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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2015)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015 Local & Entertainment County Commissioners hold meeting with Forest Service CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Montoya explained that 82 miles of forest roads have been identifi ed as areas where trees need to be marked and removed to ensure motorist safety. In addition to the forest roads Montoya reports about 12 miles of the Dooley Moun- tain Highway (OR-Hwy. 245) may be bordered by hazardous trees. The USFS assessment looks at about 150-feet on both sides of the roadways to determine hazards caused by trees. Commissioner Ben- nett pointed out the steep terrain to Montoya and Oliver and fi rst questions the 150-foot limitation and secondly, along with Harvey, asks the USFS to expand the area of as- sessing hazardous trees to 200-feet on either side of the roadways. Harvey next spoke about the diminishing value of burned timber and asked for progress on USFS administered timber sales to salvage areas on the burned timber stands. Montoya answered that no timber sales have been released yet and that agen- cy timber cruisers were currently assessing timber stands for harvest viability on the open (Level 2 to 5) roads. Harvey responded that the USFS should look at timber stands on all exist- ing roads regardless of USFS road maintenance levels. During the discussion Harvey introduced the need for the USFS to begin timber thinning projects in the dense timber stands as a method of raising revenue for the USFS. Harvey believes the rev- enue generated from those timber thinning projects need to be directed back to the local management of USFS lands. “Now, timber dollars go The back to Washington DC and into a bottomless pit,” said Harvey. Harvey believes that revenue derived from sustains yields on timber projects within Baker County should be funded back to the management of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest instead of into the agency’s national general fund and that this would provide the needed funding to maintain local roads and forests. During the discussion on roads, Montoya mentioned USFS personnel continue to draw up the road analy- sis (Sub-part A) portion for the ongoing develop- ment of the revision of the Blue Mountain Forest Plan. While information on the road analysis has not been released to the public, Montoya said that the USFS has planned an informational meeting, date and time yet to be determined, with the Baker County Commissioners. Funding constraints are an ongoing problem facing the USFS and the county as early development of fi re recovery project plan- ning takes place, according to both Montoya and the county commissioners. The USFS currently works on the Burn Area Emergency Response assessment and have budgeted $230,000 for road work, replacement of culverts, and hazardous tree removal. Montoya explained that existing culverts are being replaced by larger culverts in anticipation of greater water runoff due to loss of timber and foliage. Another $140,000 has been budgeted by the agency for mulching in the Stices Gulch area to control soil erosion. This project takes existing trees in the area and grinds them into mulch to be worked into the unstable soil. Besides funding limitations, the USFS faces other obstacles in drawing timber harvest contracts on the agency managed land. Area limitations of 250-acres per fi re are imposed for emergency fi re timber salvage projects. Montoya said that the Windy Ridge Fire and the Cornet Creek Fire are considered by the agency as one fi re limiting the 30,000 acres of USFS lands burned within that complex to timber salvage of only 250-acres. Beyond the emergency timber salvage operation, any timber salvage beyond the 250-acre limitation re- quires the agency to enact a procedure referred to as an Environmental Assess- ment, which could take 12 to 18 months to complete, according to Montoya. Harvey countered by ex- plaining that within the 12 to 18 months to complete an Environmental Assess- ment, burned pine lumber loses most of its value and timber contractors fail to bid on those delayed contracts due to that loss of value. Harvey said that pine value viability is lim- ited to within the fi rst year after the burn. When addressing the changing nature of forest fi res to what has become a pattern of catastrophic in the forests, Harvey quoted a recent statement by USFS Chief Tom Tidwell, “This is the new normal.” Harvey countered, “Not here.” When asked for a timeline on the release of timber contracts within the 250-acres of each forest fi re within Baker County, Montoya answered an expectation that loggers would be in the forests cut- ting trees by this Novem- ber. SEE USFS MEETING PAGE 12 Baker County Press Subscribe Today! Name: Address: City, State, Zip: Email address: Phone: E-Only $29.95/yr. Print (Delivery) $39.95/yr. Inside Baker City City Limits Only Print (Mail) $49.95/yr. Outside Baker City City Limits Only 1. Make check payable to: Black Lyon Publishing, LLC 2. Mail the check with this completed form to: PO Box 567, Baker City, Ore. 97814 To pay by credit card, please visit www.Th eBakerCountyPress.com THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 11 Bebe’s word search This week’s crossword puzzle Across 1- Executioner; 10- Stormed; 15- Purgatorial; 16- Papal garment; 17- Group of instru- ments; 18- Tending to a defi - nite end; 19- Actress Ruby; 20- Actress Zellweger; 22- Suffi x with meteor; 23- Ladies of Spain: Abbr.; 25- First name in avia- tion; 28- Online brokerage; 31- Noble woman; 33- Pardon; 34- Covered with scaly spots; 35- Cyst; 37- In the fi rst place; 41- Jazz fan?; 46- Proximity; 47- Revolve; 48- Norwegian arctic explorer; 49- ___ yellow rib- bon...; 50- 7th Greek letter; 51- Wearies; 56- Stool pigeon; 57- Nouveau ___; 60- Tropical fruit; 63- Turns away; 64- Breakaway; 65- Remove; 66- Pachyderms; Down 1- Salty Mideastern body; 2- Adepts; 3- Becomes visible; 4- Carrere of “True Lies”; 5- Laughing syl- lable; 6- Asterisk; 7- Speck of dust; 8- Make ___ for it; 9- AMEX counterpart; 10- Go bad; 11- Exist; 12- U.S. space probe to Jupiter; 13- Snob; 14- Die; 21- Otic protection; 24- ___ Paulo; 26- Half; 27- Conclusion; 29- Godlike; 30- Rudimentary com- ponent; 31- Rapture; 32- Former nuclear agcy.; 36- Family nickname; 37- Animate; 38- More substantial; 39- Cure-all; 40- Monopoly quartet: Abbr.; 42- Guggenheim display; 43- Kind of turn; 44- Pigged out; 45- Tidies up; 52- ___ dixit; 53- Monetary unit of Cambodia; 54- Suffi x with exist; 55- Ooze; 58- Timecard abbr.; 59- Legal conclusion?; 61- Tree used to make baseball bats; 62- Largest book of the OT;