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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Toler leaves JoCo, reflects on Valley
Dave Toler is probably most known for his
term as Josephine County Commissioner. But
besides county government, he has spent more
than 20 years in the Illinois Valley working with
the Forest Service, the Three Rivers School
Board and various community organizations.
Over Memorial Day weekend, Toler
moved away from Josephine County to start
a new chapter of life in Northern California,
leaving the area for the first time since 1989.
“I thought it would be best to maybe take
some time to get away and maybe do something
else for a while,” he said. “But I do hope to come
back someday. Both of my kids [have lived] in
the Valley. Having family there, it’s not a place
I’m ready to say goodbye to.”
Toler moved to the Valley in 1989 when
he and his family bought a home on Rockydale
Road near Cave Junction and raised his two
children, who both graduated from Illinois
Valley High School.
His involvement in the Valley spans over
many areas, from forestry to neighborhood
association president to project leader.
Taking a job as a Forest Service employee
with the Illinois Valley Ranger District, Toler
said he became interested in getting involved
with the community, starting in the early 1990s
as founder of the Rockydale Neighborhood
Association.
“In 1993, RNA wrote the first [Bureau
of Land Management] BLM timber Sale
Alternative ever written by the public in the
Medford BLM District,” Toler said. “The
Alternative called for moderate logging and
conservation.”
In the Takilma community, Toler worked
in administration and directed the Dome School
Ranger Program, which he said was designed
to prevent delinquency behavior in youth. He
also said he led a project that generated more
than $200,000 in improvements to the Takilma
Community Building.
According to Toler, he worked on the
Three Rivers school board from 1997 to 2007
and led passage of the first school improvement
bond in more than 25 years. During his school
board tenure, the new Lorna Byrne Middle
School building was constructed. Later, a new
IVHS football field came to fruition.
“I really enjoyed my years on the school
board,” Toler said. “I feel like we had a diverse
board that made for a good experience working
with people of a different perspective.”
Toler said he’s seen a lot of change in
the Valley over 23 years. In the late 1980s and
early 90s, division between communities still
underscored the atmosphere in daily life.
But in 1996, one issue helped bring people
together: according to Toler, a proposal for a
new prison not far from Cave Junction incited
worry from residents all over the Valley.
Toler said he founded Citizens for a
Livable Illinois Valley to stop the prison from
being built. It would have housed some 1,600
people, more than the population of Cave
Junction itself at that time.
These days, Toler believes the divide
between some Illinois Valley residents has
lessened: over time, the children of residents
went to the same schools while new residents
have slowly continued moving in.
“I think the alternative culture of the
Valley has changed,” Toler said. “There was
quite a divide in the 80s, but I think the divide
has been bridged in a lot of ways, with new
people moving in and also the generational
factor of students who go to school together,
some of whom grow up, get married and have
kids. I think that makes things less divisive,
more comfortable.”
He was reelected to a third term on the
school board in 2005, but soon ran for county
commissioner and was inaugurated in 2007.
In a change from school board politics, less
scrutinized by the public, the commissioner
position was far more visible.
“I’ve been through six elections in
Josephine County,” Toler said. “Whether school
board or county…I always had a contender.
That’s the normal part of campaigning: people
have different ideas and opinions.”
In many ways, Toler said he enjoyed
working as commissioner and felt previous
experience in different volunteer positions
prepared him for the new role. But with a
recession and over 14 percent unemployment
in the county in 2009, public confidence in
government dropped sharply. The higher
exposure in the public eye
came with a price.
“It does draw a certain
crowd that can be very negative,
very punishing,” Toler said. “A
very hard part of the job was
having to sort of be a target
of what were some very angry
people.”
“I worked side by side
with Ellis, who has a very
different political look at the
world in many ways but we
learned to work with each other
very well,” Toler continued.
“[That’s] something I think
we’re short on as a nation, the
ability to put down political
differences and get the job
done.”
In 2010, Toler ran for
reelection for commissioner,
initially leading in primaries
but losing in November to
newcomer Simon Hare. Since
then, Toler moved to Wolf
Creek and got back into the
school system, leading the
Sunny Wolf charter school.
“I looked at it all as
community service,” Toler
said. “The commissioner office
happened to be one I was paid
at. I have hundreds of hours
of volunteer time and I know
there are many other people Described as an active community member, Dave
who have the same record. Toler pictured here during his term as county
We [volunteered] because we commissioner.
wanted to do it. When you look
jobs for high school graduates for sure, but
back and see some accomplishment, you feel because of fluctuations in the timber economy
better and move on to the next thing.”
and building market, it’s been economically
Toler said the economy has always tough for a long time.”
struggled while he’s lived in Josephine County,
Toler said the decision to move to
though timber sales were stronger and more California wasn’t an easy one, but he doesn’t
jobs for high school graduates were available.
plan to abandon the Valley for good.
“[The Valley] has been economically
“The natural beauty of the Valley is part
challenged for many decades,” Toler said. “It’s of what drew us here,” Toler said. “I’m looking
an inter-generational thing. I think there’s some forward to coming back some day.”
notion that the Valley in the
70s and 80s was a prosperous
community. There were more
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Forest Edge Farm
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Cave Junction, Ore
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