8A | NOVEMBER 11, 2021 | CORPS from A1 source project. The Master Plan is part of the Willamette Valley Project, a system of 13 multi-purpose damns con- structed between 1940 and 1969. The dams are all op- erated under a single sys- tem to manage water in the Willamette River Basin. The 13 dams sit on six different watersheds, meaning the Corps will write six master plans in all. “Cottage Grove Lake is unique in our system because the Army Corps manages all of the recre- ation sites,” said Environ- mental Stewardship Su- pervisor Wendy Jones. “At other lakes, that’s done in partnership with either the county, the state or other entities. And there’s about 130,000 visitors per year that visit this lake.” Dorena is different in that Baker Bay Park and Marina is managed by Lane County Parks under a 25-year lease. The Bu- reau of Land Management manages the Row River Trail along the north side of Dorena Lake and there are estimated to be about 150,000 visitors annually at Dorena. Recreation for Cottage Grove Lake includes sites such as Lakeside Park, Pine Meadows Campground, Wilson Creek Park and Shortridge Park. At Dorena Lake, they include Harms Park, Schwarz Camp- ground, Baker Bay Park and Bake Stewart Park. “There are 10 plants and animals that are either fed- erally listed on a state list or otherwise rare,” said Jones. “And these habitats are not only important for those rare species, but also the game species and larg- er mammals, as well as the common species that we want to keep around. Some of the habitat restoration projects that we do involve COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL prescribed burning, or in- vasive plant removal.” As far as cultural re- sources, the program aims at protecting, preserving or trying to avoid impacts to cultural resource sites, which could include arti- facts or any sites that are important to tribes, as well as historic resources. Both Cottage Grove and Dorena dams, completed in 1942 and 1949 respec- tively, are considered his- toric resources. “They are eligible for the National Register of His- toric Places,” said Jones. Dustin Bengtson, deputy operations project manag- er for the Willamette Val- ley Project, said that the primary purpose of the dams is flood risk manage- ment. “We take our Dam Safe- ty Program very seriously,” said Bengtson. “We’re con- stantly looking at the con- dition of these structures, understanding the risk and communicating that. And so, we’ll be rolling out with an update to the nation- al inventory of dams that talks about the condition of these dams, the risks and how we’re managing those.” The Corps’ manage- ment of Dorena and Cot- tage Grove lakes includes a wide array of responsibili- ties such as recreation, wa- ter resources, vegetation, mineral, cultural, recre- ation and fish and wildlife. For the purposes of the Master Plan, public input was limited to these re- sponsibilities. Corps members noted that master planning does not directly address water quality, water supply, water level management, hydro- power, navigation, shore- line management or flood risk management. These topics are addressed in other planning documents such as the Environmental Impact Statement. “That Environmental Impact Statement is where the parks. On weaknesses, par- ticipants noted safety is- sues such as instances of break-ins or vandalism and hoped to see illegal camping and fires dealt with. Trash dumping and the need to upgrade some facilities were brought up while others expressed a desire to address water ac- cess for kayakers and pad- dleboarders as well as im- prove boat ramp situations. For opportunities, group members came up with ideas for education and outreach which could ex- tend to local schools. Many comments pointed to the possibility of enhancing trails and public access while finding ways to im- prove recreation facilities. Some questioned if there could be better water man- agement to create more wetlands. Under threats, the most common concerns were around water levels. Next to that, participants com- mented on maintenance and funding levels with the Corps. Other concerns were homelessness, illegal camping and environmen- tal impacts causing loss of habitat. Breakout groups next held focused discussions on natural resources, cul- tural resources and recre- ation, pinpointing areas on maps which represent- ed “Rights, Blights and Mights,” or positive as- pects, negative aspects and future possibilities. Out of these discussions, participants pointed to the need to put aside money to begin building new in- frastructure and maintain aging facilities. Many raised the need for wildlife preservation and animal habitat protection, along with dealing with litter and preventing a loss we are looking at how we operate and maintain our dams and facilities over the next 20 years or so,” said Bengtson. “That is where we are looking at how can we operate the system bet- ter in terms of water stor- age and water use for the variety of benefits and legal requirements that we have in the system.” There are several feder- al acts to be considered in planning such as the Na- tional Environmental Pol- icy Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Fish and Wildlife Coordi- nation Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Eagle Protec- tion Act and National His- toric Preservation Act. The Corps’ plans for Dorena and Cottage Grove lakes were last completed in 1989. In the last several decades, there have been changes in land use, en- vironmental conditions, legislation and how people recreate, which prompt- ed the Corps to revisit the management plans and conduct the public input meetings. Public Input During public input on Saturday, the room was broken into groups and each was tasked with iden- tifying different elements of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportuni- ties and Threats) analysis. Groups who focused on strengths of the lakes pointed to swimming, boating and fishing rec- reation and the quality of facilities. The Row River Trail and its facilities also received good marks as well as human interactions along the trail. In all, nature lovers seemed pleased with the management of these as- pects and spoke highly of camping opportunities in Complete tech, networking, security and IT solutions for your home or business. 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Getting back to the dentist couldn’t be easier! n The Northwest’s Finest Gardening Seed n Vegetable Transplants From its Creswell meet- ing, the Corps shared that some of the main topics included improved/addi- tional bike infrastructure at both lakes, finding more opportunities for interpre- tative learning and histor- ical signage at both lakes and there was a general concern about water levels and boating infrastructure. The input collected during the sessions will inform the Corps’ creation of new documents over the next year. Plan devel- opment has a scheduled deadline of September 2022, after which public review meetings will be conducted that October. A public comment period will also be held between October and November 2022. The final plan is to be delivered in May 2023. Though the public ses- sions have concluded for this year, those interest- ed in providing their own feedback for the current participation period may still do so until Dec. 10, 2021, by emailing info@ coastforkplan.com. of land value. One com- munity member suggested assigning stewards to take responsibility for sections of roads or lakes to pick up the trash and keep the en- vironment clean. Safety issues came up again, mainly regarding homeless camping around the edge of the lakes. Dovetailing with this, fire safety remained a major concern. Others discussed the idea of including more signage about natural and historical resources along the Row River Trail and wondered if old sites of settlements now in the lake bed could be marked. Another group rose the issue of managing invasive vegetation and some talk- ed about dealing with low water levels by building berms to keep water which could offset the acres of dead land in summertime. 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