SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
Give Your Student’s Home Study Space an update
Jim Hawkins
Willamette
Connections
Academy
Whether your student is headed back
to a school building or will continue learn-
ing online, having a dedicated space for
schoolwork at home is important. Many
families freshen up their student’s study
area a couple of times a year, including at
the start of the new year at the semester
break. If your student already has a study
zone, it might need updating to meet their
current situation. Find out how to best or-
ganize your student’s study area by read-
ing the tips below.
Set and reset
This is a good time to establish a learn-
ing station for your student or rethink the
space if they already have one. Does your
home have a designated place for study-
ing? One that’s free from excessive noise
and distractions? If not, look for a spot
where your child can do both online and
offline work. Students should have their
computer, school supplies, and textbooks
within reach.
Is your student’s study area not work-
ing? Try thinking about their personality.
On her blog, organizing expert Vicki Nor-
ris of Restoring Order asks, “Do they like to
have a quiet place to work, or do they like
to be close to you? If your child is the latter,
you’ll want to create a space in the kitchen
for example as opposed to their bedroom.”
This can help guide you as to where you
can design a new space that will help
them stay focused.
Personalize
Make learning enjoyable by encourag-
ing your student to decorate their school-
work area, which can give them a sense of
ownership and build excitement for
studying. See if there’s anything special
your child wants to add to their education
space, such as customized whiteboard or
wall calendar to track assignments and
upcoming tests.
Declutter
Whether it’s an established study zone
or a new learning area, an early spring
cleaning is in order before the second se-
mester starts.
Begin by clearing out the learning sta-
tion, putting everything into categories:
school supplies, books, and reference
items like the teacher contact list. Keep
items that are used frequently, like pens,
and notebooks handy. Other less used
items, such as folders, can be kept in a
nearby drawer. Toss anything that is ei-
ther outdated or not needed.
By showing your students that getting
organized can be fun, they’ll hopefully get
in the habit of cleaning off their desk every
night. Researchers at St. Xavier University
in Chicago found that students who were
organized with tools such as binders and
paper for notetaking had better grades
than those who weren’t as prepared.
Restock
Students need the right learning tools,
including virtual ones, to help them suc-
ceed in school. Ask older students to take
inventory of what they have in stock for
school supplies such as highlighters and
folders. Once you’ve restocked, children
should be responsible for keeping the sup-
ply inventory up to date.
If your child’s school is resuming in-
person classes soon, the district may ask
your family to provide certain supplies,
including hand sanitizer and masks, so
check for a list to make sure you are ready
for their first day back.
Tech Check
During the pandemic, technology has
been vital to keeping students connected
to teachers and online courses, making
computer maintenance critical for digital
learners.
When refreshing the designated school
space, double-check all the connections
for your child’s printer, webcam, headset,
and other devices. Test out the Internet
connection to ensure peak performance.
If your student is old enough, make
sure they know how to organize their
computer files by removing clutter from
the desktop and putting items for school
projects into a designated folder. Parents
should also update their antivirus soft-
ware to check for malware and trouble-
shoot other cyber problems. If you have a
school-issued computer, check with their
technology support team to see how they
can support you.
While the goal is to ensure your child’s
school space stays organized in the short
run, hopefully, they’re learning valuable
organizational skills that will assist them
later in life as well.
Students feel more invested in their
education when they update their study
areas with their parents. Refreshing their
study space is also a great way to keep
them motivated going into the new se-
mester and will help them finish the
school year strong.
Jim Hawkins is an elementary teacher
with Willamette Connections Academy.
For more information about Willamette
Connections Academy go to Willamette-
ConnectionsAcademy.com or call 888-
478-9474.
Fight
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2021
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3A
Address
Continued from Page 1A
Among the details she focused on
in her address were her wildfire miti-
gation goals and expanding voter ac-
cess.
On wildfires, Brown said that while
factors including climate change and
population growth are expected to
continue to put people at risk from
wildfires every year, "an immediate
response to mitigate fire risk is re-
quired."
This response includes promoting
fire-adapted communities with evac-
uation routes and response plans;
putting more boots on the ground
during wildfire responses; investing
in new firefighting technologies; and
supporting coordinated forest thin-
ning operations and controlled burns.
The governor also repeated her
calls for expanded voter access, de-
scribing voting as a central tenet of
democracy.
Her priorities include expanding
automatic voter registration to state
agencies beyond the Department of
Motor Vehicles, instituting same-day
voter registration and allowing bal-
lots to be counted as long as they were
postmarked by election day.
Brown encouraged Oregonians
that the finish line for the troubles of
2020 is in sight, but warned that
building back will require more than
just a return to the pre-2020 world.
“We are determined to rise, rebuild
and reinvent a more just and equita-
ble Oregon," Brown said.
Reporter Connor Radnovich covers
the Oregon Legislature and state gov-
ernment. Contact him at cradnov-
ich@statesmanjournal.com or 503-
399-6864, or follow him on Twitter at
@CDRadnovich.
Falls and Drakes Crossing are still there."
The cleanup and the future
Continued from Page 1A
Mehama, the fire roared northwest on a
web of remote forest and creek-cut can-
yons. The fire followed dry, fuel loaded
ridgelines as it burned across Shellburg
Falls and moved towards Silver Falls,
said local firefighters.
“If you look at a map of the fire, it was
running ridgelines and then backing
down slopes into drainages,” said Fred
Patterson, fire chief of Drakes Crossing
Fire Department.
Fire crews laid down rudimentary
goals: find the best place to make a
stand, save nearby homes and protect
the park.
“The decision I had made was that we
are not going to lose any of the park,” Pat-
terson said.
Generations of firefighters
Patterson has firefighting in his blood.
In 1967, his grandfather, Bill Bartels,
was one of the founding members of the
Drakes Crossing Fire Department, a
small station nestled between Silver
Falls and Silverton. Patterson’s son and
cousin are also members of the 22-per-
son department composed almost en-
tirely of volunteers.
As a child, Patterson remembers go-
ing on calls with his grandpa. After a
short career in law enforcement, Patter-
son returned home in 1997 and worked
his way up the department ranks. He
was named fire chief in 2010.
He's also worked wildfires in different
states.
"I've been to California twice and Tex-
as — I've seen my share of wildfire," he
said. "But it's a different feeling, a differ-
ent toll on your personal life when it's in
your own backyard."
Taking a bulldozer down a black
diamond slope
With the primary goal of protecting
the park and local buildings, Patterson
and his crew of volunteer contractors
used heavy equipment to dig fire lines.
Fueled by adrenaline and diesel, they
used bulldozers to create lines that ran
parallel to the park. The goal was to re-
move all burnable vegetation and stop
the fire in its tracks.
It wasn’t easy. It required sending
bulldozers down dangerous pitches as
steep as 35 degrees — roughly the slope
of a black diamond ski run.
“In some pretty nasty topography,
those guys did incredible work,” Patter-
son said.
Matt Chavarria, owner of Chavarria
Construction in Silverton, was one of the
many locals who answered the call.
“I grew up there, I’ve been in that area
since I was 10 years old and I’m still work-
ing up there,” Chavarria said. “We’d just
watched half the timberland burn up in
one night that I’ve been working on my
whole life. Fred and I knew once it
crossed (Grade Road) we weren’t going to
fight it anymore without losing struc-
tures.”
A battle on two fronts
The Beachie Creek Fire wasn’t just
threatening Silver Falls. A finger of the
fire advanced north of the park and west
toward Drakes Crossing, a community of
roughly 800, and structures outside Sil-
Members of the Salem Area Trail Alliance work to restore trails following the
Beachie Creek Fire. KYLE MARTZ / SPECIAL TO THE STATESMAN JOURNAL
verton.
Chavarria helped evacuate Drakes
Crossing before working to protect the
park and his community. He dug dozer
lines for 16 straight days.
“The first week was pretty intense, it
was a big adrenaline rush,” he said.
Patterson instructed Chavarria to use
his in-depth knowledge of the area and
run a dozer line parallel to the park from
the north.
“It’s a little different when you’re
fighting fire around people’s houses that
you know. People are calling and texting
you while you’re trying to save their
house,” Chavarria said.
Firefighters get a break and look
to take advantage
The Beachie Creek Fire lost some mo-
mentum as winds slowed on Sept. 9, giv-
ing fire crews the chance to take advan-
tage.
“Nobody gave any sigh of relief,” Pat-
terson said. “We still had a lot of very ac-
tive fire out there, and we didn’t have any
visibility on September 9.”
The Beachie Creek Fire split into three
fingers as it traveled west, with the bot-
tom two surrounding Silver Falls and
Drakes Crossing.
“The first day, we didn’t realize how
big it was,” Chavarria said.
To stop the fire from traveling across
ridgelines, crews worked to cut the fires
off before it entered a canyon and in-
creased in intensity traveling back up the
other side. Fire moves much faster up
slopes than down slopes as it preheats
the vegetation above, Patterson said.
One natural barrier was a clear-cut
southeast of the park. It served as a nat-
ural fire line.
“We were trying to use as much natu-
ral break as we could, whether it was old
road systems, creek lines or parts of that
clear cut,” said Patterson.
Splitting crews to make a final
stand
Faced with the challenge of protecting
local communities and Silver Falls, Pat-
terson divided his resources.
Crews to the north focused on limiting
damage to homes and structures in
Drakes Crossing. To stop the fire from
reaching the community, fire crews
made their stand east of the Bridge Creek
drainage and Grade Road.
“We made the decision to start fight-
ing it where we fought it because I knew
we could stop it there without losing
houses,” Chavarria said.
The strategy paid off. With improved
conditions, the fire reached the fire line
at Bridge Creek and came to a halt.
“It butted up against it and it was
done,” said Patterson.
The fire ultimately stopped a half-
mile from Drakes Crossing. No buildings
were lost.
A few miles to the south, at Silver
Falls, crews were also successful. The
combination of fire lines and improved
conditions meant that only 127 acres of
the 9,000-acre park burned, and only in
the remote southeast section.
Fire lines outside the park show the
impact fire crews made. On one side of
dozer lines, the forest is blackened. On
the other, it’s emerald green.
“A lot of the credit should be attribut-
ed to my contractors and firefighters;
they took great risk to be out there in
front of this fire putting in the work that
they did,” said Patterson.
The weather also made a big differ-
ence.
“If that wind would have kept blowing
at 50 mph for another hour, the park and
my community would not look like what
it looks today,” Patterson said. “God laid a
humongous hand in the fact that Silver
To see what might have happened at
Silver Falls, you don’t have to look far.
Shellburg Falls, just a few miles away,
was severely burned and will likely be
closed for a year or more.
Silver Falls, on the other hand, is al-
most unscathed. None of the waterfalls
were impacted. The historic buildings,
built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conser-
vation Corps, still stand.
In fact, almost nobody visiting Silver
Falls today would know how close the
park came to calamity.
The only evidence of the fire can be
seen along the Catamount Trail in the
park's backcountry. Hikers, bikers and
runners can travel through large patches
of fire-blackened forest, thanks to the
work of the Salem Area Trail Alliance,
which quickly restored the pathway.
Park officials said the experience
prompted better fire planning, so they’ll
be ready should another titanic blaze
come their way in the future.
In the meantime, those who love the
park and know how close the fire came
are grateful to those who put themselves
on the line.
“We’re thankful to the firefighters and
everyone who answered the bell, so that
we still get to enjoy this,” said Beth Day-
ton, executive director of the Salem Area
Trail Alliance.
Kyle Martz is a senior at Willamette
University studying Environmental Sci-
ence, Communications and Media. Born
and raised in South Salem, Kyle plans to
pursue a career in the outdoor industry.
He can be reached at kdmartz@willam-
ette.edu.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors re-
porter, photographer and videographer
in Oregon for 13 years. He can be reached
at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or
(503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at
@ZachsORoutdoors.
LOCAL
ADVISORS
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