Vernonia's voice., April 21, 2022, Image 1

April 21, 2022
V E R N O N I A’ S
Volume 16 Issue 8
free
Reflecting the spirit of our community
Holce Family Skate Park
Oregon’s Private Forest
Accord Provides Protections
By Scott Laird
Grand Opening! Saturday, April 23, Noon
Buckshot Betty’s – Still Your
Neighborhood Bar and Restaurant
Formerly known as The
All In Pub, this local bar
has new owners and a
new name
By Scott Laird
Buckshot Betty’s is
the new name of an old Verno-
nia establishment, and Melissa
and Jesse Martin are the new
owners.
The Martins pur-
chased the bar and restaurant
from Ernie and Robin Smith
who were the owners for 11
years and have now retired.
They’ve changed the name, but
not much else. The menu has
been simplified, but the feel is
the same – it’s still your local,
neighborhood tavern, with the
same cold beer and drinks, and
the same friendly faces.
“We just want this
to be a place where every-
one feels welcome, can come
in and get consistent, good
quality food and service, and
they’re always greeted with a
smile,” says Melissa.
After an April 1 grand
opening, and a few hitches,
things seem to be going pretty
well, says Melissa. “The staff
has been amazing and the com-
munity has been awesome and
super supportive. And Robin
and Ernie have been amazing.”
“It was a really good business
handoff,” adds Jesse.
The Martins are both
Oregonians, born and raised,
who moved to Vernonia about
six years ago, and they have
an eight year old son. Melissa
works as an engineering manager at Intel
and Jesse works at Absolute Marble here
in Vernonia. Both have experience work-
ing in bars – Melissa tended bar as she
put herself through college, and Jesse has
both tended bar and worked as a bouncer
in the past. “We’ve got behind the bar and
the door covered between us,” they joke.
They say they’re counting on their staff to
help them learn their way around the grill,
and their customers to provide feedback
and help them set the menu. “We’ve sim-
plified the format of the menu but we’re
still carrying all the same supplies Ernie
and Robin had,” says Melissa. “So even
if people don’t see their favorite on the
menu, we’re still able to make everything
people could order before. We’ve just
made it easier while we’re starting out.
Just order it the way you always have, and
we’ll make it for you.”
As someone who is very social,
Melissa says she needed to do
something different after In-
tel had most of their employ-
ees working remotely during
COVID. “I can’t stand not
seeing people and I knew for
quality of life something had
to change,” she says. “Ernie
and Robin were looking to
sell and it was just one of
those times when the oppor-
tunity was there and it just
felt like the right thing to do.
And so we’re pretty happy
we pulled the trigger.”
Pulled the trigger… on
Buckshot Betty’s… Melis-
sa’s play on words is not lost
on any of us sitting around
the table.
So, where does that
name Buckshot Betty’s come
from? “It’s really simple,”
explains Melissa. “When I
was throwing around the idea
of buying the bar, Jesse asked
me what I would rename it? And I didn’t
know and ‘Buckshot Betty’s’ just sort of
popped out. And then it just stuck. I was
just shooting from the hip.”
There she goes again…
Melissa says the name feels fun
for locals, but not too gimmicky, but with
a Vernonia feel.
“We sort of knew it was the right
name choice when everybody who would
repeat it back, did it with their own sort
of attitude or twang to it. They’d kind of
have a posture or a hand gesture thing. It
was different for everybody, but it got a
reaction. It’s just kind of fun to say. And
we were like, “All right, it’s catchy. That’s
it!’”
The Martins don’t plan to make
any major changes, but instead make
some gradual changes over time. With
Jesse’s connection to Absolute Marble,
continued on page 13
With what feels like less fan-
fare than might have been expected,
in March the Oregon Legislature
passed a historic agreement between
the timber industry, state and federal
agencies, and environmental advo-
cates, that will protect water sources
in Oregon forests, along with wildlife
and their habitat.
The Oregon House approved
the Private Forest Accord by a 43-15
vote after the Senate approved it 26-5.
The Private Forest Accord
directs the Oregon Board of Forest-
ry to make comprehensive changes
to the Oregon Forest Practices Act,
through three pieces of legislation, SB
1501, SB 1502, and HB 4055.
The Accord was part of a
two-year negotiation process that
brought all the big names in Oregon’s
timber industry and conservation
movement to the table to write the
language – Weyerhauser, Hampton
Lumber, Roseburg Forest Products, The Private Forest Accord report details the changes
Rayonier, along with the Oregon to Oregon forest management practices which were
Small Woodlands Association worked adopted by the Oregon Legislature in March. This
cover of the report was illustrated by Gareth Curtis.
together with environmental and out-
we leave the Timber Wars in the past and
door groups like Audubon Society,
Oregon Wild, Trout Unlimited, North- embark on a new collaborative era of for-
west Guides and Anglers, and the Wild estry that ensures a future for sustainable
Salmon Center. The negotiators consulted active forest management and wood prod-
with Oregon’s Departments of Environ- ucts manufacturing.”
A key component of the Accord
mental Quality (DEQ), Fish and Wildlife
(ODFW), and Forestry (ODF), along with will be the creation of a Habitat Conserva-
the National Marine and Fisheries Service tion Plan (HCP) which must be approved
(NMFS) and US Fish and Wildlife Service by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and
(USFWS); the process was facilitated by comply with the Endangered Species Act,
(ESA). The State of Oregon is currently in
the Oregon Governor’s office.
The Private Forest Accord impacts the process of developing the Western Ore-
over 10 million acres of privately owned gon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan
timberland in Oregon and makes changes which would cover about 640,000 acres of
to Oregon’s forest management practices ODF-managed land west of the Cascades.
Image courtesy of Wild Salmon Center
by expanding riparian buffers and creating
steep slope buffers to minimize erosion. It
ends commercial beaver trapping and the
lethal removal of beaver from private tim-
berlands. Small woodland owners would
receive a tax credit to help offset the loss of
some areas they formerly logged. The Ac-
cord calls for the rules to be implemented
over the next two years.
“This is truly a paradigm shift and
a movement in our state’s history for which
all Oregonians should be proud,” said Chris
Edwards, President of the Oregon Forest &
Industries Council, the industry trade or-
ganization for landowners and manufac-
turers. “This demonstrates it is possible to
put differences aside and work together on
viable solutions to tough problems. Today
Historically, ODF has managed
species covered under the ESA on forest-
lands through a process called “take avoid-
ance.” This approach often requires exten-
sive and costly species surveys, resulting in
shifting protections that are likely to limit
the quality of habitat while also creating
uncertainty around the long-term financial
viability of managing forests under estab-
lished laws.
While the ESA does provide pro-
tections for endangered and threatened spe-
cies, under the new HCP those protections
are not absolute. Exceptions can be granted
to private entities who are undertaking
projects that might result in the destruction
of an endangered or threatened species with
continued on page 3