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The INDEPENDENT, September 1, 2005
The
INDEPENDENT
Published on the first and third Thursdays of each month by
The Independent, LLC, 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064.
Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410. Publisher Clark McGaugh,
clark@the-independent.net • Managing Editor Rebecca Mc-
Gaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net • Editor Noni Ander-
sen, noni@the-independent.net
Opinion
Request to ban fireworks
at Lake is misunderstood
It is interesting that a request made to disallow fire-
works at Vernonia Lake during Jamboree has become,
in some people’s minds, an effort to eliminate all fire-
works in Vernonia. Others, including The INDEPEN-
DENT’s outdoor columnist Dale Webb, think it is unim-
portant because there are no endangered species at
the lake at night.
That particular notion always makes me want to ask:
“Do you want to wait until more species are endan-
gered?” So far as before and after observations are
concerned, the wood duck babies that hatched shortly
before Jamboree have not been seen since then and
no, they weren’t old enough to fly. The green herons
were also gone the next day.
All that was asked of the Vernonia City Council, was
that they ban fireworks at Vernonia Lake. That is a very
small consideration on behalf of the wildlife that share
that small body of water with us.
Children are worth a little
extra caution by drivers
School will soon be underway, bringing many more
children along Bridge Street in Vernonia and Main
Street in Banks.
Because children act like children, they will some-
times dart out between cars when they shouldn’t. They
may also run into a cross walk without looking, or do
something else equally dangerous – especially when
they are busy talking with friends.
Parents will be dropping many of the students off at
their schools, too, resulting in temporarily congested
school zones. Please be patient and plan on taking a
little more time to drive through school zones.
CORRECTIONS
The photo on page 10 of The INDEPENDENT issue
of August 18, 2005, was incorrectly identified. The pho-
to was of Dustin Talbot. A photo on page 11 that was
identified as Jess Lucas was also incorrect. We do not
have the name of the young fisherman. We regret the
errors.
Ike Says…
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
Well, it is time to tack-
le a couple of contentious
issues. First let’s take a
look at the fireworks de-
bate going around town.
We have been having fire-
works here in Vernonia for
as long as I can remem-
ber. I’m not sure if the fact
of having fireworks is the
issue or the location, I believe it has more to do
with the latter. Vernonia Lake is a wildlife area,
ducks, shore birds and all the things that come
with water. I can understand the concern about
the local wildlife, yes the fireworks probably does
disturb them, some more than others. But, there
are no endangered species present at the lake
at night when the fireworks display is launched.
Most of the ducks at the lake are either domesti-
cated or very accustomed to human activity. So
fireworks while probably not preferred by the
wildlife at the lake, is just another extension of
human disturbance. I keep hearing that the alter-
native location for the fireworks is at the school
and shot over the sewer lagoons. Well that is not
an option during the Jamboree, because the
softball players are camped in the area needed
to shoot the fireworks. Regardless, whether or
not the area is available we need to take a clos-
er look at the school location. Is there not wildlife
using the sewage ponds? The answer is yes
there is, just about the same mix of wildlife that
is at the lake, but there is a difference. The
wildlife that is using the sewer lagoons is far less
tolerant of human disturbance; they have select-
ed this location because there is less human
presence. So shooting fireworks at this location
may actually be more disturbing than the Ver-
nonia Lake location. The question we must ask
ourselves is do we want to have fireworks and
disturb the wildlife and domestic animals? If the
answer is yes, then we should examine the loca-
tions fairly, we might be surprised by the an-
swers to our questions. In my opinion, the lake
location is no more harmful than the school loca-
tion. It would be fair to survey the wildlife prior to
and after the fireworks to determine the distur-
bance to the wildlife so we are more informed of
the results of our actions.
The second issue that is getting a lot of press
lately is the new proposal by ODF&W to reduce
the cougar population in the state of Oregon. We
need to understand that there are two camps in
Oregon when it comes to the cougar situation.
There are those that want the cougar population
to self-balance itself while filling the role of an
apex predator. The other camp understands that
if the cougar population is allowed to self-regu-
late itself, their opportunity to hunt other species
will be greatly diminished since they are the prey
species for the cougars. The proposal by
ODF&W is to use what some would consider a
loophole to contract with hunters to reduce the
cougar population. These hunters will not be
sportsmen; they will be contract hunters or pro-
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