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
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