Corvallis Area: E.E. Wilson - Anyone approached?

[Hotcurry]

Hi guys,

Question: has anyone approached the Fish and Game about airsoft in the E.E. Wilson area?

Hunting season is mostly off now (except crow?!). The area is pretty gun-friendly most of the year.

I don't get any hits from the search engine on it...just curious.

Mark

[Osmo]

I once contacted Dave Budeau, the manager of EE Wilson WA about hosting private events at EE Wilson. I did not mention anything about airsoft at the time and decided not to pursue it further. Here's what he sent me:

To answer your questions. Generally, hunting can occur from Sept-Feb, with October the busiest by far. From March thru mid-August, we encourage visitors to stay on area roads and improved trails to minimize disturbance to young and nesting wildlife.

Dave Budeau, Mgr
E. E. Wilson WA

Contact email at the time was Eewilsonwa@aol.com.

That being said, EE Wilson is very open and flat, making it less than optimal for airsoft use. The lake area sees significant public use all year and many areas of the wildlife area are thick with poison oak.

Playfields on private land are better for everyone. Public lands may be viable, but should be more remote and discreet than this location.

[Hotcurry]

Actually the area is HUGE, and has a variety of landscapes. One area in the north section has a large cement pad with chest high pylons every 8 feet. Odd place. Plenty of forest, etc. Just for giggles, look it up on Google earth and take a look.

I'll try an approach, thank for the name.

-Mark

[Osmo]

From numerous visits to the area, I am familiar with the size, location, and terrain of EE Wilson. I'm not trying to shut you down, but I still think that there are many problems with the site that prevent it from being a good place to airsoft.

Best of luck with your inquiry.

[oregonduck]

Are you guys talking about the EE Wilson sanctuary on the Coffin Butte side of Highway 99, or Camp Adair itself?

Camp Adair was a U.S. Army infantry training center during WWII. Built in 1942, it was home to the 70th, 91st, 96th and 104th Infantry Divisions. Basically, Adair trained about 7% of the Army's infantrymen to see combat in WWII. The 70th and 104th served in Western Europe, the 91st served in Italy and the 96th landed at Leyte and Okinawa.

The area to the west of Highway 99 was the MOUT site for Camp Adair. An entire German village was recreated there. All of it, and most of the rest of Camp Adair was torn down after the war. The wood from the barracks and other buildings were sold to locals, who built houses with the material.

Adair stretched all the way north, almost to Monmouth & Independence. The farmers around here still dredge up practice artillery rounds from time to time.

This past weekend, we took a small group and played at a remote section of Camp Adair in what had been the 96th Division's training area. The poison oak is just nasty as hell--something the WWII GI's hated--and I've got a good case of it now. Between the poison oak and the thickets of blackberry bushes, it isn't a very good place to play.

John

[Hotcurry]

The poison oak IS out of control. The base history is pretty interesting, especially since there is almost no sign of it now; except the odd "roads to nowhere". There are some areas with old buildings, and bizzare cement structures that are intriguing...but they are WAY the heck off the beaten track.

Did you meet any by-stander traffic while you were out there?

Is it un-cool to ask what access point you went in at?

-Mark

[Kendodude]

Hehe, Strikezone is in Adair village That big cinder block off the highway. The place that used to be the radar facility.

[oregonduck]

We didn't run into any bystanders, but did see some hunters now and then, but only in the distance. Even so, we halted the game until they were totally out of the area, just to be safe.

We parked on the east side of the memorial area and hiked our gear in. We went up into the scrub & trees to the northeast and kept well clear of the fishing pond & main paths. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that poison oak loses its leaves this time of year. I low-crawled through a bunch of twigs and branches that must have been poison oak, as I'm now covered with it &^Y*^*&^*@#!

Strikezone is in the old Air Defense Command center. It wasn't a radar facility. Back in about 2000, I interviewed the last commander of the facility, who was a WWII vet with a tour in the MTO in P-40's under his belt. He was in the 79th Fighter Group, the same outfit that took part in the Palm Sunday Massacre in '43.

He explained to me that every Nike base and every radar system on the West Coast was tied into the ADC. The ADC was essentially a plotting and control facility. If an unidentified blip appeared on any of the radar systems defending the Western Seaboard, the ADC's CO could launch F-102's and F-106's from any number of bases between Utah and Payne AFB in Washington to investigate. The ADC would then control the interceptors and talk them onto the target.

Most of the time the blips were just airliners that had strayed outside the normal air traffic lanes or didn't have their transponders turned on for some reason. But if there had been a Russian air attack inbound, the ADC staff would have directed at least part of the U.S. response to it. Pretty cool piece of Cold War history.

John

[Hotcurry]

Hey John, Thanks.

I have a visit set up with Abe to get a tour of StrikeZone.

Good luck with the poison oak. I assume you know about Technu? Magic drying soap that sort of cuts the misery...sigh. Been there.

-Mark

[StrikeZone-Abe]

I'm going to in the next few week start looking for some area to play in. Maybe I can talk to the city counsel or something and ask if there is anyhting around to play in.
I know that some kinda Marine group has played in area around there because I provided all the gear to play and went out there to help (although it was paintball).

Maybe some people from Adair might know so I will check around.

[Osmo]

Tecnu really deserves its own thread. It's great stuff for poison oak but only works within the first few hours of exposure. It's deoderized paint thinner that dissolves the poison oak oils so you can wash them off.

[oregonduck]

Thanks for the info on Tecnu. I'm itching like crazy here!

But it was WORTH it!

There is a creek that runs from the pond area east through much of the preserve. There are two wooden bridges crossing the creek that people use all the time, but further east are the old asphalt bridges. They're more remote, and while not as cool looking, would make interesting objectives.

Has anyone played up around Fort Hoskins? If the weather clears at all this week, I was going to scout that area out. It is extremely remote and woodsy, so I thought this might be an alternative as well.

John

[spartan 217]

i live in corvallis i will see if we can

[KA-BAR]

abe is still involved in airsoft???


hrmmmmmm.


well i got questions for abe, questions that need answering.

how someone who claims to have been the driving force behind what PB is to day, would allow a true cash cow, the westcoasts disney land of CQC/MOUT coruses for indoor go completely too shit? in less than a year?

how is is, that a non airsofter can ruin a great place for everyone?
why did you not get the popper insurance abe?
why did you not put DIME ONE back into the field and make it inspection passable?


itsd really beyond me, and quite frankly, i probably wont support abes next venture. because chances are its to fill his pockets, not make airsoft a better hobby or give us a better place to play. he had that chance and decided it was better to turn tail and run then fight. he thought " close down" instead of " get the place into inspection shape and get propper insurance...?? shazaam that, that costs money!"


sorry abe.








KA-BAR out

[McNair]

Can you read, Morgan? His post is from JANUARY.