In
western Douglas County, Salmon Harbor and Winchester Bay have long
attracted visitors drawn to the excellent fishing and the Oregon
Dunes
National Recreation Area (ODNRA). After many years of declining
fish
harvests other recreational activities have become increasingly
important to the region
as a source of tourist dollars. The resulting primary recreational
activity is Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) use on the dunes and beaches.
Currently six agencies own the land:
- Bureau of
Land Management
- Army Corps
of Engineers (ACOE),
- Coast Guard,
- Oregon Department
of State Lands (DSL)
Oregon State Parks Department (OPRD)
- Douglas County
To address
use and ownership and use options, Oregon State Parks has embarked
on a Master Planning process for the area. This Master Plan was
submitted to the public for comment in May 2003 as Draft #1. These
comments have been incorporated into the Plan, which has been
resubmitted to the public for additional comment in Draft #2.
This comment period
ends Friday, September
12th, 2003.
Within this
Master Plan, two ownership Consolidation Scenarios are proposed.
Under Scenario 1, OPRD would transfer DSL and OPRD-owned land
to Douglas County. Under Scenario
2, OPRD would transfer some land to the County but retain the
core area of the state park at Lake Marie and the surrounding
stabilized dune forest.
To best serve
the interests of non-motorized users (ocean and river fishing,
shellfish harvest, surfing, camping with a variety of amenities,
primitive camping, hiking, biking, picnicking, swimming, visiting
cultural sites etc.) and OHV users, the current state-owned land
should be owned by State Parks. State Parks is the ownership entity
that is most likely to manage the land for all users, protect
beach access and natural resources. there is no guarantee that
the high recreation and dune management standards will survive
the transfer of lands to Douglas County ownership.
State Parks has little or no influence on the management of lands
they don’t own.
Free access
to the beach is currently available only through a parking lot
on Army Corps of
Engineers land, known as Ziolkowski Beach. Surfrider
believes that the Army Corps of Engineers should be encouraged
to maintain this management scenario and not turn the property
over to any other entity. Corps ownership
will assure sufficient beach access for non-motorized users.
On average
there is a beach access every half mile of Oregon’s coast.
The main exception to this average occurs in the dunes in and
around Winchester Bay. Ziolkowski Beach at Winchester Bay is the only
easily accessible public beach for 25 miles in either direction.
Further south, parking lots #2 and #3 require a daily use
fee. Because the Ziolkowski Beach parking area
will remain a free parking area, the beach access concern is that
OHV users will use this lot as an overflow area, occupying parking
spaces intended for beach activities.
Please contact
your representatives and State Parks in support of Consolidation
Scenario #2 with State Parks Ownership. These legislators should
only receive comments regarding ownership.
Peter DeFazio
(D)
2134 Rayburn House Office Building
United States House of
Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
PHONE: 1-202-225-6416
FAX: 1-202-225-0373
E-MAIL: http://us.f405.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=peter.defazio@mail.house.gov
Senator Gordon
Smith (R)
359 Dirksen
Senate Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
PHONE: 1-202-224-3753
FAX: 1-202-228-3997
E-MAIL: http://www.senate.gov/~gsmith/webform.html
or
RonWyden (D)
717 Hart Senate
Office Building
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
PHONE: 1-202-224-5244
FAX: 1-202-228-2717
E-MAIL: http://us.f405.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=senator@wyden.senate.gov
September 12th is the deadline for written comments on the Umpqua
Lighthouse State Park Draft Plan. The document can be viewed on
the web
at:http://www.prd.state.or.us/images/pdf/masterplans/umpqua_draft_0308.pdf
The plan is
also available at: Reedsport Branch Library, 395 Winchester
Ave., Reedsport,
and the OPRD headquarters office in Salem (see address
below) and the Honeyman State Park office at
84505 Highway 101 South, Florence.
More information
about this plan and its history can be found at http://www.prd.state.or.us/masterplans_umpqua.php
Please contact State
Parks and give your support to Ownership Scenario #2, and Development
Concept #1. Also include any recommendations found below or that
you believe are important in this area.
The OPRD contact
person is Ron Campbell who can be reached at:
Ron Campbell
Master Planning Coordinator
(503) 378-4168 Ext. 326
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
1115 Commercial Street NE, Suite 1
Salem, Oregon 97301-1002
Points that
you may wish to cover in your comments include:
- Support
for Draft #2’s Scenario #2 with Oregon State Parks Department
being a landowner in the park.
- Ziokowski Beach must remain
a free beach access point regardless
of which agency gains jurisdiction. It should also be legally
off limits for OHV staging, camping, or parking.
- Effective
buffer zones between OHV areas and other recreational
areas must be established and enforced. It isn’t enough to hope
for
industry improvements in noise levels, for example.
- Prohibit
motorized vehicles of all types on the foredune.
- All OHV
operations should be consolidated and services provided to minimize
the impacts of the OHVs on the dune ecosystem.
- Enhance
protection of habitat in the dunes and nearby forest.
- Any
conditions imposed on the use of transferred land should be
available for public scrutiny prior to the transfer.
-Developments that increase OHV use should go forward only after
completion of a study on carrying capacity by Oregon dunes National
Recreation Area.
-No logging, whether timber harvest, or ‘thinning’ be permitted
before a thorough survey for threatened and endangered species.
- Army
Corp of Engineers should be encouraged to maintain this management
scenario and not turn the property over to any other entity.
- Restroom
and covered picnic facilities established at Ziolkowski Beach to enhance
the public enjoyment of the beach access site.
- All OHV operations
should be consolidated and services provided to minimize the
impacts of the OHVs on the dune ecosystem. These services
should include oil recycling, restrooms, and trash facilities.
- Curtail
the current and common practice of OHVs riding adjacent to
the road between the RV campgrounds northeast of Ziolkowski Beach near Salmon Harbor
Drive and the
dunes to the south.
