Section
SANDY OREGON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1978
The SÄnäy Post
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Riprap decisions are split for area land owners
by MARK FLOYD
Homeowners on the Sandy and
Zigzag Hivers were granted permits
recently by the Division of State Lands
to construct stabilization structures
along the riverbanks But a number of
other homeowners on the other
stretches of the Zigzag River near
Rhododendron were turned down
Owners of 21 lots
including three
by Clackamas County — were given the
go-ahead to build the reta inin g
structure to keep the waters from
eating away at the banks.
Permits for 26 other lots on the Zigzag
River were denied by the DSL because
their situations did not constitute an
“ emergency" based on state criteria.
According to a letter from DSL
Director W illiam Cox to the Clackamas
Soil and Water Conservation District,
approval of the permits is based on the
distance of a building to the riverbank.
As a result, four lots on the Zigzag
River near Rhododendron were ap
proved while 26 lots just upstream were
denied
Reinforcing the riverbanks with man
made devices — or riprapping — was
sought by landowners on the two rivers
because of high water which over
flowed the banks last year Heavy snow
followed by steady ram and a rise in
temperatures is believed to have
caused the flooding.
The Soil and Water Conservation
District applied to the state on behalf of
the landowners for the permits.
Cox stated in his letter to the Con
servation District that he denied per
mits for the 26 lots on the Zigzag River
because “ the proposed work is not
justified.
“ This is a dynamic, high energy
section of stream where, during high
flows, water velocities are intense
enough to move boulders three and four
feet in diameter downstream.”
He added that while some bank
erosion has occurred “ as one would
reasonably expect along a stream of
such gradient, it by no means is ex
cessive and certainly has not created
an emergency.”
The emergency clause was the major
obstacle to granting the permits. The
permits had been applied for under
provisions of the Emergency Water
shed Protection Act which provides
funds for construction of emergency
erosion prevention structures.
However, there were other reasons
for denial, according to Cox. He said
that granting the permits would
provide a false sense of security for
property owners who would then be
encouraged to build homes closer to the
stream.
Another factor was the proposed
devices themselves which would
stretch out into certain pools of the
Zigzag River in the Rhododendron area
and disrupt known spawning grounds of
steelhead.
DSL officials took into consideration
the opinion of the State Fish and
Wildlife Department which is asked to
comment regularly on these ap-
plications.
“ Our department was opposed to
some of the extensive riprapping in the
Rhododendron area,” district biologist
Jay Massey said. “ The habitat (for
young steelhead) would decline
rapidly.
“ The rive r isn’t particularly fast
right now — there are a lot of boulders
breaking it up," Massey added. “ If
there was riprapping on both sides of
the stream, the current would pick up
significantly.”
Included in the approved Sandy sites
was a lot owned by Jim Kitchen, whose
case is the most dramatic of any of the
property owners.
Kitchen’s home on the Sandy River
just west of Dodge Park nearly became
a houseboat after the high water lopped
up to 20 feet off of his bank. His home
was left precariously close to the edge
of the bank which slopes almost
straight down into the river.
Kitchen has expressed a fear that
weather conditions sim ilar to last year
might be enough to knock his house into
the river.
However, Kitchen and the rest of the
property owners w ill have to wait
awhile, before work can begin on their
structures, according to Ed Olmsted of
the Soil Conservation Service.
In order to get funding under the
Emergency Watershed Protection Act,
all of the work must be under one
contract, and that contract w ill have to
be open for bidding. Additionally,
regulations prohibit working in rivers
and streams during the winter months
in order to reduce the disruption of
salmon and steelhead runs. Olmsted
said that work w ill not begin until July
1.
When work does begin, a number of
special conditions for the Zigzag and
Sandy areas w ill be enforced. They
include st ipulations requiring that:
The operation shall be conducted in a
manner that w ill minimize any tur
bidity increase.
—The stream shall not be diverted
from the natural bed nor within the
natural bed.
—Only clean, erosion resistant rock
from an upland source shall be used as
riprap.
—Riprap shall be placed in a manner
that does not appreciably increase the
upland surface area.
—The operation shall not be done
between September 15 and July 1.
—Areas of streambank disturbance
not covered by riprap shall be seeded or
planted with grass, legumes and
shrubs.
—There shall be no operation of
equipment in the water except to dig a
toe trench.
— R em oval of e xisting woody
vegetation shall be minimal.
The conditions of the permits were
set by the Division of State Lands
following extensive research, ac
cording to Cox.
“ Our staff went out and looked at the
sites and compiled the information,”
Cox said. “ We (Division of State Lands)
act as a coordinator and consolidate all
of the agencies involved.
“ It saves the individual from having
to go to four or five places to find out
what he wants to know,” Cox added.
For those property owners whose
request permit was denied there is still
hope. The Soil and Water Conservation
D istrict has sent a letter appealing the
decision and a hearing w ill be for
thcoming. No date has been set for the
hearing as yet, according to Cox.
THE STATE has approved riprapping in certain sections like this on the Zigzag
River near Rhododendron.
Marmot artist brings Indian heritage to life
by ( ARDI. THURLKILL
Post Correspondent
“ I don’t miss the fast paced a rtist’s
world,” says Roger Cooke “ Sometimes
the big time is a detrim A t to success.”
CoÖke, a Marmot-area artist well
known for his colorful Western paint
ings, does not miss the bright lights of
the big city. He enjoys living in a
mountain environment where he can
fish in his backyard for steelhead.
"A lot of people get their priorities
mixed up and end up losing their
families or the desire to produce a rt,"
he said.
The main theme in Cooke s paintings
are Northwestern Indians of the last
century in their native homelands and
dress His works portray a discipline
and perfectionist’s realism with every
stroke.
“ I paint a lot of subjects which are
gone forever,” Cooke, 37, said in a
'recent interview in his home on the
Sandy River. “ Sometimes it takes as
long for the research (on a particular
subject) as it does for the painting ”
Cooke keeps a photo file of his
paintings that have been sold. One
painting portrays a buffalo herd being
pushed over a c liff by a tribe of hungry
Indians. It took him a year just to
collect the information on the Indian
tribe to ensure accuracy of detail.
“ One reason I chose my subject
matter was because it hadn't been done
before,” he said.
Cooke’s research takes him from the
alpine meadows of the Cascades to the
Blue Mountain range where he takes
photographs of mountain scenery as
well as of modern day Indians.
“ A lot of the areas I paint are open
only three or four months out of the
year and it’s not possible to go out and
paint them,” he said “ There may be
the kind of lighting I ’m looking for that
goes by in five minutes.
" I also try to study and store in
formation on lighting in my mind I’m
just fascinated with what lighting can
do to a scene.”
His paintings generally show the
nobility of Indians, one painting shows
two chiefs resting their horses on a high
meadow; another depicts a Umatilla
tribe settling for the evening around
their teepees
Also in his collection are facial
portraits of young bucks and the
graceful poses of a young squaw in
white buckskin.
Cooke composes his paintings in a
well lit studio in his home. Working
there, he is able to take an occasional
tea break with wife, Edna, and their
two children, Lance and Stephanie.
Their home is warm and relaxing with
none of the artist’s work on the walls.
Cooke looks for balance in his works:
“ Balance between the s p iritu a l,
physical and mental aspects of life ,” he
said.
As a part of maintaining that
balance, the tall, slim Cooke hikes, skis,
plays tennis, is involved in his church,
and teaches classes at Timberlake Job
Corp Center on “ how to cope with
problems that prevent a person from
being successful.
“ Good art doesn’t just reproduce a
scene,” he says. “ I think good art
communicates a feeling. People can
look at it and relate to it because it
recreates a feeling in them. By me
relating to others, I feel I can better
communicate what others feel. I just
now feel that I am moving in that
direction. A person has to master
technique firs t,” he said.
Cooke uses a delicate combination of
oil washes (oil with turpentine and
copel medium) and opaque oils (thick
oil that you cannot see through) painted
on a masonite board.
“ With this technique I can get all of
the spontaneity of water and the
flexibility of oils. I use glazes and let
them do their own thing It doesn’t dry
immediately, so I can work with it,” he
explained.
“ I t ’s frustrating at first because a lot
of things can ruin, and I have to start
over What I try to do is have looseness
and a certain amount of detail in the
background. A lot of the background
leans toward impressionism and the
foreground is more realistic,” he said.
While he says it has taken four or five
years to perfect this technique, Cooke
has been painting horses since he was a
boy. He lived in the Beaverton area
until he was 19 and moved to Marmot
with his parents in 1960
The interest in Indian history grew
from the stories his great grandfather
used to tell.
“ He lived in Lewiston, Idaho, when
the United States declared war on the
Nez Pierce Confederation. He told a lot
of stories of Chief Joseph He respected
him. He told his stories with respect
I t ’s kind of funny because 100 years
later, I did paintings of Chief Joseph's
great great-granddaughters, Valda and
Vonda Humphrey.
He received his formal training at
Portland State University for two years
and the Art Center College of Design in
Los Angeles where he majored in
illustration. He initially started out in
illustration in Indianapolis and moved
Carol ThurIk ill ptwxr
RO G ER COOKE with phata repradaetiaa« af hto warfci
back to Portland in 1972 It was then
that he began to paint Western art on
the side
market They are used to paying $50 to
$200. When you get into the higher
figures, there aren’t that many buyers.
There are several I wish 1 could have
“ In 1974 I sent two of my paintings
kept I can’t afford my own work,” he
over a two-month period to the Husberg
said.
Fine Arts Gallery in Sedona. Arizona. I
“ Ten years ago the demand for
sold them right away,” he said with a
Western art exceeded the supply. Now
grin
there are an awful lot of artists involved
Cooke now supports his family with
in it. A lot who live back East and don’t
the income from his paintings. He
know what they are doing. I make sure
produces as many as 24 in a year,
my quality is tops and make the
sometimes working up to 12 hours a competition chase me,” he said.
day. But, he said, his emphasis is on
With each of Cooke's paintings, the
quality rather than quantity.
buyer gets a w ritte n h istorica l
The m ajority of his work is now sold
background of the tribe and setting, and
in Sedona to out of state collectors at a
the knowledge that he is purchasing a
price ranging from $400 to $6.000.
unique and painstakingly created piece
“ The Portland area is not a good art
of art.
Hoodland clinic
receives approval
OREGON CITY — The request to use
a double wide mobile home as a tem
porary home for the Hoodland Com
munity Clinic in the Welches area was
approved Thursday by Clackamas
County Hearings Officer Richard Crist.
Representatives of the Providence
Medical Center in Portland asked for a
temporary permit to use the trailer on
the west side of Welches Road almost
600 feet south of its intersection with
Highway 26 while plans are being made
for a permanent facility.
Jerry Milstead. a representative of
P rovidence M edical Center said
members of the Hoodland Community
requested the center have a medical
clinic operating before the winter
recreation season began. Milstead said
his company w ill be looking for a
permanent site in 1979
Milstead said the center w ill provide
special treatment for emergency cases
and w ill also have a standard
physicians practice during the day.
Lowell Njust, president of the
Hoodland Chamber of Commerce
testified at the hearing the Hoodland
area was in desperate need of a medical
center. “ There just aren't adequate
words to tell you how badly we need this
care,'' Njust said. “ We’ve been trying
for 10 years to get something like this
going
“ With all the people traveling
through our area to Mt Hood, the
burden is becoming unbearable and
this was the only immediate location we
could find,” he said
Ann Wickersham of Sandy testified
that there was a great need for the
center in the area because most of the
emergency cases go as far as Gresham
for trea tment
Crist approved the request subject to
several conditions including adequate
parking spaces, landscaping, access
and Department of Environmental
Quality approval of the septic holding
tank
Officials at Providence said they plan
to open the clinic Tuesday if the
specially
constructed
double-wide
trailer can be transported over the
mountains from Idaho
Zigzag nurse Susan French has been
hired for the facility and w ill begin
taking appointments for visits next
week during regular office hours of 8 30
a m. to5 p m
Phone number at the clinic is 622-
3126
District
formation
vote set
Voters in the proposed boundaries of
the Hoodland sewage district w ill go to
the polls Jan 23 to decide whether the
district w ill be formed
The Clackamas County elections
office certified the names of signers to a
petition presented to the Clackamas
County commissioners last week
Forty-five names were required to put
the matter to a vote The petition listed
61 signers
The county elections office said 301
persons w ill be eligible to vote in the
election They include residents in the
Welches area bordered by Highway 26,
Arrah-Wanna Boulevard, Salmon River
Road and the Salmon River.
Also included in the proposed district
are people in Timberline Rim and
residents of the commercial area in
Rhododendron
The district is being proposed for
construction of a regional sewage
treatment plant that could handle
500.000 gallons of sewage a day It
would serve an eventual population of
10.000