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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2017)
4 B SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2017 PHOTOS BY NED HICKSON/SIUSLAW NEWS The Siuslaw Vikings (left) and Mapleton Sailors (right) football programs could face changes in district competition if the latest OSAA recommendations are adopted later this month. Districts from 1B suggestions was to include Siuslaw among 30 schools playing down a classification in new Class 3A special dis- tricts. The proposal would put the Viking football program in the 12-school Special District-2 with Harrisburg, Brookings-Harbor, Cascade Christian, Hidden Valley, La Pine, Pleasant Hill, Santiam Christian, South Umpqua, St. Mary’s (Medford) and Sutherlin. It would also bump Abalone from 1B under the current rules. Yet we suspect that Oregon’s abalone population has declined from historic levels,” says Scott Groth, ODFW shellfish biolo- Marshfield into a seven- school 4A special district with Cottage Grove, Henley, Klamath Falls, Mazama, North Valley and Phoenix. North Bend would be part of a 5A special district along with Ashland, Churchill, Crater, Eagle Point, South Eugene, Thurston and Willamette. “From our perspective, this proposal makes a lot more sense and keeps schools with 450 kids or so playing against schools with 900 kids,” said Johnson. The committee used a 22 percent or less Colley win- ning percentage formula, based on the last two seasons rather than four years, to determine which schools would qualify to drop into a lower classification for foot- ball for the 2018-2022 sea- sons. At with a 21.4 winning per- centage against schools in its own classification for the past two seasons (1-6 in 2017 and 2-5 in 2016), Siuslaw easily qualified for a special district slot within the 3A. Should the OSAA sign off on the proposal, the decision would be re-evaluated in two years, with the understanding that the eventual goal is for each school’s football pro- gram to eventually transition back to its original classifica- tion “Siuslaw has a proud foot- ball tradition but we have to take a realistic look at where we are,” said Johnson. “This is an opportunity to continue that tradition by bringing some competitive balance to the program.” While the changes won’t have a big impact on Mapleton’s 8-man football program, it will mean a shift in competition as teams from Alsea, Eddyville, McKenzie, Powers and Triangle Lake — all of whom have been part of the Mountain West — have expressed interest in 6-man programs. That would mean The Sailors would join the 1A Special District-1, with Crow, Elkton, Mohawk, Myrtle Point, North Douglas, Siletz, Waldport and Yoncalla. The changes would only apply to football; all other sports would continue to com- pete within each school’s pri- mary classification and dis- trict. Schools have until Friday, Jan. 5, to make their final decision on their Special District placement in advance of the next public meeting of the Ad Hoc Football Advisory Committee set for Tuesday, Jan. 9, in Wilsonville, begin- ning at 9 a.m. For more information, visit www.osaa.org/governance/co mmittees. The meeting will allow for public testimony before hold- ing a closed work session. gist for the south coast. “This emergency action postpones the fishery so we can hold off on issuing 2018 abalone per- mits until we’ve had a chance to do a more thorough review of the situation.” ODFW staff plan to evaluate the fishery (including potential impacts from California’s clo- sure), solicit public input, and present suggestions, including possible rule changes, to the Fish and Wildlife Commission at their March 16 meeting in Salem. Annual regulations require recreational abalone harvesters to purchase an Oregon shell- fish license and obtain a free annual abalone/scallop permit from ODFW. ODFW will con- tinue to issue permits for scal- lops after Jan. 1. Abalone are highly prized and the fishery creates a high demand, primarily among divers. While seven species exist on the West Coast, five of these have some listing status under the Endangered Species Act. Red abalone are the only species still fished in the con- tiguous United States, and southern Oregon and northern California are the only areas where recreational harvest has occurred in recent years.
