The McKenzie Valley's Weekly Newspaper
May 15, 2002
Volume 24, Issue 39
Fish trapping underway
Workers used a boom truck to hoist fish netted out of the Walterville power canal last Thursday.
WALTERVILLE: Fish herders expect to finish up their work next week, allowing other workers to start in on some costly improvements to the Walterville power canal. The Eugene Water & Electric Board's fish recovery program began on May 1st.
Utility public relations manager Marty Douglas said as many as 1,000 fish have been netted in a day. Captured species have included Chinook salmon, skulpin, cutthroat trout, white fish, summer steelhead and bull trout. Most have been trucked back to the river for release. The cutthroat, thought to be native to the canal system, are being held in a storage tank at the Leaburg Trout Hatchery through the summer. They'll later be brought back to the manmade channel.
Upgrades to the aging hydroelectric project will include the installation of a fish screen at the canal's inlet. Plans for the powerhouse include replacement of both turbines and one generator as well as rewinding the other generator. The Walterville salmon rack (which blocks upstream travel toward the turbines) is slated for replacement with a new "velocity barrier" design.
The new fish screen will require raising the incoming flow from one and a half to three feet. In order to accomplish that three small dam-like structures, called "chevrons," will be built in the mainstream channel of the McKenzie River just downstream from the canal inlet. The chevrons would taper down in a "V" shape with their high sides on each bank. Each chevron would be "notched" in the middle to create a 35 foot wide passage for boaters to use.
Fish blocked by the screen will have to be returned to the river. EWEB plans to route them back through a 54 inch diameter tube, which will be buried down the middle of Partridge Lane. The pipe would be about a quarter mile long.
Other changes at the Walterville inlet would affect boaters as well. The existing landing sometimes traps boaters inside the canal. A new ramp is planned out on the main river, just upstream. It will include parking spots for four to five vehicles.
Corps to explain turbidity
WALTERVILLE: The muddy water in the McKenzie River below Cougar Dam isn't a human health risk or harmful to fish, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Current turbidity levels, however, exceed state water quality standards and have impacted fishing and tourism in the valley.
A recent technical team review by the Corps determined that altering the drawdown schedule at the reservoir would only delay the turbidity, possibly creating higher levels later in the summer. In addition, though earlier water sample results did not show any trace of heavy metals or pesticides, the Corps, has agreed additional water samples should be taken to test again for the substances.
Representatives from the Corps of Engineers will provide the latest information and answer questions at a public information meeting on Wednesday May 22, from 6.30 - 8 pm in the George Millican Memorial Hall on Camp Creek Rd. The meeting is sponsored by the McKenzie Watershed Council. For more information, call 687-9076.
Utility drills for clean water
EUGENE: Drilling began last week on the first well that will be part of the Eugene Water & Electric Board's effort to develop a backup supply of water.
The McKenzie River is the only source of water for more than 160,000 Eugene-area residents and businesses. A 1998 Water Supply Plan recognized that the McKenzie supply was at risk in the event of chemical spill or other emergency upriver from EWEB's intake plant, according to utility spokesman Lance Robertson. "Unusually high summertime demand also could strain the McKenzie River treatment plant's ability to provide enough water to serve customers. EWEB's Board of Commissioners approved moving forward with wellfield development in December 2000."
Two production wells and four monitoring wells will be drilled this year near the confluence of the Willamette and McKenzie rivers. The wells, in the Coburg Road and Crescent Drive area, are among seven production well sites EWEB eventually may develop in the area between now and 2005, when the wellfield's first phase will be completed.
Robertson said EWEB anticipates the groundwater under the wellfield initially will provide about 15 million gallons of water during an emergency or other situations when the utility's McKenzie River source is limited. The cost of the project is estimated at between $8 million and $11 million, and will be financed by bonds.
On the campaign trail in Leaburg
David Alsup
Phil Barnhart
Tony Corcoran
Cedric Hayden
Don Nordin
Don Staley
LEABURG: Liberal and conservative politicians seeking election to state offices made clear their party affiliations in a Candidates Forum last Tuesday night. Airing their platforms were candidates for House Districts 7 and 11 as well as Senate Districts 4 and 6. Also heard from were hopefuls for the non-partisan East Lane County commissioner seat.
House District 7
Facing off in the Republican Primary on May 21 are Jeff Kruse and Cedric Hayden. Both are veteran legislators. Hayden has served seven terms, Kruse three.
Kruse identified the need for police patrols in rural areas among his concerns, saying Oregon had unfortunately become the "meth capital of the nation." Lengthy response times, he noted, have led to a high level of illegal activity.
Hayden pointed out his sole sponsorship for a bill squashing unfunded government mandates as a way of limiting government. He was critical of funding decisions at the state level that resulted in "health care dollars going into the general fund."
Alone on the Democratic ticket is Don Nordin of Cottage Grove. Nordin said he wasn't particularly proud of a legislature that helped Oregon become ranked "number 45 in tax burden." He was critical of a state government that gave people "no police, school closures and staff cuts."
House District 11
Democrat Phil Barnhart was the only candidate at the forum seeking election to House District 11. Democrat Al King and Republican Robert Bolanos will also appear on the ballot.
Barnhart said he'd like to see school funding tied to programs, rather than enrollment size, with the resulting inequity for rural districts. Clinics and hospitals in smaller communities are in danger he said. "The state has to subsidize them but its not doing enough."
Senate District 4
Tony Corcoran is unopposed in his bid for re-election as a Democrat. He was critical of "tax breaks for the wealthy" that have resulted in three to four school systems in his district to seriously consider consolidation. "That could wipe out a community," Corcoran said. He supported shifting more of the money generated by the state's video lottery into rural economic development.
Alone on the Republican ticket is David Alsup. Property rights and water rights are important to Alsup, who said Oregon needs to get back to the basics of rural life - like timber and farming. "The human species has a right to survive," he said. "Lives have been destroyed.
East Lane Commissioner
Three candidates will face off in the election to replace Cindy Weeldreyer.
Don Staley referenced his "40 years experience working in the trenches," as good background for a county commissioner. In his career with the Bureau of Land Management, Staley said he'd gained supervisory experience as well as land use and technical skills.
Ed Kemp said few people realize Oregon's rural population has been in decline over the last 10 years. He tied that decline to the troubles communities have in "keeping schools, clinics and stores open." He supported having "government back off to a level playing field."
Tom Lininger pointed to the muddy waters of the McKenzie as a government failure. The U.S. Army Corps dam project was "executed in the wrong way and hurt the community and the economy," he said. He suggested taking money from recently halted Corps projects around the country to offset local impacts.
Taxes
All the candidates were asked to comment on the current system of taxation.
Alsup said people are currently paying out 60% of their income in some form of taxation. He favored a 12 to 14% flat tax and "doing away with the IRS."
Hayden was critical of the way the state's "kicker" refund was handled, calling it "a shell game." He supported a higher timber harvest saying it would generate federal dollars for schools and roads.
Nordin felt taxes help support the "best standard of living in the world." He was critical of breaks given to corporations, saying "we don't have to take away our kids heritage to survive today."
Barnhart felt "taxes are the way we get together to do things we can't do alone." He added that "taxes should be fair - not a Cadillac but a Chevrolet."
Kruse argued that people did get their kicker money back. He was critical of plans to "raise taxes in a recession," as well as the misallocation of federal Medicaid money that wasn't used for senior health care.
"People from the Flat Earth Society" support the flat tax, according to Corcoran. The current push to use common school fund dollars to balance budgets is "phony money stolen from piggy banks," he added.
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