Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 25, 2002)
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, September 25, 2002 Page 9 Peak Timber Sale begun in RR Forest With the help of VISTA participants Kati Cooper and Jared Voice, the Illinois Valley Community Response Team (IVCRT) has been putting together a housing program. When completed, the program will cover assistance for home improvements, home ownership, matching funds for home down payments and emergencies. Because federal and state agencies already have substantial housing services, the IVCRT role will be outreach (to actively promote the programs); referral (to match clients with the most appropriate service); and help with filing in the different applications, and processing the paperwork. The first program that Kati will be promoting in the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Rural Home Loans and Grants program. The RH 504 Loans and Grants are intended to assist owner-occupants to repair or improve their dwelling to make it safe and sanitary and to remove any health hazards. The maximum grant is $7,500; and loans cannot exceed $20,000. Loan interest rate is 1 percent with a term of up to 20 years. The loan is structured based on a person’s ability to repay. To be eligible for a grant, the applicant must be at least 62 and have income that would not allow total repayment of a loan to under- take the necessary work. In these cases, a loan would be given based on the person’s ability to repay and the balance (up to $7,500) would be in the form of a grant. Estimates are required, and home owners may select their own contractor to do the work. For more information or to begin the application process, phone Kati at 592-4440. In addition, she is available to come to groups or organizations to explain this and other housing pro- grams. If people have trouble getting to town, Kati says that she is available to come to homes to assist in applying for the services. Input into Lake Selmac Improvements With the Fire Camp moved out of Lake Selmac, the Jose- phine County Dept. of Parks is beginning to make plans on restor- ing the park. It appears that rental of the park will bring in more money that will be needed for restoration, and that some new im- provements will be possible as well. The parks department has asked IVCRT to host a community meeting to find out what improvements valley people would like to see developed at the park. The meeting will be held at Selma Community Center (the former elementary school) on Thursday, Oct. 10 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Representatives from the parks de- partment will be on hand to hear suggestions. Training in Federal Contracting One goal of the Fire Recovery Task Force is to ensure that a significant amount of fire restoration and risk reduction work is awarded locally to small I.V. businesses and contractors. This could involve long-term restoration work and any measures un- dertaken to reduce hazardous material on public or private land. RAC (Resource Advisory Council) projects are another po- tential source of contracts. Bidding, winning, and managing these contracts involves a whole other set of skills. To introduce people to this topic, the Collaborative Learning Circle is organizing a training session in Medford on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19. The agenda is being finalized, but there will be a session on “Contracting” to include: *The ABC’s of service contracts, timber sales, RFPs and Co- operative Agreements. *New and innovative contracting authorities and mecha- nisms. *Tips for successfully bidding restoration contracts. *Bidding complex contracts. *Insurance, permitting, employment and business-related is- sues Contact IVCRT if you are interested in attending this training. If there is interest, car-pooling can be organized. Subgroups from the Fire Recovery Task Force have been bus- ily meeting last week and this. The first objective is to develop a set of projects and activities for implementation. Jim Frick, who will be traveling to Washington, D.C. at the end of this month, has agreed to act as spokesman for the Task Force as he meets with elected officials. A summary of the projects will be posted on the CRT Web site as soon as the subgroups finish their assign- ment. It also will be available at the IVCRT office by the first week in October. The degree of cooperation and energy that is pouring into the task force is truly inspiring. It is a wonderful example of “community”-- pulling together to deal with a common threat and take advantage of a collective opportunity. The life which is unexamined is not worth living. (Plato) Operations began this week on the Peak Timber Sale, one of four “alternative timber volume” (ATV) sales in Rogue River National For- est planned “to meet agency objectives and address natural resource issues.” “Peak Timber Sale is con- sistent with the Northwest Forest Plan,” said Joel King, ranger for the Prospect and Butte Falls districts of the U.S. Forest Service. “It’s consistent with the Aquatic Conservation Stra- tegy, and Survey and Manage guidelines,” he said, “and re- places timber from previous sales where threatened and endangered bird species were known to be nesting.” The Rogue River ATV program replaces a total of 15 million board feet of timber that would have been har- vested in the Siuslaw National Forest. The sale covers 658 acres of “matrix” land allocated in the N.W. Forest Plan. Trees are predominately white fir and Douglas fir species with an average diameter of 21 inches. The trees approxi- mately 135 years old, are sec- ond-generation stands after a wildfire burned through the area 140 years ago, said King. He noted that harvesting the sale will be conducted by helicopter. No new road con- struction will occur, he said. Scott Timber Co. has the sale, and forest officials en- acted a forest closure to main- tain the safety of loggers and the public. “Tree-sitters” in the area since mid-July were notified of the order and asked to leave. Money voting Two money measures were OK’d by a majority of Oregon voters in the Tuesday, Sept. 17 mail-in election. One proposal, to raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by 60-cents, will take effect on Nov. 1. Funds from the increase will go to offset reductions in the Oregon Health Plan. The reductions were made by the Legislature because of budget shortfalls. The other measure will result in $150 million for school districts. Some 59 percent of Jose- phine County voters who cast ballots were for Measure 19, the education fund proposal. And 53 percent were in favor of Measure 20, the cigarette tax proposal. KAUFFMAN WOOD ‘RECOVERING’ -- Following a two-alarm blaze that began close to mid- night on Sunday, Sept. 15, Kauffman Wood Products owner Darrel Kauffman said that his business is working to recover. The loss to the building, owned by Bill Pfohl, and the con- tents, owned by Kauffman, was estimated by Illinois Valley Fire District at $200,000. Kauffman said this week that insurance will cover $35,000 of the loss. ‘We’re reeling and rocking, but keeping on with a smile, and striving to keep producing,’ said Kauffman. The building might be replaced by Pfohl. Cause of the fire hasn’t been determined; Kauffman suspects wiring. Congratulations to Charles and Marilyn Taylor on the opening of TAYLOR’S SAUSAGE COUNTRY STORE 202 S. Redwood Highway (541) 592-5358 (the old Model Market) There’s still a bit of work yet to do, but come on down, say “Hi” and see what they’ve done. JBD&S Raymond Construction Inc. P.O. Box 151 Cave Junction, OR 97523 ccb #10254 (541) 592-3933