Appeal Tribune
| WEDNESDAY, MAY 25, 2022 | 1B
OUTDOORS
FISHERMEN’S
BEND REOPENS
Popular Santiam Canyon
campground, boat ramp
reopen after wildfires
Zach Urness Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
One of the most important parks in the Santiam Canyon has
reopened, but it’s hard to imagine a place more transformed by
the 2020 Labor Day Fires. h Fishermen’s Bend Recreation Site,
just outside Mill City, has long been known for its dense forest,
large campground, hiking trails and boat ramp nestled along
the North Santiam River. h But it was one of the places hit
hardest by the Beachie Creek Fire, an event that killed over 80%
of the park’s trees and has kept the park closed since Septem-
ber 2020. h The park reopened in a limited way last week.
Upon entering the park, a fenced-in road leads directly to the
boat ramp and a day-use area with a scattering of picnic tables
near the water. h The boat ramp is a critical access point for
rafters and anglers floating the river, and its reopening is good
news for recreation in the area, but the park is still a shadow of
its former glory.
See CAMPGROUND, Page 2B
ABOVE: Fishermen's Bend Recreation Site reopened in a limited way
following damage from the 2020 Labor Day Fires last week. The boat
ramp and a small day-use area opened, but the campground and most
of the park remains closed.
TOP: Fishermen's Bend Recreation Site reopened in a limited way
following damage from the 2020 Labor Day Fires last week. The boat
ramp and a small day-use area opened, but the campground and most
of the park remains closed. PHOTOS BY ZACH URNESS / STATESMAN JOURNAL
Free fishing weekend will have a few changes
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
It has happened maybe two or three
times during my stint at the Statesman
Journal.
You call up a source, sometimes a
decades-long fount of outdoor informa-
tion, and gear up for a peppy verbal re-
union of sorts.
The pregnant pause on the other end
suggests your snappy opening patter
may have been mildly, but usually wild-
ly inappropriate.
Your thoughts flicker to several op-
tions, none particularly fitting for your
greeting: best case, out sick or on vaca-
tion; second-worst case, under indict-
ment and on the lam to Bolivia; worst-
case, dead.
The call in this case turned out to sort
of worst case. Nobody died, but the or-
ganization co-sponsoring the event in
question is about to be “dissolved.”
The setup was that I was calling the
office of Silverton Together, a non-prof-
it, volunteer community resources team
that for decades has been a co-sponsor
of the annual Free Fishing Weekend
event, June 4 this year at Silverton Res-
ervoir.
I hadn’t made the annual during the
covid lockdown and pandemic restric-
tions that canceled all Free Fishing
Event activities in 2020 and 2021.
On the plus side, Silverton Together
is joining other longtime sponsors such
as the Silverton Lion’s Club and the
Izaak Walton League to make this year’s
family-friendly event happen, said Jan
Holowati, the executive director for Sil-
verton Together.
The bummer is that the Silverton To-
gether, a community fixture that has co-
ordinated and sponsored activities from
food and winter-coat drives to commu-
nity events and charity drives for three
decades is folding on July 1.
“I’ve been here the whole time,” Holo-
wati said about the organization. “This
is just really unfortunate. The funding
and the grants just aren’t there.”
Silverton Together is suffering a fate
similar to other non-profits that are a
casualty of the pandemic and the ensu-
ing economic fallout such as difficulty
getting donations and grants, she said.
As far as Free Fishing Weekend, the
format will be similar to the pre-pan-
demic events at Silverton Reservoir, Ho-
lowati said.
Because of limited spaces, no public
parking will be allowed at the event site
See MILLER, Page 2B
Volunteers from Nestucca Anglers
crowd fall-run Chinook salmon smolts
into a suction tube and then into a
waiting truck to be released after
being raised at Rhoades Pond near
Hebo. HENRY MILLER/SPECIAL FOR THE
STATESMAN JOURNAL