Timber Unity Funds Tool Lending Library in Blue River to Open This Weekend

Source: RegisterGuard.com

By Adam Duvernay

Residents rebuilding after the Holiday Farm Fire soon will have a place to borrow chainsaws and other tools thanks to a timber and agriculture worker advocacy group.

Timber Unity, a natural resources industries activism organization, has donated funds and tools for the beginning of a lending library in Blue River set to open this weekend..

Timber Unity gave Blue River resident Antony Abel $5,000 from the approximately $50,000 raised for wildfire relief efforts across the state to buy the tools, and Roberts Supply Company in Springfield donated chainsaws, said board member Tasha Webb.

The tools are meant to be checked out, used and returned by McKenzie River Valley residents so they don’t have to purchase them. Abel said he’ll run the Blue River Tool Library on his property, which he hopes to rebuild after it was destroyed in the fire.

“I assume most of the rebuilding is going to start in the spring, but right now there’s need in the community for chainsaws or maybe power washers,” Abel said.

Abel spent last Thursday night in an RV outside the remains of his Blue River home, his first overnight stay since the Holiday Farm Fire began on Labor Day. The wildfire destroyed more than 400 homes in the river valley, 108 of which were in Blue River.

A few locals in Blue River have moved back in RVs parked near the rubble, and in other parts of the McKenzie River Valley, homes need to be rebuilt and debris cleared away.

“We’ve got skill saws, drills, a generator if someone wants to come by and charge the batteries on their RVs,” Abel said. “I haven’t even looked through all of it, to be honest.”

Webb said Timber Unity has asked Abel to commit to at least 18 months of running the library but does not plan to manage the library itself. She said her organization got involved with wildfire recovery projects because the fires so badly affected rural areas.

“It’s not even just Blue River. The whole state is hurting, and a lot of it is out in the rural communities during the pandemic, during the fires, during the shutdown,” Webb said.

Webb said the library is expected to open Dec. 5. Anyone wishing to donate can contact Webb at tashaledwardsis@gmail.com or by calling 541.228.8227.

Copyright: The Register Guard