The YEAR That Was 2021
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River McKenzie Reflections Thursday, December 31, 2020 Serving the McKenzie River Valley ... And Subscriber Nancy Miller of Blue River 00 Volume 43, Issue 20 $1 January June The YEAR That Was Other January Headlines: Canal to remain down Other June Headlines: Blue Pool rescue calls keep through 2021, Aufderheide alert issued, Chamber 21 coming in, Ancient fish don’t deserve their bad rap, wins highway signage grant, Track courting Asian Free life jackets available now, Backyard burning athletes, Ex-treasurer arrested at Lane courthouse, 20 doused, Could Leaburg Lake go away? Marine Injured firefighter wins compensation claim survival cited for low Spring Chinook return February April July Other February Headlines: 4,438 acre project up for Other April Headlines: National Forest welcome deputy Other July Headlines: Scenic trail improved, EWEB review, Cycle Oregon awards $139,000 in grants, supervisor, Historic Fish Lake looking for more stories, eyeing upriver electrical rate increase, 2020 Lavender Nine complete extensive training, Home invasion Community providing meals, Outdoor burning banned Bloom blossomed, Little lampreys located New school suspect jailed, Local man back home after coronavirus in county, Some boat landings blocked, Stream to be on McKenzie ballot, Powerline relocation part of SNAFU protections are rolling back Deer Creek rehab, Two fires destroy home, March May August Other March Headlines: Motorcyclist killed in Walterville Other May Headlines: “Delicate dance” of drought Other August Headlines: Habitat gates given go ahead, wreck, County opens call center in response to looms, Boat launch trashed, Pandemic slows launch Schools readying for remote year, Free fishing this COVID, Conservation Fund offers dollar-for-dollar date for trail permits, Paddle boarder drowns on the weekend, Artists launch new collaborative site, How match, Bigfoot makes tracks on the River, EWEB Pass, Crews installing new roofing, Limited entry for do steelhead build nests? Hilltop blaze destroys shop. eases customer anxiety Obsidian and Pamelia TLC on the Trail : YEAR IN REVIEW - Page 4 Page 2 McKenzie River Reflections Thursday, December 31, 2020 Bonneville Power Administration Guest Opinion worth $7 million. A Fish Passage Center review of Welch’s California to Alaska. Ergo, the methodology in his 2008 paper It Doesn’t Take A condition of the river, dammed or identified a lot of issues. Degree In Marine undammed, must not matter much. His most recent findings were Biology To See Dams “We were shocked to discover immediately amplified by the that the survival of salmon across utility lobby, Northwest River Are Bad For Fish British Columbia or in Puget Partners. In a letter to the Governors By Steven Hawley Sound is now as low or lower than of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Last July, National Geographic the reported survival of Snake Montana, who recently committed reported that global populations River populations,” Welch said to to discussing the salmon problem, of migratory fish have declined the journal Scientia. Riverpartners cited Dr. Welch’s by 76 percent over the past half- In truth, he couldn’t have been work, and recommended “trans- century. Habitat loss was cited as that shocked. He was saying a oceanic” obstacles to salmon one of the main culprits, and dams similar thing in 2008, when he recovery be taken into primary as a major cause of habitat loss. published a paper that contended consideration. This type of cause and effect in juvenile salmon migrating out of For policymakers, emphasizing worldwide decline holds true in the less dammed Fraser River in the emerging crisis in the ocean the Pacific Northwest. It doesn’t British Columbia survive at about while ignoring the long emergency saving salmon will require a rather party with a stake in the health of take a degree in marine biology to the same anemic rate as juveniles of our over-dammed rivers will be urgent emphasis on repairing the river comes out economically see that dams are bad for fish. But in the thoroughly dammed an exercise in futility. For starters, what is immediately repairable— as good or better than where they it might take someone with a PhD Columbia. As reliably as rain in the the northeastern Pacific is a vast, rivers we thoroughly understand stand today. to convince you that salmon don’t Pacific Northwest, research that poorly understood ecosystem that and over which we have some Some of our best laws mandate need rivers. diverts blame for salmon’s demise also happens to be well outside control. salmon recovery. The best politics According to research published from dams to just about anything the jurisdiction of any authority in With that in mind, dam removal will get us there. By contrast, last month by Canadian fisheries else gets funded and promoted by the Pacific Northwest. works. Not only do hundreds the worst, most cynical politics scientist Dr. David Welch, salmon hydropower interests. Sometimes Even if Dr. Welch’s most recent newly free-flowing rivers around will lean on science as a flimsy populations in the northern Pacific this science isn’t worth its salt. assessment proves prescient—and the country attest to this fact, rationale for doing nothing. The have been declining over the In the early 2000’s, Welch’s better research shows that it may the best available science on Governors should aim high—at past few decades at a uniformly private firm, Kintama Research not— a fix for a warming ocean Columbia Basin salmon draw the least higher than the region’s alarming rate—50 to 65% from Inc., garnered contracts with the is decades away. In the meantime, same conclusion. Since 2000, the myopically self-interested federal BPA has spent over $100 million power agency, the BPA, which on two separate, court-ordered has thus far failed miserably at federal studies that each conclude salmon recovery. removing four dams on the lower National service opportunities Snake River would be the most Steven Hawley sjhawley@ effective way to restore salmon. me.com is a writer and filmmaker The four governors should start from Hood River, Oregon. He’s for youth, post-pandemic with this $100 million conclusion. a co-founder of the Northwest They should work on a blueprint Resource Accountability Project. to make it a reality, wherein every (541) 822-3358 FAX (541) 663-4550 MAILING ADDRESS: 59059 Old McKenzie Hwy. McKenzie Bridge, Oregon 97413 [email protected] • mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper.com DEADLINE: For all advertising, photos, notices and articles is 5 pm every Monday. McKenzie River Reflections, USPS #467-530, PERIODICALS postage paid at Blue River and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to McKenzie River Reflections, 59059 Old McKenzie Hwy., McKenzie Bridge, Oregon The Northwest Youth Corps is a Eugene-based nonprofit deploying young people to work on public lands in 97413. Oregon, Idaho and Washington. SUBSCRIPTION RATES By Eric Tegethoff The Brookings Institution can plant all those trees or do all Yearly.......................$28.00 Oregon News Service proposed expanding the number the thinning by themselves.” 2-Years......................$44.00 Out of County $34.00 The economic woes from the of national service positions to Parker remarked he’s seen more 3-Years.......................$58.00 Rainbirds $34.00 COVID-19 pandemic parallel 600,000 by 2024, and increasing calls to revive national service the Great Depression in some the living allowance to at least programs in the last nine months Also available in digital format via email ways, and new research suggests 175% of the federal poverty than ever before. national service programs from level, or about $22,000 a year. It For organizations with a con- McKenzie River Reflections assumes no financial responsibility for the 1930s could be useful for the estimates this would cost about servation focus, he said the need errors in advertisements. However, if McKenzie River Reflections recovery and for young people $19 billion. for maintenance on public lands is at fault, we will reprint without charge, or cancel the charge, for who need work. The report also noted national across the country is there, and that portion of the advertisement which is in error. A Brookings Institution report service programs could prevent so is the demand from young calls on the country to expand young people from becoming people. Publishing Editors: Ken & Louise Engelman programs like AmeriCorps, disconnected from the economy “I know at Northwest Youth Phone 541-822-3358 FAX 541-663-4550 YouthBuild and conservation and society. Corps, we have a waitlist every Marketing Specialist - Dan Purkey corps over the next few years. Parker explained one North- year,” Parker recounted. “That [email protected] Jeff Parker, executive director west Youth Corps program for every one person we put in the online archives: http://mrr.stparchive.com for the Eugene-based conservation assembles people into teams for woods, we have to say ‘no’ to three © 2020 McKENZIE RIVER REFLECTIONS nonprofit Northwest Youth Corps, labor-intensive work, like trail others. And that’s not uncommon All rights to reproduce the contents of this newspaper, including backs the idea. maintenance and wildfire fuels with our sister and brother corps advertising copy, is reserved by McKenzie River Reflections. “Our goal is to help these reduction. across the country.” young people build skills and go He added participants work Parker noted conservation An independent newspaper, McKenzie River Reflections is on to become the next generation alongside folks who might be very corps of the 1930s were top- dedicated to publishing items of interest to the McKenzie River of leaders, in whatever capacity different from them. down federal programs. However, Valley. McKenzie River Reflections is available by subscription they choose that to be,” Parker “It’s amazing the amount of today they’re public-private part- in the mail or on the news stands in the following communities: commented.