Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers, where I can walk undisturbed. — Walt Whitman
The Mountain Guide Dining, Events, Entertainment, Music, Recreation: Pages 19-21
Postal Customer Prst Std U.S. POSTAGE PAID Permit No. 39 Welches, OR.
Vol. XXXI, No. 5 n A Free, Independent Newspaper n www.mountaintimesoregon.com
The View Finder
Page 15
Photos of our fine, feathered friends
May 2023
n SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF MOUNT HOOD n Welches, Brightwood, Wemme, Wildwood, Zigzag, Rhododendron, Government Camp, Sandy and Boring
New owner and publisher takes over Mountain Times in May By Ben Simpson
The Mountain Times
With 23 years of experience in the publishing industry, and a current focus on monthly community magazines, Matthew Nelson, owner of Active Media, will take over as the owner and publisher of the Mountain Times. Nelson fondly recalled his first job
May Special Election ballots due by May 16, limited races to decide
(MT) – Ballots for the May Special Election must be postmarked by Tuesday, May, 16 or dropped off by 8 p.m. at a drop box or elections office on that day. The election features candidates for various board positions on the Mountain, including the Oregon Trail School District, Hoodland Fire District (HFD) and the Government Camp Sanitary and Road Districts. Only one race, for the HFD Position 1, has more than one candidate who filed. Ballot drop boxes in the county include: the Hoodland Public Library, 24525 Welches Road; Sandy Public Library, 38980 Proctor Blvd. in Sandy; and Sandy City Hall, 39250 Pioneer Blvd. in Sandy. For a full list of ballot drop sites, visit https://www. clackamas.us/elections/official-ballotdrop-sites. Initial results are expected to be announced at 8 p.m. on Election Day, with an update at 11:30 p.m. Clackamas County will certify the final election results by Monday, June 12.
Index Mountain Profile.....................................2 Briefs......................................................5 Opinion............................................... 6-7 Scene on Stage......................................9 Mountain Roar......................................10 Wildcat Tracks......................................11 The Woodsman....................................13 The View Finder ..................................15 Museum Chatter...................................16 Transitions............................................21 Health............................................. 22-23 Crossword/Sudoku...............................23 Classified Ads.......................................24 Real Estate .................................... 26-27
delivering newspapers and credits it with starting him on his path to his publishing career. “My passion is in print. It always has been,” he said, adding that he was excited when the opportunity to take on publishing a community-focused newspaper was presented to him. “The focus of our publications is to
show the good going on in the communities, highlight local businesses and help readers discover those hidden gems in the region that people may know about or not,” Nelson said. As the owner of Active Media, Nelson publishes monthly magazines that present news and events in communities throughout Oregon and Southwest
Washington, including the cities of Salem, Keizer and Tigard. Based out of Aurora, Active Media currently employs more than 40 staff members to provide coverage throughout the region. “We find that we tend to do best when we work in regions that have a strong See MOUNTAIN TIMES Page 26
Wildfire Preparedness Fair at Timberline Lodge “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ~ Benjamin Franklin By Garth Guibord
The Mountain Times
Jeremy Goers, West Zone Fire Management Officer for the Mount Hood National Forest (MHNF), said he was told that Hwy. 26 might be the last unburned east-west corridor in the Cascade Mountain range. “That blew my mind,” he said. “We can thank Portland General Electric (for shutting off power in 2020). They saved it. It’s kind of terrifying to think about.” Goers and many others representing agencies and stakeholders in the Mount Hood community will take part in a Wildfire Preparedness Fair from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 13, at Timberline Lodge. The fair will offer people the chance to learn about preparing for wildfires and how to get the most accurate information. Goers noted that discussion about wildfires on the west side of Mount Hood ramped up following the Camp Fire in 2018 that destroyed much of Paradise, Calif. Last October, the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS) Community Mitigation Assistance Team (CMAT) visited the area to help build collaboration with the various agencies, businesses and residents for wildfire preparation. “It was great, the whole idea is you have to get buy-in from the majority of the community,” Goers said, noting that Timberline, the Oregon Department of Forestry, Skibowl and Hoodland Fire District were among the participants. CMAT’s visit resulted in a report aimed at building the group, now called the Mt. Hood Corridor Wildfire Partnership, and have discussion about wildland fire risk throughout
Contributed photo
The 2020 wildfires threatened the Mountain and Sandy communities, but such an event is possible in the Hwy. 26 corridor in the future. Information on how the community can be ready for wildfires will be shared at the May 13 Wildfire Preparation Fair. the year. Goers noted that in April, the group was able to test a framework for evacuations in Government Camp presented by Clackamas County Disaster Management. “It’s been great so far just to continue to get people talking,” he said. Clackamas Fire District is expected to bring a simulation table that features the topography of an area and can simulate how a wildfire might act under certain conditions, such as wind. Those conditions can be altered to see the change in the fire’s behavior. Brent Olson, Battalion Chief for
CFD, noted the simulation table is a new technology the district received recently and that it conglomerates many different data inputs from various sources to display the simulation in a way that’s easy for people to understand. “It does more than just wildfire, it does flood response, plume modeling for hazardous materials like chemical releases and evacuation modeling,” he said, noting that the Timberline event will be the first one where it is See WILDFIRE Page 5