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The INDEPENDENT, August 5, 2004
The
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published on the
first and third Thursdays of each month, by Public Opinion
Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064, as a
free newspaper. Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Editor,
Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410, email: noni@
the-independent.net Display Advertising, Clark McGaugh,
email: clark@the-independent.net Classified Advertising,
Rebecca McGaugh, email: rebecca@the-independent.net
Opinion
Use a little common sense,
enjoy the 48th Jamboree
Jamboree is always fun, but it can easily be ruined
when folks forget that the purpose is to enjoy the
events and the other people. Jamboree was started as
a mechanism to bring people together after circum-
stances closed Oregon-American Mill and economic
necessity had forced many people to leave Vernonia.
Jamboree was meant to be a big get-together, just a
happy event with some good-natured competition, a
parade and lots of laughter.
Times have changed sufficiently so that a lot of peo-
ple now “get together” via the phone or e-mail, which is
great with family and friends, but it really changes the
dynamics of group interaction. Sometimes, it seems,
we forget how to act with consideration for strangers,
not because they’re bad, but because we haven’t met
them. Of course, that is why we call them strangers.
So relax, be considerate, even to people you don’t
know, and above all, smile.
If you aren’t involved, but would like to be, call the
numbers at the bottom of this column – Mark Hall or
Garrett Abney – they will almost certainly find a way for
you to be part of Jamboree.
If you prefer being a spectator, it will take the whole
weekend just to get around to the various events –
fishing derby, fireworks, softball, parade, horse gam-
ing, black powder encampment, antique and col-
lectible show, music, dancing, eating, the car cruise-in
on Saturday followed by a Bike Rally on Sunday and,
of course, the logging show. Even if you think logging
shows are passe, you will enjoy the good-natured
competition – they try hard to win, but cheer each other
on to do their best.
So relax, talk to that stranger next to you, smile at
that teenager – we all needed time to grow up – and
some of us will never make it.
Enjoy Jamboree, please don’t drink and drive
because there are no Jamboree events going on in the
county jail. Have fun and remember, smile!
---------------------------------
For more information about helping with Jamboree,
call Mark Hall at 503-429-8382 or Garrett Abney at
503-429-0517.
Ike Says…
By Dale E. Webb, Member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
Well, did you melt?
The recent heat wave was
a scorcher! If you were
like me, you spent a lot of
time in the local rivers.
Unfortunately for the fish
in these streams, the
warm temperature proba-
bly was lethal. I took my
kayak down to Rock
Creek on the 103-degree day and the water was
like bath water. What I noted missing were the
small fish that would usually be pecking at the
surface of the water. Earlier this year I noted an
enormous number of fingerlings in local streams,
mostly Chinook, which hopefully migrated far
enough downstream to the deeper, cooler water
or, better yet, the estuary. I also noted a fair
amount of Coho fingerlings, which probably took
the brunt of the recent heat wave, since they
have to stay in local streams until the spring of
next year.
While we are talking about fish, I had an inter-
esting problem regarding fishing regulations.
Most the time, fishing regulations are fairly clear-
cut, but there are times they are nothing short of
confusing. Salmon fishing now falls into the lat-
ter category. In an effort to micro-manage the
Salmon runs and still provide optimal fishing
opportunity, Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife has created a very confusing maze of
rules. The ocean has separate rules; the
Columbia River is divided into different sections;
there are the tributaries to the Columbia River,
plus sites called select fishing areas. The select
areas are off channel bays or sloughs where
salmon were net pen raised for the commercial
fisheries so they do not impact the protected
salmon in the Columbia River. It was recognized
by ODF&W that the sport fishery in these areas
should be liberal since these fish are basically
produced to be caught.
The standard regulation for these select areas
is that they are open year-around though, in real-
ity, there are fish present only during certain
times of the year. This year, an exception was
made to year-around fishing in the select fishery
areas, when the Spring Chinook season was
shut off early because the run size was not going
to be as big as had been forecast and the
allowed impact on wild fish had been exceeded.
In a knee jerk reaction, ODF&W closed the lower
Columbia River and also the select fisheries.
Now, my problem came when my Dad and I
started fishing in one of the select areas. We
both pored over the regulation book; I looked on
the ODF&W web site (www.dfw.state.or.us.) and
called the information phone number (503-947-
6001). There were no clear-cut answers to the
question, is it open? I could see on the Internet
where the select areas were closed, but I could
not see where they were reopened. The regula-
tion for the lower Columbia River was that it was
closed until August 1st, but that all other Oregon
Sport Fishing Regulations were in effect. We
Please see page 20