“Local Recreation Group Will Seek to Develop Cottage Grove-Dorena Lakes,” The Cottage Grove Sentinel, 6 August 1953

Preliminaries looking to the formation of a recreation group were completed Tuesday evening at the Dorena Grange hall, when 24 people representing about 10 groups met to discuss the steps necessary to such an organization. The group elected Byron Houck as temporary chairman and agreed to have another meeting on August 18.

Harold Tryk, acting chairman of the meeting told the group assembled that the purpose of the meeting was to get some improvement at the Dorena and Cottage Grove lakes.

Carl Baker of Vida, a member of the Lane county recreation committee, sportsman and conservationist of the McKenzie river area, told the group that about $5,000,000 was originally set aside for recreation at the flood control dams which was designed to replace value lost in the recreational facilities. All recreational funds were frozen at the beginning of the Korean war and now the Lane county recreation committee is trying to revive interest in one of the county’s biggest industries. In discussing recreation as a big business, Mr. Baker called attention to the fact that 411,000 hunting and fishing licenses were purchased in the state in 1952 and that the State Chamber of Commerce estimates $160,000,000 was spent on this phase of recreation alone in the state.

Dorena Best Fishing

Mr. Baker termed the Dorena lake the best fishing spot in the state and called attention to the fact that this lake would be supplied with the world’s largest trout hatchery on the McKenzie river. This year at the opening of the fishing season on the Dorena lake a total of 2,088 fishermen were counted along the lake shore.

Need Recreation Committee

In pointing to the need of a local recreation committee, Mr. Baker said the county court had been prevailed on to form a recreation committee to purchase property for recreational purposes. A local recreation committee is needed to make a survey of the recreational facilities. The local area is ably represented on the county committee he said by Loran Stewart, Lane county’s state representative. The county committee has had nine meetings thus far he said.

Fish Plantings

Mr. Baker called attention to another angle of the recreation possibilities and this was in regard to planting fish. He said the fish commission had found that when the 1 inch fish were planted about 95 percent of the fish die. When the fish are 2 inches, the mortality is cut to 85, but if the fish planted are the legal limit, they practically all live. He suggested that the Cottage grove lake be reserved for fish such as bass, croppie, etc., while the Dorena lake be used for trout.

Offset Loss of Highway Revenue

Byron Houck, Harold Tryk and others saw the possibility of off-setting the loss of highway revenue caused by the freeway by the development of the recreational facilities at the two lakes. Since the freeway will miss Cottage Grove, the revenue lost can be partly offset by development of recreation. Baker told the group the Willamette basin commission was ready to give land around the Dorena lake for recreational purposes.

Points to Work For

Byron Houck, elected temporary chairman at the close of the meeting suggested several points to work for if the recreational possibilities were to be realized. The first was the elimination of the pollution of Row river and its tributaries. He said the streams should be cleaned of logs and debris. Last year it cost $6,000 to clear Dorena lake of logs he said.