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The INDEPENDENT, March 5, 2009
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
School siting not the end
The Town Hall meeting held by Vernonia Schools on
Monday night was well attended and provided easy to
understand information. Additionally, time was allowed
for questions and answers. There were a few questions
but for the most part it appears the district is doing a
good job of information dissemination, based on the
fact that there were no questions that went back to the
beginning of the project. Kudos to Superintendent Dr.
Ken Cox and the board members for working to keep
the community informed. Once the siting decision is fi-
nal and the land procured, the community can move on
to the question of how to pay some portion of the
school’s cost. Nobody expects or is suggesting that
stimulus dollars or donations will cover the whole cost.
Cox is already talking about a bond on the November
ballot. What’s unknown is the amount, but we’ve heard
numbers like $10 million, which would work out to
somewhere around $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed
property value. In a community with a high unemploy-
ment rate and many households with low to moderate
income, there needs to be a clear understanding of the
impact any bond will have on all of us. The amount has
to be such that the community can vote “yes” without
going broke. Because there is still the question…
What about the sewer?
Have you been wondering what’s going on with the
project to upgrade Vernonia’s sewer system? After
about four years of hearing we have to upgrade, and
having nothing happen, there may be some light at the
end of the sewer pipe. The Public Works Committee,
started almost four years ago to find a sewer solution,
hasn’t met for months and hasn’t submitted minutes to
the City Council from the last meeting. But, there is now
a meeting scheduled for 7:00 p.m. on March 24. At that
meeting, the committee will hear sewer upgrade pro-
posals from six different engineering firms. Should be
interesting.
Kudos to Banks community
Banks had two really nice community events this
past weekend. The first was the Banks’ Hometown
Tribute, a heartwarming tribute to Banks’ present and
past veterans. Second was the Banks Fire District
fundraiser breakfast on Sunday. To everyone involved
in either or both – thanks for the good work!
Ike Says…
By Dale Webb, member
Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League
Old man winter seems
to be slowly releasing his
grip on us, a little snow
here, a little snow there,
but slowly we are coming
out of winter. What may
not be coming out of win-
ter are our local big game
populations; they still have
to survive until the warmth
of the sun is real, and the protein is actually back
into the forage they eat. Many people have the
misconception that, as long as deer and elk have
food to eat, they are fine, but that is not the case.
There are many factors that control the fate of
big game animals and it often comes down to the
individual animals themselves.
For any big game herd to be successful, they
must have good summer forage. Recent re-
search has shown that summer and early fall for-
age may play a far more critical role than winter
forage. Animals that go into the winter with high
fat reserves are far more likely to survive, even if
the winter forage is a lesser than normal quality.
This probably makes sense to most people, but
what many fail to realize is that winter forage,
while important, is not as critical as the rate of fat
reserves that are burned up.
So why do I say that winter forage is not as
critical? Think of it this way: Most biologists
agree that winter for most animals is basically a
slow starvation. Even though the deer and elk
are eating, proteins in the forage are not ade-
quate to maintain body condition. It’s a lot like
you having to go on a salad diet all winter, with-
out the dressing!
So what is critical for big game animals to sur-
vive the winter? Well first, is the summer and fall
forage quality, then it is winter conditions that ef-
fect how rapidly the fat reserves are burned.
This is where we come to this year’s winter. Did
you go out and walk around in the deep snow we
had this year, hard work right? Well, the deer
and elk lived in that environment 24/7 for 24
days. With deep snow covering up the ground
level forage, the animals had to move more in or-
der to secure food for their bellies, and more
movement meant more fat reserves used. While
the forage in winter is of poorer quality, it is not
as bad as not eating at all, so the animals are
forced to move to the feed. In a lot of cases this
was close to humans and, with that, came new
threats to survival.
Towards the end of the 24-day period in De-
cember when we had heavy snow on the
ground, it became apparent that the deer and elk
were suffering. They were readily seen next to
main roads in the valley floors, where there was
less snow and where some forage that is not
normally consumed remained. One very curious
spot was out at Natal; I kept seeing a herd of elk
between the river and the highway right next to
the old cedar shake mill. This was a very odd lo-
cation for the elk to stay at and it took me a while
Please see page 20