Appeal tribune. (Silverton, Or.) 1999-current, April 27, 2022, Page 5, Image 5

Appeal Tribune
| WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 2022 | 1B
OUTDOORS
Oregon Trails
The treasures of Neahkahnie Mountain
are more than just loot and lore
The southern
summit view of
Neahkahnie
Mountain looking
toward Manzanita
and Nehalem Bay.
WILLIAM SULLIVAN/FOR
THE REGISTER-GUARD
William Sullivan For The Register-Guard
Neahkahnie, a mountain jutting 1,600 feet above a beach near Tillamook, may or may not hide a cache of Spanish gold, but it
certainly does have a different kind of treasure — a new section of the Oregon Coast Trail. h The native tribes of the Oregon Coast
thought the mountain had a view fit for gods, and named it with the words "Ne" (“place of ”) and "Ekahni" (“supreme deity”).
White settlers have shrouded the peak with legend as well. h The beach below this mountain might in fact be where Europeans
first set foot in Oregon. Engraved blocks of Spanish beeswax have been turning up on the beach for centuries. Recent research has
helped to identify which lost Spanish ship might really be here. So, where’s the treasure? See TRAILS, Page 2B
Family fishing events are finally back
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
After a two-year pandemic hiatus,
the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife is dipping its toes back into a
former mainstay in angler education ef-
forts known as Family Fishing Events.
The first was held April 2 at Row River
Nature Park in Cottage Grove.
Instruction, loaner equipment and
lakeside assistance, if needed, are pro-
vided at each of what could more accu-
rately be described as Fishing 101 begin-
ner and refresher clinics.
The Alton Baker Canoe Canal in Eugene
is the site for the next Family Fishing
Event on May 7. HENRY MILLER / SPECIAL TO
THE STATESMAN JOURNAL
“The interesting thing was we didn’t
do a lot of publicity about the event,
Facebook and a couple of other spots.
The City of Cottage Grove posted it,”
said Martyne Reesman, the organizer of
the inaugural event. “It’s normally one
of our smaller events, I was told.”
Reesman is the Salmon Trout En-
hancement Program biologist with the
Springfield office of Fish and Wildlife.
As with all of the events, the pond at
Row River was stocked with hatchery
trout to ensure a good chance to land
something to take home.
“When we pulled up there were al-
ready a lot of people fishing because
they’d stocked it the night before. But at
one point we counted like 30 adults and
about 15 kids that specifically came for
our event,” Reesman said. “The public,
of course, was super-excited to see us
there.
“There were a lot of kids that caught
their first fish. But there also were a lot
of kids who had been fishing like forever
(but) even the most experienced 11-
year-old was still receptive to instruc-
tion.”
And it wasn’t just the parents and
kids who were fired-up, she added. It
was old home week for the cadre of vol-
unteers whose efforts had been moth-
balled during the pandemic.
“The really touching part was all of
our volunteers, how excited they all
were to be back helping kids and fam-
ilies, just the fellow volunteers that
they’ve been with for so many years,"
Reesman said, then laughed. “It was
really like a reunion.”
The department’s mission for the be-
ginner/refresher fishing clinics is two-
pronged. The first is the recruitment of
See MILLER, Page 2B