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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (March 3, 2004)
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, March 3, 2004 Page 12 Illinois Valley firefighters are looking forward to a new Selma station. The building above will be eliminated. NEW SELMA STATION COMING - The Illinois Valley Fire District has been working hard to finalize plans to replace Station 1 in Cave Junction, Station 2 in Selma, and Station 3 in O’Brien. Currently, Station 2 is under- going a team site survey to determine the overall de- sign and feasibility of the project on Hwy 199 near the current station. The district is looking at several bids from construction companies to determine which would be most cost-effective, and produce the best results. A date to begin construction hasn’t been set, new Fire Chief Harry Rich said that he hopes to have construction completed on Stations 1 and 2 by the end of 2004. Station 3 construction should be finished by early next year. (Photo and text by Shane Welsh) Air tanker for summer looking good By OREGON DEPT. OF FORESTRY A giant step was taken last summer toward im- proving the Southwestern Oregon wildland fire- fighting initial attack effec- tiveness by securing an air tanker. Having its own air- plane eliminates any ques- tions about tanker avail- ability when Oregon Dept. of Forestry (ODF) needs one, said Phil Hufstader, who managed state tanker operations from the Med- ford Air Tanker Base. The tanker is available to the first caller from any juris- diction needing initial at- tack. However, ODF fires have priority. “If it were being used on a fire, such as the B&B Complex, and it were needed down here on ini- tial attack, it would be pulled and brought back here,” said Hufstader. The decision to put the air tanker in Medford was due in large part to the ef- fort in recent years by elected officials in the re- gion to keep the tanker base open. “The counties and state lobbied hard to keep the Medford base open, so when we got an air tanker it was the logical place to put it,” said Jim Ziobro, ODFs fire aviation special- ist. Likewise, landowners and legislators were strong backers of the idea of ODF getting its own air tanker – especially after the record- setting 2002 fire season. “It was a very bad fire sea- son last year,” said Ziobro, “and if we had air tankers we would have caught fires sooner.” The season included the Biscuit Fire, involving 500,000 acres of wildland brush and timber, that nearly caused evacuation of all of Illinois Valley. Another reason for ODF to have its own air tanker was to due to the reduction of air tankers and lead planes under con- tract with the U.S. Forest Service. In past years, ODF has depended on the federal air tanker fleet for response to wildland fires on state-protected land. While ODF still is able to use tankers from the fed- eral fleet, there are fewer planes in the fleet, due to some of the older planes being taken out of service after the 2002 fire season. Oregon Legislature appropriated $500k for the aircraft. The tanker, owned by Conair in Canada, comes to ODF from Alaska through a deal made possi- ble by the Northwest Com- pact, an agreement among several Western states and Canadian provinces to share fire-suppression re- sources. Money for the arrangement was made possible by a $500,000 appropriation this year by the Oregon Legislature. “We’re going to try and get this air tanker back next year,” said Ziobro, “and if we have the fund- ing, we’re going to bring down two planes instead of just one.” The air tanker used by ODF this year is a 1958 DC-6B, a twin-engine for- mer passenger and cargo plane that now sports a 3,000-gallon retardant tank in its belly. “It’s a hot rod,” said Hufstader. “It’ll outper- form a DC-7,” he said, noting that the craft’s 18- cyclinder engines are sig- nificantly more powerful than engines normally found in a DC-6. The retardant tank is actually a 12-door belly tank system. It enables the pilot to drop the entire load at once, or portion it in a variety of ways. After landing, it takes six min- utes to reload the tank. The tanker meets fed- eral standards and is fully compatible with air tankers in the federal fleet. The craft has been in use by Conair as an air tanker for nearly 10 years. It is on contract to Alaska for air tanker services dur- ing its fire season, which peaks in June and July. ODF “tagged onto the Alaska contract,” said Huf- stader, and brought the plane to Oregon at the end of July this year. The lead plane is a Pilatus PC-7, a single- engine Swiss-made two- seater: a fighter. “It’s a fast little thing,” said Hufsta- der, “the perfect sort of plane for recon and lead plane.” It carries two un- der-wing tanks, which look like bombs, for extra fuel. Also beneath the plane is a cylinder that releases smoke, which the lead plane pilot uses to paint a path in the sky for the air tanker pilot to follow. The smoke system is unique to Alaska air tanker opera- tions. The cost of the air tanker is $5,000 per day, plus $1,500 for each hour of flight. The lead plane is not on contract, just a straight cost arrangement with the state of Alaska: $685 a day, plus $525 per hour of use including the pilot fee. Early in September, ODF Medford Unit For- ester Dan Thorpe benefited from the tanker during a flurry of lightning fires. “It clearly made a dif- ference on our lightning fires and in stopping the Cove Fire,” said Thorpe, referring to a grass-and- oak fire that threatened homes east of Ashland. TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU Cave Junction Office 218 N. Redwood Hwy. (541) 592-6580 grants Pass Office 1619 N.W. Hawthorne Ave. Suite 109 (541) 476-2502 Jeff Wood, M.S., P.T. MANSFIELD R. CLEARY Attorney at Law General Practice in Illinois Valley since 1980 Practice includes but not limited to: Brought to you by the folks at 592-3556 Cave Jct . 469-7545 Riverside Physical Therapy Physical Therapy Occupational Therapy Speech Therapy The Shining Stars, a non-profit organization benefiting children of Illi- nois Valley, is starting 2004 with energy and en- thusiasm for programs planned for throughout the year. We have recently taken up the Skate Park Project at Jubilee Park. Dates are set to assess, clean, repair, and rebuild some of the skate park fea- tures. Working with Jose- phine County parks this year, the Stars are proud to present The Shining Stars Festival 2004, at beautiful Lake Selmac. Music, Kid Village, craft vendors and more, June 4, 5, 6. The Children’s Mask and Theatre Program, a multilayered project in- volving art and music, is being developed in con- junction with talented vol- unteers. The Stars are pur- suing funding for this pro- ject through grants and private sponsorships. I.V. pool days with free swimming for kids and some recreation schol- arships are also in the works. The Shining Stars has monthly board meetings and is meeting weekly to work on festival prepara- tions. To contact the Shin- ing Stars office, phone 592-2236. Diabetes Association The Cave Junction branch of the Jerry Acklen Diabetes Health Associa- tion will hold a regular meeting on Thursday, March 11 at 1:30 p.m. in the I.V. Senior Center, 520 E. River St. IVHS Activities Calendar Brookings/ Harbor Full Rehabilitation Services: The Shining Stars Recently it was announced by the news media that large sections of Oregon’s beaches may be closed to some human activities during the spring and summer to protect an endangered species. The animal needing protection is the Western Snowy Plover. This notice came as a big surprise to me. This bird is not found in Illinois Valley, and I am not aware of ever seeing one. On first glancing at the name, I assumed it was an arctic species that only visited our beaches during the winter, so I had the fun job of doing a little research. In the list, “Birds of Southern Oregon,” compiled at Southern Oregon University at Ashland, Snowy Plovers are listed as year-round residents, usually seen on the coast. It is also a nesting resident, and they are occasion- ally seen in the lake basins of eastern Oregon. Snowy Plovers were placed on the federal threatened species list in 1993. It is their nesting behavior which has led to their being threatened. They prefer nesting along the beach in sand dune areas or where creeks and rivers empty into the ocean. The nests are difficult to find because they are simply depressions, or scrapes in the sand where peb- bles and sticks have been removed. There is no addition of feathers, grass, moss, or anything, other than sand-colored eggs. Therefore, the nests are easily disturbed or destroyed, often without the person or animal even knowing it. Plovers are defined by my dictionary as small wading birds having rounded bodies, short tails and short bills. Plover, pronounced like “lover” or “cover” rather than “rover” or “clover,” is based on the word “pluvial” or “pluvial,” referring to the rainy season. Scientifically the Snowy Plover is in the family Charadriidae. This comes from the Greek word “kharadra,” which means mountain stream or ravine. This family includes Killdeer and Lapwing as well as some plovers, but not all. The genus/species name Snowy Plover is “Charadrius Alexandrinus.” The species name refers to Alexandria, Egypt. Snowy Plovers are found all through Europe and the Mediterranean Sea region. Carolus Linnnaeus, who first described the bird, used a specimen from Egypt for his initial description and naming. Snowy Plovers can be recognized on beaches because they are the smallest of the birds scurrying along searching for food in the sand. Sandpipers and Sanderlings are also small, but have longer bills and more spotted appearance on their backs. Snowy Plovers have a white breast area, hence the “snowy” part of the name. They also have a solid tan to light gray back. There is the beginning of a dark ring around their neck, but is not a complete ring, leaving a white neck area under the bill. Snowy Plovers do not mate for life, but both sexes sit on the eggs and take care of the young. When predators approach nests, the adults will run away and feign injury, as do killdeer. Small chicks will crouch and remain mo- tionless when approached by a predator; therefore they are easily killed if detected. The main food source for Plovers is worms, small crabs, and sand fleas. But they also feed on beetles, moths and flies, so hopefully we can keep a viable population of Snowy Plovers along the Oregon coast. THURSDAY, MARCH 4 *Winter sports awards 6:30 p.m. FRIDAY, MARCH 5 *Seniors bagging groceries at Shop Smart Food Warehouse 3:30 p.m. SATURDAY, MARCH 6 *Seniors bagging groceries at Shop Smart Food Warehouse 3 p.m. *Junior fashion show at IVHS - 6:30 p.m. TUESDAY, MARCH 9 *Prom meeting - lunch WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10 *School district board meeting at Hidden Valley - 7 p.m. is open Saturdays: 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Hours: Mondays - Saturdays 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. For more information phone (800) 922-1025 Bankruptcy - Eliminate financial problems Living trusts - Avoid probate Estate planning - Wills, power of attorney Domestic relations Auto accident - Personal Injury Criminal - DUII Real Estate contracts - Foreclosure 592-2195 200 W. Lister
