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Denman pens undergo face lift Pheasants not likely to break out of dwellings By MARK FREEMAN Photo from Mail Tribune files Mark Vargas releases a pheasant in the old bird pens at the Denman Wildlife Area. The pens were rebuilt last weekend through a massive volunteer effort. CENTRAL POINT -- Last year, farm-raised pheasants placed in the old pens of the Denman Wildlife Area found there was no wire there that could hold them. "We'd put the birds in, they'd fly right to the wire," manager Mark Vargas says. "They'd punch right through that wire and keep going." This year's batch of pheasants won't be so lucky, thanks to a weekend volunteer effort at the state-run wildlife area. More than three dozen volunteers spent the weekend rebuilding Denman's porous pheasant pens so this year's crop of farm-raised pheasants won't gain early release before being planted for area hunters. Most of the volunteers were from the Rogue Valley Chapter of the Oregon Hunters Association, which also donated about $3,000 for materials for rebuilding the 150-by-150 foot pen. Boise Cascade Corp. also donated several thousand dollars worth of materials. "Now, it's industrial strength," Vargas says. "It'll last awhile." The pens are used to hold farm-raised birds, particularly pheasants, which are planted regularly in wildlife area fields. Hunters pay a fee to shoot them during a special fee-pheasant hunt Oct. 1-16, and others are released during special hunting events like the Nov. 13 juvenile game-bird hunting day and Oregon Outdoor Women hunting seminars. The old pens were the original ones built at the wildlife area in the 1960s and patched together over the years. But age and bad weather deteriorated them to the point that patchwork repairs were not enough, Vargas says. The new pens are not only strong enough to hold in the birds, they also are dug into the ground to ward off coyotes, weasels and other predators, Vargas says. The improved pens also give the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, which oversees the wildlife area, a chance to expand the put-and-take program to other upland gamebird species. "We can maybe try raising some partridge, quail or chukars for release here on the wildlife area," Vargas says. GRANTS PASS -- Fly Fishing Hall of Fame member Hal Janssen will be in Southern Oregon tonight to tell local fly-casters how to improve their chances of catching salmon and steelhead. Janssen, of Santa Rosa, Calif., will be the featured speaker at the Southern Oregon Fly Fishers meeting at the Riverside Inn in Grants Pass. The meeting begins with a 6 p.m. social hour, then moves to dinner at 7:30 p.m. Janssen's presentation will follow dinner. Janssen owns the Hal Janssen Co., which distributes fly-fishing equipment to shops around the world. He fishes throughout North and South America, and has developed more than 70 imitation fly patterns for use in saltwater and freshwater. He also has held several state and world fly-fishing records. Gov. John Kitzhaber is expected to sign new boating certification standards into law on Tuesday, but boaters still have years to prepare for them. The bill requires Oregon boaters to have a boater education certificate before operating power boats of more than 10 horsepower. Children 12 to 15 years old will need certification to operate any boat up to 10 horsepower on their own. To operate a boat of more than 10 horsepower, kids 12 to 15 must have certification and be accompanied by an adult. But these requirements will only kick in after several years of planning an effective education program, said Randy Henry, a public information officer with the State Marine Board. The Marine Board felt the legislation was necessary because the number of registered boats in Oregon has grown 60 percent in the past 20 years, with nearly 200,000 boats on state waters. At the same time, those boats have grown bigger and more powerful. Henry said the new regulations aim to increase safety, not drum up revenue from ticketing violators. Boaters without the proper certification face a $75 fine -- but only if they don't complete a boating education program. Certificates will cost a one-time fee of $10, which will go toward funding the education program. Henry said that the course will cover the basics, from how to tie knots to navigation. "You get a fair amount of violations where people don't know the rules," Henry said. "To have a sense of what markers mean, what side of a boat to pass on, the signals to use, that kind of stuff makes boating a lot safer and a lot more comfortable. A little bit of knowledge can really save your life." While the official certification courses won't be designed for several years, any course offered through the National Association of States Boating Law Administrators can be taken now and used as proof of certification later. Twenty other states have started boater education programs in recent years. Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA