PLEASE SEND ANY COMMENTS ASAP to CFSPUTF@corvallisoregon.gov, and copy to City Council & Mayor.
Despite numerous concerns by Marys River Watershed Council, members of the public, Task Force members, and expert testimony on the lack of aquatics planning, monitoring, and ecological attention, the Task Force recommended that staff move forward in scheduling a public comment period on this draft plan. Weeks later, staff determined a further revision was warranted.
Yet to be released, public can and should still submit comments on the current draft plan to David.Gilbey@corvallisoregon.gov, and to CFSPUTF@corvallisoregon.gov. Those submitted before March 18th should be included in the meeting packet distributed to Task Force members. Written and oral (in person or virtual) testimony can still be presented at the beginning of the March 25th meeting. You can register to attend virtually at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZvR8UfAeRFO7o7oXFtjRMg
After Task Force review, Corvallis has scheduled an April 6th Open House at the Corvallis/Benton County Public Library, 5-7pm, the same evening of the normal City Council meeting. A thirty day public comment period will begin that same date. Public Works staff could move to recommend Council adoption as early as mid-May.
Concerns expressed in January were the lack of ecological expertise on the writing team, or the inclusion of a peer review process. This led only to the assurance that expert testimony would be welcome anytime, including during a public comment period. Similarly, staff rejected public and Task Force members request for staff to present a workshop or open public meeting in order to gauge greater community interest, suggesting this would put off the Plan adoption timing by 2, 3 or more months. Staff noted no timeline constraint, only a concern over “capacity.”
Last time reported, the Water/Timber Fund had accumulated more than $1 million available towards stewardship activities, which since 2007 cost $4.5 million to log $6 million in gross timber sale revenue. Coincident with that logging, summer stream diversions have been reduced and sometimes entirely stopped, and increased rainy season sediment build-up and filter back-flushing is happening at the Rock Creek treatment plant.
Adding to this trouble, the federal government is moving towards greatly increasing logging older forests across western Oregon on both Forest Service and BLM lands. This will include older forests around Marys Peak.
It’s been stopped twice before, and is well past time to prohibit all logging activities once again in the Corvallis watershed.
Jim Fairchild