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
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