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News: The
Local Link -- Our own watershed is vital to survival of wild salmon.
News
Briefs: People Power's Back
| Dump the Outhouse? | WEYCO
Retaliation? | Towering Infernal | Corrections/Clarifications
Happening
People: Barbara May, River Guardian.
The
Local Link
Our own
watershed is vital to survival of wild salmon.
By
Orna Izakson
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Hills
Creek Dam blocks roughly 200 miles of salmon habitat.
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Back before Europeans settled
in the land of salmon, 200,000 or more wild spring chinook chasing
the source of melting snows each spring hurled their bodies above
Willamette Falls and up the Willamette River. Those that made the
successful leap continued upstream, veering off into tributaries like
the Santiam and the McKenzie that took them up into the mountains.
At high elevations they waited for optimal temperatures to dig their
nests, lay their eggs and offer their carcasses to the food chain.
Scientists estimate that upwards of 20 percent of
those 200,000 fish once followed the river's main stem past what is
now Eugene into the Middle Fork of the Willamette River, up beyond
Fall Creek and Oakridge.
That artery was cut in the 1950s and 1960s, when the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built dams at Fall Creek, Dexter, Lookout
Point and Hills Creek to provide flood control and electricity for
the humans downstream. Those dams cut off an estimated 450 miles of
prime habitat for the chinook completely, 80 percent of the total
habitat in the subbasin. The fish got a hatchery in exchange for the
landscape they lost.
Six years ago this Friday, environmental groups petitioned
the government to protect the fish under the federal Endangered Species
Act. In March 1999 upper Willamette River spring chinook were listed
as a species threatened with extinction.
After years of debate about beleaguered salmon in
the Snake River or along the Oregon coast, a local watershed council
is turning attention to the Middle Fork chinook with a day-long conference
Saturday, June 9. Speakers will discuss what kinds of habitat the
chinook need, legal and legislative strategies for improving fish
passage, a discussion of the upcoming analysis of dam operation's
effects on the fish, and an overview of the historical and philosophical
underpinnings of the current salmon crisis.
The conference itself is unlikely to be a prelude
to the kinds of dam-removal arguments taking place regarding the Snake
River dams. But addressing the issues of salmon in the Willamette
River opens up issues of warm water near Portland, expensive reconfiguration
of local dams, simplification and homogenization of the stocks through
hatchery practices, and pollution along the river's length.
"Because the wild population, if there is any left,
is so small -- it's going to be critical that they receive the
maximum protection," says independent fisheries biologist Jim Lichatowich,
a veteran of many scientific review teams on salmon issues in the
region and a speaker at Saturday's conference. "Any kind of recovery
action for the wild spring chinook in the Willamette is going to have
to incorporate a whole watershed approach, and that means making sure
that every link in the life-history chain -- is made as healthy
as it possibly can be."
It's not clear how many wild fish, if any, are left.
According to Jeff Ziller, district fish biologist for the Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife in Springfield, "virtually 100 percent" come
from the hatcheries. The state only recently began marking those fish
to differentiate them from naturally spawning ones.
The National Marine Fisheries Service, charged with
protecting threatened salmon, is in the process of evaluating the
Corps of Engineers' operations on the Willamette River to see how
those operations mesh with recovering the fish. Among the considerations
will be finding ways to get chinook past the dams and back to their
historic spawning grounds.
The improvements will likely be expensive. Chuck Willis,
a fisheries biologist with the Corps of Engineers, says one project
intended to lower water temperatures coming out of Cougar Reservoir
on the McKenzie River is expected to cost upwards of $43 million.
Similar efforts at the Middle Fork dams would likely have comparable
price tags. A rough, lowball estimate of costs to provide fish passage
at Dexter, Lookout Point and Hills Creek dams would cost upwards of
$15 million -- and that's just to truck the fish around the dams,
not to install fish ladders so the fish can move themselves.
Can the Willamette's spring chinook run be restored?
"I think salmon can be restored anywhere," Lichatowich
says. "The real question is not can salmon be restored but do humans
have the will and the courage to give them the opportunity to restore
themselves. If given the opportunity, they know what to do. They've
been doing it for 10 million years."
The conference runs from 9 am to 5 pm Saturday at
the Knight Law School Library. For more information contact the Middle
Fork Willamette Watershed Council at 937-9800.
Back to Top
People
Power's Back
Last June's People Powered Fridays
(PPF) got about 900 Eugene-area residents to pledge to leave their
cars at home and walk, bike or bus to work. This year the city program
has been extended from one month in June to the whole summer.
 Drawings
for bikes and other prizes (co-sponsored by PeaceHealth and Lane Transit
District) will be held on the third Fridays of the summer --
June 15, July 20, and Aug. 17. Pledge forms for the drawings are available
at city Transportation Division office, 858 Pearl, on-line at www.ci.eugene.or.us,
or by calling 682-5285. Posters by Eugene illustrator Jesse Springer
are going up around town (see detail above).
Getting people out of their cars is not easy. Eugene's
continued sprawl to the north and west means the share of local trips
by bicycle will likely drop 5 percent by 2015, according to the Lane
Council of Governments. And alternative transportation advocates also
face prevailing attitudes and habits that favor the automobile.
"Research has shown that habits are hard to change,"
says Molly Elders, coordinator of PPF. "We designed People Powered
Fridays to encourage commuting using alternative modes on a regular
basis throughout the summer when the weather is nice in order to produce
lasting changes in commuting habits."
Following last summer's PPF and last fall's Commute
Challenge 2000 (which drew 2,280 participants from 100 businesses),
two major education projects have evolved:
-- The city has teamed up the Eugene Bicycle Coalition,
the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and many other partners to sponsor
Bicycle Safety & Awareness Program for sixth graders. This spring,
classes are being taught at Monroe Middle School, and Shasta Middle
School. The eight-hour program includes helmet fitting, rules of the
road, and safe bicycle riding on the street. Fall classes will be
expanded to other local middle schools.
-- The city has developed a partnership with LTD and
The Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT) for a Safe Routes to Schools
Program. CAT will set up "Alternative Transportation Days" and a walking
or cycling "school bus" at each of six elementary and middle schools.
Safe Routes to Schools promotes parent and student awareness.
Elder says the Transportation Division has also continued
work on the East Bank Trail and the Fern Ridge Bike Path extension.
-- TJT
Dump the Outhouse?
Is change in the works for Eugene's
long-established and controversial system of legal representation?
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Ahead
of
the Curve
-- How
does Gov. Thorne sound to you? Must sound OK to Phil Knight,
CEO and chairman of the board of Nike. In May he gave $25,000
to the Thorne for Governor of One Oregon committee as shown
on www.sos.state.or.us/elections.
That's the handy website that reports contributions received
during Oregon's legislative session.
Mike Thorne, recently director of the Port of
Portland, former powerful legislator from northeastern Oregon,
close personal friend of Neil Goldschmidt, is raising money
from power bases in Portland and Pendleton. Big bucks for him
could discourage possible Demo candidates for governor Ted Kulongoski,
Bill Bradbury, and even Peter DeFazio.
But Peter's clearly not discouraged. Big fund-raiser
in Portland, slick inserts in Portland, Eugene, and other newspapers,
interview in The Oregonian headed "Answering the McCall
to run" -- not exactly tricks for the next congressional
election.
It might be prudent for Phil Knight to send
$25,000 to Peter's campaign. How does Gov. DeFazio sound to
you?
-- What's the future for the West Eugene Parkway?
Our regional TransPlan remains in limbo with the clock ticking
and major issues unresolved between the jurisdictions. But a
day-and-a-half-long planning marathon on west Eugene transportation
issues is coming up June 18-19. Expect to see lots of alternatives
to WEP surface in this alternative approach. Eventually, we
figure a road will be built to ease west Eugene traffic, but
chances are it won't be parkway and it won't extend beyond Beltline.
A lot of clout is lined up to block any incursion into protected
wetlands west of Beltline.
-- Jeffrey Grayson allegedly defrauded union
pensioners and other investors of $350 million, The Oregonian
reports this week. He also donated $800,000 to the UO Foundation,
and the UO named Grayson Hall after him. Now, a federal receiver
wants the UO to return the "fraudulent" $800,000 donation to
Grayson's victims. Will the UO cough up the money and take the
foot-high Grayson name off the building?
-- Mainstream media continue to refer to conservation-inspired
acts of vandalism and sabotage as "eco-terrorism," often
on the same pages as real terrorism with body parts flying through
the air. Perhaps a more accurate definition of eco-terrorism
would be wanton acts of violence perpetrated against
ecosystems.
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The topic of Eugene's city attorney made its way onto
the agenda near the end of the city's ad hoc Charter Review Committee
last week, and the first discussion reportedly was not favorable to
the status quo.
"By the looks of it, the 'outhouse' attorney will
be abandoned by a 9 to 0 vote," speculates committee member Bob Cassidy.
"It was a surprise to all of us. We had a half hour discussion and
we were just getting started."
"Outhouse" refers to the city's contracting for legal
services with a private law firm, as opposed to in-house attorneys
on the city staff. Critics of Eugene's current system say the potential
is high for conflicts of interest, and the costs are excessive. A
charter amendment would allow the city to bring its legal services
in-house.
Committee member Ken Tollenaar is less inclined to
find consensus in the group's preliminary discussion.
"There were no conclusions made," says Tollenaar.
"I prepared an agenda item listing questions to be asked about the
issue of an in-house counsel and we went around and had an open discussion."
Tollenaar says the group will be looking at the "three
biggies" involving in-house legal services: whether the quality of
legal services would be effected, whether the cost of services would
be effected, and whether conflict of interest issues could be resolved.
Cassidy says another issue that was raised at
the meeting involved the "institutional memory" that the city attorney
firm Harrang Long Gary Rudnick PC claims as a valuable asset, and
whether that asset would be better kept in City Hall.
Tollenaar says the committee will look at the issue
again next month and he hopes third-year law student Matt Donahue,
who missed the last meeting, will be able to attend. The other legal
mind on the committee is attorney Bern Johnson.
"I'm reluctant to get too deep into it until both
those guys are there," says Tollenaar.
-- TJT
WEYCO
Retaliation?
Before the ink was dry, before the
new contract was even signed by the AWPPW, workers at the Weyerhaeuser
linerboard mill in Springfield faced a new threat.
Management agreed to drop language from the contract
about out-sourcing non-core maintenance work, but the day after employees
voted to OK the agreement, the company announced plans to indefinitely
lay off 140 core workers.
Weyerhaeuser's regional communications manager, Mike
Moskovitz, claims the move was a "business decision" made at corporate
headquarters in Federal Way, Wash., but labor leaders say the effect
has been to weaken the union, silence outspoken employees, and demoralize
Springfield's workforce.
Could it just be coincidence that a successful strike
was followed by corporate backlash? Weyco's millworkers clearly don't
think so, though many are now reluctant to voice their views publicly.
"Of course this is retaliation," says Dana Frank,
a labor historian from the University of California, Santa Cruz, who
taught at the UO during spring term. "They want to send a message
not only to pulp workers, but to all workers, that if you exercise
your democratic right to strike, you'll be punished."
Even those workers who have enough seniority to keep
their jobs are having trouble dealing with confusion and the bitter
implications of the corporate action. The lay-offs will hurt the union
-- many officers and stewards found their names on the cut list.
And the workers who remain may face restructuring, scheduling changes,
job reassignments, forced overtime and short staffing.
"Those of us who are going to go back to work are
really not looking forward to it because of the oppressive atmosphere.
There's even some envy of those who will be free of Weyerhaeuser,"
said a worker who did not want to be identified.
Many long-time employees say that Weyco once took
care of its workforce and treated them with respect. But things changed,
they say, after Randy Nebel became manager of the mill six years ago.
In an effort to boost corporate profits, Nebel cut many hourly and
salaried employees and changed the culture of the company. Workers
on the picket line referred to him as the "Prince of Darkness."
Following last Friday's announcement, the Springfield
mill will indefinitely shut down its No. 1 machine, which is old and
produces nonstandard-sized paper rolls. The machine has been silenced
before, but the company found other roles for employees to fill until
it was up and running again. It's also been common practice to rotate
lay-offs among various Weyerhaeuser plants around the country in order
"to spread the pain," according to one worker.
But in a year of record profits at the Springfield
plant, the corporation decided on No. 1 machine's "indefinite curtailment."
"A lot of emotions are flying," says Moskovitz. "But this was clearly
a business decision."
-- Cheri Brooks
Towering
Infernal
Are cellular telephones towers hazardous
to your health? The jury is still out on what constitutes safe levels
of radiation, but some local folks are worried not only about radiation
danger, but also well water, scenery and property values.
 A
group of 15 rural households south of Veneta has been actively organizing
over the past five months to fight the siting of a 180-foot cell phone
tower in their neighborhood.
Lane County Commissioner Peter Sorenson plans to appear
at a community meeting at 7 pm Tuesday, June 12 at the Central Grange,
87200 Central Road. Sorenson offered to join the meeting and talk
about "the rights and responsibilities of Lane County government on
the appropriate level of regulation of cell phone towers."
For more information and directions to the meeting,
call 935-2795 or 935-0751 or e-mail charb@presys.com
"We are not against cell phone towers. They are a
fact of life," says Mona Linstromberg of the Territorial Neighbors
Coalition. "However, we want them sited away from homes and schools.
We are not just concerned about 'our' backyard; we are concerned about
everyone's backyard."
Linstromberg says the group now has support from three
commissioners, and "we need to begin to get some guidelines and regulations
established. Unfortunately, the biggest issue is the potential health
risks these towers pose, and the Federal Communications Act of 1996
effectively removes this issue as a criteria in siting these towers."
A flier from the group says, "Towers are unsightly
and incompatible impositions that drastically reduce property values.
In the Veneta case a crater from 30 to 60 feet deep and 10 to 25 feet
wide would need to be excavated to accommodate the tower. This could
easily disrupt flow and quantity of well water, and damage a fragile
aquifer. -- What was once thought to be safe in the eyes of the
telecommunications industry has come under scrutiny because of an
increase in cancers, tumors and incidence of leukemia in children.
Children may be more vulnerable because of their developing nervous
systems. The group has done a lot of research on this subject and
our findings are indeed frightening. We don't want to be part of the
experiment on the effects of close range radio frequency on the human
body, or our animals."
The group is urging the commissioners to press for
"immediate creation of responsible ordinances to regulate placement
of cell phone towers."
-- TJT
Corrections/Clarifications
A short news item about WISTEC's
summer programs in our May 31 issue referred to "uncertainty" over
the future of the non-profit. However, WISTEC reports, "we are happy
to inform you there is no uncertainty about our future, and the turmoil
of the last year has been resolved. We will be around for quite some
time bringing our great programs to the kids of our community."
Back to Top
 Barbara
May
At least once a month, Barbara May launches
her canoe onto the Willamette River at the Whitely boat landing north
of Eugene and paddles six miles downriver to Marshall Island. In January,
May took a Willamette Riverkeeper training session to become an official
River Guardian. "We check fish kill, river-bank degradation, pollution,
algae growth," she says. "Every month I write a report." A native
of inner-city Denver, May fell in love with the outdoors as a student
at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo. -- "I went skiing
a couple of times a week." She arrived at the UO as a professor of
Spanish literature in 1976. "About 20 years ago, I took Parks and
Rec canoe classes," she says. "I was one of the worst students, but
I stuck with it." May boats the Willamette, the McKenzie, and other
rivers once or twice a week in summer, once or twice a month in other
seasons. "I won't be on the river below 34 degrees," she admits. Willamette
Riverkeeper is one of 60 such organizations across the country. Check
it out at www.willamette-riverkeeper.org
-- Paul Neevel
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