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State outdoor commission to meet in Medford By MARK FREEMAN Tour Southern Oregon's two most controversial dams, have coffee with local outdoors enthusiasts, and stroll through the wildlife area named for a man who once walked in their shoes. These moments, and more, await state Fish and Wildlife Commission members who make their historic business trip from Portland to Medford next week. For the first time, the seven-member commission has tapped Medford to host one of the regular monthly meetings where it tends to the business of managing Oregon critters that sport fur, feathers or fins. Nov. 14's official meeting has a hum-drum agenda that could fetch more yawns than comments from those watching from the gallery at the DoubleTree Inn in Medford. The guts of the trip instead lie in Nov. 13's pre-meeting functions that provide both a big and little picture look at Southern Oregon. Commissioners are scheduled that day to visit Savage Rapids and Elk Creek dams, then tour the Denman Wildlife Area -- which is named after former commissioner Ken Denman of Medford. Leading the Denman tour will be Don Denman, Ken's son and a freshman commissioner who is the first Medford man to serve on the commission since his father. "It will be a little sentimental," Don Denman says. "Dad died in 1962, but I don't think a day goes by when someone doesn't ask me, `Are you the Denman of the Denman Wildlife Area?"' "He would be pleased to lead the tour," he says. "I wish he was here to do it." While the tour is just for his fellow commissioners, the Nov. 13 open house is a unique chance for locals to bend the ears of all seven commissioners without leaving Medford. The open house is from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the DoubleTree, which is the former Red Lion Inn at 200 N. Riverside Ave. There, anyone can pigeon-hole Denman or his six comrades on anything from steelhead fishing rules on the Chetco River to hunting tags and deer management priorities for all of Oregon. "You hope they show up instead of sitting at home, drinking a beer and bitching about (concerns) to their friends," Denman says. One of those who won't miss the chance to grouse the commissioner's way is Ron Bauman, an outspoken proponent of hunter safety as well as expanding deer and elk hunting opportunities where the animals can handle it. "If we can have seven corners and get one commissioner in every corner, that would be great," Bauman says. "But we can only corner four of them at a time." Bauman has already started a list of issues he will bring from commissioner to commissioner -- and hopes others do the same. "Anyone with interest in hunting should be there," Bauman says. "It's too bad that so many people with gripes won't go." The commission's seven members are appointed by the governor to set fish and wildlife policies in Oregon as well as oversee operation of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Commissioners serve four-year terms representing the five state congressional districts. The remaining two commissioners hold at-large seasons representing Western Oregon and Eastern Oregon. They usually meet in Portland, but in recent years has branched out to hold two or three meetings elsewhere in the state. It has held public hearings in Medford before, but never a regular business meeting. The regular meeting begins at 8 a.m. Nov. 14 and is also at the Doubletree Inn. Three commissioners hail from the Portland area, while others live in Logsden near Roseburg, Junction City near Eugene and Summerville, which north of LaGrande. The pre-meeting tour will include a stop at Savage Rapids Dam, whose proposed removal from the Rogue River for fish-passaged concerns has been supported by the commission but hotly debated locally. Ditto with Elk Creek Dam, which the federal government has proposed to notch and mothball because of its negative impacts on wild coho and steelhead. But Rep. Bob Smith, R-Medford, has called a Congressional hearing for Nov. 13 in Medford to consider other long-term options. Other stops include the wildlife area, where an innovative gating program allows legitimate users free access but helps discourage illegal dumpers, graffiti artists and other riff-raff. "This will give them an idea of the diversity of habitats and problems we experience here," says John Thiebes, an ODFW biologist in Central Point. The commissioners will also get a nice dose of that during the open house. The ODFW has sent invitations to 90 people representing local sporting and conservation groups as well as local government. But everyone is invited. Past open houses in locations like Ontario have drawn just two visitors. "I think the commissioners will be surprised at the turnout they get for the reception," Thiebes says. Outdoor Journal main page