www.hoodrivernews.com
Hood River News, Wednesday, January 21, 2015
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survey that asked respon-
dents questions geared to-
ward determining what the
current and desired future
uses are of the site.
The surveys and forums
are attempts from HRVRC to
attract the state’s attention
when Hood River County ap-
plies for a grant this spring
to purchase the land around
Punchbowl Falls after unsuc-
cessful applications in past
years.
WRC bought 20 of its 102
acres along Punchbowl Falls
from Longview Timber in
2006 and the remainder from
PacifiCorp in 2010 for the
purpose of preserving the
land for public access as well
as for fish habitat. The land
under WRC’s ownership in-
cludes land south of the falls
and stretches past a popular
sandy beach located north of
the falls at the confluence of
the East and West forks of
the Hood River.
Last year, WRC agreed to
sell the $1.1-million property
for half its appraised value if
the county could procure a
$578,000 Oregon State Parks
grant. The request was un-
successful and ranked 32 out
of 36 projects around the
state, but Staten said the pub-
lic process that will help
shape this year’s application
should boost the project’s
ranking — whether it will
boost it enough remains to
be seen.
During the forum, Josh
Kling, assistant program di-
rector for WRC, noted that
his organization had pur-
chased the area several years
ago because of a desire to
preserve the confluence of
the East and West forks of
the Hood River and to pre-
vent the construction of
“trophy homes” along the
river cliffs. WRC has said it
may have to sell the land to
another private group, which
may decide to limit public ac-
cess, but Kling assured those
in attendance at the forum
that WRC has not given up
yet on the establishment of a
public park and would con-
tinue to work with the coun-
ty to do so.
Staten added that the area
is important because it’s one
of the few areas that pro-
vides legal public access to
the Hood River. She said the
old logging road that people
process, which would have
involved filing an appeal
with the Hood River County
Board of Commissioners,
but the deadline came and
went without HRVRC filing
with the county. With no ap-
peal and a non-decision by
the planning commission,
the county’s original deci-
sion to approve DeeTour was
affirmed.
HRVRC Executive Direc-
tor Heather Staten was asked
why the group had decided
against pursuing the appeal.
“Our board deliberated a
very long time on whether to
appeal DeeTour to the board
of commissioners,” she said.
“It was never our overarch-
ing goal to deny the project;
ultimately we felt our con-
cerns could more effectively
be addressed through a dif-
ferent approach.”
Staten added that HRVRC
continues “to have concerns
about contradictory parts of
the zoning code and lack of
public process for certain ap-
plications” and plans to
“work with the county to
modernize and clarify some
of the problematic code sec-
tions” as well as “continue to
monitor the DeeTour appli-
cation and the deferred deci-
sions on traffic, stormwater,
stream protection overlay
and floodplain that will even-
tually be reviewed by the
county engineer and agen-
cies.”
What Staten is referring to
travel to get to the falls would
be “easy to turn into some-
thing ADA accessible” and
allow more people to enjoy
the park.
No matter how people
enjoy Punchbowl Falls, Stat-
en said preserving access
was one of the emerging
themes that came out of the
forum.
“Again and again we hear
how rare and precious public
river access is on the Hood
River. The whitewater and
angling communities consid-
er it a uniquely valuable
spot,” she said. “People talk
about its rugged wild beauty
and the importance of main-
taining that character if it
was a public park. People
want to accommodate users
in a way that minimizes im-
pacts to habitat.”
The public will have an-
other opportunity for com-
ment on Tuesday, Feb. 10 in a
public forum that will occur
at the same time and place as
the last. Before that forum,
Staten said she plans to meet
with additional Punchbowl
Falls users such as kayakers
and anglers as well as the
residents of nearby Iowa
Drive to hear their thoughts
on the matter. All the infor-
mation is then to be turned
into a “tangible plan” by
mid-March, according to
Staten, as one of the grant
deadlines is reportedly April
1.
Those who wish to provide
input on the project can con-
tact Heather Staten at
heather@hrvrc.org or 541-
490-5225. The survey can be
found online at surveymon-
key.com/s/punchbowlfalls.
Photos by Ben Mitchell
A PUBLIC FORUM regarding a proposed county park at Punch-
bowl Falls drew about 60 participants last week, with another 400
individuals filling out online surveys about what level of develop-
ment and kind of uses they would like to see at the site. At top,
HRVRC President Polly Wood (far left), talks with forum attendees
and examines maps of the Punchbowl Falls area. Above, Josh Kling,
WRC assistant program director, chats with another forum at-
tendee, Jason Wells.
A9
are the approximately 50
conditions imposed on the
application by the county
which must be met before
building can begin. The con-
ditions include such items as
completing a full sound
analysis by a sound engi-
neering professional to en-
sure the venue does not vio-
late county noise ordinances,
submitting a traffic control
plan to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation, and
creating a minimum 44 park-
ing spaces for bicycles.
Originally, DeeTour devel-
oper Jason Taylor had
planned to break ground by
late spring of 2014 and open
by that same summer, but a
flurry of polarized public
feedback regarding the pro-
ject prompted Taylor to
greatly scale down the pro-
posal — reducing parking for
3,000 vehicles to 437 as well
as reducing the size of the
stage and pavilion for the
venue. Taylor now says he
doesn’t know when DeeTour
will open, or when construc-
tion will start.
“I don’t know what the
timeline is,” he told the
News. “There are so many
conditions, I really don’t
know. It’s all on the grease-
board.
“There’s an enor mous
amount of work to do there,”
Taylor added.
According to the commer-
cial land use permit issued
by the county last September,
Taylor is required to meet
the conditions set forth by
the county and have DeeTour
operational within two
years.
Library District seeks candidates for board posts
Hood River County Li-
brary District is candidates
to run for its Board of Direc-
tors. The District was creat-
ed by a vote of the citizens of
Hood River County on Nov. 2,
2010, following the closure of
the Hood River County Li-
brary, a department of Hood
River County.
The new District has a
five-person elected govern-
ing board that focuses solely
on how the libraries can best
serve Hood River County.
There are two openings on
its Board of Directors. Inter-
ested individuals are encour-
aged to attend any of the
next three Board of Direc-
tors meetings on Jan. 20, Feb.
17, and March 17, all at 7 p.m.
at Hood River Library
The District is an indepen-
dent unit of local govern-
ment dedicated to library op-
eration in Hood River Coun-
ty and is governed by an in-
dependent, unpaid Board of
Directors elected by the local
community. Board members
serve 4-year terms and meet
monthly. The Board is re-
sponsible for setting higher-
level library policies, estab-
lishing and keeping on track
the District budget, deter-
mining the strategic direc-
tion of the District, and su-
pervising the Library Direc-
tor. Board members must re-
side within Hood River
County.
Individuals interested in
© 2015 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 31, No. 6
running must submit a Dis-
trict Candidate Filing form
SEL 190 to the Hood River
County Elections Office by
Thursday, March 19. Contact
Library Director Buzzy
Nielsen for additional infor-
mation
at
buzzy@hoodriverlibrary.org
or 541-387-7062. More infor-
mation about the Library
District Board of Directors,
including contact informa-
tion and minutes from previ-
ous meetings, can be found at
hoodriverlibrary.org/about-
us/board.
■
The filing period has start-
ed for the Special District
election on May 19, 2015.
Filings for special district
Adult manatees eat over
Manatees come up for air
every
to
feet (
to be about
about
For almost 50 million years, manatees have grazed the earth’s
tropical lagoons, rivers and bays. In Florida alone, there were
once thousands of manatees. But now there are less than
3,000 in Florida. They are in danger of becoming extinct.
meter) long when they
The warm, shallow waters where manatees live are
disappearing or becoming polluted. This loss of habitat is
another reason manatees are endangered.
ri b u
da
rd
a tt
Sta n
When manatees
accidentally eat trash left
behind by humans,they
can die. Help clean the
lagoon by finding all of
the things that don’t
nk
s
belong.
ct
: S
je
te s.
Standards Link: Life Science; Living things depend on one another and the environment
for survival; the physical conditions of the environment can change and these changes
can be detrimental.
Manatees are mammals. To what
animal is the manatee related?
Complete the maze to discover
the answer.
Li
by
s
cie
n t if i
c m e th o d s; S o r
to
b
Long ago, sailors told tales of lovely sea creatures called mermaids.
When early European explorers first saw manatees, they thought
they were mermaids. Christopher Columbus wrote in his log book
that they were not as beautiful as he had thought they would be.
Find at least
five differences
between what
Pirate Pete
thinks he sees
and what is
really there.
Standards Link: Visual discrimination; Find similarities and differences in common objects.
-feet-long and weigh
,
pounds.
MANATEE
GENTLE
GIANTS
DANGER
MERMAIDS
CALVES
TRASH
WARM
WATERS
SWIMS
SALTY
TEAM
CLEAN
FACE
TALES
Find the words in the puzzle,
then in this week’s Kid Scoop
stories and activities.
S R E T A W S G A V
G E F A C E I S T S
H E S D I A M R E M
S E N H N I L L E A
A T M T W A A V N E
R A S S L T A W E T
T N T C L E A N E S
In 1981 singer/songwriter Jimmy
Buffet and Bob Graham, who
was then governor of Florida,
started the Save the Manatee
Club because manatees were put
on the international endangered
wildlife list.
The goal of the club is to protect
the habitats where manatees live
and reduce manatee deaths due to
human interaction.
On their website you can watch
manatees on their web cam
during the season. The scars on
their bodies identify individual
manatees.
You can also adopt a real
manatee through the club and
help protect those manatees at
one of three locations in Florida.
On registration you get a full
biography and a picture of
“your” manatee.
For more information go to
savethemanatee.org/coolstuff and
to adopt call 1-800-432-5646.
D A N G E R E C L U
B M A I M S A L T Y
Standards Link: Letter sequencing. Recognizing identical
words. Skim and scan reading. Recall spelling patterns.
Animals in Sports
Standards Link: Life Science; Diversity and genetic variation
exist among organisms that share similar features.
Standards Link: Literary Analysis; Understand the origin and format of legends.
pounds. They grow
Standards Link: Life Science; When the environment changes because of natural or
man-made forces some animals struggle to survive or become extinct.
All too often the people who like to go
boating in these same waters ignore the Caution signs.
Manatees get cut by the sharp propellers and many die
from these run-ins.
Manatees are the
state marine
mammals of Florida
plants each day.
are born and weigh about
n shallow salty waters and rivers, a large, slow-moving
creature swims and grazes. It is called a manatee. A shy and
very gentle herbivore, it is completely harmless.
Shop Local
The Gorge
pounds of water
minutes.
Manatee calves are
seats are accepted through
March 19, which is also the
deadline for districts to file a
measure for the May elec-
tion.
Potential candidates can
find the filing form on the
Hood River County Elections
website. All applications
must be in our office no later
than 5 p.m. on March 19.
For details contact the
Hood River County Elections
office at 541-386-1442.
Look at the sports pages of your newspaper.
How many teams are named for animals?
Why do you think each team chose that
animal name? If you were to name a team the
Manatees, what kind of sport would they play?
Look through
the newspaper
for numbers
that add up to
the length and
weight of
manatee calves
and adults.
Standards Link: Math;
Compute sums.
Standards Link: Social science; Connecting current events to
students' lives.
I Met a
Mermaid!
Finish this story.
… taking time to appreciate
the world’s natural beauty.
Complete the grid by using all the letters
in the word WAVES in each vertical and
horizontal row. Each letter should only
be used once in each row. Some spaces
have been filled in for you.