Applegater Summer 2019 1 Photo by Lisa E. Baldwin applegater.org Celebrating SUMMER 2019 Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine Volume 12, No. 2 Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 13,000 ~25~Years A giant among Long-time Applegate Valley Fire District officer to retire men lost to the BY SANDY SHAFFER Applegate Valley On April 8, 2019, with the death of Christopher Bratt, the Applegater board lost its longest-standing board member, the Applegater one of its staunchest supporters, and the Applegate one of its most outstanding citizens. Chris worked tirelessly, for decades, on behalf of environmental concerns in the Applegate. In his column in the Applegater, “Behind the Green Door,” he kept readers abreast of actions by the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service, never reluctant to state his own opinion, which was always “green.” He ended every column with some version of asking for the reader’s response, which he genuinely wanted. He never shied from a good strong political argument, but he let Brad Barnes (center) accepting 30-year award in 2017, with politics be politics and friendships be friendships. Captain Mike Kuntz (left) and Captain Greg Gilbert (right). Chris had used a pacemaker for a number of years. Photo: Applegate Valley Fire District. He died peacefully at home with loving family members 19. We dedicate this issue of the Applegater at his side. He was 88 years old. to Chris. His memory will live on in Brad Barnes, the Applegate Valley Fire District’s (AVFD’s) longest- An obituary, along with heartfelt tributes to Chris our hearts. serving employee, is planning to retire this November. At that time he from friends and associates, appears on page 2. Also see Applegater Board of Directors will have served our fire district for over 30 years as a firefighter. For Luke Ruediger’s opinion piece, honoring Chris, on page Photo: Tim Daw Photography See BRAD BARNES, page 21. Hikers looking for a challenge should SAVE THE DATE! Summer recreation is abundant take on the Bolt Mountain Trail, a 3.2- mile multiuse trail that heads to the top of at Fish Hatchery Park Bolt Mountain with its 360-degree view of We're BY LISA E. BALDWIN the lower Applegate Valley. The trailhead is at the west end of the upper parking area at turning 25! Where the Applegate the north entrance (Wetherbee Road). The comes into its own as a trail is a steady climb and rated “Difficult” Join us as we celebrate mature river, making its final by the BLM. Bolt Mountain Trail is open the Applegater's westward run to the Rogue, to pedestrians, mountain bikers, and 25th anniversary Fish Hatchery Park, a hidden equestrians. Nothing motorized is allowed. gem of the lower Applegate, Fish Hatchery Park makes a great on Saturday, October 5. offers excellent opportunities summer outing for families. Picnic tables for swimming, fishing, hiking, are widely scattered under the trees on birding, picnicking, and both sides. The river moves slowly through soaking up the best of southern the park, past shady banks and a sandy 25 Years of Oregon. Situated on the lower beach. The swimming holes are hard to Applegate, midway between beat; Turtle Lane is a local legend. It is Murphy and Wilderville, here, near the mouth of Bull Creek, that, Storytelling the 177.8-acre nature park in 1863, a ferry service started hauling Special Storytelling Guests stretches along both sides of people and supplies across the Applegate. the river and has three points This old ferry landing is now perhaps the Live Music of access: the north entrance best public beach and swimming hole on Silent Auction, Raffle Items (1980 Wetherbee Drive), the the river. Hors d'oeuvres, Dinner, main south entrance (2416 The Applegate River runs through Fish Hatchery Park. The park takes its name from the fish Fish Hatchery Road), and the Photo: Lisa E. Baldwin. hatchery that operated from 1912 to 1936 and Dessert Turtle Lane entrance (260 on Jackson Creek at its confluence with the Wild River Pub (Publick House) Turtle Lane), also on the south bank at ago by park volunteers. The guide is also Applegate, the eastern park boundary. The the west end of the park. available online at co.josephine.or.us/ hatchery raised coho salmon and steelhead 533 NE F Street Hikers and birders will especially enjoy files/fish-hatchery-trail-guide[1].pdf. An trout. The lower Applegate still has a Grants Pass the trails at Fish Hatchery Park. The nature updated guide is in the works, but the decent winter steelhead run, which was 4 - 7 pm trail makes an easy, mostly level loop existing guide is full of good information particularly good this past March. through the natural habitat on the north about the flora and fauna, as well as the Only bank fishing is allowed on the Follow our Facebook page side of the river, starting at the west end river, the mountains, and the Applegate’s Applegate River. It is illegal to fish from for more details soon. of the lower parking area. The information history. The Nature Trail is open to any watercraft, so gone are the days of kiosk there is usually stocked with copies pedestrian traffic only, and canine walking grabbing a fishing rod and an inner tube of a trail guide put together several years partners must stay on leash. See FISH HATCHERY PARK, page 20. Nonprofit Org US Postage PAID Local Postal Customer Permit #125 Medford OR ECRWSSEDDM 2 Summer 2019 Applegater timber products, and sustainable OBITUARY forest management. Chris was predeceased by his parents, George and Wiltrud Bratt, and brothers Charles Christopher Bratt Jonathan, George, Tom, and Peter. He is survived by Joan Peterson, his wife and December 11, 1930 - April 8, 2019 partner since they met at Tomales High School some 50 years ago, and by his first BY LARRY FRANCIS wife, Nancy Wilkins, the mother of his three children. Folk singer, carpenter, activist, writer, Survivors also include his children poet, teacher, folk artist and collector, red Toni Winter (Terry), Josh Bratt (Wendie), diaper baby, family man, woodsman, and Nick Bratt (Beth); stepchildren builder, volunteer, investor, philanthropist, Gordon Smith (Malie) and Jenell environmentalist, humanist Smith; sister Susanna; cousins Michael Christopher Bratt (“Chris,” “Papa and Mandy; countless nieces and Chrissy”) was born at home on December nephews, including Greg, Nadya, Peter, 11, 1930, to Wiltrud Hildner Bratt and James, Kevin, Georgia, Karen, and Alexis; George Cleveland Bratt at the Columbus and many grandchildren, grandnieces, Apartments, 1492 Pacific Avenue, San grandnephews, and great-grandchildren Francisco. Chris passed away at his home as near as California and as far away in Applegate on April 8, 2019, surrounded as Norway. by family and friends. When I’m on my journey, don’t you weep Through all the tumult and the strife, I after me... hear that music ringing. I don’t want you to weep after me.” It sounds an echo in my soul; how can I —“When I’m on My Journey,” as sung by the keep from singing! Weavers —An old Quaker hymn, as adapted and sung Larry Francis by Pete Seeger [email protected] Chris loved to sing, knew hundreds if not thousands of songs, and sang them in his impassioned, clear tenor—in living rooms and kitchens, on picket lines and stages, at potlucks—wherever and Tributes to Chris whenever the spirit moved him. He sang lead for a semiprofessional folk group, the from friends Albion Trio, which played around the San Francisco Bay Area in the early ’60s. Chris and associates had wide-ranging, eclectic tastes in music and was influenced by Pete Seeger and the Diana Coogle Weavers as well as international folk dance Loss (Chris loved all line dancing, especially the When Chris Bratt died Kopachka Folk Dancers of Mill Valley), Applegate forests lost Puccini (especially La Bohème), Miriam a staunch defender. Makeba, and Paul Robeson. He picked Applegate gatherings lost up songs and sang them his whole life a fine folk musician. long—everything and anything from woodshop at Tomales High School in The Applegater lost YMCA camp songs to Ezio Pinza, Tom Tomales, California, where he met Joan a huge supporter Paxton, and Woody Guthrie. It’s only right Peterson, who was teaching English there. and the board to punctuate this story with lines from In 1976 Chris and Joan moved their picture of Chris in their big garden brings its longest-serving member some of his favorites. blended family to 160 acres on Thompson to mind another piece of a favorite song and “Behind the Green Door” columnist. If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the Creek Road in Applegate. that Chris and Joan often sang: The Grayback Salon lost morning, All must work, for work is good, Going to Oregon, where everything is a reader whose unique perspective I’d hammer in the evening, all over this and in work man finds brotherhood. green, connected the poems with carpentry land... —“Hey Zhankoye,” Jewish folksong as sung by Gonna have the best ol’ farm that you (his lifelong craft) —“If I Had a Hammer,” by Pete Seeger and the Weavers have ever seen.” and raised memories of a Lee Hays In Oregon, more carpentry jobs —“Times A Gettin’ Hard,” by Lee Hays as sung San Francisco childhood Chris had a hammer and knew how beckoned—large and small, volunteer and by the Weavers and amended from “California” to with socialist-minded parents. to use it. His dad was a carpenter, and not—including countless hours building “Oregon” by Chris and Joan Joan lost Chris helped him on odd jobs during the stages and a portable burrito booth and a When Chris, Joan, and their children a wonderful husband.