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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (July 3, 2008)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, July 3, 2008 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 Editor Rebecca McGaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net Mentor Noni Andersen Printed on recycled paper with vegetable based dyes Opinion Loss of “County payments” means loss of vital services Before you continue this opinion, you need to under- stand that the federal government pays no Oregon tax- es, although it pays about $1.5 million in lieu of taxes. Also, the federal government owns more than 50 per- cent of the land in Oregon. That is why 23 Oregon counties have traditionally re- ceived payments based on federal timber harvests. The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Deter- mination Act of 2000 was approved for four years, and renewed in 2007 for one year at reduced funding. Those counties have known since 2006 that major re- ductions were likely in the compensation formula. Nev- ertheless, this fiscal year was a shock, not because of reductions, but because of a total loss of about $255 million to offset federal impacts. The loss hits the coun- ties in varying amounts, with some up to as much as 69 percent of their General Funds. It would seem that Columbia County, which will lose $2.2 million, about 23 percent of the discretionary amount in their General Fund, hasn’t been hit as hard. Not quite, perhaps, but rose-colored glasses won’t hide the damage; we will feel it. Columbia County is not a big spender in comparison to most other counties, and the discretionary part of the General Fund is what pays for basic services, in- cluding law enforcement. Now, as employees retire or leave their jobs, they probably won’t be replaced. Even with this strategy, about 10 employee positions will be eliminated. Like everyone else, every piece of equipment the county uses operates on high priced fuel. Supplies will be reduced, services will be reduced and fees will be increased. Ordinary citizens will now pay at the coun- ty/local level for our national obsession with Iraq and petroleum. A recent attempt by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) for Continued on page 3 We’ve heard this song before The newest termination date for the contract of erst- while Interim Administrator/City Administrator, now Fi- nancial Manager M.R. “Dick” Kline was June 30, 2008, but he’s still here. Vernonia still hasn’t been de-Klined. Stay tuned for the next chorus. Ike Says… By Dale Webb, member Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League Well, are there some long faces in your house- hold? Yep, the annual big game draw is over and the winners and losers know who they are. I was really banking on drawing an an- telope tag this year, but it looks like it will have to be next year. That is too bad, since this year’s antelope bucks should grow some exceptional horns. The wet, late spring should produce above average forage in the desert this year and antelope horn growth is di- rectly related to forage conditions. It is time to discuss Blacktailed deer again, many of you painfully know that deer hunting in our region is poor. I bring this up because ODF&W is currently going through the process of adopting a Blacktailed Deer Plan. You can go on line at ODF&W’s website and review this docu- ment. There is some very good data presented in the plan, with some new research numbers com- ing from a study in southern Oregon. But the plan fails to mention data that was gathered in our local area during the antlerless deer morato- rium study conducted in the ‘90s. While the plan does accurately address the issues that Black- tailed deer face and provides a plan of action that would help determine the effects of some of these issues, there is no proposal in the plan on how these goals would be funded. Without fund- ing, there will be no research and without the re- search, the goals will simply not be met or will be based on suspect interpretations. If we fail to an- swer some of the basic questions about habitat carrying capacity, effects of predation, Doe har- vests, herbicide spraying and diseases, we will simply fail to manage Blacktailed deer in the manner that they and you deserve. Included in the draft Blacktailed Deer Plan is a proposal for ODF&W to shift away from spotlight counts and towards a population estimation tool call Sex-Age-Kill or SAK. SAK is a system for gathering harvest data and age structure from hunters’ kills, then reconstructing the Blacktailed deer herd from what this data tells the biologists. By looking at both the percentages of each age group within the harvest and at the declines be- tween age groups, determination can be made of the annual recruitment rate of deer and the amount of loss each year between age groups. This data can then be used to reconstruct the herd and give a population estimate, something that we currently do not have. In order to accu- rately conduct a SAK analysis, yearling bucks will most likely have to become legal game dur- ing all seasons. Currently the regulations for Blacktailed deer are forked horn or better, with the exception that spikes are allowed during antlerless hunts. While this development may not be welcome by most and will most likely lead to more antlerless deer being accidentally killed, it may be a requirement to get accurate data. SAK Please see page 3
