Polk County Itemizer-Observer • July 29, 2015 5A
Polk County News
Teens, citizens clean up Falls City parks Timber harvest
levels fall short
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — Last year’s
summer of trouble in Falls
City’s parks doesn’t appear
to be repeating itself.
In fact, a group of resi-
dents are working to im-
prove the environment in
the town’s three parks.
Activities in the parks —
particularly near the Little
Luckiamute River falls —
were a point of contention
with residents last year, with
drinking, loud music and
people carrying guns the
most common complaints.
Falls City Mayor Terry Un-
gricht said city hall has got-
ten calls from residents liv-
ing next to the parks who are
concerned about trouble-
some and possibly illegal ac-
tions taking place.
He says it hasn’t been of
the same magnitude as
2014.
“Actually, I thought it was
going quite a bit better than
last summer,” Ungricht said.
He did say that this sum-
mer’s hot temperatures
could make for an unpleas-
ant experience for those
who live near the park as
people try to find refuge
from the heat.
“When it is 100 degrees,
that park is slammed,” Un-
gricht said for the falls park.
“I feel bad for (those people)
living right by there, but it’s
been a park forever.”
Polk County Sheriff Bob
Wolfe said deputies haven’t
gotten specific complaints
about the parks this season,
though they have seen is-
sues on random visits.
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
JOLENE GUZMAN/ Itemizer-Observer
Residents have begun cleaning up parks in Falls City, starting with removing brush
from the city’s Lower Park last week. Now the river can be seen from the park.
Wolfe said his deputies
have found people drink-
ing — alcohol is prohibit-
ed — and vehicles illegally
parked.
“They have been trying to
spend a little bit more time
there,” Wolfe said, noting his
office has conducted a few
“saturation patrols.”
His office is working on
hiring enough deputies to
move to two shifts instead of
just one, but that could take
a number of weeks.
Ungricht said he would
like to negotiate an agree-
ment to have the sheriff’s of-
fice enforce park curfews.
While the city and sher-
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iff’s office work to clean up
troublesome activity, all
three parks will be getting a
makeover this summer and
fall, thanks to citizens.
Last week, a group began
cleaning up the city’s Lower
Park, removing thick brush
that concealed the view of
the river. The other two
parks are next.
The work is paid for with
an Oregon Department of
Forestry grant to eliminate
fire fuel in properties bor-
dering forests.
“You couldn’t see the
river,” said Janelle Anzalone,
who helped Falls City apply
for the grant and organize
the work parties.
Because the work is grant
funded, some of the workers
were paid, but others — in-
cluding some teens — vol-
unteered their time.
“I cannot believe these
guys showed up like this,”
Anzalone said. “The kids are
doing right by the river com-
munity.”
POLK COUNTY — In
2014, the timber harvest in
Polk County fell, following
a statewide trend.
Polk’s overall harvest de-
clined from approximately
161 million board feet to
150 million board feet, ac-
cording to an Oregon De-
partment of Forestry (ODF)
report. A board foot of lum-
ber measures one foot
wide, one foot long by one
inch thick.
Statewide, the overall
harvest decreased 1.74 per-
cent to approximately 4.13
billion board feet.
Brandon Kaetzel, forest
economist with ODF, said
Oregon’s timber cut may
remain at that level for the
foreseeable future.
“Looking forward, it is
expected that harvests will
remain around the 4 billion
board feet mark,” he wrote
in the report. “Issues with
exports and port access,
along with housing starts
not materializing to the 1.5
million start mark that
some experts had expect-
ed, may keep the harvest
rate from rising any further
or could lead to slight de-
creases.”
Kaetzel also noted that
the Bureau of Land Man-
agement is in the process
of approving a new forest
management plan for
Western Oregon that could
affect future harvest levels.
Following another
statewide pattern, the “in-
dustry” harvest — owners
of large tracts of timber-
land — fell in Polk County
last year from 140.8 million
board feet to 114.6 million
board feet. On the flipside,
non-industrial timberland
owners saw a boost in har-
vest from 14.9 million
board feet in 2013 to 24.3
million board feet last year.
Jerry Anderson, the re-
gional manager for Hancock
Forest Management in Inde-
pendence, said — at least for
Hancock — the drop isn’t a
cause for concern.
He noted that while Han-
cock’s cut in Polk County
fell 20 million board feet in
2014, its harvest in Lincoln
County grew by about the
same amount.
While 2014 fell signifi-
cantly from 2013 for “in-
dustry” cut, it’s still ahead
of 2012 (97.5 million board
feet), 2011 (101 million
board feet) and 2010 (80.5
million), according to the
state report.
Anderson said the 2015
harvest may reflect another
swing in the market. He
said for the first four
months of the year, mills
were putting limits on the
numbers of logs they would
take in, slowing harvests.
“They had a hard time
selling their lumber,” he
said. “It’s picking up now,
but for about four months,
t h e m a rk e t w a s s u p -
pressed.”
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