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About Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current | View Entire Issue (June 2, 2021)
4A | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021 | APPEAL TRIBUNE Jobs Continued from Page 1A still nearly twice what it was before the pandemic. When the CARES Act was passed in March 2020, laid-off employees were given a $600 boost in their weekly un- employment benefits and the previous requirement to be actively searching for work was suspended. The current $300 weekly boost, which was authorized under the Amer- ican Rescue Plan, runs through Septem- ber. At least 18 states including Missouri, Iowa and Alaska have said they will stop paying the boost as employers struggle to find employees. Oregon has not an- nounced if it will do the same. Industries in the state including res- taurants and tourism that have been slowly reopening have had difficulties in finding enough employees. “Putting work requirements on hold for more than a half million people dur- ing the crisis was the right thing to do, because these benefits provided a criti- cal stabilizing force for families – and our economy,” Oregon Employment De- partment acting director David Gersten- feld said in a statement. “As the pandemic begins to fade and the economy changes, we are still focus- ing on how we can help fuel economic recovery, and help Oregonians over- come challenges related to employ- ment.” One of last states to reinstate According to the Oregon Employ- ment Department, the job seeking re- quirements will be required for those re- ceiving unemployment under the state’s regular program and one that ex- tends benefits. The same requirements for the self-employed are still being fi- nalized. To receive unemployment from the state, people will have to register with iMatchSkills, a labor exchange system the state has employed since 2004. Oregon is one of the last states to reinstate the requirement. States such as North Dakota reinstat- ed the work search requirement in April and others such as Idaho and Wyoming quickly followed suit. States such as California and Wash- ington have yet to announce when they will resume the requirement. The Oregon Employment Depart- ment said the first notices will go out to about 35,000, though it did not say when, and those will come with dead- lines for when the authorized work search must be completed. Prior to the pandemic, those seeking benefits were required to seek employ- ment through WorkSource. Local offices for WorkSource will reopen July 6, but the service is offering virtual appoint- ments before that. Kyle Freres said his company’s ef- forts have resulted in retaining its cur- rent employees, but it’s still struggled finding new ones, like a lot of employers. It currently has about 60 positions open. “I think it’s a step in the right direc- tion,” Freres said. “There’s obviously an interest for everybody in getting people back to work. It costs the state quite a bit in administering unemployment benefits. “There’s jobs out there. Everybody’s hiring people. I’ve seen fast food restau- rants that are running curtailed hours because they can’t find enough employ- ees.” Bill Poehler covers Marion County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@statesmanjournal.com Outdoors Continued from Page 1A travel and for recreation areas to see high levels of use. And when you add is- sues like the wildfire closures, it be- comes a really sensitive dance.” Wildfire closures will limit recreation across length of Western Oregon Last year’s Labor Day Fires burned over 1 million acres in Western Oregon and there remain major limits on recrea- tion across the state’s western half heading into summer. The wildfire closures, meant to keep people out of potentially dangerous areas, mean large swaths of popular areas near Portland, Salem, Eugene, Ro- seburg and Medford will be off-limits. “First and foremost, the closures are in place for public safety,” Willamette National Forest spokeswoman Joanie Schmidgall said. “There are a lot of haz- ards in a burn area, especially in the first year following a fire.” The closures include parts of the Clackamas, Santiam, McKenzie and North Umpqua river canyons, in addi- tion to areas in southwest Oregon. It’s the most widespread closure of public lands in state history – with the excep- tion of the two-month shutdown of rec- reation during the spring of 2020. There are also lingering closures left by last winter’s ice storm. A new map created by the state at- tempts to provide a one-stop-shop for showing everything that’s open and closed. “This will be an unusual year,” Schmidgall said. “But maybe it’s also a good opportunity to try exploring some- where new. There are so many places even just in Willamette National Forest that people don’t often visit that will be open this summer.” Will wildfire-impacted towns have services? Check ahead Fall Creek tumbles down from the Green Lakes Basin in the Three Sisters Wilderness. ZACH URNESS / STATESMAN JOURNAL ing to be offloaded at West Coast ports, the Denver Post reported. So, if you can’t find the right part or paddle, or get sticker shock looking at the price of a children’s mountain bike, you’re not alone. Drought could bring lower water, high wildfire danger Beverly Beach State Park features a long sandy strand with views of Yaquina Head Lighthouse to the south and Otter Rock to the north, as well as an extensive trail system along Spencer Creek and yurts available for rent. STATESMAN JOURNAL FILE Some of Oregon’s most beloved out- door recreation towns were heavily im- pacted by the Labor Day Fires. Tourists who choose to return to those areas – whether it’s Detroit or Blue River – should be prepared for fewer services. In Detroit, for example, there won’t be a gas station in town, there will only be one small grocery store, and a hand- ful of food trucks. “Folks will need to be a lot more pre- pared when they come up, whether it’s food or gas,” Detroit mayor Jim Trett said. “We’re asking them to use the lake, which is open, and buy supplies in town to help support our economy. We ask them to not go wandering around in people’s property or the burned areas. There is still a lot of distress and re- building going on.” New permit system will toss a wrench into hiking, backpacking in Three Sisters, Jefferson wilderness areas Even though it’s not wildfire or CO- VID-19 related, a new permit system coming online for 450,000 acres of Ore- gon’s most popular backcountry will also throw a wrench into this season. Beginning May 28, you’ll need a spe- cial permit to camp overnight anywhere in the Mount Jefferson, Three Sisters and Mount Washington wilderness areas. In addition, you’ll need a day-use permit to hike in from 19 of the area’s most popular trailheads. There are two ways the new system is likely to bring confusion. First, there’s a wide swath of the population that has no idea that they’ll suddenly need a spe- cial permit in places it wasn’t previously required – particularly people coming from out of state. And second, just ob- taining that permit for popular hikes can be a challenge that requires navigat- ing the website Recreation.gov and un- derstanding that permits go on sale 7 days before a specific date. The Forest Service is planning on having volunteers at high-use trail- heads to explain the system. They’ll also have rangers patrolling trails. But, Schmidgall said, it’s going to be a year with a major learning curve. “We’re just asking people to be pa- tient and to plan as much as possible before they go,” she said. “We’re staffing the phones at our ranger stations so give us a call with any questions because the last thing we want is for people to get in the car and discover the place they’re traveling is closed by fire damage or re- quires a permit they didn’t know about.” Reservations for hotels, vacation rentals disappearing quickly Last year, as the limits on travel and outdoor recreation lifted, people headed to the Oregon Coast en force. But often, it was for spur-of-the-moment day- trips. This year, people have had more time to plan and that’s meant a spike in the number reserving hotels, vacation rent- als, cabins and yurts. “People have more confidence in making reservations, and that’s led to a ton of places already being fully booked,” said Arica Sears, deputy direc- tor of Oregon Coast Visitors Associa- tion. “I have friends who get on the com- puter and just hit refresh over and over when they’re trying to get a cabin. It’s tough right now.” Sears said that in addition to the spike in booking, people are also plan- ning to stay longer, making vacation rentals on the Coast even harder to score. Yurts, cabins and campsites still available, but pay attention Havel, with Oregon’s state parks, said reservations for yurts, cabins and campsites at Oregon’s state parks start- ed off slow as the agency limited capac- ity, but have been speeding up quickly. He added that new open dates would soon appear as the agency removes its “resting day” for yurts and cabins that had been in place for the pandemic. “We’re actually just 60 percent of ca- pacity for summer, when normally we’d be closer to 70 percent,” he said last week. “But it’s catching up very quick- ly.” The good news is that Oregon’s state parks, which were understaffed last season due to economic fallout from the pandemic, have returned to more nor- mal staffing levels, meaning more facil- ities from showers to bathrooms to gar- bage collection should be on course. But if you want to reserve a yurt or cabin at an Oregon state park, pay close attention to the agency’s social media channels and check the website Reser- veAmerica.com often. Shortage of hotel workers and raft guides The nationwide trend of being unable to find workers is also impacting Ore- gon’s outdoors. Collier said outfitters have had trou- ble hiring enough qualified raft guides to support the number of trips the influx of demand is bringing. “We were down 30 percent last year, and we’re up 30 percent this year, and when you have that huge influx of need there just aren’t enough people to work as guides,” he said. The same issue is impacting hotels, vacation rentals and restaurants on the Coast, said Sears. “If you’re checking into a rental or waiting to get into your favorite restau- rant, it might take longer,” she said. “I’d say coastal communities are ready, but they are worried about not having the workforce to support the huge visitation we’re expecting.” Gaps in supply chain create a run on outdoor gear While this year’s wonky summer in the outdoors might be felt most acutely in crowds, limited reservations and clo- sures, even outdoor gear is having an odd summer. Gaps in the supply chain have creat- ed a situation where it can be difficult to get the right tents, paddle or mountain bike – or the price has been greatly in- flated. Reasons for the shortages are multi- faceted, including production slow- downs in Asia, a shortage of commercial truck drivers and a backup of massive container ships filled with goods wait- After one of the driest springs in re- corded history, almost all of Oregon is heading into summer amid a moderate to severe drought that’s only expected to deepen. That’s likely to mean lower water lev- els at popular reservoirs – such as Fern Ridge and Detroit Lake – and along with lower flows on rivers and creeks. It’s also likely to mean campfire limits get imposed earlier than normal as wildfire danger climbs higher more quickly. Unprepared in outdoors brought spike in deaths, rescues last year The reason all the wonkiness in Ore- gon’s outdoors is relevant is that it often leads to bad outcomes – mainly, death, accidents and even wildfires. Oregon set a modern record for boat- ing deaths in 2020, and the number of search and rescue missions and fatal accidents was also way up, officials said. “With more people on the water, and more inexperienced people on the wa- ter, you’re going to see more accidents,” Randy Henry, boating safety program manager for the Oregon State Marine Board, said last summer. “We saw that trend not only on the water, but also on land with search and rescue missions being way up as well. There was just a lot more people that got themselves into trouble.” Not all bad news: Oregon’s outdoors has plenty of space! Even with all the oddities heading into Oregon’s summer of 2021, there’s plenty of reason to head outdoors. Just do it smartly. The biggest thing is doing homework – whether a given location is open or not, requires a permit or not, and what you’ll need to travel there. It’s also smart to look for less-visited places, or have a backup plan if you ar- rive at a trailhead and it’s a zoo. “There are so many cool places that aren’t commonly known,” Collier said. “We need to do a better job of showing those.” And, as ever, the crowds will thin out by September, especially as a more nor- mal school year takes shape. “If people can wait until September, we’ll have plenty of open spots on our river trips,” Collier said. Zach Urness has been an outdoors re- porter, photographer and videographer in Oregon for 13 years. To support his work, subscribe to the Statesman Jour- nal. Urness can be reached at zur- ness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.