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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 2017)
Wednesday, April 5, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon A new weapon in fight against invasive species Invasive plants and ani- mals are stressing Oregon’s native species and have the potential to cost millions in economic damage to the state’s water infrastructure systems, agriculture and forestry. Oregonians and regional partners now have a new coor- dinated approach to protect- ing Oregon from these dev- astating effects: The Oregon Statewide Strategic Plan for Invasive Species 2017-2027 and the accompanying work- ing document, The Oregon Statewide Action Plan for Invasive Species 2017-2019. The Oregon Invasive Species Council (OISC) released the plan after a year of stakeholder engagement and a 2016 Oregon Invasive Species Summit devoted to its development. Co-chairing the effort and penning a letter to Oregonians at the beginning of the plan, Jeffrey (Jas) Adams and Rian vanden Hooff noted “increasingly, invasive spe- cies—whether introduced by deliberate or unintended actions—present one of the most serious current threats to our economy, ecosystems, infrastructure, and natural heritage.” State wildlife officials are so concerned about inva- sive species they list them as a Key Conservation Issue in the Oregon Conservation Strategy. Invasives are a real threat to Oregon’s fish and wildlife and their habitats. — Rick Boatner “The second largest fac- tor causing native species to become at-risk of extinction in the United States is invasive species,” said Rick Boatner, Invasive Species Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and cur- rent OISC chair. “Invasives are a real threat to Oregon’s fish and wildlife and their habitats.” Boatner pointed out a few See INVASIVE on page 24 19 LETTERS Continued from page 2 I’ve lived in Sisters nearly my entire life. As is custom after high school, I moved away, travelled the world, finished college, and lived in other states. I moved home on a wing and a prayer at the beginning of last summer and was told I could jump out of an airplane 10,000 feet above the mountains I’ve always loved. I saved up all summer long for the big day. My German brother and two old buddies jumped with me. Our families stood in the field below and watched. It was one of the most profound experiences of our lives. Happy tears pinned to my cheeks as I sailed over the tops of the mountains; from that vantage point, I fell in love with Sisters all over again. Thank you, Skydive Awesome, for giving Sisters citizens young and old a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity. I really hope you stick around. Jordan Richerson s s s To the Editor, Oregon is one of the states that has made great strides in helping citizens meet their medical needs by the innovative use of federal Medicaid funds. Had the repeal and replace effort succeeded, many in Oregon, the most vulnerable, probably would have lost their coverage unless the state could have come up with some other plan. Our representative in Congress heads the committee that came up with the plan that was ultimately defeated. Our President was in full support of the proposal despite the fact that it would have hurt the people who sup- ported him the most. The poorest among us would have lost, and the richest would have won, that is according to the analysis from the Office of Budget Management. Their analysis can be found online. The important thing to remember here is that it is our representative’s committee that came up with this plan which would have hurt our fellow Oregonians. The second thing to remember is that out of Oregon’s five congressional Representatives in the House, only ours voted to keep the Internet privacy rule from going into effect. This is good for Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and other providers that, as The (Washington) Post’s Brian Fung noted, “will be able to monitor their customers’ behavior online and, without their permission, use their personal and financial information to sell highly tar- geted ads.” Not exactly empowering to the ordinary American and what the proposed rule would have protected us from. Since we are “ordinary Americans” as far as I know, who is watching out for us if our representative isn’t? There have been several suggestions to protect ourselves: one is to find a Virtual Private Network, two, explore using TOR, and three to add HTTPS+ to your browser, for example Chrome. Phyllis Lewis NuggetNews.com Breaking News • Classifieds • Weather • Road Reports
