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Wednesday, December 19, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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EARLY HOLIDAY DEADLINES FOR THE NUGGET
The Nugget will be closed
on Tuesday, December 25
and Tuesday, January 1.
Early deadline for display advertising and the
events calendar for the issue of December 26 is
Thursday, December 20 at 5 p.m.
Deadline for classified advertising, announcements,
letters to the editor and press releases for the issue of
December 26 is Friday, December 21 at 12 p.m.
Early deadline for display advertising and the
events calendar for the issue of January 2 is
Thursday, December 27 at 5 p.m.
Deadline for classified advertising, announcements,
letters to the editor and press releases for the issue of
January 2 is Friday, December 28 at 12 p.m.
Happy
Holidays!
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writerʼs name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
Mark Floyd’s story last week (The Nugget,
December 12, page 17) drives home the con-
sequences of global warming on everyone, not
just those that live on the edge of the ocean.
The impacts are being felt everywhere now,
including Central Oregon. We all had to breath
toxic smoke from California for months this
year, which may raise the cancer rates for all
affected. There are weather disasters in the
U.S. reported on the news every two or three
days now, including hurricanes, tornadoes,
flooding, wildfires, droughts, or deep snow.
These are not normal, and are causing gov-
ernors to declare “emergency” status so the
federal government will contribute recovery
money.
This is a global crisis that will only get a lot
worse if every one of us does not do our part.
Mitigation is necessary, but this is only a band-
aid. The trends MUST be reversed. Doing our
part does not mean just supporting transition
from coal-fired power plants to green energy,
although this is important. CO2 emissions from
cars and trucks are equal to emissions from
power plants, likely even bigger in Oregon
because we rely so much on hydro-power.
Therefore, doing our part means buying
electric vehicles, fuel-efficient vehicles and
hybrids. It means limiting unnecessary travel
in gas vehicles. It means turning the engine
off when parked. The emissions from your car
don’t just dissipate on the ground locally, they
migrate to the upper atmosphere where they
contribute to global warming.
Every household and business should
be replacing incandescent light bulbs with
LEDs, so that other polluting power plants
are not used for our power and California and
Washington get clean power from us when we
have excess. Every household should be buy-
ing efficient heat-pumps and avoiding burning
See LETTERS on page 20
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N
Slow down on
wilderness restriction
By Barry Clock
Guest Columnist
I’ll have to admit that
I’m shocked at the lack
of response in the let-
ters to the editor section,
to the commentary (“FS
wilderness restrictions
are too severe,” by Craig
Eisenbeis, The Nugget,
December 4, page 5).
I can appreciate the
issue of overuse of cer-
tain areas. It does appear
something should be done
in regards to those areas
and the trails that access
them. But I oppose the
favored paid/reservations
required/quota system to
hike numerous area trails,
proposed by the Forest
Service. It will last until
October. It’s excessive
and drastic for a begin-
ning approach to overuse,
instead of starting slowly
and carefully.
Why is the USFS using
such a wide brush on this
issue? Instead of restrict-
ing only the trails and
areas of the very highest
need. Those trails where it
is overwhelmingly obvious
to all that some controls
must be put in place before
those select areas are
“destroyed” by overuse.
Then, annually, see
how those new restrictions
actually worked. And if
they are shown to be not
enough, in a measurable
way, and beyond all doubt
— then implement addi-
tional restrictions. With
public input of course.
And if it’s found that cer-
tain trails and areas need
fewer restrictions, or none
at all, then implement that
as well, with removal of
restrictions.
I disagree completely
with charging money for
the trail hiking permits.
It provides every incen-
tive for the USFS to do the
wrong thing, to increase its
cash income and restrict
trails to the maximum. And
also every incentive for
the USFS to require per-
mits and reservations on
more and more trails. The
more trails with required
permits, the more money
for the USFS. The higher
and higher the fees per
hiker, the more money for
the USFS. The fewer the
number of permits, the
more money the USFS can
charge per permit, because
of the scarcity of desired
permits.
The USFS is trying to
“sell” back to us, the use of
the lands that we all own.
That bothers me. I would
maybe agree, if the USFS
budget clearly requires
small fees to maintain
those restricted trails. But
only as a last resort!
To keep the severe trail
permit restrictions in place
until October each year is
ridiculous — clearly over-
kill. What is the goal? To
only allow “free” hiking
when the weather makes it
impossible to do so? Come
on!
Rigid restrictions that
cost money to just hike a
trail are the exact oppo-
site of what is needed in a
clearly troubled America.
Nature offers us all a
retreat from the “insanity”
of parts of life in America
today. Offers us a real
world, where the artifi-
cial tech world fades into
the background for a few
hours or days. That’s ter-
ribly important to provide
to all of us but especially
the young. We are lucky
enough in Central Oregon
to live next door to that
“real” world of nature. And
we’re going to surrender
our ability to use it?
Please, please start slow,
and then proceed care-
fully and methodically. As
uncomfortable and messy
as the process is, include
the maximum general pub-
lic in the process at every
possible opportunity.
I had hoped I wouldn’t
be around to see this day
come. I’d much rather
lose my right to vote or
my right to free speech
than to lose my “right” to
sometimes just get away
to beauty and nature on a
moment’s notice. Rather
than to lose my ability to
totally forget about money,
problems and all that, for a
few dozen hours or a few
days every year. Even if I
don’t use it, just knowing
I can ... is worth the world
to me. I’m completely seri-
ous. I know that is true for
many others that live here.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.