocks away. “We are keeping people from dying of exposure in the cold weather.” Entering its third year, the warming shelter is no longer a temporary operation requiring set up and take down every night and morning. Rather, the whole en- deavor has moved from the church’s sanctuary to a large second-story space above it. Thirty cots, each with a plastic tote at its foot, a clutch of donated couches, and a TV and fridge will stay in place all win- ter, ready for guests every night. Last year, homeless men and women came to the shelter by the dozens. By spring, 79 different people had stayed overnight. That was an increase from 2017- 18, when 35 people came, and 2016-17, the shelter’s first year, when 26 slept there. Every night, the shelter is open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. Staff and volunteers do what they can to make things See SHELTER, Page 3B State owes $1B in timber revenue Oregon mismanaged state forests, Linn Co. jury rules Tracy Loew Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Oregon has mismanaged its state forests over the past two decades by failing to let timber companies cut enough trees, a Linn County jury decided Wednesday. The jury awarded $1 billion in past and future lost profits to 13 counties involved in a class-action law- suit against the state, including Marion and Polk counties. The counties said the state was contractually obli- gated to maximize timber profits – a portion of which they receive – over other management goals such as recreation, clean air and drinking water, and native species protection. “Our position all along has been that the state did not fulfill its duty to counties when it unilaterally changed the term of the contract,” Marion County Commissioner Sam Brentano said Wednesday after- noon. “It was inappropriate for the state to change the definition of “greatest permanent value” without compensating local jurisdictions that rely on these funds to support essential services such as schools, public safety and roads.” State officials disagreed. “The Oregon Department of Forestry believes that balanced and science-based public forest manage- ment produces the best long-term outcomes for all Oregonians, including the counties and taxing dis- By 2 p.m. on a September day, Elise Bauman has visited an onion farmer’s field, she’s lifted a few hun- dred watermelons into bins and at least a thousand ears of corn. She’s driven from Salem to Molalla and back, and made two stops already at Marion Polk Food Share. She’ll soon drive north to run the final harvest of the day, pears from pollinator trees in a commercial orchard. What she hasn’t done is stopped to eat. A tall figure in floral-printed rain boots, Bauman seems to generate energy autonomously as though, like the plants and trees on the farms where she spends much of her day, she could photosynthesize. The director and the sole paid staff member of the nonprofit organization Salem Harvest, Bauman acts as a hub connecting area farmers, volunteers and agencies fighting hunger throughout the Willamette Valley. Salem Harvest rescues fresh produce that would otherwise go to waste; mobilizing volunteers to pick, collect or dig; and distributing it to those in need through a network of community organizations. Bauman started volunteering at Salem Harvest in 2011 when she was still working as a structural engi- neer. “I had 5 kids living with me and one income.“ Mak- ing the best of a tight budget, she fell in love with the organization. “I could go work for the food and give back, too, so that was a huge thing for me.” Soon, she was serving on the organization’s board and manipulating her work schedule to spend more and more time building relationships with growers on Salem Harvest’s be- half. Through her work, including frequent lunch break- less days, the nonprofit prevents on-farm food waste and collects close to 400,000 pounds of food annu- ally, the equivalent of more than 300,000 meals a year for Oregonians struggling with hunger. How big an issue is food waste? As a nation, the United States wastes more than 400 pounds of food per person annually, according to a 2017 report from the National Resources Defense Council. Meanwhile, one in five children in Oregon strug- gles with hunger. Feeding America estimates 12% of Oregon’s population, half a million people, are food insecure. Nationwide, it’s 40 million people. NRDC researchers concluded that less than one- third of the food going to waste annually could allevi- ate that food insecurity entirely. “There’s so, so much being wasted,” said Bauman, “and it’s heartbreaking, not only for hungry people ten miles away, but because of all the resources that go into growing food, and then we’re just going to sit there and let it rot.” “All the time, all the fertilizer, all the water, all the soil nutrients; we’re sucking all that stuff out for noth- ing. How much went on that field of broccoli to make it broccoli?” While consumers allowing groceries and leftovers to languish for too long is the major source of food waste, plenty is wasted before it even leaves the farm due to mechanical, logistical, financial and cultural factors. Salem Harvest volunteers collect Willamette Valley-grown produce for all of these reasons and more. See HARVEST, Page 3A See TIMBER, Page 2B Online at SilvertonAppeal.com Vol. 138, No. 49 News updates: ❚ Breaking news ❚ Get updates from the Silverton area Photos: ❚ Photo galleries Serving the Silverton Area Since 1880 A Unique Edition of the Statesman Journal QEAJAB-07403y ©2019 50 cents Printed on recycled paper Springstead catches a head of broccoli tossed by Elise Bauman, executive director of Salem Harvest. KELLY JORDAN/STATESMAN JOURNAL