Appeal Tribune Wednesday, November 15, 2017 3A
Oregon delegation split on forest bill
CONNOR RADNOVICH
SALEM STATESMAN JOURNAL
USA TODAY NETWORK
A bill reshaping federal forest land
management passed the U.S. House of
Representatives Wednesday, splitting
Oregon’s delegation on the vote and un-
derscoring their disagreement on how
best to prevent dangerous and expensive
wildfires.
Not only is there a long-standing de-
bate among lawmakers and activists on
how best to balance environmental pro-
tection, stewardship and business enter-
prise, but they also disagree on which
step of fire prevention comes first: fund-
ing or management.
The Resilient Federal Forests Act ad-
dresses the latter, focusing on expedited
approval of logging by loosening some
environmental regulations.
Two Oregon delegates, bill co-sponsor
Republican Rep. Greg Walden and Dem-
ocratic Rep. Kurt Schrader, voted for the
legislation, praising it for providing flex-
ibility to the forest service in fighting
fires and giving more access for salvage
logging after a large fire.
“Bottom line is what we’re doing now
is obviously not working,” Schrader said.
“This bill was a significant step for-
ward.”
Fires burned more than 678,000 acres
across the state in 2017, much of it on fed-
eral land. Nationally, wildfires killed
dozens and cost around $2.9 billion to
fight, a record amount for one year.
Soccer
Continued from Page 2A
school team and it was great coaching
and it was fun playing with my friends
and everything,” said Collier, who won a
state championship on Blanchet's girls
basketball team last year. “But I really
felt like coming here would help me with
college.”
Collier's mom, Cindy, said not playing
soccer for Blanchet was an "agonizing
decision" for her daughter.
"It was not cut and dry," Cindy Collier
said. "She spent years with them and the
community of Blanchet is awesome. We
had lots of conversations about it over
the summer months and she kind of took
it from there.
"She's been very supportive of her
Blanchet soccer team and tried to make
games that she can to watch and cheer
'em on."
The time commitment in what
amounts to year-round soccer, combined
with academics, leaves the girls with lit-
tle time for much else. It is certainly
more taxing than playing high school
soccer.
Emily Collier says these days soccer
feels like a full-time job, not that she's
complaining.
"It's always soccer. It's always saying
no to friends," Collier said. "It's like, 'I
have soccer.' It's kind of funny, but I
mean it's kind of like my life."
It's a major part of the parents life as
well, with travel, costs and moral sup-
port.
"We've been doing this for a while
(with club soccer)," Cindy Collier said.
"This time it's just several months long-
er."
Lawmakers and activists stand divided on how to balance environmental protection,
stewardship and business enterprise, as well as fire prevention. ZACH URNESS / STATESMAN JOURNAL
“We can reduce the size and intensity
of fire up to 70 percent if we do the kinds
of projects that thin out the forests and
allow us to better manage and be better
stewards of our federal forests,” Walden
said in a statement.
Schrader said it is important that
funds be there to adequately fight fires,
but better front-end management is
needed.
The Oregon lawmakers who voted no
fell more on the funding and environ-
mental side of the arguments.
“In my state alone, there’s 1.8 million
acres waiting for treatment,” Democrat
Rep. Peter DeFazio said during a floor
speech this week. “But they don’t have
the money. Does this bill fix that? No.
We’re addressing problems that don’t ex-
ist.”
DeFazio joined Walden and Schrader
in introducing an amendment to the leg-
islation that protected, from the bill,
lands designated as Wild & Scenic, Wil-
derness or National Trail System, among
others, but in the end, he voted against
the bill.
While he said he appreciated the pro-
visions that partially address “fire bor-
rowing” — the process of taking money
from other budgeted areas to fight wild-
fires — the limits to judicial review and
the lack of funding stood out.
His colleagues in the “nay” camp felt
similarly.
“The House chose to undermine bed-
rock environmental laws, interfere with
judicial review and sacrifice the integri-
What about multi-sport athletes?
state runner-up girls basketball team
last season, would like to continue play-
ing high school basketball, but she
“would respect the decision” not to play
hoops if it conflicts with representing
the Thorns Academy.
Paige’s dad, Jason Alexander, ac-
knowledges the positives of playing high
school sports, but understands the com-
mitment required to be part of the
Thorns Academy.
“They’re investing money into the
girls and they’re trying to make them
better players and get them to the path
they want to take,” Jason Alexander said.
“So I get their idea of let’s concentrate on
soccer only.”
There is an annual cost of $2,000 per
person to play for the Thorns Academy,
and according to Thurley, both the boys
and girls Academy's are “heavily fund-
ed,” by Merritt Paulson, majority owner
of Peregrine Sports, LLC, which owns
the Timbers and Thorns professional
teams.
“They give us unprecedented finan-
cial backing,” Thurley said. “They ex-
pect a commitment in return."
For the Timbers and Thorns, the
Academy programs could benefit them
down the road. In addition to promoting
soccer, players from both programs
could be part of future U.S. National
teams, or play for the professional teams
in Portland.
Richard Gunney, an assistant coach
for the Thorns, often observes Thorns
Academy players at practices.
"The program is great because it's
given a platform for players to train and
prepare for their journey," Gunney said.
The Oregon School Activities Associ-
ation does not prevent high school ath-
letes from being part of the Thorns and
Timbers Academy, and playing on their
high school teams at the same time.
"Certainly we believe as an associa-
tion that participating in multiple sports
and different activities is good for kids,”
said Peter Weber, executive director of
the OSAA.
"But ultimately that's a decision that a
student and their family are going to
make."
Weber added that playing multiple
sports has health benefits because ath-
letes utilize different muscle groups,
and there are life lessons to be learned
by branching out into other sports.
"You may be a great soccer player and
that's great and that's the role you play
on that team," Weber said.
"But I think there's something to be
said just from an education activities
standpoint of having students partici-
pate in other activities where maybe
they aren't the dominant star player and
they're playing different roles on those
teams."
There are more decisions coming for
Thorns Academy players who are multi-
sport athletes.
While participation in high school
sports other than soccer remains a gray
area, it’s clear where the US Soccer Girls
Development Academy stands on the is-
sue.
“I am not sure that US Soccer man-
dates that players don’t (participate in
high school sports), but it is virtually im-
possible to do another sport when a play-
er is supposed to be training four times a
week and at games,” said Thorns/Tim-
bers Academy director Mike Smith.
Alexander, who played on Silverton’s
Mixed emotions for
high school soccer coaches
ty of our public lands in the name of a
false fix for wildfires,” Democrat Rep.
Earl Blumenauer said in a statement
“When this bill goes to the Senate, I
hope it comes back with policy that im-
proves forest management without un-
dermining environmental protections,”
Democrat Rep. Suzanne Bonamici said
in a statement. “We must put an end to
the practice of fire-borrowing, and we
need to better manage our federal for-
ests.”
Several bills addressing this issue
have been introduced, but some in D.C.
expect this will be the only major piece
of legislation on this issue to see a vote by
the end of the year.
It passed with some bipartisan sup-
port in the House — 10 Democrats voted
for, while nine Republicans voted
against — but could be in trouble in the
Senate, where similar bills have died in
the past, and top Democrats have al-
ready voiced opposition.
Oregon’s Democratic Sens. Ron Wy-
den and Jeff Merkley both said the bill
wouldn’t receive their support.
“These overreaching riders create
more problems than they solve and
would likely harm forest health rather
than improve it,” Wyden said in a state-
ment. “The key to forest health is smart,
effective, ecologically appropriate man-
agement.”
Contact the reporter at cradnov-
ich@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-
6864, or follow him on Twitter at
@CDRadnovich.
Cameron supported Alexander’s deci-
sion to play for the Thorns Academy, but
said that elite youth soccer programs
have “diluted the talent” in high school.
North Salem boys soccer coach Rich
Swartzentruber has “mixed feelings”
about the Academy.
The Vikings were league champions
in 2011, but lost three players the follow-
ing season to the Timbers Academy and
failed to make the state playoffs that sea-
son.
“My preference would be that they
would allow those kids to play high
school sports, and for a lot of these kids,
they miss out on the high school experi-
ence,” Swartzentruber said. "Most of the
kids in the Academy are not gonna be
professional players, but in some cases it
helps them get a good college scholar-
ship.”
Like for Edson Martinez, who was on
the Vikings’ league championship team
as a freshman in 2011 and spent the next
three years with the Timbers Academy.
He received a soccer scholarship from
Georgetown University and is now a ju-
nior midfielder for the Hoyas.
West Salem’s Abbey Knoll said she
missed playing with her high school
teammates this season, but being affili-
ated with the Thorns Academy has ele-
vated her game.
“It's a lot of time, doing homework in
the car and stuff," Knoll said. "It's always
soccer, but it's worth it."
And that's the lure: State-of-the-art fa-
cilities, better competition and more op-
portunity.
For girls who are talented enough to
play for the Thorns Academy, the poten-
tial rewards are worth what they've giv-
en up.
Silverton girls soccer coach Gary
ghorowitz@StatesmanJournal.com or
Twitter.com/ghorowitz
ma) Ditchen, Eldon, both of Silverton
and daughter Judy (Greg) Bennett of Sa-
lem. Grandchildren: Tony (Rachel) Ben-
nett, Duane (Shauna) Ditchen, Darrin
(Angela) Ditchen, Ryan (Tara) Bennett,
Elyse (Chad) Clement, Eric Ditchen and
13 great grandchildren. Siblings: Bev
(Jack) Tincknell of Keizer, OR, RoJean
(Larry) Danilson of Penn Valley, CA and
Betty Lou (Barry) Biggs of Seattle, WA
and many nieces and nephews. She was
preceded in death by her husband and
two grandchildren.
Special thanks to Lancaster Village
and Kindred Hospice for their care and
support.
Viewing will be Thursday, November
9 from 4 to 8pm at Howell, Edwards,
Doerksen with Rigdon-Ransom Funeral
Directors.
Services will be held November 10,
2017, at Salem Alliance Church in Salem,
Oregon at 10:30 am.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may
be made to Kindred Hospice Salem, OR,
or to the Union Gospel Mission in Salem,
OR.
Arrangements are entrusted to How-
ell, Edwards, Doerksen with Rigdon-
Ransom Funeral Directors.
OBITUARIES
November 27, 1923 - November 1, 2017
Muriel Darlene (Boehm) Ditchen
went to be with her Lord
and Savior on November
1, 2017 at the age of 93 sur-
rounded by her family.
She was born Novem-
ber 27, 1923 in Dane Coun-
ty, Windsor Township,
Wisconsin to Ruben and
Muriel
Anna Boehm on the
Darlene
Boehm Homestead Farm
(Boehm)
where she lived until the
Ditchen
8th grade when the family
moved to Salem, Oregon in 1938. After
high school she worked for the State In-
surance Department in Salem until her
marriage to Carl Ditchen, and lived in
the Silverton area where they farmed.
They were active members of Christian
Center Church in Salem where she
greeted for many years.
She loved spending time with family
and friends, reading her Bible, playing
the piano, playing games and making her
famous Angel Food cakes.
She moved to Lancaster Village in No-
vember 2014 in Salem, Oregon where she
was cared for the remainder of her life.
Survivors include sons, David (Wil-
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