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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2014)
14 Fall 2014 Applegater Wildfire: Everyone has a role (but are they doing it?) providing funding for implementation and updates of those fire plans? After 15 years in the Applegate, I’ve learned that this work is never ending— trees, weeds, grass, towns and communities all grow! Once fire season is over we all need to start preparing for next year, no matter what our FAC role is. Given this map, we can’t stop cleaning gutters (those darned pine needles), funding CWPPs (pay attention counties!), or reaching out to new residents to help assist in preparing their homes. We can’t be too busy to attend collaborative wildfire committee meetings (some federal, state and local agencies think they are). We can’t cut funding for fire prevention or lower home safety building codes for those who’ve lost their home to a wildfire (like a town in Colorado did!). Helping agriculture shouldn’t mean allowing a dry crop next to private homes to be mowed on a 100-degree afternoon during high fire danger! And, Congress and the GAO (Government Accountability Office) need to allow the US Forest Service to stop borrowing from fuels reduction funds to fight wildfires! Duh, so counterintuitive (not to mention they had an agreement)! I say we’re all in this together, and we need every partner to keep up their share of the workload here in southwest Oregon. Doing nothing will be very costly, so please help by putting more pressure on all of our partners to continue our local FAC efforts! Sandy Shaffer sassyoneor@q.com They also have no statement on rbST use, or a bovine growth hormone used on cattle, so it is possible that these substances are used. They use cultured grade A non- fat milk, though fruit varieties include additives such as fructose, modified corn starch, and other products. artificial coloring, or rBST, but there is no Stonyfield. Stonyfield is an all organic variety available. organic yogurt company started in Yoplait. Yoplait Greek is owned 1983. Its yogurt is sold in natural food by General Mills and is the second most stores, national supermarkets and large popular overall yogurt company in the retailers across the country. All of their US, the first being Chobani. Yoplait Greek products are USDA Organic certified promotes the health aspect (including Stonyfield Greek of their product, advertising and YoBaby); therefore, the high levels of calcium, they are audited throughout vitamin D, and protein, the production process to especially for their kids’ ensure that they use no products, as well as claiming pesticides or herbicides, their product can help with GMOs, antibiotics, or weight loss. However, their growth hormones. They are website does admit to using currently in the process of aspartame (artificial sweetener), carmine being approved by the non-GMO Project, (red coloring), gelatin, and milk protein which will test their animal feed for GMO concentrate in their Yoplait Greek Parfait contamination. They formally state that cups. There are no organic options they believe GMO products should be available. In 2012, General Mills spent labeled to guarantee consumer safety and over $1 million to oppose GMO labeling they were a founding company of Just in California. Label It, a nonprofit advocating for GMO Dannon. Oikos is Dannon’s Greek labeling. Groupe Danone (which also yogurt brand. It is not certified as USDA owns Dannon) is the parent company organic and does not mention “natural” or of Stonyfield, owning 85 percent of “non-GMO” products on their website. the company, yet Stonyfield maintains a unique partnership with Groupe Danone, with company co-founder Gary Hirshberg remaining Chairman and the company remaining true to its health and environmental mission. Nancy’s. Nancy’s is another USDA organic certified Greek yogurt company owned by Springfield Creamery in Eugene, Oregon. Nancy’s does not add any thickeners or pectins and strains off the whey during production. They say they use all organic fruits from the Northwest region. On their website they describe their milk sources, stating they are from local dairy farms, mostly within a 50-mile radius of their creamery in Eugene. They do not use pesticides, antibiotics, or synthetic growth hormones, and their product is USDA certified by Oregon Tilth. Their website does not directly say that they are GMO free, but their organic certification prohibits GMO use. Wallaby’s Family. Wallaby’s yogurt company is based out of Napa Valley, California, and was influenced by a trip to Australia by the co-founders, who were inspired by the sweet, amazing flavor of the yogurt. They use organic milk from nearby farms in Sonoma and Marin counties. They are organic certified by Quality Assurance International (QAI) and the USDA. Due to their organic certification, they are also GMO free. by sandy shaffer The map below shows the top two out of all 417 counties in our 11 western states with respect to the percentage of private homes (displayed in red) within a half mile of federal land. Yes, a recent study by Headwaters Economics found that Josephine County is number one, and Jackson County a close second. We Applegaters may not be very surprised with those top rankings; after all, we live with this “checkerboard” daily. It’s why the Jackson-Josephine county area has been a front-runner in natural resource and wildfire issues for decades. It’s also why we’ve collaborated with our federal land managers, and have mutual aid agreements and our own Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). And it’s why we were named one of the first Fire-Adapted Community (FAC) “hubs” in the nation last year. We know we have to work together. As one of the very few people in the Rogue Basin who helped to define a fire-adapted community as part of the National Cohesive Strategy for Wildland Fire Management, I recognize (and preach) that our checkerboard landscape dictates lots of overlap of responsibility for most of the components of FACs. (See the box for a reminder of those components.) I also realize that just because we’re now an FAC hub doesn’t mean that all of our communities are “fire-adapted” and that we can rest on our laurels! Quite the contrary: while I know that we are far ahead of most areas in the west, I would say that very few of our communities are really fire-adapted. And given that map, the current drought and recent wildfires in our area, this is very concerning. To m e , F A C r o l e s a n d responsibilities start with homeowners: we do our part pretty well with defensible space, fuel reduction, forest management, family evacuation and emergency planning. Federal land managers do their part with forest management and fuels reduction (when Washington, DC, and the courts let them) and they can also provide external community fuel buffers. The feds also participate in cooperative fire agreements, as do our local fire districts. Fire districts can help with fuels reduction, education/outreach, evacuation planning, and defining local internal and external safety zones. However, I recently heard one local fire chief (not ours!) say that promoting FACs wasn’t part of his job! What the heck?! The Oregon Department of Forestry plays a lead role in forest activities, especially out in our rural Applegate. They set standards for the management of private forests and regulations for activity on forest lands. They also fight wildfires on private and Bureau of Land Management lands. And, they help with fuels reduction, forest management and public education/ outreach. So, what are the roles of county and city governments? Certainly they should provide building codes/ Private homes within a half mile ordinances for of federal land in safe, defensible homes and access Josephine and Jackson Counties routes. Also, Map by Jim Wolf weed abatement laws, emergency preparedness and notification systems, and maybe evacuation procedures? And since Oregon decided that we would have county-level community w i l d f i re p l a n s across the state, we have CWPPs for both Jackson and Josephine counties in place. Maybe counties are responsible for GMO Yogurt: How does your favorite brand stack up? From GMO Inside Blog at gmoinside.org While GMO Inside believes the “Precautionary Principle” to be the best approach when it comes to developing and consuming GMOs, we know that consumers may care about a number of factors when it comes to choosing food products. Here is some information on your “favorite” brands of yogurt: Fage. Fage is a close second in the Greek yogurt market, holding 14 percent of the market in 2011. The positives to Fage brand yogurt are that no milk concentrate is used (like Yoplait, see below) and they do not add extra thickeners to their plain varieties, though they are most likely added for their flavored yogurt. On their website, they highlight the healthy benefits of Fage, including statements saying it is beneficial to vegetarians and diabetics, and gluten free for those with gluten allergies or preferences. However, there is currently no organic option. Greek Gods. Greek Gods was founded in Seattle, Washington in 2003 and is now owned by Hain Celestial. They do not add milk protein concentrate, Fire-Adapted Community (FAC) The various components of an FAC are: Fuel reduction Forest management Cooperative fire agreements Community fire plans Defensible space Internal safety zones External fuel buffers Evacuation planning Local capacity Codes/ordinances Education and prevention efforts