Cottage Grove Sentinel
Community & Lifestyle
B1
THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2020
•
CONTACT SPORTS REPORTER NICK SNYDER AT
942-3325 OR NSNYDER@CGSENTINEL.COM
Yoncalla schools prep for uncertain fall
By Nick Snyder
nsnyder@cgsentinel.com
F
ODFW R ECREATION AND F ISHING
R EPORT
www.dfw.state.or.us/RR
BEST BETS FOR WEEKEND FISH-
ING
Anglers are spoiled with choices right
now. Trout, bass and salmon are all on
the list.
• With the cooler, wetter spring,
fishing for stocked trout continues to be
good in several areas.
• This is a great time of year to visit
Oregon’s hike-in lakes for a day of trout
fishing.
• Resident coastal cutthroats are
on the bite in most coastal rivers and
streams.
• Where water temperatures are
warming, fishing for bass and other
warmwater species is improving. Now
is a great time to target these fish before
aquatic weeds grow enough to make
fishing challenging.
• Ocean salmon season is open, and
some Chinook are also being caught in
coastal rivers.
BIG GAME HUNTER: HAVE YOU
BOUGHT YOUR POINT SAVER?
If you didn’t put in for the draw this
year, you have until Nov. 30 to purchase
a point saver and add to your preference
point totals.
LAKE, PONDS, RESERVOIRS
With the onset of summer-like
temperatures, trout stocking in most
valley-level lakes and ponds has ended
for the season. Water temperatures have
gotten too warm to support a trout fish-
ing, but also warm enough to support
excessive aquatic vegetation.
However, trout anglers can continue
to find good fishing:
• At places like Henry Hagg Lake,
Detroit Reservoir and Foster Lake that
have deeper, cooler waters for trout to
retreat to during the warmer parts of the
day. 6/24/20
• In higher elevation lakes in the
Cascades. This include popular drive-to
locations like Trillium and Harriet lakes,
as well as hike-in opportunities. where
water temperatures are cooler. 6/24/20
4 RIVERS AND STREAMS TO FISH
THIS WEEK:
• Little Clatskanie River. This small
tributary has access from state lands.
Native cutthroat trout are abundant but
small. Find a pool with some depth and
you may catch a larger fish, as in one
over 8 inches. Artificial lures and flies
only. Spinners are most effective with a
short casting distance.
• Scappoose Bay Marina. This is a hot
spot for panfish. Fish are caught from
the bank and by boat. Night crawlers are
the go-to bait.
• Breitenbush River and the North
Santiam above Detroit. These higher
elevation streams are stocked regularly,
including several times this spring, and
water conditions should be good for
trout fishing.
• Willamette River. Excellent small-
mouth bass fishing between Salem and
Albany, and trout fishing is excellent
from Corvallis upstream to Eugene.
our months after the initial
shutdown due to corona-
virus concerns, plans for
the reopening of area schools are
starting to come into focus.
While much is still up in the
air as the debate rages national-
ly over the safety of reopening
schools come fall, Yoncalla School
District (YSD) has begun finaliz-
ing its initial plan for a restart in
late August thanks to the work of
the YSD Reopening Committee,
formed in late May and made up
of parents, teachers, principals,
the superintendent, custodians,
the maintenance supervisor, the
bus company, food service coor-
dinators and representatives from
the health department.
“We are trying to come up with
a plan,” said Brian Berry, Yoncalla
School District superintendent
and principal of the high school.
“The nice thing about Yoncalla is
we’re small.”
Small, in this case, means that
schools in Yoncalla will — as it
stands now — be able to operate
at a level much closer to normal
than schools with larger student
bodies.
The Oregon Department of
Education (ODE) guidelines re-
quire that in indoor spaces, each
person must have a minimum of
35 square feet of personal space, a
requirement that Yoncalla is able
to meet at the elementary, mid-
dle and high school levels, having
room for about 25 students per
classroom on average.
Where districts like South Lane
have been forced to divide their
students into “A” and “B” cohorts,
each attending school two days
per week, Yoncalla’s size will ten-
tatively allow students to attend
school Monday-Thursday for
their normal hours, though Berry
stressed the ongoing shakiness of
the plans.
“This could change tomorrow
and that’s been frustrating for all
of us,” Berry said.
“We did a parent survey and
[parents in Yoncalla] overwhelm-
ingly want their kids back in
school and that doesn’t really sur-
prise me. But, my job is to make
sure everyone’s safe and some of
the things that are going to hap-
pen to ensure peoples’ safety,
some people may not agree with,
so then obviously they’ll have a
choice as parents on what they
wanna do.”
Students who do attend in-per-
son classes will be organized into
cohorts based on math level at the
high school and based on grade at
the elementary level. The cohorts
will remain together throughout
the day with teachers rotating
classrooms. However, there are
sure to be many parents who don’t
yet feel comfortable sending their
children back into a school envi-
ronment and Yoncalla is prepared.
“We’re going to have a distance
option which obviously will be
much better than it was in March
when we didn’t have a clue. We
were just thrown into it,” Berry
said.
In YSD’s distance-learning
model, students will be able to
check out district computers from
their respective schools and, once
set up, will be able to access their
classroom lessons online. Stu-
dents who choose not to attend
on-site classes will also still be
See YONCALLA 2B
Summer staycation: trails to outdoor fun
COURTESY PHOTO
One option for would-be recreators is the 2020 Oregon Gran Fondo bicycle ride which will take place on July 25. The course
is 42 miles beginning in Cottage Grove and heading west to the Siuslaw and Smith River Watersheds.
Lane County offers more than 4,700 square
miles of approachable and enriching outdoor
experiences for people of all ages and abilities,
so there’s no reason to let COVID-19 spoil
your family adventures this summer.
Outdoor activities are the safest way to rec-
reate during COVID-19, so let’s take a tour of
trails in the Eugene, Cascades & Coast region.
Hiking - Finding a trail to hike doesn’t re-
quire driving miles to a trail head or climbing
thousands of feet. Nearby opportunities are all
around us and include short hikes like Skin-
ner Butte, medium length hikes like Spencer
Butte or the Thurston Hills Natural Area (also
provides mountain biking trails) or a variety of
longer hikes at the Howard Buford Recreation
Area/Mt. Pisgah.
However, if you’re feeling like hiking to a
waterfall, reaching a summit that provides
views of the Cascades or Coast Range or stop-
ping by bubbling hot springs, then we’ve got
something for you too. Iconic trails, like the
McKenzie River Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and
Salt Creek Falls, provide enchanting experi-
ences, but can also be crowded. The good news
is that there are ways to avoid the crowds along
these iconic trails by checking our hiking page
or giving us call. There are many beautiful and
easily accessible trails that will provide you and
your family a secluded trail experience.
For those who just want to show up and hike,
Travel Lane County has partners like Cascades
Outdoor Center who provide guided hikes, as
well as shuttles for cycling.
Cycling - Paved paths welcome cyclists of
all ages, while gravel and mountain biking
options are plentiful for thrill-seekers looking
See TRAILS 2B
Commission adopts new climate, ocean change policy
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife
Commission adopted a Climate
and Ocean Change Policy today
on a unanimous vote, making
them the first state fish and wild-
life commission in the nation to
adopt such a measure.
The policy approved today will
be the framework under which
ODFW will evaluate the impacts
of climate change on the resources
under its stewardship, adopt man-
agement practices to safeguard
those resources and minimize the
impacts to communities that de-
pend on these resources. The Poli-
cy also includes an ambitious goal
for ODFW’s operations to reach
carbon neutrality by mid-century.
“I am proud that our agency is
out front with this.
We’re leaders. It’s
causing other states
in the U.S. to look
at us in developing
their own climate
brought to you by:
change plans,” said
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Commissioner
116 N. 6th • (541) 942-3325
Greg Wolley during
the hearing and tes-
timony portion of
Friday’s meeting.
The policy aligns
the
Department
with direction from
Governor
Kate
Brown’s Executive
Order 20-04, Di-
recting State Agen-
cies to Take Actions
to Reduce and Reg-
ulate Greenhouse
Gas Emissions.The
Policy
provides
high level guidance
on how climate
Week of July 16th Winner is: 822 S. 8th Street
change will be con-
Yards will be selected each week by nominations.
sidered in planning,
To nominate a yard you can call City Hall (942-5501) budgets, invest-
ments and policy
or Chamber of Commerce (942-2411)
Yard of the Week
COURTESY PHOTO
ODFW workers perform tidal surveys while practicing social
distancing.
making decisions as required by
the Executive Order.
Throughout the past two years,
ODFW staff drafted the current
policy and submitted multiple
drafts for public review. Staff con-
sidered public comments to help
shape the policy and conducted
multiple listening sessions both
in person and virtually to gather
feedback. During and in advance
of Friday’s meeting, the Commis-
sion heard from constituents in
support of the policy; many were
anxious to see the principles of the
Policy implemented by the Com-
mission.
The adoption of a climate
change policy by a state fish and
wildlife commission is a first in
the U.S. that ODFW is aware of.
“Our fish and wildlife are al-
ready feeling the impacts of cli-
mate and ocean change. The
folks that hunt, fish or depend
on healthy populations for their
livelihoods are already feeling the
impacts,” said Curt Melcher, Di-
rector, ODFW.
“There is a lot we can do to
minimize the impact of climate
and ocean change in Oregon and
this policy lays out our strategy
to do the work needed. The good
news is that by taking actions to
protect fish and wildlife, we also
protect clean air and water for
all Oregonians and the natural
resources that many other indus-
tries depend on. We are all in this
together,” added Melcher.
During their meeting today, the
See OCEAN 2B