21 May 2015
Dunes riders to see some changes this summer
There will be some newly opened areas on the Oregon Dunes for off-road riders this summer… and there will also be some familiar trails that used to be open, but are now closed. Angie Morris, a planner with the Central Coast District of the U.S. Forest Service says the best way for riders to know where they area at any given time is to download an app for your smart phone… something like Avenza.
Angie Morris – “We have some geo-referenced maps now on our website. And if you do have an app that works for PDF maps that are geo-referenced, you can download the maps for the riding areas that show the new closures. So basically, you can be out on the dunes now riding with your phone and know exactly if you’re in an open area or not.”
Moore says this will be the first riding season under new rules that specify vehicles must stay in areas that are specifically marked. She said the majority of the enforcement on the dunes will be educational… posting signs and making sure riders are aware of the new rules.
Backers of Siuslaw Education Foundation seeking board members
Organizers of the Siuslaw Education Foundation are hoping to reach the next stage in the formation of the charitable group by mid summer. Suzanne Mann-Heintz is a member of the Siuslaw School Board and a spearhead of the group. It will work with school boards at Siuslaw and Mapleton to find additional money for education. She’s looking for a core group to serve as the initial board of directors.
Suzanne Mann-Heintz – “It may not be the full board, you know, because the full board, could be pretty large. But it will be enough people to form the corporation. And once the corporation is formed then the next step will be to get memorandums of understanding from the two school districts, you know, that will specify the relationship between the school districts and the foundation.”
Mann-Heintz says the Siuslaw Education Foundation will not compete with or attempt to replace any existing group. She says their goal is to act as a tool to get access to grants that are only available for education based non-profit corporations.
Smoke signals good training activity
What was all that smoke just east of Florence yesterday? It was the result of firefighters with Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue getting some ‘pre-summer’ wildland fire training courtesy of the Ocean Dunes Golf Links and Three Rivers Casino.
The golf links had a large tract at the south end of the golf course that needed to be burned so firefighters used the opportunity to hone their skills.
Fire officials say this summer could be a pretty intense season of high fire danger.
STEP Memorial Day Fund Raiser
The only fund-raiser of the year for the local Salmon Trout Enhancement Program is set for this weekend at Three Rivers Casino and Resort. Local STEP members will be selling drawing tickets for prizes that include fishing gear, guided trips, gift certificates and more.
Becky Goehring (GO-ring) said they’ll be at Three Rivers Saturday and Sunday from ten until five… then again beginning at ten Monday. The drawings will begin at noon that day.
STEP is a local non-profit group that works to restore fisheries in the Siuslaw River Basin. They’ve been at it for 25 years.
Their main project, the winter steelhead broodstock program, collects spawning steelhead in the winter, collecting a quarter-million eggs and sending them to the Willamette hatchery in Oakridge. Last month the group, along with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, returned about 80-thousand steelhead smolt to Whittaker and Green Creeks on the upper Siuslaw River.
