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WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2023

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BY ELLIOT SCHWARZ Country Media, Inc.

Six more free concerts featuring a diverse range of musical genres are scheduled this summer in Brooking’s Azalea Park

Courtesy photo Above: Dirty Cello during a previous performance. Courtesy photo Right: Abbey Road during a previous Brookings concert.

usic echoes from Brookings Azalea Park each Sunday afternoon during the 28th annual Summer Concerts In The Park

series. The energetic and eclectic San Francisco-based Blues/Americana/Rock band Dirty Cello opened the 2023 series June 18, followed by Traveling Wilburys Revue June 25. There are six more free summer Sunday concerts launched by the American Music July 9: Festival (AMF). The Barefoot Movement, Each of the concerts an Americana band July 23: begins at 1 p.m. Dirty C e l l o Gothard Sisters, gave the crowd Celtic folk a distinctive and August 13: Heartless, energetic two-hour a Heart tribute band show with a wide August 20: range of cover Beat Frequency, songs; Johnny Be pop/rock Good, Devil Went August 27: Down to Georgia, The Lucky Losers, White Rabbit, Sweet Blues, Soul, R&B Child Of Mine and September 3: their originals, Don’t One of These Nights, Call Me Honey, I an Eagles tribute band May Not Be Perfect, and Last Time Blues. The group has been popular with summer concert audiences in Brookings. This is their third appearance for the series. They a well-traveled group, playing more than 100 gigs a year, from Iceland to Italy. Especially popular in Iceland, they’ve done three tours there. This summer they’ll tour a large part of the U.S. before getting back to the West Coast. “Our desire to travel chooses our concerts” lead guitar player Jason Eckl said. “We look for concerts where we want to go.” Eckl is married to lead singer and cello player Rebecca Roudman. See CONCERT, Page 3

The variety of concerts draw music lovers to Azalea Park in Brookings.

Courtesy from American Music Festival

Brookings, Oregon

$30M waste system upgrade to Lone Ranch ELLIOT SCHWARZ Country Media, Inc. This summer the City of Brookings is set to begin construction of sewer line extension and facility upgrades to accommodate the planned development at Lone Ranch and additional growth at the north end of the city. The project is expected to take about 2 1/2 years and cost $30 million. Funding is comprised of a $24,996,000 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan, a $2,569,000 grant and $2,648,120 match from the city, according to Brookings Finance Director Lu Ehlers. Where the money will be spent Approximately $16 million will be spent on sewage collection and pump stations, $14.2 million to upgrade the treatment plant. The existing pump station will be replaced by a gravity system that does not require electricity, providing significant savings in electricity and maintenance costs. The Lone Ranch development is across Highway 101 from Samuel Boardman State Park. The development covers 553 acres beginning about one mile north of Carpenterville Road and encompasses the Southwest Oregon Community College 10acre campus. The project Three hundred seventy acres will be preserved as

Fast Facts Lone Ranch is a housing development on 553 wooded acres on Highway 101. Up to 1,000 homes have been approved for the project. open space with more than four miles of pedestrian trails linking the various neighborhoods and the commercial spaces, parks, and clubhouse that are part of the plan. Up to 1,000 homes are approved. These will include a mix of housing, townhomes, single-family detached homes, and condominiums. The mix is designed to provide rental opportunities as home ownership, according to the developer’s master plans filed with the city. The plans will guide the project development when it begins, according to Brookings Mayor Ron Hedenskog. It is still unclear went the project will break ground. History Well before the development plans were conceived Lone Ranch was the site where a mineral known as Priceite was discovered in the early 1860s. It looked and behaved like chalk. Carpenters and coopers at local fisheries began using it. The original mine site was on the west side of highway 101 in what is now Samuel H. Boardman State Park, but See PROJECT, Page 2

Gorse is an ongoing threat to coastal Oregon ELLIOT SCHWARZ Country Media, Inc.

lands, commercial timber replantings, and recreational areas, according to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) and Oregon State University (OSU) Extension Service officials. Its high oil content makes it an especially volatile fuel. The foliage is highly flammable and dead foliage collects as litter within and at the base of the plant. Gorse contributed to the Bandon Fire of 1936, in which the entire town nearly burned to the ground, according to the OSU Extension Service. Gorse is a perennial, evergreen shrub able to grow over 10 feet tall. It is shrubby with stout and upright spreading branches with angular stems and a terminal thorn. It is dense, sometimes 30 feet in diameter, with

All along the Oregon Coast, as far inland into the Deschutes National Forest, the spread of Gorse is threatening agriculture, fueling wildfire danger, and is known as among the world’s most invasive and difficult to manage weeds. In Coos and Curry counties, this flammable plant poses a serious risk to over 80,000 residents and 30,000 structures. The plant is native to western and central Europe and northwest Africa. It was introduced intentionally to southern Oregon’s coastal area as hedgerow. Gorse outcompetes riparian and other vegetation and destroys the habitat needed for healthy and productive wetlands, streams, and rivers. It destroys grazing

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a center of dead foliage. It is sometimes mistaken for scotch broom, also an invasive species. While Scotch Broom is less dangerous, it does displace native and beneficial plants causing the loss of grassland and open forest. Like gorse it spreads aggressively, forming a monoculture, replacing desirable forage grasses and young trees, with seeds that are toxic to livestock and horses. Both are legumes, members of the pea family, with pods containing seeds. In the case of gorse they can remain viable in and on the ground for up to 30 years or more and are highly heat tolerant. When exposed to fire the pods will split open producing new growth. OSU’s extension service points out activity such as land clearing, timber harvesting, or fire

Courtesy from Wild Rivers Coast Alliance Gorse plants in Bandon. stimulate germination of in Coos, Curry, and buried seed. Gorse also Douglas Counties when can spread vegetatively: if Harris Beach had the largest cut, it can resprout quickly. contiguous infestation in Once established, gorse is southern Curry County. very difficult to eradicate. The slopes leading up It isn’t easy, but there are to a housing subdivision measures that can contain became choked with gorse. the spread. According to creating a very likely fire the Gorse Action group, risk. In 2011 Oregon State a collaborative group of Parks prioritized work on participants from federal, the five-acre site and began state and county agencies, work. With funding from and non-profit organizations a National Fire Plan grant

Courtesy from Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department The red dots mark points of the Grose outbreak. and a State Weed Board grant, Curry Soil and Water Conservation District and state parks, the gorse is See WEED, Page 7

Phone Number: 541-813-1717 • Address: 519 Chetco Ave, Ste 7, Brookings, 97415 • Email: Circulation@CountryMedia.net

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