| Press Release |
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| February 12, 2001 |
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National Guard begins third year of dune restoration; Local high school science students visit
On Feb. 14, 2001, high school science students from Reedsport High School will learn about the Oregon sand dunes and the on-going restoration project at the US Forest Service Reedsport Ranger Station and at the Oregon Dunes Overlook. The students will meet with the Forest Service rangers at 9 a.m., and will travel to the overlook at 10 a.m. Members of the media are invited to attend.
The Oregon National Guard and the U.S. Forest Service are continuing the partnership that began in 1998 with the start of the third year of the Overlook Dunes Restoration Project. National Guard members are helping to restore the open dune conditions and natural dune processes on approximately 640 acres of Siuslaw National Forest land at the Oregon Dunes Overlook, north of Reedsport on Highway 101. With the help of the National Guard, the project is saving taxpayers over $50,000 a year.
The National Guard is bringing in dozers and a crew of eight to cut several feet off the beachgrass-topped foredunes. The slopes will be leveled and excess sand pushed inland several hundred feet. This foredune destablilization will allow summer winds to carry sand inland, beginning the necessary dune renewal process.
The 2000 results of the project include sand movement during the winter and spring, and three snowy plover nests in the cleared area. The threatened plovers hatched chicks, reinforcing a new strategy for recovering the species to the level where access restrictions to the beach during breeding times are unnecessary.
The National Guard is participating in the Overlook Dunes Restoration Project through the Innovative Readiness Training Program. The program was started in 1984 by the National Guard Bureau to give soldiers hands-on training in, and a chance to add improvements to, their local communities. For over a decade, the National Guard has completed projects for the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the State of Oregon, and numerous cities, towns and non-profit organizations.
For more information contact:
Maj. Jeff Julum
Public Affairs Officer
(503) 945-3885
or
(503) 551-8323
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