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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2001)
Patrick’s Day parade March 17th St. Patrick’s Day will be soon be here and, in Vernonia, that means Parade Time. Because St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, is on a Saturday this year, parade sponsor Pat Knight has set a 2:00 p.m. starting time. There are no entry fees and no written regulations. The pa rade route is short and straight and the parade rarely takes more than 30 minutes from be ginning to end. You don’t need an invitation and you don’t need to register. Vernonia’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade is for fun. Just bring your entry and be ready at the corner of State Avenue and Bridge Street by 2:00 p.m. on March 17. Timely drill for Red Cross vols.......... pg. 9 Council says no to levy......... pg. 11 Banks BULK RATE U S. Postage Paid Permit No. 37 Vernonia, OR 97064 Attn Leslie Larson UO Library-OMP 16, No 5 Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley' March 7, 2001 Tree planting helps restore river health Growing up... Bynum Way, Project Planner for the Upper Nehalem Watershed Council, with a Douglas fir tree, one of many planted in January by the Vernonia Youth Corps along the Nehalem River adjacent to Vernonia Lake. Council accepts Transportation meeting in Seaside bid for The Northwest Area Com Transportation Improvement mission on Transportation and Program (STIP) for 2002-2005, Anderson Park the Oregon Department of plus information about many The Vernonia City Council awarded the contract for new restrooms and a picnic shelter at Anderson Park to MJD De velopment. At $221,075, MJD’s bid was the lowest of five received. The highest bid was $338,255. The city is paying for the work with a grant of nearly $250,000 from the state Department of Parks and Recreation. Kevin France, consulting engineer for Vernonia, recom mended MJD after thoroughly checking the company’s refer ences because the bid was so much lower than others. FREE Transportation will hold an open house March 14, 3-6:00 p.m., at the Seaside Conven tion Center. Topics will include a public review of the draft Statewide transportation projects. For directions to the meeting site or for more information, call 503-986-2651, or check the ODOT website <www.odot. state.or.us/stip> Vernonia clean-up day is April 21 Mark you calendar and start making plans to participate in this year’s Vernonia clean up day on Saturday, April 21. Planning is already underway under the direction of Vernonia Pride and SOLV. To be a part of this commu nity-wide activity, contact Ver- nonia Pride at 503-429-5201. If you would like to suggest sites that need special attention or that just need cleaning up, please let Vernonia Pride know. More information will be forthcoming, so continue to watch The INDEPENDENT. ‘Think Globally and Act Lo cally” is a phrase that often raises the question, “What can we do to make a difference?” The Upper Nehalem River Watershed Council has an an swer: We can plant trees along streams! For the past nine years, volunteers have been working in cooperation with private landowners planting trees on the banks of the Nehalem Riv er. The purpose is to restore conifers and other native species to the riparian areas. Historically, large evergreen trees existed along a majority of our stream reaches. They provided shade to the river system and habitat for both ter restrial and aquatic life. This is no longer the case. These trees have been re moved over time for various reasons, by humans and by other natural processes. Past and present land use practices and policies and the encroach ment of noxious weeds has suppressed the regrowth of our riparian forests. Human power is required to reforest these ar eas. By reestablishing healthy riparian areas, streamside and aquatic conditions will be im proved, both in the short and long term. Once these trees mature, they will provide ther mal cover to the river system, modify stream temperatures year around, filter upland runoff, reduce mass erosion and provide large woody de bris to the stream system which, in turn, will increase salmon habitat opportunities and production. The Nehalem River, as beautiful as it is, has stream temperature readings in the summer months that exceed, for extended periods of time, lethal limits for the juvenile salmon present in the system. It has also been documented that sediment loading during the rainy season exceeds lethal limits for migrating salmon and settles into spawning beds, smothering salmon eggs. Dissolved oxy gen levels are also dangerous ly low in the late summer and fall months, to the detriment of aquatic life. Many reaches of the Ne halem system also are classi fied as deficient in the habitat complexity that is created by large trees laying within the stream channel. Short term ef forts are being made by local timber companies, Oregon De partment of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Department of Forestry to place large trees back in the system to supple ment habitat building process es until young trees mature and fall into the stream naturally. The volunteer tree planting project was initiated by the Ne halem Valley Chapter of the Izaac Walton League, in an ef fort to keep the river healthy and viable. Continuing efforts have been under the direction of Maggie Peyton, coordinator of the Upper Nehalem Water shed Council, who developed a riparian restoration program funded by the Oregon Water shed Enhancement Board and the DEQ 319 program. This program builds cooperative partnerships with landowners and supplies planting/fencing crews and materials needed to implement large scale projects. The annual volunteer tree planting activity starts in Febru ary and ends in April, weather permitting. These efforts are making a difference. A look along the banks of the Ne halem River shows young fir trees growing. In the past, volunteers from Please see page 9
