Page A-8
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, December 5, 2018
Wildlife habitat on BLM restored
Christine Perala
Gardiner Ph.D.
Did you know that about
75 percent of Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) lands in our
watershed are considered “Special
Management Areas”? There are
many rare plant communities in
our mountains and valleys, the
biological legacy of the unusual
geology of our region. Where rare
plant communities occur on BLM
lands, they are classified either as
Areas of Critical Ecological Concern
(ACEC) or Research Natural Areas.
These areas are open to the public
for nonmotorized uses like hiking,
equestrian, biking, picnicking,
birding, field arts and science, etc.
One goal of the BLM Special
Management Areas program is to
increase community awareness about
the many fragile resources on our
public lands.
On Wednesday, Nov. 28, about
60 volunteers came together to plant
some rare native plants on BLM
public land off Waldo Road. Rains in
the days before the event yielded to
November sunshine to create a day
of perfect weather for planting.
A partnership of several groups
with BLM made this event possible:
I.V. Soil & Water Conservation
District, I.V. Watershed Council,
Native Plant Society of Oregon and
KS Wild all invited volunteers to
help with planting. About 30 students
came out in the afternoon from
the SMILE program at Evergreen,
Lorna Byrne and IVHS. Some
volunteers came from Central Point
and Ashland, eager to see these wild
plant communities.
For three years, BLM and
community volunteers have
addressed the tons of trash on public
lands left around Waldo and other
areas.
Over the last three years, BLM
staff has worked to close sensitive
habitats to off-road vehicles (ORVs),
which damage fragile soils and
watercourses. Now that the trash
and the ORVs are gone, the plant
communities are beginning to return
to their former glory, with help from
friends.
Last year, BLM botanists
collected seeds from plants growing
around the site. The seeds were
grown into seedlings by Silver
Springs Nursery in Jacksonville. Out
in the Waldo area after some good
rain wetting the soil, the small plants
were hand-planted with enthusiasm
and muddy boots. About 30 adults
and kids planted about 2,000 plants
in a day. Photo 2
BLM staff botanist Stacy
Johnson has supervised management
of many of these rare plant
communities for regeneration of
wildlife habitats, including our native
pollinators. “All the plants selected
for this revegetation project feed
the native pollinators,” explained
Johnson. The plants used include
two flowering shrubs - manzanita
and yerba santa; and three perennial
flowering plants - Horkelia, Phacelia
and Eriogonum. When they’re ready
to plant, the seedlings are about 1-2
inches tall with 6 inch long roots. I.V.
Soil & Water Conservation District
and I.V. Watershed Council provide
resources to local landowners,
without non-regulatory authority.
Both these local groups encourage
The Plaques of E Clampus Vitus:
Indian Mary
Park
The Plaques of E Clampus
Vitus—Umpqua Joe No. 1859
& Humbug Chapter No. 73
The 46th in a continuing series
of articles prepared by Bill
Wensrich
“If you ain’t plaque’n, then you
ain’t Clampin’”
Oregon’s Umpqua Joe E
Clampus Vitus Chapter got the
opportunity to commemorate
their Chapter namesake along
with his famous daughter,
Indian Mary, in 2013. Matt
Perkins had been elected
Chapter Humbug (club
president), later stepping down
in March for family reasons.
Replacing Matt as Humbug
was old Prospector Glenn
Hearrell, former Humbug of the
Billy Holcomb ECV Chapter.
When Matt was Vice
Humbug traveling the old
historic Rogue River loop
highway out of Grants Pass
between Merlin and Galice,
he came upon the notion of
replacing the old dilapidated
wood signage board at Indian
Mary Park along the river.
Following up on this idea
Glenn, Leo Champagne and
Robby Robinson made a trip
out to the park to talk with the
Park Ranger about replacing
the old wooden sign board.
Receiving permission from
Josephine County Parks,
Umpqua Joe Chapter began
to work on getting a new
historical monument erected in
the park. Outdoing themselves,
they came upon the notion of
erecting a two sided monument.
On the side facing traffic as
patrons enter the park, they
would place a granite plaque
commemorating the Park’s
namesake, Indian Mary. On
the reverse side of the concrete
monument they decided to
place another granite sheet
discussing the history of her
famous father and Chapter
namesake, Umpqua Joe.
Robby prepared the
wording for the Umpqua Joe
plaque. Text from the old
wooden historical sign board
was copied for the new granite
sheet commemorating Indian
Mary (Umpqua Joe’s daughter).
Following many discussions
with the Park service and at
chapter meetings the final text
was approved. Robby again
obtained granite sheets and
engraving from West Coast
Monuments in Myrtle Point,
Oregon.
During the weekend
of June 8, 2013, the Chapter
held a Doin’s at Gray’s Ranch
along Galice Creek off the old
historic loop highway. Friday
before the dedication several
Redshirts and their Poor Blind
Candidates erected the two
sided historical monument
under the supervision of
Humbug Hearrell. Saturday
the plaque was dedicated
with much fanfare. As the
speechifying ended the
Brethren all responded to
“What say the Brethren” with a
hearty “Satisfactory!”
The following narrative
adapted from Percy Booth’s
Legend of Indian Mary and
Umpqua Joe illustrates some of
the history that made these two
individuals remembered on this
plaque famous.
October 9, 1855 is
remembered for 16 massacred
settlers and travelers—men,
women and children. Hostile
Rogue Indians galloped across
Chief Sam’s Valley to begin a
deadly drive along the Oregon-
California Trail, killing and
burning everything in their
path. This raid marked the
beginning of a new series of
desperate struggles pitting
southern Oregon’s newest
settlers against local Native
Americans. For two years a
continuing vengeful policy of
extermination by both groups
land stewardship and conservation.
In 2018, the two groups hired
a volunteer coordinator, Sienna
Fitzpatrick. She has the job of
community outreach, especially to
youth.
Fitzpatrick coordinates with
staff at Three Rivers School District
and the SMILE program at the three
local schools to get youth involved.
She also teams up with folks at the
Josephine County Youth Foundation
representing high school youth and
the I.V. Community Development
Organization.
Partnering with the SWCD
and Watershed Council helps these
groups at federal and local levels,
to promote community access to
all public lands and to encourage
conservation stewardship for
everyone who visits them.
Volunteers planting rare native plants on BLM land off Waldo
Road Wednesday, Nov. 28.
by Grand Sublime Bill Wensrich
was carried out to determine
who would live in the Valley of
the Rogue—the red man, or the
white man.
Forty miners along Galice
Creek and Skull Bar became
aware of the raids when a sweat
streaked horse and weary rider
brought word from the upper
valley of the latest Indian
attacks. Miners hurriedly
fortified themselves looking for
ways to best defend their camp.
Welcome additions to the group
were two friendly Indians, Joe
Umpqua and his wife.
Exactly why Umpqua
Joe decided to cast his lot
with the miners is not known
. Joe and his woman made
their way down the river, on
each bank, as far as Skull Bar
warning isolated men what
they had learned via the Indian
grapevine; a war party planning
an attack. This was not the only
time Joe befriended miners and
settlers of threatened areas.
Those who wrote about
Umpqua Joe included T.
McFadden Patton who carried
mail between Deer Creek
and Jacksonville. Normal
communications with all points
north of Six Bit House at Wolf
Creek were cut off by the
massacre along the Oregon-
California Trail. McFadden’s
vivid account of his canyon
adventures includes the
following journal entry.
“Umpqua Joe told Dr.
Paxton at the Six Bit House
that all of the Indians of the
Shasta, Klamath, Horse Creek
(Klamath River area), Grave
Creek and Rogue River had
combined . . . to murder all
the whites . . . Umpqua Joe,
who is a friendly Indian, was
Fremont’s guide and has
always fought on the side of the
whites.”
Leading a volunteer
militia force of 37 men, Captain
W. B. Lewis helped defend the
miners at Skull Bar. Writing
about the battle of Skull Bar
Lewis frankly discussed the
strength and viciousness of
the attack which made their
situation very serious if not
tenuous. His chronicle paid
tribute to a group of valiant
men, and respect for a shrewd
and determined enemy.
“It was the hardest fought
battle ever to take place this
side of the Rocky Mountains,
with over 1,500 shots fired by
the enemy in one day.”
The Rogue River Indian
Wars ended in 1856. Almost
all southwest Oregon Indians
were moved to the Grande
Ronde and Siletz reservations.
Showing appreciation for
his co-operation, settlers and
miners asked that Umpqua
Joe and his wife be allowed to
remain in their native southern
Oregon, rather than being
banned to a reservation with
the rest of the Rogues and
Umpquas.
Following the Rogue
River Indian wars, Joe squatted
on a piece of high river bank,
not far upstream from the
mouth of Galice Creek and
Skull Bar. In the center of
an open flat area he built a
one room log cabin. There he
hunted, fished, grew a garden,
planted fruit trees, raised a
family and eventually became a
ferry operator.
Joe and his wife had
three children, two girls and a
boy. The first girl was called
Mary, a name as popular with
the Indians as it was with the
pioneers. Two of Umpqua
Joe’s children met tragic
deaths. Mary lived on to
become known as Indian Mary
homesteading the land Joe
originally squatted on.
In 1958, the Josephine
County Board of Commissions
bought the historic site founded
by Umpqua Joe which was
later homesteaded by his
daughter. Converted to a public
park, the beauty of the setting
and memories of past history
are now preserved for future
generations to appreciate. The
place was given the name,
Indian Mary Park.
To view this plaque and
enjoy a terrific Sunday drive,
find your way to Grants Pass,
Oregon. Just north of town
take Exit 61 to Merlin and
follow the Galice-Merlin Road
to Indian Mary Park. At the
park entrance adjacent to the
Ranger’s booth in the median
you will find this two side
historical monument. Have
lunch at the Park and then
continue on to Galice and then
back to Wolf Creek at Exit 76
on Interstate 5.
The following year the
Chapter faced the concrete
monument with river rock
to improve the monument
appearance.