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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 2010)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, October 7, 2010 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 Everyone is urged to vote As longtime readers may know, we do not censure our columnists or our editorial cartoonist. Their space is their space. This issue, we don’t really like the cartoon. We sup- pose the sentiment it represents could be true, though we don’t feel it has to be and hope it never is. You can make a difference. For example: The many well qualified candidates for Vernonia’s open city council positions show a spirit of volunteerism we haven’t seen in Vernonia elections in re- cent history. Those candidates have done their part by vol- unteering to serve the community (if chosen by the voters). Now, it’s up to you as citizens to do your part. If you don’t have time to volunteer or get involved with your community – the least you can do is VOTE!! If everybody who does not vote (and many out there haven’t even registered to vote) would get up off their hind ends and vote, think of the difference it could make in your community, your state, your country. Especially if everyone with an opinion voted. If you can’t be bothered to exercise your right to vote in this democracy, we may well end up as this issue’s editorial cartoon sug- gests. If you are not registered to vote, it’s not too late. The deadline for registration for this election is October 12. You can find information about registering on the Columbia County website at www.co.columbia.or.us . And, if you don’t vote – don’t complain. If you do vote – we hope the election goes the way you want. You might not think your vote counts, but the right to vote is the foundation of our democracy and keeping it going in a good direction really does require everyone’s participation and contribution. You’ll find candidate information for the Vernonia council candidates starting on page 1. In Banks, those running for council are all incumbents, but don’t think that means you don’t need to vote, there are many important issues on the ballot. Ike Says… By Dale Webb, member Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League In my last article I talked about where we are currently in regards to har- vest in recent years in comparison to years previ- ous, what I left out was historical perspectives in regards to the peak har- vests. Here is a brief glimpse of the highs that Oregon has seen and a sober reminder of where we are at today. The peak harvest year for deer in Oregon oc- curred in 1961; in that year 101,971 hunters took 65,988 deer for a 65% success rate in western Oregon alone. Eastern Oregon was even better, 147,597 sportspeople took 97,951 deer for a 66% success rate according to ODF&W stats. These are absolutely amazing numbers and ex- actly why many old timers talk about the good old days. The peak harvest year for elk was in 1994, Westside hunters numbered 53,590 and took 7,210 elk for a 13% success rate. Again, East- side elk hunters ruled the day, with 76, 313 tak- ing 18,854 elk with a 25% success rate. Last year the deer harvest was 43,476 (73% below historic high) statewide and 14,070 (46% below historic high) elk were taken. Things defi- nitely are not like the good old days. So what’s in store for us this year? Eastern Oregon elk numbers continue to slide; the same can be expected from the Mule deer population. Westside hunters should be glad that the elk population is remaining neutral and, in compari- son to the Rocky Mountain elk harvest, has actu- ally swapped places regarding bull harvest from a historical perspective. Western Oregon deer hunters will probably experience a season simi- lar to recent years. The farther south a hunter goes in Western Oregon, the better the hunting. Deer numbers locally are still low, although some people, including me, have seen a slight up-tick in certain areas. One reason for concern is that I’m seeing a lack of fawns this year. It is really hard to tell if what I have personally seen is representative of the entire local area, since the number of deer I have sighted is, in total, not very many. What I have seen though is a distinct lack of fawns with Does and this is very curious to me. We had a very good winter last year and the deer should have come through it in good condition. Is it pos- sible that the wet June we had impacted the fawn survival? Did the 2.25 inches of rain, in combi- nation with an average low temperature of 45.1 degrees and a 54.3-degree mean temperature for the first 10 days in June, kill the fawns? I think it may have, these are very abnormal tem- peratures and rainfall for the time period when most fawns are born. On the 5th of June, my weather station recorded .93 inches of rain. Is a fawn able to survive such a drenching? Keep and eye out and let me know what the rest of you are seeing. Please see page 3