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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2019)
march21 2019 free VERNONIA’S volume13 issue6 reflecting the spirit of our community UNWC Recaps Productive Year Vernonia SK8 Awarded Upper Nehalem Watershed Council completes numerous restoration projects in 2018 The Upper Nehalem Watershed Council (UNWC) has been an instru- mental piece in the regional efforts to protect the health of the Nehalem River watershed. The Nehalem watershed, from its headwaters on the east side of the Oregon Coast Range, through Vernonia, and all the way to the Pacific Ocean, has been seen as a high priority river basin for restoring habitat as part of the effort to protect and re-establish coho salmon in their native streams in the Pa- cific Northwest. The UNWC has been instrumental in developing and manag- ing projects as part of those recovery efforts, including the replacement of culverts that act as barriers to migrating fish, working with private landowners to plant trees and restore natural set- tings along stream banks, and placing large trees, with rootwads attached, in streams to create natural habitat for coho and other native species. Vernonia’s Voice recently sat down with UNWC Executive Direc- tor Maggie Peyton to review the work of the UNWC, now in its 22 nd year of inside 9 lost knife returned 11 loggerbots compete 13 vhs hall of fame announcement operation. Peyton discussed projects that have been completed during the last year, talked about current issues and ongoing concerns about the health and water quality in the region, and looked ahead to this upcoming summer season and the Council’s plans. “The habitat in the Nehalem watershed has not been totally degraded and is seen as having a lot of potential,” says Peyton. “We’re getting to the point where we’re starting to connect some of the dots. We’ve been doing projects all around the region for twenty plus years, but now we’re able to do some sub-ba- sin treatments that address multiple fac- tors in an area with road crossings and enhanced habitat.” According to Peyton, 2018 was continued on page 10 $25K Tony Hawk Grant Vernonia SK8, a 501(c)(3) grassroots organization which has been working hard to get a professional style skate park built in Vernonia, announced they have been awarded a $25,000 grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation, and are one big step closer to making their dream a reality. ging, Inc. of Vernonia, and many other sizable donations from local Vernonians. Vernonia SK8 has held six different fun- draising events, and continues to receive donations from businesses throughout the community, along with donations from big businesses like Intel and Auto Warehousing Company. Local Verno- Vernonia SK8 started this proj- ect back in July 2017, spearheaded by Wendy Sears, J.D. Vorheis, and Jer- emy Simmons. The goal was to raise $60,000 as a match towards the Tony Hawk grant. “The Tony Hawk Foundation were the first people we contacted back in 2017,” said Simmons in making the grant announcement. “I was first intro- duced to Alec Beck, project manager of the Hawk Foundation and he’s helped us since the beginning of this project. They’ve given us the knowledge of what we needed to do for this project.” Over the course of about a year and a half Vernonia SK8 has raised $42,000 in cash, including a big cash donation of $10,000 from Holce Log- nian Javoss McGuire has committed to donating his time and heavy equipment for excavation on the project. The group is now in the process of applying for a Local Government Grant from Oregon Parks and Recre- ation Department, in collaboration with the City of Vernonia. The group contin- ues to work with two skate park design- ers, Evergreen Skate Designs and Aaron Spohn of Spohn Ranch Designs. The group says they will con- tinue to fundraise so they can build the best skate park possible for the Vernonia community. If you’d like to donate contact them at Vernoniask8.com or vernoniask8@ gmail.com. VHS Spring Sports Preview By Scott Laird Track and Field – The Vernonia boys team are the defending district champi- ons and have many returning athletes from that team. Head coach John Roady thinks the boys, with 19 com- petitors on the squad, will be in conten- tion again this year for the district title, along with Portland Christian, Colum- bia Christian, and Neah-Kah-Nie. Sev- eral newcomers look like they will be important contributors to the squad. The girls squad looks like they have a diverse and talented team that Roady says has the ability to com- pete for the District title. Roady’s 16 girls look especially strong in the field events and in distance running events. Early in the season coach Roady, along with assistant coach George Spaulding, have been work- ing on conditioning and helping their athletes find their best events. Roady says Vernonia’s new facility, completed last fall on the school campus, is a great improvement for his teams, providing locker rooms nearby, a real track sur- face to practice running events, and regulation field event facilities for prac- tice. For the first time in decades Ver- nonia will host their own meet at their own facility on Thursday, May 2. The boys will have senior Jake Handegard leading the way in the distance events after fin- ishing 4 th in the 800 meters in the district last year. Handegard will run either the 800, 1,500, or even the 3,000. Also running distance events will be sophomore Wyatt Jones and possibly exchange stu- dent Abraham Kpirikai. In the sprints, junior Josh Rice is the top returning sprinter in a group that includes sopho- more Pete Crystal and junior Eli- jah Thompson in the 100 and 200. In the 400 senior Abram Martin, a first time track athlete, has looked very strong early, along with Isabelle Coleman practicing the long jump Kpirkai, and Jacob Pasko. with track coach John Roady. The boys should have dent Radek Zikmund, who has shown a competitive 4x400 relay this year some great natural ability in several that looks to include Handegard, ju- events. Martin is trying out the triple nior Kale Sullivan, Martin, Pasko, and jump, along with Nick Costley. Kpirikai. In the throwing events, Sul- Crystal, a very versatile ath- livan is tops in the javelin but is be- lete, is the defending district champion ing pushed by Zikmund. Newcomer in the pole vault after just picking it up Dustin Carreon, who Roady says is a at the end of last season. Crystal will big and strong athlete who really loves also be part of a strong group of high the weight room, has looked raw but jumpers, that includes Handegard and shows a lot of potential in the shot put Martin. and the discuss. Sullivan will lead the long Roady says the boys team is jump group, along with exchange stu- continued on page 12