Eugene weekly., March 15, 2012, Page 11, Image 11

NEWS BRIEFS
Household Travel Survey and found that in some categories
rural areas even topped urban rates of total trips on bicycles.
Phillips acknowledges some instances where she’s met
people using the bikeways for transportation. One cyclist
told her the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway was way to
commute to work; the route goes through Salem and Ankeny
Wildlife Refuge. Another cyclist told Phillips about using the
route for a two-day business trip.
But the majority of use on the bikeways will more likely
be cyclists hoping to find a picturesque mountaintop behind
a clump of pine trees or a tiny pond teeming with wildlife.
In partnership with Travel Oregon, OPRD is hoping to
promote these routes throughout the country and world. The
idea being that the tourism will help economic development
in small Oregon towns the bikeways go through.
“If all goes as planned they should be seeing more cycle
tourists coming into Cottage Grove to enjoy the Covered
Bridges Scenic Bikeway,” Phillips says.
— Ted Shorack
BUYING A FOREST
TO SAVE IT
A southern Oregon community’s effort to protect
forestland has become a race against the chainsaw. The
Williams Community Forest Project (WCFP) is working to
purchase a locally vital 320-acre tract of forestland where
clearcutting has started, in order to preserve it as a “community
forest.”
As loggers raze a hillside forest shadowing the Siskiyou
Mountain hamlet of Williams, community members have
secured $116,000 in cash and pledges towards $500,000 they
need to secure an estimated $1.5 million low-interest loan to
purchase the land, know as the W320. According to the
WCFP, logging plans call for 250 acres of clearcuts in
buffered 120-acre blocks.
WCFP wants to buy the tract as soon as possible or
facilitate a benefactor’s purchase of the land under a
conservation easement. Enterprise Cascadia of Portland has
committed to lend 65 percent of the assessed value of the
property, but that leaves much of fundraising to be done.
“We still have an opportunity to save quite a bit of land
from clearcutting,” says WCFP President Cheryl Bruner,
estimating that 30 acres were recently cut.
In order to prevent a series of large clearcuts close to
town, and the erosion and wanton herbicide spraying
common to commercial forestry, the WCFP plans to buy the
land and preserve it as a “community forest” to “support and
enrich our local and global forest ecology and community”
through a mix of sustainable logging, education recreational
opportunities.
The privately owned tract, selectively logged in the 1950s
and ’60s but still ecologically diverse according to locals,
harbors the headwaters of three streams that provide salmon
spawning habitat, community drinking water and irrigation
for organic farms and forest product produces. The woods
themselves serve as a wildlife corridor and provide habitat
for endangered and threatened species including the red tree
vole, Pacific fisher, mariposa lily and northern spotted owl.
So far, the WCFP has raised pledges through phone
banking and auctions. Children of the community used a
page on the fundraising website IndieGoGo to raise $10,000
towards purchasing the forest. The WCFP shares information
on the W320 and plans for its protection, including future
auctions
and
other
fundraisers,
at
williamscommunityforestproject.org
— Ephraim Payne
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS
• In Biz Beat last week, we inadvertently misspelled the name of the
founder of Pacific Winds Music at 791 W. 8th Ave. Willie Knaus can be
contacted at willie@pacificwindsmusic.com or call 343-5660.
• In our “Chasing the Coal Train” story in News Briefs last week, Lisa
Arkin of Beyond Toxics was attributed to saying Eugene has the
highest rate of asthma in the state and nation. But to clarify, Arkin tells
us, “West Eugene is an area that has one of the highest rates of
asthma in the state and is well above the national average for
childhood asthma.”
LANE AREA SPRAY SCHEDULE
• Weyerhaeuser (744-4684) plans ground and aerial spraying on at least
753 acres in areas including Mohawk River tributaries, Ritchie Creek on
the McKenzie at Leaburg, Crow Creek, Farman Creek, Kelly Creek,
Horton, Lorane, Michaels Creek and Owens Creek. Spraying will be of
2,4-D, Accord Concentrate, Arsenal Applicators Concentrate, Atrazine 4L,
Atrazine 90 WSP, Chopper, Clean Slate, Clopyralid, Foresters, Garlon 3A,
Garlon 4, Garlon XRT, Glyphosate, Hardball, Hexazinone, LV6, Oust, Oust
Extra, Oust XP, Rodeo, Sulfomet Extra, Sulfomet XP, Sulfometuron
Methyl, Tahoe 3A, Tahoe 4E, Transline, Velossa, Velpar DF, Velpar L and/
or Westar with additives including Activator 90, Induce, Librerate, Mor-
Act and MSO. See ODF notices for chemicals and areas being sprayed.
2012-771-00211, 2012-771-00234, 2012-781-00129, 2012-781-00149, 2012-
781-00150.
Compiled by Jan Wroncy, Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332, www.forestland-
dwellers.org
ACTIVIST ALERT
• MoveOn is planning a Save Our Homes Rally at noon
Thursday, March 15, at Broadway and Oak in Eugene, calling for
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce mortgages to fair
market value. This part of a national rally to reduce foreclosures.
• CALC and Taxes for Peace present Death & Taxes,
a 30-minute video about war tax resistance and redirecting
federal taxes to pay for state and local programs, at 7 pm
Thursday, March 15, at CALC, 458 Blair Blvd. A potluck will
begin the meeting at 6 pm. Call 342-2914 or email nwtrcc.org
for more information.
• Occupy Eugene, in collaboration with the Civil Liberties
Defense Center, is presenting an extensive organizer training
series for social justice activists. The series will teach activists
everything they need to know to be a strategic and confident
organizer. The sessions began this week and all-day session is
planned for Sunday, March 18, at Occupy offices at 1274 W. 7th
Ave. Donations are accepted but no one is turned away for lack
of funds. Contact Mary at marib.eugene@gmail.com or visit
occupyeugenemedia.org
• A “Tsunami Townhall” will be from 6 to 8 pm Sunday,
March 18, at the UO Student Union Walnut Room on campus.
State officials will provide information on earthquake and
tsunami preparedness and survival.
• Climatologist James E. Hansen will speak at the
Dempsey Lecture at 7:30 pm Tuesday, March 20, the Rogers
Music Center’s Hudson Hall at Willamette University in Salem.
The presentation will be on the topic, “The Case for Young
People and Nature: A Path to a Healthy, Prosperous Future.” To
reserve free tickets, email afoust@willamette.edu or call (503)
370-6654.
• The Many Rivers Group Sierra Club hosts a presentation
on local watershed issues at 7 pm Thursday, March 22, at the
Eugene Garden Club, 1645 High St. Speakers will be Jared
Weybright of the McKenzie Watershed Council and Max
Nielson-Pincus of the Long Tom Watershed Council. Contact
Sally Nunn at 302-4476 or email salaxnunn@gmail.com
• Dining for Women is planning an informational event at
6 pm Thursday, March 22, at Tsunami Books, 25th and
Willamette in Eugene. DFW chapters meet to learn about
programs that empower women and girls living in extreme
poverty in undeveloped regions of the world. Call Nicki Maxwell
at 517-0427 or Tish Hathaway at 912-1069 or visit www.
diningforwomen.org
• The Oregon State Marine Board (OSMB) is seeking public
comment through April 10 on Waldo Lake rules that currently
prohibit gas motorboats and floatplanes on the lake. These
rules are open to correct alleged procedural irregularities to
their previous adoption. Those who want to use motorized
crafts on the lake have taken legal action to overturn the ban.
Written comments can be emailed to osmb.rulemaking@state.
or.us or by mail to June LeTarte, Rules Coordinator, 435
Commercial St. NE, Suite 400, Salem 97309. The public
meeting will be held at 6 pm Tuesday, April 10, at the
Willamalane Center’s Ken Long Room, 250 South 32nd St. in
Springfield.
slant
• Envision Eugene’s two-year process will wrap up over
the next couple of months and City Manager Jon Ruiz will
present his recommendations to the City Council after we go
to press this week, drawing criticism from community members
who are concerned that the manager’s secret analysis will
short-circuit the public process. Adding to the concern is the
manager’s canceling of a Tuesday morning meeting with the
70-member Community Resource Group (CRG) to preview his
recommendations before they go to the council.
We appreciate all the work that has gone into Envision
Eugene, but the process was flawed at the start so we predict
an unsatisfactory outcome. It was clear from the beginning
that the city staff and council expected our urban growth
boundary (UGB) would need to expand to meet projected
growth. The only question was where and how. We wrote in our
cover story June 17, 2010, that this process is rife with false
assumptions and questionable projections, the CRG panel is
overloaded with pro-sprawl members, and planning for
expansion defies the wishes of the community. A $400,000
Growth Management Study with extensive public polling in
1995 called for holding the UGB against sprawl. Eugene’s
population density since 1950 has already declined 29 percent
due to urban expansion. Vibrant, livable Portland has a much
higher population density than Eugene. So what’s driving
expansion locally? A lot of pressure from land speculators and
developers, and an ill-informed, California-style attitude that
growth is not only inevitable, but necessary for our economic
health.
Do we find a compromise once again between pro-growth
and no-growth interests? We editorialized in this column two
years ago that true leadership at the city level would recognize
that we have already compromised our valuable adjoining
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farm and forest lands and it’s time to focus on better utilizing
the abundant land resources we already have available.
Stopping sprawl is what the people want; it’s what true
sustainability in land use planning demands.
• The Oregon women’s basketball team seems to be stuck
in neutral, so it may be time to think about a new coach.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could find a coach who has proven
she can recruit top players to Eugene, can attract big crowds,
can win Pac-12 titles, can lead the team to eight straight NCAA
tournament appearances? Jody Runge is still up in Portland.
Would she come back?
• Former UO football coach Mike Bellotti collects almost
half a million bucks a year in UO retirement benefits, according
to PERS data released recently to The Oregonian and the
Salem Statesman Journal. But sources at the UO tell us the
millions in benefits paid each year to retired coaches, athletic
directors and others on staff are ignored when the UO
administration claims the $78 million athletics budget is fully
covered by ticket sales, broadcast fees, donations and other
athletics-based sources of income. It’s time for the UO to come
clean, document all the hidden costs, and admit that tuition is
higher and academic salaries are lower because of excessive
spending on athletics.
• We see the R-G has joined The Oregonian in pulling the
Doonesbury comic strip this week. This leaves us puzzled. So
Texas can legislate that a doctor must put a “transvaginal
wand” (or as the comic calls it, the “shaming wand”) into a
woman before she can have an abortion, but illustrating
conversations about that attack on a woman’s body is too
controversial? We get it that the topic of a woman’s right to
choose might be too controversial for the comics page
because kids might see it (as though they would even be
interested). So run the strip on the editorial page. The
censored strip can be seen at gocomics.com/doonesbury
• The disturbing thing about Rush Limbaugh is not what
he says, but rather that millions of Americans listen to him
every day and nod their heads in agreement — those millions
of mostly older, white, male Americans who are racist and
misogynistic at their core. They vote, which is why no
Republican presidential candidate has yet to disavow
Limbaugh and his idiotic rhetoric. How do we deal with the
intractable bigots among us? We can box them in with facts
and contrary opinions, but they are not likely to change; so
let’s invest in educating the next generations, and wish the old
farts well in the afterlife.
• Recruiters will tell you that military service brings out
the best in young people and builds discipline, leadership,
responsibility, maturity, courage, physical fitness. Be All That
You Can Be. What the recruiters won’t tell you is that war
creates countless veterans who are physically and
psychologically damaged. It should be no surprise when some
of them in their pain and paranoia turn to drugs and alcohol,
kill themselves, or load their weapons and go berserk on
imagined enemies. Our military presence in Afghanistan has
proven to be counterproductive. What have we really achieved
with 1,900 American lives and $509 billion in debt?
SLANT includes short opinion pieces, observations and rumor-chasing notes
compiled by the EW staff. Heard any good rumors lately? Contact Ted Taylor
at 484-0519, editor@eugeneweekly.com
EUGENE WEEKLY MARCH 15, 2012 11