Figure 82
The Currin Covered Bridge Near Cottage
Grove Dating From 1925
in the late 1980s.
Settlement that has occurred since the timber bust has been primarily commuters
and retired people.
"I love Cottage Grove
because it has a small town atmosphere with a splash of urban sophistication.
Not every small town has two health food stores and a strong art association."
Cottage
Grove had 7669 people in 1990 and 8445 in 2000, an increase of 9% (Census Data,
Table Seven). Figure 82 shows a picture of one of the six covered bridges that
are so well known in this area.
The
settlement areas outside of Cottage Grove are very small and isolated. The Row River area had a railroading and
logging background. Now, it has "retired people and people with felonies."
People said it was a "meth capital" [i.e., illegal methamphetamine
manufacturing operations]. The Dorena area was hurt when its mill closed in the
early 1990s. Store business declined, loggers moved away, and property values
went down. Drug activity increased, as did local crime, according to local
residents.
"One summer there were 60
stolen cars recovered in this area."
Publics
Four main publics
live in Cottage Grove, loggers and natural resource based people,
counter-culture folks, middle class families that commute to Eugene for work,
and the senior population. Both the commuter and the retirement publics are
growing. The inmigration is occurring because of the attraction of Cottage
Grove for quality of life reasons, and because housing is 10-20% cheaper than
the Eugene area.
The area also has
a significant number of lower income residents that barely get by. These types
of people are sometimes called the "working poor" since they are commonly affiliated
with the blue collar sector of the community. A fair number of "welfare poor"
are included in that group who came to the area after the decline of timber.
Both sets of low-income residents make use of the food bank and other support
programs where "the need has always been greater than the ability to serve."
Networks
See
Section Two.
Work Routines
The City
administration reported that the major employers in Cottage Grove are
Healthcare Community (400 employees), Weyerhaeuser (245), Kimwood (70), Kwikee
Products Co. (RV components, 67 workers), and Starfire Lumber (67) (Oregon
Department of Economic and Community Development, Community Profiles, 2002).
According to
residents, Cottage Grove at one point supported 20 mills. To date, two mills
remain in operation. Starfire is one of the last old growth mills in the region
and maintains a large supply of logs in its sort yard. Weyerhaeuser is a second
and third growth mill south of town that operates 2-3 shifts of workers.
Kimwood Corporation laminates wood products. About 68% of the workforce in
timber and forest products was lost between 1979 and 1989 (City of Cottage
Grove web site, www.cottagegrove.org).
Whether or not the
existing timber operations are stable is subject to debate. Many people think
the bottom has been hit and the industry can sustain current levels of
activity.
"Timber will do all right here as long as the
California market is up. It's always been that way. Right now prices are low."
The occupational
makeup of Cottage Grove has been fairly traditional until recently. That is,
people made a living in logging, farming and service businesses related to
these activities. Today, newcomers tend to be less tied to the local economy.
They either bring their income with them, as is the case with retired people,
or they drive outside of the area for their work.
New businesses in
town are oriented to freeway traffic and to the trades and services sectors.
Some specialty shops are evident such as antique stores and art galleries. In
recent years, a number of "new age" or "progressive" businesses have opened,
such as seed growing for native stocks, natural food stores and others. Pacific
Yurts, a national company that has developed a good reputation, is located in
Cottage Grove.
A few observers
pointed to the high turnover in businesses in Cottage Grove, a condition likely
to continue until jobs pay a living wage, according to one person. Another
person estimated that while the national average of failed businesses is about
50%, the likely failure rate of Cottage Grove businesses is 75%.
"Some of the owners of those mom and pop stores are
now working at WalMart."
Cottage
Grove has also attracted a few intentional communities and research centers.
The longest standing is the 1200 acre Cerro Gordo, located near a butte of the
same name, on the north shore of Dorena Lake. Half of its land is used for
residential development, and half has been used since 1986 for a sustainable
forestry program. Its harvest is certified as sustainably produced by Smart
Wood and the Forest Stewardship Council and is sold to local mills.
Approvecho
Research Center, west of Cottage Grove, is a non-profit research and education
facility that has a sustainable forestry program drawing interns from around
the country. It is also involved in the appropriate technology field around the
globe, and its Approvecho stove is known internationally in development
circles. Approvecho's third area of activity is organic gardening. The forestry
program uses horse logging and on-site mills to experiment with sustainable
forestry practices. They have a demonstration center open to the public.
Support Services
Cottage Grove is a
community that prides itself on making it on its own. Self-sufficiency was a
key value in the past and continues to influence the community. Informal
caretaking and support agencies are both strong and effective. The Catholic and
the Trinity Lutheran Churches were mentioned as being very involved in the
community. Community Sharing is the social service agency involved in the
coordination and integration of other social services. They are key to the
community in Cottage Grove.
The Community
Sharing Program is running a community garden for the second year. Its goal is
to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to the local food bank. Seed companies
donate seeds for the garden. The garden is well supported by volunteers through
the growing season. The garden is linked to other community gardens in the
region. The garden was vandalized last year and needs a fence.
The South Lane
School District serves 3,000 students and approximately 15,000 people in the
Cottage Grove area. The district operates a high school, middle school and two
elementary schools within city bouncaries and four elementary schools outside
the city.
The community
heavily supports schools. Elementary attendance is declining, indicating an
aging of the population. A new high school is to be opened next year, but
school officials are concerned about the fate of Cottage Grove schools with the
changing demographics.
Lane Community
College has a Learning Center in Cottage Grove. Established in 1997, the center
has 3 computer labs, 7 classrooms and offers a variety of classes in different
subjects. The campus was active in
re-training timber workers after the spotted owl injunction curtailed timber
production in the region.
A new hospital is
being built in the community. Residents were worried that they were going to
lose the facility. The old hospital is becoming a social service delivery
center with a variety of social service agencies likely to move into the
building. The old railroad yard was bought recently and the new owners intend
to convert it into a museum. A community/senior center was recently completed.
More retirement and assisted living facilities are coming into the community,
representing an emerging economic niche.
The City has a
small industrial park north of town that is seeking light industry or high tech
operations. Because Cottage Grove is part of a federally designated Enterprise
Zone, tax benefits accrue to companies that locate there.
The Dorena Grange
has 160 members and is one of the most active in Lane County. It remains farm
oriented and many members combine small-scale agricultural activity with small
woodlot management. Members have interests in fire and hunter safety and
woodlot management. This group actively supports Native Americans, hospitals,
nursing homes, and those with hearing disabilities throughout the region.
Some community
events include the Bohemia Mining Days in July, the Fall Harvest Festival in
September, and the Main Street Chili Cook Off in October. The Cottage Grove
Rodeo, Cottage Grove Home Show, South Lane Cruisers Show & Shine, and the
Western Oregon Exposition are also local events.
Recreational Activities
See Section Three.
B.
Trends and Themes and Citizen Issues
Related
to Community Life
Trends
Increased reliance
on commuting
A fair degree of
stability with remaining forest products facilities
An influx of
retirement-influenced services
Themes
1. "There's always been
somewhat of a culture clash between the hippies and the loggers." The ties
between traditional and progressive elements of the community have not been
strong. Earth Day events and the Watershed Councils tend to bring both sets of
people together. It is fair to say that these social segments remain polarized.
2. "We are changing from a
natural resource area to a bedroom community." Residents said that the logging
and mining culture was one of stewardship, care for the land and for the
community. The concern of traditional people is that the new community has less
stewardship. Local companies give less to the community, for example.
"Bedroom commuters don't invest in the community as
much - their scope of community is much broader, like Eugene." [Meaning their
affiliation is regional and not local]
Citizen Issues Related to Community Life
"There's
a high turnover in businesses."
"A
new wastewater plant is needed but there is no funding yet for the
project."
"We
need more young families to keep the diversity of the town."
"Especially
with a retirement focus, fewer and fewer people have ties to the school. The
schools won't have the support they do now." [School administrator]
Section
Two:
Communication
Strategies
A. Informal Networks and Communication
Gathering Places
McCoys Pharmacy
for retired people
Nine Lives
The Brothel Café
Vintage Inn
restaurant is used by local businesses
The Bookmine sells
books and plants; it has an active bulletin board and is somewhat of a
gathering place.
B. Formal Groups and Communication
Figure 83
Organizations With Interest in Public Lands in the Cottage
Grove Area
|
Organization
|
Contact Information
|
Mission
|
|
Bohemian Mine Owners
Association
|
Faye Steward
P O Box 16
Culp Creek, OR 97424
(541) 942-0870
|
Promote mining
Mining museum
Mining education
|
|
Coast Fork Willamette
Watershed Council
|
John Falzone
28 South 6th St., Suite
A
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
(541) 767-9717
jmjfalzone@cs.com
|
Watershed restoration
|
|
Dorena Grange
Lorane Grange
|
Joe
Snook (541) 942-4733
|
|
|
Cottage Grove Art Guild
|
Sujo Tryk
(541) 942-8931
1st Thursday
Community Center
|
A developing art
community
|
|
Cottage Grove Service
Christian Camp
|
Randy Russell
(541) 946-1667
|
Outdoor education
|
|
Cottage Grove Chamber of
Commerce
|
Tim Flowerday
330 Highway 995
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
(541) 942-2411
|
Business development and
support
|
|
Cottage Grove Recreation
Association
|
Bill Smille
20 Thornton Lane
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
(541) 942-3079
|
Youth sports
|
|
Bohemia Foundation
|
Bud Stewart
(541) 942-5463
Stub Stewart
541) 484-3371
|
Encourage mining in
Bohemia Mining District; put together a museum that shows the history of
logging and mining
|
|
Blue Mountain School,
Inc.
|
76132 Blue Mountain
School Road
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
(541) 942-7764
|
Active interest in trail
maintenance and trail head cleanup
|
|
|
|
|
Dave
Hass
P O Box 693
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
(541)
946-8522
|
|
Youth
Organization
|
|
COPS
(Clean Our Parks & Streams)
|
|
|
|
Jeff
Hagedorn
P O Box 1288
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
(541)
942-0942
|
|
|
|
Cottage
Grove Prospectors & Golddiggers
|
|
|
|
Robert
Moody
P O Box 415
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
(541)
942-9250
|
Fraternal
|
Section
Three:
The
Public Lands Perspective
A. Uses of and Orientation to Public
Lands
Cottage Grove
residents are very outdoors oriented. The outdoors and recreation amenities of
the area are one of the primary community values and a primary reason for
settlement into the area. Dorena Lake and Cottage Grove Lake offer fishing,
swimming, boating, water skiing and camping. Opportunities for
cycling, hiking, fishing, hunting, camping, horseback riding, skiing,
snowmobiling, fourwheeling and wilderness exploring are widely available. The
new Row River Trail is a 15.6-mile, paved multi-use trail that begins inside
the city limits and follows an old railroad bed past Dorena Lake into the
Cascades. There are numerous other trails used on a regular basis. The
community has three golf courses, as well as art galleries, specialty shops and
antique shops.
Mountain biking
has become popular in the area but local people said that bikers don't spend
very much money in Cottage Grove.
"They just stop to use the restroom."
The City of
Cottage Grove, with Forest Service support, began the Urban Forestry Commission
in 1994 that has fostered tree planting in town. Because of this effort, it has
received Tree City USA designation for several years. It sponsors annual Arbor
Day events and brings in grants to foster healthy urban forests.
The Cottage Grover
Ranger District is administratively part of the Umpqua National Forest. For the
past many decades, the Cottage Grove Ranger District manages the Cottage Grove
municipal water supply. Some conflicts were reported in the 1970s over water,
but Forest Service people characterize the relationship today as positive and
collaborative.
The Forest Service
administers mining claims on several hundred private acres plus manages many
placer mines on public lands.
The Cottage Grove
District produced about 35 MMBF (Million Board Feet) in the 1980s. A large
amount of the land base is now out of timber production due to the designation
of 3 roadless areas, riparian preserves, and 9000 acres of LSR (Late
Successional Reserve) lands, which are preserved for spotted owl habitat. Most
of the district is "matrix" lands on which timber production is permitted.
Under the Northwest Forest Plan, the district is authorized to produce about
11-12 MMBF annually, but it has not been successful in getting sales developed
and sold. Court rulings have affected the district, and they had to re-conduct
several surveys of particular species.
In addition,
Forest Service people said that "Eugene people have recently re-discovered us."
Although individuals from environmental organizations have monitored forest
management activities for many years, they have been quiet for a few years. In
the last couple years, some Eugene people have once again begun to monitor and
protest timber sales offered in this area. A number of news articles about the
protests made the front page of the Eugene newspapers recently.
Today, forest
management projects are forest health oriented and include a reliance on
thinning.
"Day of Caring" is
a yearly activity of Lincoln Middle School in which kids do good deeds, such as
pulling weeds, helping retired people, or doing forest projects.
There is an
outdoor school for 5th and 6th graders that is actively
attended and represents a longstanding tie between the Forest Service and the
community.
B.
Trends, Themes, and Citizen Issues Related to
Natural Resource Management
Trends
More recreation
focus on public lands
Modest but
increased recreation activity in an area whose businesses are not very oriented
to it. A number of residents complained that recreational visitors do not spend
money in the local community, but the JKA team also observed that businesses
did not seem to cater to visitors in their service or products.
Themes
1. "Recreation is
not going to save us." Jobs associated with recreation do not pay well, and
recreation-oriented businesses come and go. Local people have little confidence
yet that the recreation economy can last or provide adequate livelihood. The
timber sector was valued not only for the independence that it represented but
the family wage income it provided - a standard of living not yet duplicated in
the new economy.
2. "There has to
be more dialogue." Residents believed that the present polarization between
adherents of "cut" and "no cut" is so strong that public timber sales are
unlikely in the short term. However, most believed that better communication
was the only way to move beyond present conditions.
3. "We believe federal timber
sales are environmentally sound and should be offered consistent with the
Northwest Forest Plan." This theme is widespread in the community and reflects
a belief that timber sales can and should proceed.
Citizen
Issues Related to Natural Resource Management
Outdoor Education
"Cottage
Grove has an active senior population that is asking for outdoor education."
"The [outdoor education] programs are piecemealed
together from random funding using already overworked educators. We need to
institutionalize these programs."
Recreation
"We had 70 bikers come through last year. They
didn't buy a thing but they left a lot of trash. Most of these trips are
catered so most people don't need to buy anything."
"There
are too many roads that are gated off. The gravel roads already in the
mountains should be maintained."
"With
the fee system in place, it is hard for low income people to get into the
woods. They don't feel like the forest is 'theirs' in the same way that people
with money do."
"Strip logging should not be permitted any longer,
but thinning should happen."
"How come there isn't a real program to get timber
to these mills?"
C. Management Opportunities
Local businesses
in Cottage Grove and in the surrounding area are not oriented to recreation.
While complaints are made that the recreation visitors don't spend money, it
appears equally true that their interests are not catered to. Some businesses
could use assistance in making that transition since some have the attitude of
waiting for a return of timber harvest. Although this role is probably not a
direct one for the Forest Service, the agency could facilitate a response to
this interest through collaboration with tourism promoting organizations.
A partnership with
the community garden through technical assistance or fencing materials would
create non-political relationships with the environmental community of Cottage
Grove. Similarly, mutual education projects with Approvecho and Cerro Gordo
could be a way to develop ongoing relationships with moderate environmental
interests.
Local people
expressed an interest in outdoor education and they reflected an increased
demand for this service. Among the ideas offered were:
"The Ranger District could put together a non-credit class
in forest ecology for Lane Community College."
"Maybe they could put together a web site that
offers educational opportunities and then groups can choose a suitable activity
and sign up."
"Maybe a way could be developed for the Forest
Service to help in getting our low income clients into the forest. It could
open up a dialogue between the agency and an often-silent public. It can help
to educate a public with possibly the least education about the forest."
It may be that the
Umpqua National Forest is not the most appropriate to manage lands near Cottage
Grove. The lands in this district are part of the Willamette Basin. In
addition, this research has shown that Cottage Grove relates, as the land does,
to the north. Socially and economically, Cottage Grove is part of the larger
South Willamette Human Resource Unit (Figure 60, Chapter 20). Moreover, the
distance from Roseburg is farther than from Eugene. For these reasons, one
could predict the management challenges would be different than elsewhere on
the Umpqua, and a continual challenge because of the mis-match between
administration and geography.
The Forest Service
could consider developing a community-based approach to forest management
projects. Adopt an outreach process of inclusion in which all relevant voices
are contacted and citizens develop the project as much as possible. With
citizen ownership as the goal, this approach tends to be time-intensive on the
front end but shortens the implementation time down the road. The goal is to create
a middle ground of practical approaches to forest management that incorporates
the best science, is open and visible in its process, and is adaptive over
time. When community-based approaches are successful, the extreme voices on
either end are either pulled in to participate or isolated by the larger
citizen movement.
"We are not funded or supported for collaboration,
or community-based work." [Forest Service staff]
The need for what
JKA calls "Social Cost Benefit Accounting" has been growing across the country
in light of the new planning efforts by BLM and the Forest Service. The notion
is that the benefits of the community support work engaged in by natural
resource agencies should be documented so that the budget process is not just
commodity oriented but amenity oriented. Specifically, there is little budget
support for the collaborative, community-based work that is now being promoted
by Forest Service policy and regulation. In other words, the benefits to local
communities from leadership and community development, from grant writing and
grant making assistance, from successful efforts to create community-based
programs, all should be measured and included in the budget process.
"These
are where the problems are and I can't staff it." [Forest Service manager]
The final chapter
(Chapter 28) discusses these ideas in greater detail.
Previous Chapter
