Scott Swanson
A lot of thoughts went through my head last week as I watched smoke wisp upward during a smudging ceremony conducted by local Native Americans to celebrate the transfer of Cascadia Park from state to local control by the Linn County Parks Department.
One was that this gathering was a good example of the dedication required to get things done in the public arena.
Former state Sen. Mae Yih was there, now 93 but still full of the drive and energy that made voters choose her as the first Chinese-born woman in the United States elected to a state legislative chamber. Mid-Willamette Valley voters re-elected Yih to two additional terms in the House and five terms in the Oregon Senate, from which she retired in 2003, regrettably before I arrived in Sweet Home.
Watching her interact with local dignitaries and Cascadia residents, who love her because she’s paid attention to their needs and gone to bat for them on more than one occasion (the bridge that leads into the park is testimony to that) the thought occurred: Would that all our legislators who represent rural districts that have been seemingly ignored in Salem, were blessed with that kind of fire and focused fervor. Just a thought.
It’s nice to see people get along and it was certainly happening at the ceremony, in which local leaders gave each other generous credit for getting this transfer done, without that pretense that sometimes seem to be present in such situations. There was just a sense of honest appreciation and happiness that seemed to pervade the event.
There’s a reason for that. Anybody who cares about that park knows who can provide the best service and upkeep: Linn County. I’m not usually this bold, at least not in public, but I’m not the only one who’s thought that for a long time, and that theme was repeated by multiple speakers and audience members at that ceremony.
Linn County residents who don’t realize that we have, literally, the best parks department in the state, aren’t paying attention. Sure, its an entity run by humans, and I’m not saying they’re perfect, but for a government agency to perform like Linn County Parks does, well, it’s a model for others.
This transfer thing took time – 10-plus years, and really a lot more, depending on who’s counting.
Parks Director Brian Carroll noted that he started thinking about it a year into his 25-year tenure with the county. Former state representative and now County Commissioner Sheri Sprenger said she heard about it back in 2009, when she was starting in the legislature. Will Tucker, who was elected to the Commission in 2008, said it’s been on his horizon for a long time, most recently working with now-State Parks Director Lisa Sumption to make it happen.
I’ve been a newspaper journalist for a long time and I know that things don’t move very fast in government. Profit incentives that drive private business are lacking, and you often have constantly shifting personnel – as has become common in many agencies these days, and the political winds shift, which makes things even more tricky.
I remember writing about hearings on a proposed Amtrak train stop in a coastal California town I once covered. Years later I took my kids back to my old stomping grounds, having moved on and done a lot of other things (like get married), and – lo and behold – there it was, an Amtrak station, just like they’d been talking about in those City Council meetings long before. Took a long time, though.
That’s something to keep in mind as we talk about improvements to our downtown, the development of Quarry Park, the old mill site. It takes time to accomplish things, particularly if it’s a government project. As caring citizens, we have to focus on the goal and demand accountability.
The tenor of the day at the transfer ceremony was working together to preserve the beauty and history encapsulated there.
Cascadia Park may have gotten the short end of the stick, attention-wise, from the state over the years, but it’s a jewel, particularly to those not used to majestic Douglas firs interspersed by creek and river flows. The park is located within a mile of Cascadia Cave, a historic treasure featuring artwork from centuries, if not millenia ago. Public officials have made no secret of the fact that they’re interested in making sure that treasure is protected.
The day ended with some great treats generously provided by Grande Ronde tribe members – luscious salmon, tasty fry bread.
Dietrich Peters, a Grande Ronde elder who performed a traditional “smudging” ceremony with Dean Armstrong of the Lakota tribe, said that food was part of traditional gatherings for indigenous people. He noted that the park area was “a food area” where his forebears gathered camas roots in a nearby meadow in the fall and fished in the river. He said native peoples used to visit the soda springs in the park to drink the water “because it healed them of things.”
“There’s a lot of things here that are really substantial,” Peters told those gathered for the ceremony. “They’re really a cultural part of all of us and now it’s our turn to take of it all.”
Something to think about, no matter which side of the aisle you happen to sit on.