Sean C. Morgan
The Sweet Home Ranger District is seeking public comment on the proposed Cascadia Day Use Area Project.
This project will develop an administrative site into a day use recreation site along the South Santiam River, said Ranger Cindy Glick. The six-acre site is located at the intersection of Highway 20 and High Deck Road.
It is the site of the Cascadia District Ranger Station, the predecessor to the Sweet Home Ranger District.
The site is along the Over the River and Through the Woods Scenic Byway, said Jon Meier, Sweet Home and Detroit ranger districts recreation planner. “We’re just trying to develop more day use and interpretive stops along the byway.”
It also will work as part of the proposed community forest corridor, Meier said. “It can be used as a portal, (resting point) or as a starting point on that corridor.”
Part of the project will amend the Willamette National Forest Plan Land and Resource Management Plan land allocation for the site, managing the parcel as a Developed Recreation Site instead of an Administrative Use Site.
The site consists of a storage building surrounded by fencing on the east side of High Deck Road and an open area on the west side of High Deck Road.
The intent of the project is to develop the open area while leaving the storage building and fencing as they are, Glick said.
“The Sweet Home Ranger District would like to develop this site into a day use area for two main reasons, to improve the quality of the site and to highlight to visitors the resource values located at the site,” Glick said. “The open area on the west side of the road is in need of attention. The current condition of this site is undesirable and degraded.”
Illegal off-highway vehicle use around the historic Santiam Wagon Road, vandalism and unauthorized dumping occur there, Glick said. In addition, many exotic and invasive plants have colonized it.
Resources of interest to the public include the historic Santiam Wagon Road, remnants of a rock wall built by the Civilian Conservation Corps, native and non-native trees, tribal history and the South Santiam River ecosystem.
The proposal will include seven improvements.
Among them will be parking area for eight to 10 cars and one or two buses or recreational vehicles.
The project will reduce the noxious weed population and ultimately eradication.
The historic rock wall will be restored.
Minimal maintenance landscaping will help preserve a view of the wall.
An American with Disabilities Act-accessible interpretive loop will be developed using a portion of the Santiam Wagon Road and incorporating a new route.
New kiosks will explain the history of the Santiam Wagon Road and the CCC work.
A new viewing platform will allow visitors to safely stand and look at the river and Short Bridge, which crosses the South Santiam River as part of High Deck Road.
Minimal ground disturbance is expected with the construction, Glick said, and she doesn’t anticipate a need for an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment. The construction project should provide primary and secondary employment in the area.
“If left in its current state, this site will degrade further,” Glick said.
Comments are needed in order to have the best information available to make the decision, Glick said.
A decision is expected in the spring. If approved, implementation will begin in spring 2014.
For more information or to review a copy of the draft decision memo for the project, contact Jon Meier, Sweet Home Ranger District, 4431 Hwy. 20, Sweet Home, OR, 97386 or call (541) 367-3557.
Comments are due by March 15.