Clear-cutting property reveals Indian artifacts.

Byline: JOE HARWOOD The Register-Guard

McKENZIE BRIDGE - The clear-cutting of trees at Camp Yale in May 2000 did more than unearth the anger of environmentalists and McKenzie Bridge area residents.

The logging uncovered - and heavily damaged - a previously undiscovered Native American tool-making site that was partly on the Camp Yale property and partly on Willamette National Forest land, which borders Camp Yale.

Found at the site were stone processing tools likely used to scrape animal hides and crush berries or grain, said Patti Rodgers, spokeswoman for the Willamette National Forest.

"They were very clearly processing tools," Rodgers said. The artifacts also included arrowheads and other points.

Rodgers said the site was discovered after a forester working for Camp Yale's then-owner, Geraldine Betz, thought the crew hired by Betz to log the camp land had inadvertently cut some trees on the national forest. The forester contacted the Forest Service, which sent employees to investigate.

Among Forest Service investigators was a historic resource technician. "She saw evidence of artifacts," Rodgers said, adding the federal worker first noticed the stone chippings on the Camp Yale property.

Further investigation determined the site extended to national forestland, Rodgers said.

She said the portion of the historic site on the Camp Yale property had been so severely damaged by the logging that most artifacts there were lost.

"The damage on our side was significantly less because they (the logging crew) knew they were close to the boundary," Rodgers said.

The logging crew had cut a small number of trees that were on the national forest side of the boundary, but Rodgers said it appeared accidental and Betz paid stumpage fees for those trees.

Because Betz owned the land and had ordered the logging, the Forest Service held her responsible for the damage to the archaeological site on the federal land.

Betz last year entered into a settlement agreement in which she agreed to pay $15,000 to the Forest Service to inventory and restore the site on the federal land. Rodgers said there was no evidence the site was purposely destroyed, and Betz was willing to contribute the money.

"Once there's a problem like that, you have to fix it," said Betz, who sold Camp Yale to developer Norm McDougal last year.

After a Forest Service archaeologist inventories the federal site, Rodgers said, "we'll work on the final mitigation and return the site to as near its pre-disturbance condition as we can."

CAPTION(S):

A logging operation clears timber from the site in May 2000 after about 40 acres of trees were felled.