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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 2021)
SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2021 | 3B Roads in Little North Fork, Opal Creek closed indefinitely Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK One of Oregon's most popular places to swim, hike and kayak will be closed, likely through the entire summer, due to wildfire damage and the need to focus on cleanup and rebuilding, Marion County Commissioners decided Wednesday. The Little North San- tiam Canyon, severely burned by the Beachie Creek Fire during the La- bor Day blowup, will be closed to the public im- mediately. Officials say only local residents will be allowed to access the area. The official closure is for North Fork, Gates Hill, and Pioneer roads — along with all parks and recreation sites. The move cuts off access to the river's swimming holes and hiking trails that typically become popular as the weather warms. The Opal Creek area, within Willamette Na- tional Forest, is also closed and is almost cer- tain to remain that way all summer as well. North Fork Road will be closed at its junction with Highway 22. "These restrictions are meant to protect people from hazards in the North Fork corridor," Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell said. "We understand there will be frustration from the pub- lic; however, we have to do what is right and safe for everyone. We hope people will have under- standing and grace through the rebuilding process. "For the time being, we’re encouraging people to explore Oregon’s other amazing parks and recre- ational opportunities." The Beachie Creek Fire roared through the Little North Canyon on Labor Day night, killing five people, destroying homes and leaving behind high tree mortality that's ex- pected to require exten- sive cleanup following winter rains. The roads themselves were also heavily damaged, offi- Burned landscape surrounds a sign pointing toward Highway 22 on North Fork Road in September 2020. Areas in the Little North Santiam Canyon will remain closed to non-residents this summer while crews continue cleanup from the wildfires. CONNOR RADNOVICH / STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE cials said. Officials said that with the roads open, they were still seeing people tres- passing into closed parks. They expected that trend to get worse as weather warmed, prompting the full road closure. Anyone caught in the area could be cited and fined $250. "We're really hoping for voluntary compliance to begin and we want people to understand the hazards," Marion County spokeswoman Jolene Kelley said. Signs will be installed in coming weeks and a road barricade is likely to be erected at the closure. "We're really trying to get the word out and will work to make sure people have notice ahead of time, since normally we do see a lot of people coming from outside the area," Kelley said. Additional restrictions include: h No parking and no bicyclists within the North Fork, Gates Hill and Pioneer Road rights-of- A “North Fork strong” sign in the ground beside North Fork Road. CONNOR RADNOVICH / STATESMAN JOURNAL way. h No recreational ac- cess to the Little North Fork Santiam River from North Fork Road, Gates Hill Road, Pioneer Road, North Fork Park, Salmon Falls Park or Bear Creek Park and campground. The area is likely to re- open on a "rolling basis" as areas are repaired. "It really depends on how quickly we can make these areas safe," Kelley said. "Summer (of 2022) might be a possibility for reopening." The main reason for the closures is safety and allowing crews to rebuild damaged areas. "Public Works antici- pates it will take approxi- mately 18 months to re- store wildfire damaged roads and two to three years to fully rebuild county parks," Marion County officials said in a news release. "Parks sustained con- siderable damage with the near total destruction of vegetation. It remains unsafe to enter the parks North Fork Park and areas in the Little North Santiam Canyon will remain closed this summer while crews continue cleanup from the wildfires. ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL due to the large number of dead and standing trees that can fall with lit- tle or no warning. "A large volume of woody debris, both float- ing and submerged, is moving down the water- shed on a daily basis making it unsafe for the public to enter the Little North Fork Santiam River at this time." Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter, photographer and videographer in Oregon for 13 years. To support his work, subscribe to the Statesman Journal. Urness can be reached at zurness@Statesman- Journal.com or (503) 399- 6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors. Bill would put race on voter registration cards Connor Radnovich Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK State lawmakers are considering a bill that would give Oregonians registering to vote or up- dating their registration the option to include race, ethnicity and language preference information. Proponents of the measure say gathering this data — which would be available to the public — would allow for strong- er engagement with mi- nority voters by commu- nity organizations and ensure that state and county elections officials could better identify and address voting inequal- ities. “Right now, because we do not collect this da- ta, we do not have a clear picture of how well voting populations across the state are served by the systems that we have,” said Rep. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, the chief sponsor of House Bill 2745 during its first pub- lic hearing Thursday. Similar data is already collected in fields includ- ing education and health care to improve outcomes in different demographic groups, and the same should be done for the state’s elections, Pham said. Mail-in ballots are sorted into a bin on Monday, Oct. 19, 2020 at the Marion County Clerk's Office in Salem. ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL Providing demograph- ic information would be voluntary. Oregonians currently have four ways to register to vote, and the bill would require that the option of providing race, ethnicity, and preferred language information be available in each manner. Eight states already collect similar data via voter registration. This bill is one of many that emerged this session from the Oregon Legisla- ture’s Black, Indigenous and People of Color Cau- cus. ‘Are we trying to turn out voters?’ In a short back-and- forth with Pham during the committee hearing, House Republican Leader Christine Drazan, R-Can- by, questioned the need for the information to be public if the intent, in part, is to simply study participation. Pham, a former com- munity organizer, said having racial and ethnic information available for culturally specific organi- zations would allow them to better engage with reg- istered voters who don’t participate in elections. Creating strategies to connect with a group of people who, for example, don’t speak English as their primary language is difficult without this da- ta, she said. “So, is this a (get out the vote) bill for targeting minority populations? What are we going for here? Are we trying to turn out voters?” Drazan asked. No, Pham said. The goal is to make sure po- tential voters know what they’re voting on, espe- cially in their own lan- guage. In this way, Pham said, HB 2745 enables HB 3021, which would require that voter pamphlet informa- tion be translated and made available in the four or five most spoken non- English languages in Ore- gon. Pham said based on anecdotal evidence it ap- pears many minority communities do not par- ticipate in elections at the same rate as English- speaking Oregonians. This bill aims to achieve equal participation, she said. Proponents testify in support of bill Rep. Jack Zika, R-Red- mond, also said he was concerned about the ra- cial or ethnic information being available to the public. Specifically, he was concerned it “could be used as a way to mar- ket toward one group and exclude another group.” Pham deferred that question to the other peo- ple who testified in sup- port of the bill Thursday. In total, six bill sup- porters testified via video conference to lawmakers; no one signed up to testi- fy against the bill. Michelle Hicks of the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon noted that the state has consis- tently been on the leading edge of voter access is- sues, including passing automatic voter registra- tion and vote by mail. This proposal is in-line with that history, she said. “By allowing more Or- egonians to self-identify, we’re able to further em- power the state and com- munity-led organizations to connect with voters in a deeper and more mean- ingful way,” Hicks said. Additional action on HB 2745 has not yet been scheduled. Policy com- mittees have until April 13 to hold an initial work session if a bill is to con- tinue through the legisla- tive process. Reporter Connor Rad- novich covers the Oregon Legislature and state government. Contact him at cradnovich@ statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6864, or follow him on Twitter at @CDRadnovich. 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