FRIDAYEXTRA !
The Daily Astorian
Friday, June 3, 2016
Weekend Edition
TRIAGE ON
TILLAMOOK HEAD
Maintaining Ecola State
Park a group exercise
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
P
ark ranger Bo Ensign’s day started off with a broken fee
machine, followed by a drive up a deeply rutted forest service
road into the heart of Ecola State Park. He was greeted near a
hiker’s camp by a snarling, wayward pit bull loose from its owner.
After checking the camp, Ensign was
off down the Oregon Coast Trail, carrying a
chainsaw, ax and wedges. Several hundred
feet in, he ran into the fi rst of many uprooted
trees laying partially smashed across the trail.
He looked over the mess, and started work-
ing his way from the smallest branches to the
main tree trunk. A half an hour later, he was
through his fi rst tree trunk of the day.
“It’s kind of fun to have days like this,” he
said on a Saturday in May. “It kind of makes
some of the other days worth it.”
As the only full-time ranger in a lush temper-
ate rainforest stretching along 1,000 acres and
9 miles of rugged, slide-prone ridges and dense
foliage, Ensign and the state park’s seasonal
employees and others keep the trails functional.
South Fork
Photos by Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
TOP: A member of a South Fork Forest Camp work crew helps clear the trail over
Tillamook Head of downed tree trunks.
ABOVE: Park Ranger Bo Ensign uses a wedge to loose his chainsaw from a log
crossing the Clatsop Loop trail in Ecola State Park.
BOTTOM: A work crew from South Fork Forest Camp spent two days clearing fallen
trees and brush from the Tillamook Head trail in Ecola State Park between Seaside
and Cannon Beach.
Last week, offi cer Sean Love showed up
with a 10-man crew from South Fork Work
Camp, a 200-bed, minimum-security facility
in Tillamook County that provides inmates to
clear trails and fi ght fi res on state forestlands.
The inmates, chosen for their good behav-
ior, wore T -shirts, jeans and hardhats. They
fanned out into three teams, the fi rst sawing
their way through downed trees, followed by
the second with hedge trimmers and a third to
rake up afterward. Following them is Love.
“We’re just a wealth of resources that’s
waiting to be called upon,” said Love, follow-
ing the cleanup crew as they work their way
along the trails.
Over two days, the workers cut their way
through several miles of rugged trails over Til-
lamook Head littered with blown-over trees
and dense spring foliage. The crews have also
helped construct a foot bridge between Ecola
Point and Indian Beach, along with other trail
improvements. Love and Ensign said some
workers talk about bringing their families
back some day to see the work they’ve done.
“I think they can relax a bit and feel like a
human being again,” Love said. “We’re also
teaching them new work skills.”
Ensign estimates the partnership with South
Fork has been going for more than 20 years.
Tasked with taking care of daily operations and
helping the more than 550,000 annual visitors
to the p ark, Ensign said the South Fork work-
ers complete in two days what it could take he
and another ranger a month or more to do.
Park triage
Last winter’s rain and windstorms left
Ecola State Park battered and partially closed
to the public.
The park had to remove a popular viewing
deck overlooking Cannon Beach and Hay-
stack Rock, because of a deteriorating hill-
side, and use temporary lines to reestablish
water to the park.
Only last month were drivers even able to
reach Indian Beach, after slides sunk multiple
portions of Ecola Park Road. Near Seaside,
See TRIAGE, Page 3C