WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2021 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Oregon still
working on
rules to protect
ag workers
from smoke
Dora Totoian
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Angela Mosso and her son, Wyatt Tofte. COURTESY OF THE FAMILY
A mother’s tragic story of loss
Finding a way to heal
after the Santiam
Canyon wildfire
heart, but I didn't think that was a real
thing," Chris added. "I do now."
Letters become lifelines
Capi Lynn
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Angela Mosso wears a compression
garment under her shirt all day and night,
removing it only to shower or apply oint-
ment to her arms, shoulders and back. It's
painful and uncomfortable, especially dur-
ing an unusually hot summer, but neces-
sary.
Constant pressure will help reduce scar-
ring from the third-degree burns she suf-
fered 10 months ago during the Beachie
Creek Fire in the Santiam Canyon, one of
the deadliest wildfires in Oregon history.
Her feet practically melted to the bone
as she fled the inferno that engulfed North
Fork Road, the gateway to a maze of swim-
ming holes and hiking trails. They healed
on their own and look almost normal today,
although she has nerve damage and can't
walk long distances.
Burns on her back and shoulders re-
quired skin grafts, and she'll soon have an-
other surgery on her right arm where scar
tissue limits movement.
Angie knows she will physically recover,
and the scars will fade. But the emotional
scars are fresh and permanent.
She lost her mother and only child in the
wildfire. Peggy Mosso and Wyatt Tofte
were the first of five canyon fatalities last
Labor Day.
The three were separated by smoke and
flames while trying to load their car and
evacuate their home in the middle of the
night.
Angie survived only because her long-
time partner Chris Tofteignored barricades
and risked his life to try to save his family.
Two days later, while she was fighting
for her life at the state's only burn center in
Portland, 13-year-old Wyatt was found be-
Wyatt Tofte and his dog Duke on a
hike the day before Labor Day, when
historic winds fueled the Beachie
Creek Fire. COURTESY OF THE FAMILY
hind the wheel of the family's Honda Civic.
The car was still on the property the family
rented 4 1 ⁄ 2 miles up North Fork Road. His
dog Duke was draped over his lap. His 71-
year-old grandmother was next to him in
the front passenger seat.
Once she was released from the hospi-
tal, the couple retreated to the Oregon
Coast, first staying at a family member's
condo, then a vacation rental home.
Angie has never publicly shared her sto-
ry from that harrowing night.
Nearly a year later, she and Chris are fro-
zen in their grief. They haven't been able to
make decisions about returning to work,
where they might live next or if they will be
ready to seek help from a counselor.
"Your heart physically hurts so bad, like
it's going to explode," Angie said. "If you
don't try hard enough, you could just die."
"People say they're dying from a broken
As the story of Chris' rescue of Angie and
the death of Wyatt and Peggy spread across
the world, cards and letters came pouring in
offering condolences, prayers and encour-
agement.
Chris couldn't bring himself to read any
of them. It was too painful and still is.
But for Angie, the messages from strang-
ers, many of whom have suffered personal
tragedies of their own, somehow helped
when it seemed nothing could or ever
would.
Shoeboxes filled with hundreds of letters
— she estimates more than a thousand in
all — are stacked on shelves, on the dresser
and in a tote. She's read each one, some
multiple times.
"If it wouldn't have been for their letters
and all that love … " Angie said, her voice
cracking.
Close friend Leann Moore said the let-
ters were lifelines.
"Those letters, in moments of despair,
saved her," Moore said.
Angie writes a couple of thank yous a
week, but it's doubtful she'll be able to re-
spond to everyone.
"I want them all to know every single one
of them was seen and heard and helped
with the depression and everything being
gone," she said through tears. "To be uplift-
ed out of that, after something so bad, I
would have never thought that could have
happened."
Support for her and Chris, who techni-
cally aren't married but have been together
since they were 21, has come in many
forms.
A Gofundme fundraiser online has
raised nearly $300,000. Gifts large and
small have been delivered, from a new bed
with the note "If you don't get rest, you
won't heal," to homemade goat's milk soap
See LOSS, Page 4A
State forestry institute should be more transparent
Claire Withycombe
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
You might have seen one of their ads
on TV, promoting the state’s “responsi-
ble forest management.” Or your child
might be reading about forests in school
from materials they developed.
But here’s something you might not
know: the group behind those ads and
school materials, the Oregon Forest Re-
sources Institute, is a state agency, cre-
ated by law 30 years ago.
And the law that created the agency
requires it to “enhance and provide
support for” Oregon’s forest products
industry.
The institute isn’t forthright with Or-
egonians about its mandate to support
the state’s forest products industry,
state auditors said in a report released
Wednesday.
The Oregon Forest Products Institute
“presents itself as objective, but at
times oversimplifies complex forestry
topics to the point of being misleading,”
auditors said. They also found the insti-
tute’s messages focus on “promoting
simplified and biased material that fa-
vors the industry.”
Further, the state law that created
the agency gives it “broad authority”
with limited oversight, auditors said.
While state law prohibits the insti-
tute from spending money to influence,
or try to influence, legislation or state
rules, the agency has testified to the
legislature advocating in support of po-
tential new laws. It also registered its
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board members and agency directors as
lobbyists between 2002 and 2013, and
auditors said some of its events “cov-
ered controversial topic areas and may
have catered to policymakers.”
Reporting shines
light on institute
Gov. Kate Brown requested an audit
of the institute last summer, after OPB,
The Oregonian and ProPublica pub-
lished an investigation that included a
report on the institute’s activities. Head
auditor Kip Memmott told reporters
Wednesday morning that the Secretary
of State’s office pursued the audit inde-
pendently.
See TRANSPARENCY, Page 3A
QEAJAB-07403y
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Printed on recycled paper
At a Willamette Valley flower farm,
C.S. spends nine hours a day, six days a
week planting, growing and packaging
the flowers that adorn people's tables.
Nothing changed last September
when smoke from the Beachie Creek
and Lionshead fires started rolling into
the valley, she said. The skies turned
red and the air quality became hazard-
ous.
Her employer didn't offer to pay
workers if they chose to go home, so she
continued working.
"The smoke doesn’t let you breathe
well. My throat hurt. There was a lot of
black dust I was breathing in, and dirt
coming from my nose," C.S. said in
Spanish. She asked that she be identi-
fied by her initials.
Thousands of farmworkers in the
area worked in smoky conditions dur-
ing last year’s Labor Day fires. Farm-
worker advocates reported hearing
from countless people describing
headaches, nausea, loss of appetite
and other smoke-related symptoms, as
well as pressure to continue working in
dangerous conditions.
Oregon’s workplace safety agency
(Oregon OSHA) is several months into
developing specific rules to protect
workers from future wildfire smoke,
but those rules will not be completed
before fall. Gov. Kate Brown ordered
OSHA in March 2020 to develop rules
to protect workers from heat and
See SMOKE, Page 3A
Oregon’s
classic salmon
license plate
gets a colorful
update
Dianne Lugo
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Oregon’s salmon license plate, first
introduced in 1998, is getting an updat-
ed, more colorful look, available Sept.
1.
Fans of the classic salmon license
plate who want it on their vehicle have
until Aug. 31 to get to the Oregon DMV
to register for one.
The original plate, designed by
Newport artist Herb Goblirsch, was
first introduced by the Oregon Water-
shed Enhancement Board and Oregon
Parks and Recreation department in
1998, becoming one of the state’s earli-
est custom plate designs.
Revenue from the specialty plate
has contributed over $8 million into
salmon recovery, helping protect and
restore native salmon habitats, ac-
cording to the release announcing the
new design.
“When coupled with voter-dedicat-
ed investments from the state’s lot-
tery, this plate allows salmon sup-
porters to show their true colors and
invest in a worthwhile cause — healthy
salmon habitat,” said Meta Loftsgaar-
den, executive director of the Oregon
Watershed Enhancement Board, in a
news release.
The new design comes from Gretch-
en Kirchner, an amateur artist and for-
mer graphic designer for the water-
shed board.
Kirchner drew inspiration from her
16 years in Oregon and the state’s
beaches, forests, mountains and val-
leys. She worked with OWEB biolo-
gists to accurately represent the
salmon’s details.
To create the plate’s design, Kirch-
ner first used watercolor pencil for the
original artwork and finalized the de-
sign on Adobe Illustrator and Photosh-
op, according to the Oregon Salmon
Plate website.
“Her challenge was to create a beau-
tiful and realistic portrayal of salmon
native to Oregon while also meeting
the design requirements for a license
plate,” the website states.
Residents hoping for a low-number
See SALMON, Page 2A