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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 2018)
YOUR HOMETOWN NEWSPAPER SINCE 1937 Illinois Valley News Wednesday, September 26, 2018, 1 Section, Volume LXXXI No. 38 Forest recovery plan after a wildfire puts community skills to work When firefighters build control lines, brush and trees are thinned or removed leaving a strip of bare mineral soil and an accumulation of vegetation on the forest floor. After a wildfire, crews implement a forest recovery plan to improve fire-damaged lands that are unlikely to recover naturally. One piece of this recovery is to remove hazardous trees and thinned materials. Contractors work together to make this happen. They will cut large dead trees, skid them to a landing, loadthem on a log trucks and send them to a nearby mill. Deep in the forest along the Klondike Fire’s con- trol line, a tracked dozer with a grapple lifts the front end of salvaged logs off the ground and relocates them for processing. Pacific Ridge Agent Marty Miller from Selma encourages young adults to consider a career in forestry. “There’s money in the woods, for example if you have a pickup truck and a chainsaw, you can find work cutting firewood,” explained Miller. Over 30 years ago, Miller was a skipper on an Alaskan tug boat and gave it all up because he was tired of being away from his family for six months at a time. Miller’s pas- sion for forestry and conservation is as strong and his love for his family. Miller has eight children and four of them work in forestry, plus one of his sons is his super- visor. Gary Wylie is a seasoned class C faller with more than 35 years of experience. “The Forest is my office, I’ve logged all my life and it’s quiet here,” explained Wylie. His father was a faller since age 13 and the pas- sion for the job was passed onto him. He enjoys seeing his progress and understands the value of his physical labor. Without fallers we would have no raw materials to make wood products, such as plywood, roof trusses, even toilet paper and pizza boxes that are so important to our daily lives. Although the work is repetitious, falling trees by hand involves a high degree of special- ized skill and concentration, and a commitment to make safety part of every workday. Wylie is a native Orego- nian from Cave Junction. Once hazard trees are removed, the processor op- erator Colby Bradford, delimbs and cuts the felled trees into logs. “You’ve got to enjoy what you do, forestry is a way of life not just a paycheck,” explained Brad- ford. With his diesel technology degree, Bradford can operate and repair his machine deep in the forest, miles from the nearest road. His seven years’ experience, has taught him to make informed decisions on how to salvage as much material as he can from the Klondike Fire. Inside the cab, Bradford programs the computer to keep records of the length and diameter of tree cuts to predict volume. He works in tandem with the fallers to expedite the process. Logs are transported from the cutting site to a land- ing by a skidder. The purpose-built machine grabs logs, or whole trees, with grapples or choker cables—lifts the front ends of logs off the ground, then pull logs to the roadside landing. This is heavy equipment operator Dustin Culver from Cave Junction’s first season. SEE SKILLS ON A-9 (Courtesy photo for the Illinois Valley News) Marty Miller on the Klondike fire restoration project. $1.00 Published weekly for the residents of the Illinois Valley Cougars for rent (Photo by Laura Mancuso, Illinois Valley News) Jim Frick (left) auctions off the I.V. High School football players to be a work crew to a large crowd Satudrday, Sept. 22 at the Siskiyou Smokejumpers Base Museum during the 3rd annual Cougars Foot- ball Touchdown Auction. City seeks to improve security downtown Tristan Stocker IVN Contributing Writer On Wednesday, Sept. 12, city and county officials signed a memorandum of understanding which will allow $105,000 from the sale of the county building to be put toward improving security in Downtown Cave Junction, among other things. According to city recorder Rebecca Patton, the top priority for the city of Cave Junction as well as the Illinois Valley, which has been determined by various surveys conducted by the Illinois Valley Community Development Organization (IVCDO) and the Illinois Valley Chamber of Commerce, has been security. “Since we are unable to have nighttime enforcement, which is something that the city is working on, businesses need to find a way to protect their investments and their ability to continue to operate safely,” Patton said. “So one way that they can do that is to increase the security by means of security cameras and lighting - additional security lighting.” The security lighting would be strategically placed near businesses by utilizing maps where CJ Patrol has identified “dark zones.” According to Patton, crime occurs less in lighted areas than it does in dark areas. However, the specifics are still up in the air as to whether the money should be used to purchase surveillance cameras, security lighting in the downtown area or any combination of both. “There’s a Security Lighting Plan, which is what they’re gonna be working on right now,” said Josephine County Commissioner Simon Hare. “It’s comprehensive security improvement that may or may not be most cost effective to do cameras. They’re gonna work that out in the plan.” According to Hare, this was a prioritization done by the 20/20 Plan that was developed about 2 years ago by an ad hoc group of people assembled from the city and other parts of the Valley to try and come up with ways to improve not just the city of Cave Junction but the entire Illinois Valley. To help get the ball rolling, IVCDO community development coordinator Kate Dwyer penned a proposal to the board of county commissioners roughly outlining where they money would go if they invested it here in the Valley. The board accepted her proposal and agreed to commit the money. “I was not willing to accept the county selling the building without any stakeholder input or without any further benefit to the people of the Illinois Valley,” Dwyer said. “It seems to me that the county building, although owned by the county, existed for the benefit of the people of the Illinois Valley to be able to get access to county government services for which they pay taxes. “Also,” added Dwyer, “That when they’re talking about lighting, they’re very specific in talking about lighting that’s attractive and doesn’t damage our night sky.” Going forward, a group will convene to decide on the details, however, currently, no date has been set. Cannabis grower donates to veteran program Daniel Mancuso IVN Staff According to 54 Green Acres owners Vin and Kate Deschamps, charitable causes are important. Especially those near their farm in Cave Junction that focuses on helping military veterans and those less fortunate. One such program, the Breeze Botanicals Compassion Program (BBCP) got the Deschamps’ attention and passion. “54 Green Acres is honored to participate in the BBCP programto assist veterans and low-income Oregon Medical Marijuana Program (OMMP) patients,” Vin Deschamps said. The program was started by Brie Marlarkey in 2014 when she noticed many veterans coming with service- related issues but little capacity to purchase the product coming into her Gold Hill and Ashland locations. “Many people came in without the means to acquire the medicine they needed. So many were coming in because of something that happened during their service such as PTSD or aches and pains,” Marlarkey said. The program allows OMMP card-holding veterans and SNAP card holders to choose from the “compassion box” one item a day. The law only allows medical patients to get cannabis for free, but veterans and low-income Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) users can get a sizable discount depending on the product. Currently the (Photo by Dan Mancuso, Illinois Valley News) Ian of Breeze Botanicals (left) shows Caleb Padgett what’s in the “compassion box” Thursday, Sept. 20. law allows up to 50 percent discounts. Patients can choose from what is available that day. Marlarkey knows that not everyone is on the “up and up” but it’s better to give to those “not in need” than to not give it to someone who really needs it. Originally, it was just Marlarkey’s Shady Cove area farm that donated to the compassion box and over time other farms and companies joined in. “Some companies give us samples to give away in an attempt to test the market and the vets get the opportunity to try new products for free. It appears to be feast or famine in the donation department. Sometimes we have too much and others not enough.” Caleb Padgett, the director of operations at 54 Green Acres, was there for the delivery and stated that they were “happy to be involved in this program. It’s important to our values to give back.” Padget felt strongly that it’s important for the cannabis industry to make contributions to the communities they work in. Marlarkey takes a holistic view of medical cannabis. She feels that the right cannabis paired with other herbal allies work better than either one alone. Her stores also carry over 50 locally grown organic herbs. SEE GREEN ON A-9 SOS new recycling rules on A-5