Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Page 11
Meadow north of Selma cleared for wildlife by Oregon Hunters Association
Some 24 members of the
Josephine County Chapter of
Oregon Hunters Association
(OHA) spent Saturday, Jan.
10 cutting and clearing brush
and trees from Butcherknife
Meadow in the Siskiyou Na-
tional Forest north of Selma.
The project is part of a
multiyear effort to improve
forage for big game and other
wildlife in Rogue River-
Siskiyou National Forest.
“Our goal is to clear
about 200 acres of meadow
habitat each year to enhance
big game forage,” said Brett
Loper, OHA chapter presi-
dent, of Grants Pass. “We
gave $5,000 for the project
last year and are contributing
another $5,000 for 2009.”
Grasses and herbaceous
flowering plants found in
meadow habitat are a major
food source for a variety of
wildlife species, especially
deer and elk. But as time
passes, conifers and shrubs
begin to encroach on mead-
ows and will eventually con-
vert them to forest habitat. To
keep the meadows open, they
need to be cleared of trees
and brush then maintained
with controlled burns every
three to five years.
For the Jan. 10 project,
OHA volunteers cut en-
croaching brush and conifers,
accumulating 64 piles that the
U.S. Forest Service will burn.
Last year, OHA helped USFS
open nearly 300 acres of
meadow at Waters Creek,
also near Selma.
Healthy meadow habitat
is important for wildlife.
“These open, grass
meadows make up only about
1 percent of the forest, but
they get very heavy use by
deer, elk, wild turkey, grouse
and other wildlife species,”
said David Austin, supervi-
sory wildlife biologist for the
Wild River and Siskiyou
Mountains ranger districts of
the Rogue River-Siskiyou
National Forest.
Meadow habitat en-
hancement projects have been
conducted in Siskiyou Na-
tional Forest during the past
five years. Besides OHA, the
Rocky Mountain Elk Founda-
tion and the Oregon Dept. of
Fish & Wildlife have been
working with USFS on the
meadow projects.
OHA is the state’s largest
pro-hunting organization,
with more than 10,000 mem-
bers and 25 chapters state-
wide. Its mission is “to pro-
vide abundant huntable wild-
life resources in Oregon for
present and future genera-
tions, enhancement of wild-
life habitat and protection of
hunters rights.”
Land-use activist Sommer seen by some as
presenting ‘poorly developed’ arguments
By SCOTT JORGENSEN
IVN Staff Writer
On Monday night, Jan.
12, the Cave Junction City
Council denied a request by
Merlin resident and land-use
activist Holger Sommer to
waive an order by the Land
Use Board of Appeals
(LUBA) to pay approxi-
mately $7,500 in legal fees.
For Sommer, the denial
was simply the latest in a se-
ries of local battles regarding
land-use issues.
During the past few
years, Sommer has main-
tained a constant presence
before the Josephine County
Board of Commissioners, as
well as the Cave Junction and
Grants Pass city councils.
And he’s stepped on some
toes along the way.
Grants Pass-based attor-
ney Jim Dole is among Som-
mer’s biggest critics.
“He has wasted a lot of
time and a lot of money on
the part of a lot of people in
this community,” Dole said.
“I just don’t think it’s right.”
Dole has represented
Copeland Sand & Gravel,
defending against many of
Sommer’s LUBA appeals.
“The majority of his ar-
guments are so poorly devel-
oped that it becomes ex-
tremely difficult for a lawyer
to respond to them,” Dole
said. “I think the LUBA
members have also struggled
to make sense of the points
he’s trying to make. In a
number of instances, the law
is squarely the opposite of
what he says it is.”
In a June 27, 2007 deci-
sion in which it ruled against
Sommer and several other
petitioners and in favor of
Josephine County, LUBA
representatives stated that
“determining what to do with
petitioners’ third assignment
of error is problematic at best.
“The argument in sup-
port of that assignment of
error rambles for over 40
pages. Not only is the num-
bering and presentation con-
fusing, it is nearly impossible
to ascertain
what, if any-
thing,
peti-
tioners
are
actually argu-
ing in any
particular
portion of the
brief,” LUBA
stated.
T h a t
same docu-
ment
later
refers to the
“often
dis-
joined argu-
ments that are
presented by Holger Sommer (center, in dark vest) is seen during a county land-use hear-
petitioners in ing in 2008 attended by some Copeland employees. ( I.V. News file photo)
support of this
assignment of error” and
states that “the arguments
“Projects physically can’t
presented in support of this
get done, or they lose
assignment of error are so
money,” Peterson said. “It
poorly stated and developed
has a tremendous economic
that the overwhelming major-
impact.” As an example, he
uses.
ity of it cannot be responded
points to Barlow Sand &
“You have special users
to.”
Gravel, which is Copeland’s
out there who what this to be
Bill Peterson, Copeland
Cave Junction affiliate. That
their own private playground
administrator and former
company is now down to one
and recreational airstrip,” said
Grants Pass city manager, said
part-time employee, Peterson
Ellis.
that the company has spent
said, although it used to em-
With an open door pol-
“multiple tens of thousands of
ploy many more.
icy, Grossi said that he gets
dollars” fighting LUBA ap-
“We had nine people out
“good input from people,” but
peals filed by Sommer.
there,” Peterson said. “It was
that the constraints of his op-
Josephine County legal
intended to be producing ag-
eration don’t permit him to
counsel Steve Rich said that
gregate to satisfy the de-
please everybody.
each additional LUBA hear-
mands throughout the county.
“Because (the airport
ing requires the use of staff
But real people lose real
department) is an enterprise
time, and records have to be
jobs.”
fund and it has to be operated
preserved and assembled,
Peterson notes that with
like a business” said Grossi,
which takes “hundreds of
the recent economic down-
“I can’t do as much politi-
man hours.” There’s also the
turn, some of those employ-
cally to satisfy people be-
staff time for drafting the
ees would have been laid off
cause I have a structure that I
briefs and presenting the ar-
anyway, but he said that it
have to conform to, both from
guments.
wouldn’t have happened as
the feds and from managing
Rich estimates that the
quickly.
my budget.”
county has spent “easily tens
“Are the appeals solely
Toler pointed out that the
of thousands of dollars” fight-
to blame for the job loss?
county had citizen advisory
ing Sommer’s various LUBA
They are not,” Peterson said.
committees for most every
appeals. Peterson added that
“(But) It is a contributing
facet of its services, and their
every LUBA appeal has di-
factor, and it’s a major one.”
purpose is to advise the
rect costs between $3,000 and
(Continued next issue. Read
county commissioners. He
$7,000, and comes with a
the entire article online at
felt there was no reason why
series of hidden costs.
illinois-valley-news.com)
it should not work for the
airports. Toler also seemed
hopeful that individuals fill-
Water Wells
ing the slotted positions
Pump Sales
would represent group rather
than individual interests.
Installation
The commissioners
Service
voted 3-0 to re-establish the
592-6777
two boards. Commissioner
Sandi Cassanelli, who is the
1470 Caves Highway
current airport liaison, with
Licensed • Bonded • Insured
Locally owned and
Grossi, will work to pin down
WWC #1504 • CCB #152266 • CPl #7-113
operated in the valley
for over 25 years.
details. After county legal
Member Oregon Ground Water Assoc.
counsel takes a look at the
bylaws, advertising will take
place to fill the at-large posi-
tions.
“The onus is on you,”
Ellis told Cassanelli.
County board revamps airport advisory committees
By MICHELLE BINKER
Staff Writer
Although demand has
been steady from Illinois Val-
ley residents that the Jose-
phine County Board of Com-
missioners re-establish an
airport advisory board, there
has been reluctance to recre-
ate past “contentious” and
“unproductive” boards.
Now that the developers
of a posh golf resort adjacent
to the Grants Pass Airport are
involved, the idea seems to
have gained some traction
with the county.
Commissioner Dave
Toler brought up the matter
on Friday, Jan. 9.
“There is a lot of demand
for it in Illinois Valley,” said
Toler. “I was in a recent
meeting with Paradise Ranch
folks, and they would like to
see an advisory board out in
Merlin, too.”
Toler recommended that
each airport have its own
board, because there isn’t
much common ground be-
tween the two facilities.
Alex Grossi, county air-
ports director, agreed.
“There are no similar
issues, it’s night and day,”
Grossi said.
Recommended composi-
tion of the board would have
representatives from the
chamber of commerce, busi-
nesses, airport tenants and
users, a community develop-
ment organization and two at-
large positions, said Toler.
With admitted reluc-
tance, commission Chairman
Dwight Ellis said he’d be
willing to try again. He stated
that past committees had been
unproductive and contentious
because they were loaded
with people who wanted the
airport for their own specific
Illinois Valley Airport ‘wish list’ voiced
(Continued from page 7)
new facilities, current projec-
tions of airport activity, new
environmental and other
regulatory constraints, appro-
priate land use to support
usage and long-term financial
health.
Anderson and project
planner Sarah Lucas, ex-
plained that WHPacific
would produce an airport
layout drawing. It will “depict
the existing airport facility
and graphically show the rec-
ommended improvements,”
and a capital improvement
plan, “that will provide the
airport with a method and
proposed schedule for cor-
recting identified airport de-
sign deficiencies.”
Included in WHPacific’s
report will be a “review of
historic buildings on the air-
port and how they may affect
future development,” and a
discussion of appropriate Air-
port Reference Codes, which
dictate the FAA’s design and
safety standards.
The role of the advisory
committee, Anderson ex-
plained, is to review the infor-
mation provided and give the
planners input based on their
familiarity with the airport,
the community and public
input.
“One thing we will ask
of the committee is rumor
control,” Anderson said not-
ing that, “Airports can be
lightning rods for one issue or
another in a community,
whether it is noise or environ-
mental issues or the types of
aircraft being planned for.”
Among comments from
the committee, Bill Gettle,
owner of The Flying Machine
at the airport, asserted that the
current ALP has many mis-
takes.
Committee member Ed
Russell had a slew of con-
cerns, from the incomplete
industrial park to the west and
its connection to the airport,
to historic and utilitarian
quality of the airport for gen-
eral aviation.
Don Moore, Cave Junc-
tion mayor, added that the
facility is a valuable asset, but
“it’s terribly underused.”
“If you don’t have han-
gar space,” said Moore, “you
Concrete
Remodel
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can’t bring more business to
this airport.”
Committee member
Keith Hill pointed out that the
I.V. Airport is an alternate
airstrip should coastal or
nearby facilities be fogged in,
but suffers from lack of fuel.
“It is the one big thing
that would increase tremen-
dously the functionality of
this airport,” said Hill. Sev-
eral in attendance indicated
their agreement.
Those present spoke of a
thriving airport which cur-
rently hosts private flight
training, aviation mainte-
nance and camping. They
also expressed hopes of see-
ing the historic Siskiyou
Smokejumper Base become a
destination. And they under-
scored the need for fuel.
Three more workshops
will be scheduled throughout
the year.
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