Opportunity to Comment on Need for Improved Access to Row River (OR)
The Army Corps of Engineers is currently updating their Master Plan for Cottage Grove and Dorena Lakes in the Willamette River Basin, Lane County, Oregon, and American Whitewater is encouraging the local paddling community to provide comments on the need for parking for day use and a trail to the river that is accessible to the public for hand-carry craft during the winter paddling season. This Master Plan identifies Future Management Needs for Recreation and references a need to “improve Row River public access” at Schwarz Campground, but provides no details on who this would serve or how it might be implemented. Inclusion in the Master Plan is a prerequisite to future actions and represents the first step to formally highlight issues such as lack of access.
Currently the Schwarz Campground is only open April to September, has no day-use access site or parking, and is not open during the winter boating season when river flows support whitewater recreation. The land immediately downstream of the dam that includes the campground is the only public land that serves as a put-in for the Row River. When the gate to the campground is closed, accessing the river requires a 3/10 mile walk from the highway to the shoreline access between campsites 041 and 044D or a 1/10 mile walk along a busy highway to the bridge with a bank that is overgrown with invasive blackberry bushes.
Providing comments on the need for day-use parking and an accessible public trail to the river will help the Army Corps understand how to significantly improve boating opportunities during the winter. Comments are most effective if they include your personal narrative on why the Row River is important to you and the value of improving public access. Specific comments on why the current access is inadequate are important in documenting the issue. Thank the Army Corps for identifying a Future Management Need for Recreation to “improve Row River public access” at Schwarz Campground while providing detail on what that means to you. Your comments will help ensure this measure is included in the Master Plan and provide additional detail that will be helpful as projects in the plan are prioritized.
You can review the Draft Master Plan here:
https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/Missions/Projects-and-Plans/Master-Plans/
The discussion of Schwarz Campground is in Section 5.2.11 on pages 5-85 through 5-89 and includes Future Management Needs.
Instructions on submitting a comment can be found here:
The simplest option is to email to <CENWP-WVP-Master-Plan-Updates@usace.army.mil>
with “Draft CTG-DOR MP” in the subject line of your email.
Thomas O'Keefe
3537 NE 87th St.
Seattle, WA 98115