HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-0719 Documents Submitted at Mtg --iUbAU*d J&xg VKoe►C
I'm speaking tonight for John Ward, who couldn't attend. However I've
done my homework and concur with John's statement.
Coho salmon (which is a threatened species) may be affected in the
Emigrant Creek area. National Marine Fisheries Service has mapped
Emigrant Creek up to 1.6 miles upstream (above)Ashland Gun Club as
having high intrinsic potential for Coho salmon. There are Coho salmon in
nearby streams as noted by Brown and Caldwell and others. Copper,
cadmium, and zinc havebeen found to adversely impact smoltification in
coho. These include decreased hatch rate of coho eggs, limited downstream
migration success by smolts, and reduced survival transitioningfrom fresh
water to salt water in an estuary as smolts enter the ocean.
Another heavy metal, lead, has been studied in other finfish species with
similar results, and work is continuing. The presence of lead or soluble lead
salts may be a concern for coho recovery. Such concerns are covered under
the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.
At the national level there are attempts to keep lead out of fresh water
systems with petitions toeliminate the use of lead sinkers in fish habitats.
Leasing for gun club use a site with wetlandsand adjacent to an active creek
likely to support coho does not make sense or fit this national scenario, unless
adeequat preventive measures are taken.
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James F &'Sharron L'.,MOOre Jr
12MPark St ,•,,'
AShland OR 97520
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Ashland Gun Club Trap and Skeet Puts Lead Shot in Wetlands and
Violates Clean Water Act when Lead Migrates into Emigrant Creek
Geoff Brown, DEQ, noted nearly every range design and environmental
management document strongly advises against shooting into wetlands in DEQ's
File Review and Environmental Status ECSI 5384. He reported a wetland is
located in the shotfall zone of the Ashland Gun Club shotgun range.
The draft Brown and Caldwell LEVEL H SCREENING LEVEL
ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT REPORT, Feb. 23, 2010 for the City of
Ashland reported their field ecologist/ wetland biologist Stephanie McDowell on
August 11, 2009 detected a hydrogen sulfide odor (similar to rotten eggs) at
Wetland B and Wetland D, and reported this in her field notes (Appendix D).
The Site Alterations Important to Wetlands section notes "Emigrant Creek appears
to have been diverted from its original channel" (1.6.2) and "sections of Wetland
B are located in a section where Emigrant Creek once flowed" (1.6.4.2).
"Wetland D is located
. . . . where Emigrant Creek once flowed" (1.6.4.4).
Hydrogen sulfide (142S) is a gas readily soluble in water to form hydro-
sulfurous acid which in wetlands B or D would convert lead ammunition to a
soluble lead salt dissolved in the groundwater, thus able to readily migrate along
the original Emigrant Creek channel and enter the present Emigrant Creek channel
where they join. The Brown and Caldwell sampling plan for lead included no
sampling where the old channel(s)join the current channel, despite the report
acknowledging "Wetland presence is also due to substantial subsurface water
supply originating from Lithia Spring . . . . and other springs".
WHAT WE SUGGEST:
1. More definitive testing to establish whether Wetlands B and D and their
associated channels are contaminated with lead.
2. More definitive testing to establish whether this groundwater transport
system contributes to lead migration and contamination of surface water pollution
in Emigrant Creek.
3. Determination of whether the lead contamination of waters of the state in
Emigrant Creek is a violation of the Clean Water Act.
4. We support recommendations in the DEQ File Review and Environmental
Status ECSI 5384 prepared by Geoff Brown for additional soil sampling where
shotfall is high, generally at 300- to 700-foot distance from the shotgun firing
positions, with further evaluation of groundwater and surface water based on the
soil sampling.
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July 19, 2011 litl ► V
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Concerned Citizens concerning the needed environmental
cleanup and the use of non-hazardous ammunition at the land
leased by the City of Ashland to the Ashland Gun Club:
Julie Norman, Bill McMillan, Kim Shelton, Marea Claassen,
Ed Claassen, Dana Carmen, Bill Tuck, Nort Croft, Linda
Croft, Linda Sussman, PhD, CC Byrd, John Byrd, Kate
Geary, Vitaly Geyman, David Lorenz Winston,
Jim Chamberlin, Mac Holbert, Sean Bagshaw, Matt Witt,
Lewis Anderson, Gaelyn Larrick, Tom Glassman,
Geri Mathewson, Teri Dixon, John Bruckman, Barbara
Bruckman, Laura Driver, Samuel Glickel, Karen Horn,
Len Lea, Diane Lea, Susan Rouzie, Bob Altaras, Udo Gorsch-
Nies, Lynn Bazzell, Nancy Bardos, Sabina U.Nies, Soshana
Alexander, Shoshanah Dubiner, Dot Fisher-Smith,
John Fisher-Smith, Pam Vavra, Cate Hartzel, Anne Coyle,
Carol Schneider, Miles Frode, Joan Franklin,
Jonah Bornstein, Dinah Breakell, Kathleen Meagher,
Alice Hardesty. Peter Gibb, Bruce Bayard, Vince Mazzi,
Catie Faryl, Pam Vavra, Cate Hartzel, Anne Coyle,
Carol Schneider, Nancy Ashmead, Elke Cemalovic,
Nancy Parker, Tashina Wilkinson, John Ward, Jim Moore,
Elizabeth Jandernoa
SUPPORT FOR ASHLAND GUN CLUB, TO ASHLAND CITY COUNCIL
Good evening. I am Robert Miller, an Ashland City taxpayer since 1971, and
member of the Ashland Gun Club since 1974.
Yes - I am in favor of your renewing our lease for as long a term as is feasible to
the city. Educated and well informed people are the safest, and respect for the
legitimate uses as well as dangers of guns is a necessary lesson in our culture. We
have lived in the local countryside for the past 38 years, and because we have
shared our land with numerous predators who occasionally threaten both children
and livestock - rattlesnakes, cougars, and bears, to mention a few - and also
because I have enjoyed target shooting and hunting for food all my life, we have
always had guns in our household. My boys and my three daughters all passed the
Hunter Safety Course, thanks to our access to the Ashland Gun Club.
Thank you Council members for your due diligence. Your funding of the
environmental study is to be commended. That it shows the diligence of the gun
club as well in caring for this land is further reason to extend the lease. The longer
the lease, the more improvements the gun club will be able to undertake.
In conclusion, many other families and organizations use the park - Boy Scouts,
Hunter Safety Courses, the Ashland Police, Sheriffs and the National Guard to
mention just a few.