Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 2017)
november16 2017 www.vernoniasvoice.com IT’S TIME FOR TOY AND JOY! Ambulance and Fire Volunteers Help Local Families for Christmas The Vernonia Ambulance Volunteer Association and the Vernonia Fire Volunteers are pleased to announce the start of their annual Toy and Joy campaign to assist local families with toys for children this Christmas. Bailey Wegner, an EMT with Metro West Ambulance and a member of the Ambulance Association, will head up this year’s campaign. Each year Toy and Joy collects dona- tions of new and un- wrapped toys, books, and gifts for children and then distributes them to families that sign up to receive the assistance. This is Wegner’s first year running the campaign. “For the last two years that I’ve been a volunteer here in Vernonia I helped with it,” says Wegner. “I helped with the delivery the first year and last year I helped with the wrapping and the application process. This year they handed it all to me.” Wegner says applications should be available begin- ning Friday, November 24. Applications can then be submit- ted by email to VernoniaToyandJoy@gmail.com or dropped in Santa’s mailbox which will be set up in the front of the Vernonia Fire Station at 555 E. Bridge Street. Deadline for application to be turned in is Tuesday, December 12. Appli- cations will be accepted for children age infant to 14. There is also a Facebook page (Vernonia Toy And-Joy) for more information. A wrapping party is scheduled for Saturday, Decem- ber 16 starting around 8:00 am at the Fire Station. Any in- terested volunteers are encouraged to stop by and help out. Delivery of the gifts is scheduled for Sunday, December 17. “Since Christmas is the following week, we want to make sure our volunteers still have time for Christmas with their families, and getting the toys to the families in a timely man- ner,” says Wegner. Toy bins will be placed around town for donations in the usual locations, including the Bridge Street Mini Mart, Black Iron Grill, R&S Market, Wauna Credit Union, and at the Fire Station. free VERNONIA’S volume11 issue22 reflecting the spirit of our community Campground and Trails Closed at Stub Stewart State Park Four-month forest thinning project started November 1 Portions of Stub Stewart State Park will be closed through late winter for a for- est thinning project designed to improve for- est health at the park, according to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD). A five-mile portion of the Banks-Vernonia State Trail will also be closed the month of January. OPRD will thin 550 acres - about a third of the park - where Douglas firs are grow- ing so densely that they could become hazard- ous to visitors, buildings, and property. OPRD hired Nevada-based Whisper Jet Helicopters to log by helicopter 25 to 40 percent of the trees in the project area. The company will use local subcontractors for the operation. “Our goal is to continue improving this relatively new park with minimal disrup- tion on the ground,” said Dan Quigley, Stub Stewart park manager. “A natural landscape can support a wide range of recreation, some- thing the people of Washington and Columbia counties and the whole region can enjoy.” The areas selected for thinning con- tain 15- to 35-year-old Douglas firs that were initially planted very close together. Today’s best practice would be to thin stands much earlier in their lifecycle. That never happened, leaving the existing trees susceptible to storm damage and in- sect and disease infestation, which puts them at a greater risk of falling on property or people. These stands average 450 trees per acre - three times the ideal density of 150 trees per acre. The helicopters are equipped with technology that allows the pilot to select, cut and extract one tree at a time from above. The contractor will send larger logs to a local mill to be turned into lumber; the rest will be chipped for landscaping mulch or turned into biomass material. Because forest projects in state parks are driven by forest health, rather than revenue, this project is expected to break even at best. The $1.2 million in expected gross revenue will be used to create minimal roads and helicopter landing areas, and fund the materials and labor needed to harvest by helicopter. “Helicopter logging is ideal for this park,” said Nick Morris, forester with OPRD. “Extracting trees from above cause’s minimal on-the-ground damage compared to traditional logging methods.” Geoff Hall, CEO of Whisper Jet Helicop- ters, who developed specialized equipment for large scale thinning projects, hopes to expand the company’s niche from removing trees near power- lines to thinning dense swaths of public land. “We see a huge need for thinning crowded forests, both for disease and fire prevention,” said Hall, a pilot with 12 years of helicopter logging ex- perience. “Helicopter logging is the most effective and nonintrusive method to restore the health of our forests. We’re looking forward to getting our start at Stub Stewart.” Areas selected for thinning are located continued on page 14 Council Approves Smoking Regulations in Parks inside 7 the good ol’ days 11 vhs winter sports schedules 19 spirit of christmas schedule The Vernonia City Council voted at their November 6, 2017 meet- ing to adopt Ordinance 914, which regulates smoking in the City Parks system. The ordinance does not ban smoking in the parks system, but in- stead establishes designated smoking areas in Hawkins and Spencer Parks; creates smoke free areas at Anderson, Airport, and Vernonia Lake Parks which prohibits smoking within 50 feet of any playground equipment, sports fields, public restrooms, or food prepa- ration areas; and does ban smoking in Ora Bolmeier and Shay Parks. The ordinance states that by regulating smoking and the use of in- halant delivery devices the City “... creates a safe and healthy environment for Vernonia residents, visitors, youth, and children,” and protects residents and visitors from secondhand smoke, reduces the exposure of children and youth to smoking and tobacco use and discourages them from starting a harm- ful habit that is difficult to quit, protects natural areas from litter and potential risks from fire, and does not alienate citizens who smoke from accessing city parks. The adoption of Ordinance 914 ends a long and drawn out pro- cess for the Vernonia City Council that began in July of 2015 following a presentation on Tobacco Free Parks to the City Council by Ashley Baggett, the Coordinator of Tobacco Preven- tion with The Public Health Founda- tion of Columbia County. Following that presentation the Council referred the issue to the Vernonia Parks Com- mittee who returned to Council with a recommended ordinance to ban smok- ing in all park properties. Council re- viewed a draft of the ordinance at their August 3, 2015 meeting and suggested some slight modifications. The Coun- cil scheduled and held a Public Hearing on August 17, 2015, at which three citi- zens spoke in favor of banning smok- ing in parks and two spoke against it. When Council voted on the Ordi- nance later that same meeting the or- dinance failed to pass, with Councilors Bruce McNair and Mike Seager voting against it, and Councilors Jill Hult and Kim Tierney voting to approve it, al- though Councilor Hult did say she was concerned about eroding personal free- doms. Mayor Randy Parrow was not in attendance at the meeting and Council- or Tierney requested the Ordinance be brought back for another vote when all members were present. At the Septem- ber 8 meeting Mayor Parrow stated that he was not in favor of banning smok- ing in all Parks and the Ordinance died when no Council member made a mo- tion to approve it. In March of 2016 students continued on page 5
