Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2009)
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. Postage Paid Vernonia, OR 97064 Permit No. 37 Vol. 24, No. 2 “Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” Project Woodcut receives national recognition award Winter visitors These two elk cows were spotted not too far from downtown Vernonia on January 2. Wild weather triggered additional effort Vernonia’s weather did not calm down after the snow and power outages of Christmas. Beginning January 1, the first of a series of storms brought the possibility of flooding with it. The storm on January 1st had the potential of up to 15 inches of rain, plus snowmelt. As a result of the storm fore- casts, an Emergency Com- mand center was opened at City Hall with Interim Chief of Police Mike Kay, plus Fire Deputy Chiefs Ben Davis and Dean Smith sharing command. The best estimates that Emer- gency Command could get in- dicated that the Nehalem might reach 14 to 16 feet at the gauge upriver from Vernonia, which could cause some flood- ing in low lying areas and near Rock Creek. The new Colum- January 15, 2009 bia County Community Alert Network (CAN) was used to no- tify Vernonia residents by phone of the possibility of flood- ing. Fortunately, the storm did not reach its full potential and the Nehalem River rose only 10 feet, not high enough to do more than put a couple of inch- es in some basements or garages. The next storm was expect- ed to dump up to 10 inches of rain, along with high winds and warmer temperatures that would increase snow melt. On January 6, once again, the Emergency Command center opened at City Hall and joint commanders Kay, Davis and Smith started preparing for possible flooding. The forecast for this storm was more threat- ening than the January 1 storm, so the commanders began marshalling supplies, crews, and equipment. Inmate crews brought in by Columbia County helped empty the school’s shop building, sandbag the middle school and load food into a re- frigeration truck. Providence Health Center and West Ore- gon Electric Cooperative (WOEC) were “shrink- wrapped” with inside-out pond liner, and WOEC moved much of their office equipment to the attic. Zodiacs with crews were on standby to come to Vernon- ia if water rescues were need- ed, and trucks, large and heavy enough to drive through flood waters, were staged around town. A public meeting was held January 7, in the Vernonia Mid- Please see page 4 The Society of American Foresters bestowed the House of Society Delegates National Recognition Award on the Port- land SAF chapter for the out- standing public service benefits achieved by “Project Woodcut.” When SAF member Bob Alverts learned of the extensive blowdown of trees from back- to-back storms last December, he wanted to solve two prob- lems: The millions of board feet of downed timber that would soon become a wildfire hazard and the roughly 800 Vernonia homeowners without heat be- cause of storm-caused power outages. His solution, dubbed “Project Woodcut,” helped ad- dress both problems. The retired Bureau of Land Management natural resource manager took his idea to the SAF leadership. They recruited volunteers to cut up the dead trees into fuel and deliver them to the remote community. He set the project goal at 100 cords of firewood. Stihl Northwest and Preci- sion Power Equipment. of Banks, loaned power saws and other gear to the crew, volun- teers provided wood splitters, and lumber mills sent trucks to haul the wood to the stricken homeowners. Cash donations helped with fuel and other ex- penses. The gifts of services, equipment, supplies and mon- ey by Oregon businesses, or- ganizations and individuals ex- ceeded $50,000. In several weekends the foresters, working with Colum- bia County Disaster Relief co- ordinators and local volunteers, cut and split more than 50 cords of firewood from Weyer- haeuser Company and Bureau of Land Management lands, as well as Banks and Vernonia landowner properties, and de- livered the fuel to Vernonia res- idents. Initially, much of the toppled timber proved unreachable due to forest road blockages. To keep the firewood deliveries on track, DR Johnson Lumber of Prairie City donated an entire truckload of dry pine logs. Iron Triangle Logging of John Day hauled the logs to Pendleton, where Blue Mountain Lumber completed the relay by deliver- ing them to Vernonia. Longview Timber Co., Green Diamond Co. and Roseburg Forest Products also donated several log truck loads of wood to help exceed the 100-cord goal. A final forest outing of Alverts’ band of volunteers on November 15 closed out the nearly year-long relief effort and earned this award. Help is available for flood stress Columbia Community Men- tal Health (CCMH) is offering free Support and Outreach for people impacted by the flood- ing. The open forums will be held at their office, 610 Bridge Street, Vernonia, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of each month, beginning January 26. All citizens from Vernonia and neighboring communities are welcome to participate. CCMH will facilitate open group discussions regarding stress management, coping skills, self care and any addi- tional concerns voiced by at- tendees. For additional infor- mation, contact the CCMH St. Helens office at 503-397-5211 ext. 135.