Gate Prompts Discussion

[Hiker of the Woods]

Did anyone attend the meeting between Weyerhaeuser, Linn County, county and state law enforcement agencies, Calapooia Watershed Council, and sportsmen about the installed gate on the Upper Calapooia Drive last summer?

Here is some of information that was in the Albany Democrat Herald newspaper on the issue.

Quote:

?In the 1950?s, the county granted and easement to the U.S. Forest Service, Champion and Weyerhaeuser. In 2007, the Forest Service informed the county it no longer wanted to maintain the road. Since then, road ownership has been transferred to Weyerhaeuser, although Linn County commissioners have argued that it should have been returned to the county.

The State Police and Linn County Sheriff?s Office have been spending a lot of time up there because of garbage dumping, unmanned fires, gold miners with dredging equipment and interactions with member of the public carrying firearms have increased significantly. The gate addressed a lot of these issues.?

Weyerhaeuser has placed the gate in place for safety to public vehicles encountering logging trucks on narrow roads and their responsibility for environmental damage in the area, even if it is caused by the public illegally dredging in the Calapooia River, or motorcyclists and ATV?s tearing up stream embankments.

Public has still had access by walking or mountain biking with signs warning about what is allowed in the area and possibilities of being cited for trespassing.

There will be another meeting in a month about possible access by permits, seasons of the year open for public, times of the week open to the public, and access to specific locations. I have not heard a set date, time, or location for the meeting. I also don't know much about this area but would assume there are areas to hunt and fish. This might be a good meeting for all sportsmen and women to show up to. Please post anymore information that may come up on this issue.

 

[Hiker of the Woods]

Well I finally got an update on what was talked about at the first meeting. Here is what some of the options that were talked about and the time and place of the second meeting. The second meeting on the 22nd of April will not have Weyerhaeuser attending since it was last minute and Weyerhaeuser said they had other things to attend to. This might mean not a lot would get done at the second meeting and there should be a third meeting in the future. Here is what I have.

Quote:

"Thank you for attending our first meeting about access issues to the Upper Calapooia. I was pleased by the friendly tone, and the conversation on the issues. Below is what I collected as ideas around improvements that we might be able to investigate to open up the access to the area.

?Permitting - know who is getting in, vetting; agreement to terms; fee; rent keys.

?Seasons ? Spring and late fall might be better than the middle of summer; when is spawning season, steelhead, Chinook?

?Weekends better than weekdays ? heavy use many week days by logging operations, usually until 5:00 pm.

?Location ? Access might be alright to some areas, but not to others, for example in season A, area 1 might be open, but in season B not because of spawning fish in area 1.

Support of the watershed- We damaged it, can we improve while accessing it; Is there some way where if a fee is collected, can the Watershed Council get a portion for projects, or can they collect fee, and charge a processing fee for doing so to support further restoration?

My request would be that we look at the items above and come ready to talk about them and put some meat to them so that we could make a formal request of Weyerhaeuser.

* Next Meeting ? Thursday the 22nd, 6:30pm, Brownsville City Hall, Community Room

If you can't make it, let me know your thoughts about the issues above. What works for you, what doesn't and what your suggestions are so I can represent them to the group." Will Tucker

Here is Will Tucker's (County Commissioner) work email to let him know your thoughts on the issue. [email protected]

http://www.co.linn.or.us/comm/Tucker.html