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Denman Wildlife area to be locked Access available to legitimate users By MARK FREEMAN WHITE CITY -- An iron gate will close Friday on a popular access road into the Denman Wildlife Area, opening the next phase of an innovative program for curbing illegal dumping there. The gate will close and be locked on TouVelle Road off Modoc Road, the main access into the lands of the state-owned wildlife area north of the Rogue River in White City. However, free keys allowing round-the-clock passage through the gate will be given to all hunters, anglers, bird-watchers and other legitimate Denman visitors who sign up for them. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife began a similar program two years ago on another part of the 1,860-acre wildlife area to reduce rampant illegal dumping, graffiti and the activities of other riff-raff there. The move has virtually eliminated those problems where the gate blocks unauthorized access, prompting its expansion to the wildlife area's north side. The new gate was installed last October, but it has remained open since then to give advance warning to Denman's legitimate users -- who log about 49,000 visitor-days fishing, hunting and bird-watching. But the gate will be locked Friday, opening what Denman's users and managers hope will be a better area to visit. "This will make the place a lot nicer and cleaner," says Mark Vargas, the ODFW biologist who manages the wildlife area. "People like coming out to spots like this that are not urbanized. "Hopefully, we'll get more use out there, as well as more enjoyable use," Vargas says. Only those with keys -- or those accompanying people with keys -- can legally drive into that part of the wildlife area. Those without keys can be cited for trespassing. Denman visitors like Rick Thowless, a Talent bird-watcher who frequents the wildlife area, are willing to put up with the inconvenience of having to open a locked gate. "I don't think it's any big hassle," Thowless says. "Being an engineer, I know you always try something to see if there's an improvement. If not, you try something else. That's the way I look at this." Vargas has prepped for Friday's gating by buying a $300 key-making machine to cut free keys for all those who sign up. So far, 870 people have signed up for keys, which the agency had made by a locksmith for about $1.50 apiece, Vargas says. By cutting the keys himself, Vargas can supply free keys at a cost of just 38 cents, he says. Keys are given out at the ODFW office, 1495 E. Gregory Road, during regular business hours. The new gate controls access into Denman's Modoc Unit, which is frequented predominantly by anglers fishing the Rogue for steelhead, Vargas says. The gated road also provides access to a gravel pit and some private property. The landowners have access to an adjacent electronic gate, which they helped finance, Vargas said. The first gate, which regulated car traffic toward the Old Military Bridge abutments, was installed off Agate Road in February 1997, and it has proven a great success. That area used to be the resting grounds for old refrigerators, furniture, pickup loads of household garbage, even drug paraphernalia. How to get your own key To get a key for the gate off Agate Road, go to the Oregon Department of Fish and Widlife's Denman office off East Gregory Road during regular business hours. Register your name, address, reasons for using the wildlife area and the make, model and license number of the vehicle you will most likely drive down TouVelle Road. An ODFW official will make you a key, which will be stamped with a number as well as a "do not duplicate" warning for locksmiths. The key opens the locked gates at TouVelle Road off Agate Road on the wildlife area's south side, and TouVelle Road off Modoc Road at the wildlife area's acreage north of the Rogue River. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA