Feature
THE CLACKAMAS PRINT
May 24,1989
Page 5
Herrmann's life impacted by growing up on Willamette
by Jim Titus
Copyeditor
The Willamette River played
an important part in the develop
ment of the environmental aware
ness of Jeriy Herrmann, director
of the John Inskeep Environmental
Learning Center.
Herrmann grew up in Lone
some Bottoms, on the banks of
the Willamette River near West
Linn, and feels that this is where
the first seeds of his involvement
with the environment were planted.
“We used to play in the river
and fish all the time. We used to
‘harvest’ lumber from the river as
it floated by. I guess I got my back
ground in salvage from the river,”
Herrmann quipped. “The Envi-
rotrekking series that we evolved
here (at the ELC) probably came
about because of my interest in
the river.”
All of the structures at the
ELC are made from recycled
materials when possible, and some
of them are linked to Herrmann’s
river past.
“Just about anything you could
want to build something with came
down the river at one time or
another. All of the bridges (here
at the ELC) are built out of cedar
we got from the river that I had
stored at my parents’ place,”
remarked Herrmann.
“I guess the big thing about
growing up on the river for me
was that it really put me in touch
with nature,” Herrmann stated.
“You really get attuned to the
cycle of the river.”
But Herrmann says that he
never knew as much about the
Willamette as he does now, after
working at the ELC for 15 years.
“The river trips that we do
have really made me aware of the
environment. I know what to look
for now-things like the history of
the river and its cultural aspects,”
explained Herrmann. “I know the
majority of the Willamette inti
mately.”
Herrmann always had an in
terest in plants, spending a lot of
time working in nurseries during
high school. He even started his
own neighborhood nursery with
rejected plants.
Herrmann carried his love of
plants into the Navy, comparing
himself to the captain from “Mr.
Roberts.” As a weapons yeoman,
he soon “vegetated” his section of
the ship he served on.
“I couldn’t stand not having
any plants. Whenever we were in
port I would buy plants. Pretty
soon my office (aboard ship) was
full of draping ivies,” Herrmann •
said.
Herrmann fell in love with
oriental landscape design while in
Japan. This love has also had an
impact on the ELC, the design of
which Herrmann describes as a
“Chinese hill garden.” .
After his discharge from the
Navy in 1970 Herrmann attended
Clackamas Community College,
majoring in landscape architec
ture. He credits a lot of the design
of the ELC.to the art classes he
tobk>at Clackamas'.
“I would say that the most
profound aspects of the center \yere
influenced by the things that I
learned in art class,” remarked
Herrmann.
While a student at Clacka
mas, Herrmann participated in the
planning of how the ELC would
look, creating a clay sculpture of
the landscape design as an art
project.
Herrmann attended the Uni
versity of Washington but com
pleted his degree at Portland State
University.
He began volunteering time
to the ELC project, feeling the
need for someone to oversee the
center’s construction. At one point
hevolunteered lOmonthsout ofa
year to the completion of the ELC,
which was built on a former
Smucker’s plant waste site.
Herrmann became the direc
tor of the ELC in 1977, when the
center became a non-profit or
ganization in order to conduct its
own fundraising. The ELC has a
12-member board of directors and
a regular membership of over 400.
Throughout the last 15 years
has seen the transformation of
the ELC from an industrial waste
site to a thriving microcosm of the
local environment, offering a va
riety of educational programs.
Herrmann says the center plans
to continue these programs in the
future and expand The on-site
exhibits, to include more plant-
photo by Tara Powers
Jerry Herrmann states that the river trips that are done through
the ELC have made him more aware of the environment.
tag,
Personally, Herrmann feels
that a political career may be in
his future.
“I’m a little discouraged with
the level of legislative ability I
see in Salem. I want to target
some of our effort toward semi
nars and workshops to teach leg
islators about subjects that they
should know about,” Herrmann ex
plained. “I feel it may be time to
look at some legislative office. I
think I have a lot of abilities I could
bring to the legislature. They need
some people with a broad-based
environmental background and they
don’t have that many right now.”
'Crusade' catches, cajoles moviegoer into madcap merriment
Piller's
Picks
Rick Piller
Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade starts at run and keeps
building speed.
Harrison Ford returns as the
archeologist/adventurer in the
action packed finale of the Indi
ana Jones trilogy. Ford started work
on the film two years back by going
to the gym with “Body by Jake,”
and he needed it! All of his scenes
are very physical and exciting. Ford
describes Indy this way: “Indiana
Jones is an adventurer, but he has
human frailties, fears, money
problems. He teaches, but I
wouldn’t call him an intellectual.
He does brave things, but I wouldn’t
call him a hero. He’s just there
with a bullwhip to keep the world
at bay.”
Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. is played
by Academy award winner Sean
Connery (of course Indy could only
come from the loins of James
Bond). Connery began his acting
career in 1950 when he was com
peting for Mr. Universe in Lon
don.
Speilberg directed this final
episode of Indy and didn’t pull
any punches in the action depart
ment, starting off with a scene of
Henry Jr. as a young boy that is
meant to explain why he hates
snakes. From then on you will
have no time to rest or even breathe
as you join the rest of the audi
ence in a endless collection of action
and humor. Connery said thatone
of the reasons the film is pleasing
is “the return to an older age; not
an age of hardware and space
craft, but cars and aeroplanes and
trains and horses.”
Filled to the brim with as
tounding stunts Indiana Jcmes over
fills even the most jaded audi
ences with extraordinary feats of
skill. Harrison Ford performed
NOT
FOR THOSE WHO THINK ALIKE,
4
BUT
TOR THOSE WHO LIKE TO THINK..
ATKINSON
MEMORIAL CHURCH
Sixth & John Adams, Oregon City
The-Reverend Mr. Richard K. Bellingham, Minister
Public Services
11:00 AM
Adult Forum
9:30 AM
Attended Nursery
9:30 AM
Church School
9:30 AM
(except Aug. 1-Sep.15)
most of his own stunts, but those
that may have placed him in jeop
ardy were delegated to profes
sional stunt men. Vic Armstrong,
the stunt co-ordinator and Har
rison Ford’s double, says that
‘•Harrison’s participation in the
stunts is what makes them so
exciting and enjoyable to movie
goers.”
For the Jones boys their last
quest is the only one that could
have topped finding the Ark of
the Covenant Those two globe trot-
tin’ archeology wonder boys go from
Venice, Italy, where you learn that
there is a lot more to libraries than
you may know, to Germany, where
you learn that these two dirt sifters
also like to get autographs. Then
we all get to a good look at the
Hagia Sophia, just before we find
the trail to lead us to our “Chalice
of Gold.”
PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY
newspaper
Vanguard
is now hiring for fall term, 1989
Positions available:
reporters
sports editor
science editor
photo editor
ad representatives
art director
copy editors
graphic artists
photographers
asst, business mgr.
The Vanguard, Oregon’s most influential college newspaper, is
published twice weekly by PSU students.
All staff positions are paid. Hiring is competitive, based on expe
rience and/or ability. Employees must be admitted PSU students.
Contact the Vanguard at 464-4531 for information.