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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2011)
COUNTY KILLS COMMITTEES Members of the Lane Board of County Commissioners Aug. 3 quietly killed the Vegetation Management Advisory Committee and the Commission on Advancement of Human Rights in a 3-2 vote. Commissioners Jay Bozievich, Sid Leiken and Faye Stewart voted to kill the committees, and Commissioners Rob Handy and Pete Sorenson voted to keep them. VMAC has dealt with issues of roadside pesticide sprays and given public input into the Integrated Vegetation Management program. Sorenson says the committee has been active for 30 years. Currently Lane County has a moratorium on chemical sprays on its roadsides, which is one reason Bozievich gave for voting the end the committee. He says, “We did eliminate VMAC because we no longer use chemicals, and we felt the roads and parks advisory committees could cover any issues around vegetation that come up.” But VMAC member Jan Wroncy — who hadn’t been informed that the committee had been eliminated before EW called for an interview — says there is a need to educate property owners on not spraying county rights- of-way with chemicals. This is an issue that arose during the board’s discussion. County Administrator Liane Richardson said that education about chemical sprays and outside entities spraying within Lane County’s borders were not part of VMAC’s charge. According to the Lane Manual, among the committee’s duties was: “Serves as liaison group in representing the vegetation management concerns of the community to the board and representing board decisions to the community.” Wroncy says, “The biggest unresolved issue is that private property owners are illegally spraying the Lane County right-of-way in front of their property, exposing their neighbors and passers-by.” She says that not only do people spray chemicals, but “often the spraying is done in a way that does not follow the manufacturer’s label, for instance pesticides that are not approved for use in water are sprayed directly in a ditch.” Handy said at the meeting that the “need for the committee still is there,” and the county is “not performing our good neighbor function as a property owner” if it stops monitoring unwanted vegetation and chemical sprays on its rights-of-way. Bozievich says, “It also saves $8,000 to $10,000 in the budget and we just don’t have money to fund a committee without a clear purpose.” He gave a similar reason during the commissioners’ debate over ending the committee, which arose as part of a discussion on Lane Manual changes to internal and external committees, saying the “Commission on Human Rights is duplicative,” and adding “I don’t think we get another patrol officer on the street by it.” Sorenson says that VMAC “has actually been a place to have the differing attitudes about how much chemicals or not and where they are applied and roadside vegetation management controversies could be worked out at that committee level.” He says, “It was an extremely active committee.” — Camilla Mortensen LOGGING AND LANDSLIDES A site currently being clearcut in the Elliott State Forest is classified as a “high landslide hazard” and the family whose farm in Alleghany is in the path of the potential debris flow is fighting to stop the logging, which is slated to continue for another couple of weeks. Eugene-based conservation group Cascadia Wildlands has joined with landowners Barbara Shamet and Wolfgang Schwartz to ask the Oregon Department of Forestry to halt the logging on the “Millicoma Between” timber sale, also known as the “South Marlow Switch V.” According to the pre-operations report for the timber sale, not only is the 44-acre unit within 100 feet of a salmon and steelhead stream, the potential debris flow from a landslide would deposit into the West Fork Millicoma River. In order to do that, the landslide would cross Shamet and Schwartz’s farm. Kevin Weeks, ODF public information officer, says the landslide designation means “‘the potential exists that a landslide could occur,’ not necessarily that one is imminent or what magnitude of debris delivery could occur.” Shamet is filing a petition for an injunction to stop the logging, citing concerns about the high landslide hazard. Last week the landowners and the Cascadia Forest Defenders, a forest action group separate from Cascadia Wildlands, attempted to talk to loggers on the site about the issue, but were prevented by law enforcement and ODF, according to Jason Gonzales of CFD. Weeks says that due to summer fire danger and protest activities “there are increased patrols of the Elliott State Forest underway.” He says safety is a “top priority” for ODF and the agency is using “additional personnel from within ODF’s other districts to provide patrol services during the next few weeks.” The Millicoma Between sale did not go through a competitive bidding process. It was negotiated as a trade after another unit, the 35-acre “South Marlow Switch,” was also deemed also highly landslide prone. However ODF made the trade because a debris flow from the South Marlow Switch would potentially destroy homes, while a slide from the Millacoma Between sale would only affect property, Eatherington says. According to Weeks, “The criteria ODF uses is that a potential debris flow would need to either damage a structure or a major public road for a timber harvest from a state forest to be stopped or postponed for public safety reasons.” He adds, “Note that damage would need to pose a threat to a structure, and not just land that is adjacent to a structure.” Eatherington says even after the clearcutting is done, the 83-acre farm could also be affected by herbicides sprayed on the clearcut to facilitate replanting of the trees. “They don’t do Nazi herbicides, but they do pretty bad ones,” Eatherington says. She says Shamet and her family have not only been affected in the past by landslides off the Elliott, but by the toxic sprays as well. Shamet and Schwartz also say they were not notified of the sale above their property. Weeks says, “There is no requirement in Oregon law or Oregon Administrative Rules to notify an adjacent landowner that a harvest operation is planned in an area identified as a high landslide hazard area.” He says landowners can sign up for a subscriber notifications service at www.oregon.gov/ ODF Eatherington says they are asking ODF to stop cutting until they listen to the family’s concerns. — Camilla Mortensen SUNDAY STREETS, CAR-FREE FUN The city of Eugene plans to close 5th Avenue from the Fifth Street Public Market to Whiteaker’s Blair district next month for a first-ever city car-free event to promote biking, walking, health, community and fun. The three-mile “Eugene Sunday Streets” event from noon to 4 pm Sunday, Sept. 18, “is designed to get the entire community outside, having fun, enjoying healthy activities in Eugene’s public spaces while showing how easy it is to get around without a car,” according to a city press release. The city of Eugene plans live music, fitness classes, hula hooping, dancing and other activities at Washington- Jefferson and Skinner Butte parks along the route and in the street. Hundreds of cities throughout the U.S. and the world regularly or annually close busy thoroughfares for such walking and biking festivals. Portland’s 16th annual Bridge Pedal closes lanes on nine central bridges, sports and lost to the I-5 Rollergirls in the championship to take second place in the Aug. 6th tournament. The tournament, called “Young Women Behaving Badly,” was held at the Willamalane Sports Center and featured junior roller derby teams from throughout the Northwest. The Reservoir Dolls made it to the championship behind a 140-134 victory over Seattle that came down to the final minutes. Seattle’s Lilly Lightning, who led all scorers with 57 points, proved that lightning never strikes the same spot twice. After going on a 30-0 tear early in the half, Lilly had an opportunity to win it for Seattle in the final minute but came up short. Roma Mafia turned in a spectacular performance for the Dolls scoring 55 points. In the championship, the Reservoir Dolls were hurting for points and couldn’t stay out of the penalty box. I-5 jumped out to a 48-11 lead in this half bout. Spunkee Bruizer tried to get the Dolls back in it with a 20-0 scoring run, but I-5’s defense proved to be harder to get by than semis passing on the expressway. I-5 won 68-52. — James Warmels The Reservoir Dolls’ Spunkee Bruizer lines up in front of Seattle’s Lilly Lightning while Roma Mafia prepares to speed away 6 AUGUST 18, 2011 EUGENE WEEKLY PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF BORELO Junior Gems Second in NW The Emerald City Junior Gems’ Reservoir Dolls beat the Seattle Derby Brats WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
