Page10
December 2023
support Native
Rural Report Feds
American burn
practices in Oregon
Pet
RSV
or “atypical canine infectious
A project incorporating traditional Native
respiratory disease” American
management practices for oak
Douglas County receives grant for Whistlers
Bend County Park rehabilitation project
ROSEBURG, Ore. November 2023,
—
Douglas County Commissioners announced an
award of $490,000 grant from the Oregon Parks
and Recreation Department (OPRD) through
its Local Government Grant Program for the
Phase I rehabilitation of Whistler’s Bend County
Park, located 15 miles east of Roseburg at 2828
Whistlers Park Road.
“We have invested a considerable amount of
money in the parks on the coast, primarily because
they’re so busy and provide a return that helps
support the entire parks system, which continues
to provide matching dollars for state and federal
grant funding for improvement projects like this
one,” stated Commissioner Chris Boice. “Parks
Director Mark Wall has done an outstanding job
successfully applying for grant dollars allowing
us to continue investing in our parks. The amount
of work our Parks Department gets done, with
such a small team of people, is amazing.”
The grant funds will be matched by
Douglas County and utilized to begin a two-
phase renovation. Phase I of the rehabilitation
project will cost $980,000. Phase I includes
improvements to the day use area and portions
of the upper campground; replacement of single
vault restrooms with ADA accessible restrooms;
installation of a pavilion for public use and
special events next to the Whistler’s Bend Disc
Golf Course parking lot; resurfacing of the lower
parking lot and access roads to improve river
access; and paving of the upper campground
access road and group sites.
The engineering and design work for Phase
I is being provided by the local engineering firm,
IE Engineering, Inc. The pavilion and restrooms
planned for the park will be purchased from and
installed by locally owned public utility building
manufacturer, Romtec, Inc.
Request for Proposals are expected to go out
for bid in January 2024 with work to begin in
Story by Milo Van Elder
the spring, pending contractor availability. The
construction timeline for Phase I improvements
is estimated to be about three months.
Phase II will focus on paving the upper
campground, adding more full hookup sites to
the upper campground, and replacing three single
vault toilets in the lower campground with ADA
accessible ones. Phase II improvements will also
enhance the Whistlers Bend Disc Golf Course
with the addition of a small pavilion and a new
restroom in the middle of the course, and also
furnishing the course with additional benches
and garbage receptacles throughout. Phase II
will be dependent upon receiving additional
grant funding the Parks Department is currently
pursuing.
Since its dedication to the County in 1957,
Whistler’s Bend County Park is one of the most
popular day use and overnight parks in Douglas
County. Located on an oxbow peninsula on
the North Umpqua River, the park boasts
direct river access, a boat ramp, 13 full-hookup
campsites, 42 non-hookup campsites, restroom,
and shower facilities, 5 rustic yurts (3 of which
are on the riverfront), playground, and picnic
sites. Whistler’s Bend County Park also boasts
a nationally-ranked, highly-rated 27-hole disc
golf course.
“Our current Board of Commissioners
have been very judicious with their decisions
to continue to invest in the Parks Department
over the past several years,” remarked Parks
Director Mark Wall. “The ongoing partnership
with OPRD has been the key to executing the
Board’s vision for Douglas County Parks and we
have some very exciting projects coming to our
inland parks over the next couple of years.”
For more information about Douglas County
Parks or to visit Whistler’s Bend County Park,
visit: douglascountyor.gov/802/Parks.
SALEM -
Since last summer, the
Oregon Department of Agriculture has
taken more than 200 reports of what
is being called an ‘atypical canine
infectious respiratory disease.’ The
disease is causes pneumonia- and
bronchitis-like symptoms, leading to
illness and, in severe cases, can cause
death.
“Nobody really knows where
it’s coming from. Nobody knows the
etiology of it, in other words, what’s
causing it, and nobody knows what
kind of dogs are getting it,” said Dr.
Teri Sue Wright
While it is unknown from where
the origin of this virus, it’s clear that
certain activities may increase the
likelihood of your pet might come to
be in contact with another dog who
may be carrying the pathogen.
“Shared spaces and breathing on
each other and salivating on each other
and coughing at each other’s faces.”
According to Dr. Wright, finding
a way to balance limiting your dog’s
exposure to the virus and keeping
them active is important.
What Dr. Wright says you should
not do is completely restrict your pet’s
activity. “I love dogs that are outside
and coming together and playing and
running and breathing. Fresh air and
lots of play and healthy fun is great
for dogs.”
Talk to your vet about ways to
ensure you lower your pet’s risk. Make
sure that your dog’s not going to get
sick. Talk about their diet and talk
about other compounding factors. Are
they sick in other ways? Do they have
dental disease? Are they overweight?
Or are they susceptable to it as far as
a breed?”
As information continues to
come in about this virus, state-level
research into the origin and treatment
options will come closer to reality. In
the meantime, you may want to get
creative about how you keep your pet
active and healthy.
habitat restoration in Oregon has been
awarded $9.23 million. The USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service awarded
the money, which will go to the Oregon
Agricultural Trust and its partners.
Traditional Native management practices
include setting fire to the landscape in order
to rejuvenate certain plants, eradicate pests,
and reduce slash and debris, commonly
known as “cultural burns.”
Ka-Voka Jackson is a program
manager for the EcoStudies Institute, one
of the partners. She’s done controlled fire
operations based on how Indigenous people
did theirs for ages, blending ancient practice
with modern methods.
“Use of cultural fire, traditional fire,
on the landscape, which usually entails
people who are trained or have the wildfire
qualifications,” explained Jackson. “That
usually entails fire trucks or water resources,
the use of drip torches, other hand tools.”
The project also seeks to permanently
protect designated oak savannas and
woodlands, and give Native Americans
access to them for cultural use and
environmental stewardship.
Jackson — who is of Hualapi, Wabanaki,
and Oglala Lakota heritage — told KLCC
that’s she’s excited for the funding and
looks forward to working with regional
tribes going forward.
Veterans Corner
Filipino Veterans Fairness Act to restore US Promises of WWII
The Filipinos who fought for the U.S.
in WWII never saw their promised benefits
and a new bill seeks to remedy that. The
U.S. recruited tens of thousands of Filipino
servicemen to fight with it us during World War
II and then broke that promise of benefits and
citizenship after the war ended.
A group of bipartisan lawmakers announced
in October, that they are introducing a bill that
would help fulfill the U.S. promise to Filipino
veterans who fought alongside American
troops during World War II.
The Filipino Veterans Fairness Act aims
to grant benefits to the remaining veterans
and the families of the hundreds of thousands
of Filipino servicemen. Filipino’s who were
recruited by the U.S. in the early 1940s, in part
by promising full access to veterans’ benefits
and citizenship. The promise, however, was
rescinded by Congress in 1946 and has only
partially fulfilled in recent decades.
“During World War II, over 250,000 Filipino
troops bravely fought under U.S. command,
saving countless lives during their service. It’s
unacceptable that these veterans were stripped
of the benefits they were entitled to,” Rep.
Kevin Mullin, D-Calif., who sponsored the bill,
said in a press release. “I cannot imagine the
pain Filipino veterans and their families felt and
the irreparable harm caused by this unjustified
disparate treatment.”
The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Ed
Case, D-Hawaii and Rep. James Moylan, the
Republican delegate from Guam, would offer
a need-based death pension to the remaining
survivors. It would also expand the kinds of
military documentation accepted for benefits’
eligibility.
Kevin Nadal, president of the Filipino
American National Historical Society, said
that the Filipino veterans’ fight to secure
their benefits has dragged on for decades. In
the meantime, the number of Filipino WWII
veterans has dwindled to less than 2,000,
making the restoration of their benefits all the
more urgent.
The Philippine island archipelago was a
U.S. colony until 1934, when the U.S. promised
to grant it independence within the next 10
years. But before doing so the Pentagon
recruited both Filipino Americans and Filipino
nationals to fight under U.S. command due to
a substantial part of the war being fought in
the Philippines, which Japan had invaded. It’s
estimated that up to 1 million Filipinos died in
the war.
The U.S. changed its tune with the
conclusion of the war. Congress passed the
Rescission Act in 1946, stripping many
Filipino veterans and their families of benefits
due to budget concerns and prompting the
ongoing efforts to restore them.
In 1990 President George H.W. Bush
enacted a law granting citizenship to Filipino
nationals who fought in the war. Later, in
2009, Barack Obama signed a law granting
a lump sum of $15,000 to surviving Filipino
veterans who are American citizens and $9,000
to noncitizens. But claiming these benefits has
been nearly impossible and many have been
denied access to them, Nadal said, due to the
lack of proper documentation.
“Some people, there just were not any
proper records that they served in the military.
And part of that is because of the war itself
and the destruction of many buildings and
places that would have had those records,”
Nadal said. He went on to say that while
legislation looking to ease access to the
promised benefits to Filipino veterans has
previously been proposed, getting to pass the
bill has been an uphill battle. Lawmakers in
the past have been hesitant to green-light the
idea of funding for Filipino nationals, arguing
that the Filipino government should provide
benefits to veterans.
“Racial biases may or will influence
people’s perceptions of whether or not they
deserve those benefits or those rights,” Nadal
said.
“Many lawmakers just never viewed
[Filipinos] as being equals to the Americans,”
he continued. “They never viewed them as
being citizens. They never viewed them as
taking the same amount of risk and sacrifice
as U.S. born soldiers”.