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4A | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022 | APPEAL TRIBUNE Health Continued from Page 1A Virginia. Student to mental health professional ratios are ‘astonishingly bad’ across US One role schools play is in early inter- vention. Half of all mental illness presents itself before age 14. “The earlier you intervene with effec- tive treatment outcomes, the lower the cost, and the greater the opportunity for a life well-lived,” said Angela Kimball of Inseparable, a mental health care policy advocacy group that spearheaded the report card. “The longer you wait, the worse outcomes. And typically when conditions get worse, they get more complex, and they get harder to treat.” But the vast majority of states lack the recommended ratios of school men- tal health professionals, including counselors, psychologists and social workers. Only Idaho and Washington, D.C., ex- ceed the nationally recommended ratio of one school psychologist for every 500 students. In five states — West Virginia, Missouri, Texas, Alaska and Georgia — each school psychologist serves signifi- cantly more than 4,000 students. Oregon falls on the higher end of that scale as well, with just one school psy- chologist per 3,393 students. Access to school-based social work- ers is even worse: No state meets — let alone exceeds — the recommended ra- tio of one social worker for every 250 students. Oregon’s rate is one social worker to 8,831 students. Oregon has more school counselors available than the other two categories, with still just one counselor to 461 stu- dents, though. “The ratios are so astonishingly bad it’s almost inconceivable,” Kimball said. Understaffing is just one part of the problem. States tend to be lacking in other areas, too, according to the report – rarely do they require regular mental health screenings, for example, or fully leverage Medicaid dollars to fund cer- tain services. States are also inconsistent in their teacher training and school climate re- quirements. Culturally competent edu- cators and healthy, inclusive school cli- mates are especially important for mar- ginalized populations such as LGBTQ+ youth. “We all could be doing a better job in supporting the the needs and unique challenges experienced by LGBTQ young people,” said Preston Mitchum of The Trevor Project, which provides cri- sis support to queer youth. Suicide-pre- vention training, LGBTQ+-inclusive curricula and policies honoring stu- dents’ preferred pronouns contribute to healthier school climates. Having at least one accepting adult can reduce the risk of a suicide attempt among LGBTQ young people by 40%. Prices Continued from Page 1A sale price because experts say the medi- an offers a more accurate view of what's happening in a market. In finding the average price, all prices of homes sold are added and then divided by the num- ber of homes sold. This measure can be Oregon has made changes in recent years to add funding for this purpose. In 2019, state lawmakers passed the Student Success Act, which promised a $2 billion investment in children and schools every two years, with a portion going to districts (in a Student Invest- ment Account), a portion dedicated to early education, and a third portion for statewide initiatives, such as the LGBTQ2SIA+ Student Success plan. This was impacted by COVID-19 as well, with legislators cutting a portion of the funds in 2020 for other needs. However, districts still received mil- lions of dollars in state funding to sup- port these changes. Funds granted to districts from the Student Investment Account (created through the SSA) are only allowed to go toward certain targets: reducing class size, instructional time, health and safety and well-rounded educa- tion. This includes hiring more school psychologists or counselors to help with student mental health, which some have utilized the funding for. New Jersey, Kansas, Virginia among few states to show marked progress There are bright spots. New Jersey last year created a grant program that allows schools to do annual depres- sion screenings on children in grades 7-12, for instance. And Kansas formed an advisory council that brings togeth- er lawmakers, family members and providers to guide the state board of education on student mental health. Another area that’s seen some pro- gress is mental health education. While many states include mental health as a topic in general health cur- ricula, it often falls by the wayside. But some states have passed legislation that deepens the focus on mental health education, including Virginia and New York. Waithe, the Virginia high schooler, is working on a project with Active Minds, one of the organizations in the coalition, to bring mental health edu- cation to young children in his area. By normalizing such conversations be- fore they’re in high school, the hope is they’ll be better equipped to navigate their own mental health as they get older. In addition to pushing for more ro- bust mental health education, the Hopeful Futures Campaign is launch- ing a website where students and par- ents can learn about policies in their area and how to effect change through petitions, letter-writing and other ad- vocacy. “When students know about men- tal health, they feel more empowered,” Kimball said. “They feel better able to seek help.” Register-Guard reporter Jordyn Brown contributed to this report. Contact Alia Wong at (202) 507- 2256 or awong@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @aliaemily. skewed by one low or high price. The USA TODAY Network is publish- ing localized versions of this story on its news sites across the country, gen- erated with data from Realtor.com. Lo- calized versions are generated for communities where the data quality and transaction volume meets Real- tor.com and USA TODAY Network standards. The story was written by Sean Lahman. Oregon bill allowing more self-service gas advances Connor Radnovich Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK A bill that would allow more Orego- nians to pump their own gas advanced out of committee despite concerns from lawmakers about the legisla- tion’s impact on people with disabili- ties, the elderly and gas station atten- dants. After an amendment, House Bill 4151 would allow gas station owners to designate up to half of their pumps as self-service. Opponents doubted there would be any substantive benefit for residents – other than to gas station owners who would not have to employ as many at- tendants – and were concerned gas stations would flout the rule capping self-service at only half of pumps. Lawmakers also noted individuals who, by age or by disability, have trou- ble getting out of their vehicles would be harmed by this bill, and it would place more work upon those who are unfamiliar with the process of pump- ing gas. “I hate this bill,” Rep. Paul Evans, D- Monmouth, said. “I see this as corpo- rate welfare writ large and I am very concerned about the long-term conse- quences.” Proponents of HB 4151 said it is long past time for Oregon to join 48 other states (other than New Jersey) where self-service of gasoline is the norm. Passing the bill, they said, would grant consumers a choice of service when refilling their vehicles and help allevi- ate some of the labor shortages plagu- ing gas stations. They said that in some areas of the state, half of a gas station’s pumps are unavailable for use because they only have one attendant, leading to long lines. Lawmakers in support also noted the state has allowed residents in rural areas to pump their own gas in some form since 2016. “When you walk into a store, you have the option of going through a clerk or checking out self-checkout,” Rep. Rick Lewis, R-Silverton, said. “It’s no different with self-service gas.” Despite support from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, the bill only advanced to the budget-writing Ways and Means committee after “courtesy Package Continued from Page 1A home, in the hopes of building wealth among working families. But the heart of the package is $165 million for addressing homelessness, focused on giving nonprofits, local governments and existing programs additional funds to expand their ser- vices. Of the $165 million: h $80 million will address “immedi- ate” need, including shelter infra- structure, rapid rehousing and referral services. h $50 million will go to Project Turnkey 2.0, which repurposes mostly hotels into shelters or housing. Trees Continued from Page 1A The 2020 wildfires burned more than 1 million acres in Oregon, with private forestland accounting for more than 400,000 of those acres. Though large timberland owners often have big seed- lings orders on reserve, small woodland owners can lack the same luxury. But an immediate demand for seed- lings from small landowners did not materialize quite the way some expect- ed it would. Demand remains still high, but it’s being stretched out. “The forecasted demand was going to be extremely significant,” ODF Family Forest Land Coordinator Nate Agalzoff said. “We have more people that need them than are available, but the con- straints and variables are, effectively, spreading that demand out.” Constraints and variables The situation is now more complex than just a dearth of seedlings. “It seems like the seedlings are avail- able and some of the other bottlenecks are starting to play out,” said Lauren Grand, a forester with OSU Extension Service in Lane County. “Nurseries and technical assistance providers expected a seedling shortage was going to be in- evitable, so they prepared for that. Now we’re working on the other bottlenecks that we didn’t think about right away.” Many who prioritized rebuilding their homes and livelihoods over imme- diate reforestation found the wood- lands quickly grew over with weeds and Rows of seedlings wait to be harvested and processed at Brooks Tree Farm. BRIAN HAYES/STATESMAN JOURNAL other vegetation. Young timber trees wouldn’t survive that competition, so many landowners aren’t ready for seed- lings. “There’s still a pending reforestation need on a given property, but now you have a bunch of competition vegetation that needs to be addressed,” Agalzoff said. “If you say, ‘I have trees for you next week,’ they say they can’t get a planting contractor on short notice or they still have a lot of work left to do to get a new canvas for their plantation.” Ahrens said many landowners haven’t concluded salvage harvesting because loggers are busy statewide, and replanting efforts can’t begin until the burned trees are cleared. Though resources are available, Ah- rens said not all landowners know about them. “Right now, somewhat ironically, we have surplus seedlings from this effort that Oregon Department of Forestry and partners have undertaken. They or- dered almost 400,000 seedlings in a hurry right after the fire,” Ahrens said. “We’re not able to get rid of all our trees this season because the landowners are not ready or haven’t connected with us.” Nurseries react to demand Kathy LeCompte, owner of Brooks Tree Farm north of Salem, said business is strong. “I’m still getting calls everyday. That leads me to believe a lot of people out there are hunting for trees,” she said. “We are still ramped up for large produc- tion for next year.” LeCompte said her nursery over the ‘yes’ votes” from two Democratic law- makers. Lawmakers cast courtesy votes when they don’t support a policy, but for various reasons want to allow the bill to move forward in the legislative process. Those votes indicate that despite co- chief sponsorship by House Democratic Leader Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, and member of House Republican leader- ship Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Alba- ny, the bill might not have the support to advance this session. Timing is another issue – the Legis- lature must adjourn no later than March 7, per Constitutional rules. But bipartisan work on the bill con- tinued through Tuesday, including the introduction and adoption of an amendment that gained even the sup- port of lawmakers opposed to the policy overall. The amendment specified gas sta- tion owners may not designate more than half of their pumps for self-service and increased the civil penalty the State Fire Marshal could levy against gas sta- tions to $5,000 per day per violation. The amendment also requires posted signage that shows which pumps are designated for self-service and lists the phone number for the State Fire Mar- shal for individuals to call if an atten- dant is not available to pump gas. Enforcement of the law would fall onto individuals calling the State Fire Marshal, which was another aspect of the bill that concerned lawmakers. Oversight that relies on the individual instead of the state are rarely effective, they argued. The threat of a $5,000 fine is sup- posed to encourage compliance with the law. Rep. Susan McLain, D-Hillsboro, noted that if the bill passed she might make it a hobby of driving around to dif- ferent gas stations to see if they are complying with the law. “Oregon’s trying to do it differently. I really believe that we should give it an opportunity,” McLain said. “Like every other bill, if it’s not working we can up- date it, we can strengthen it, we can put more sideboards.” Reporter Connor Radnovich covers the Oregon Legislature and state gov- ernment. Contact him at cradnovich@ statesmanjournal.com or 503-399- 6864, or follow him on Twitter at @CDRadnovich. h $25 million will be split among nine local governments (including Salem) to be used for any number of needs in those communities to address home- lessness. “Salem is facing a homeless crisis, like communities across the state. It is our duty to address this crisis with ur- gency,” Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, said in a statement. “Success will de- pend on coordination between state and local governments, and the flexibil- ity for local communities like Salem to execute a distinct, regional solution. I’m proud to support this multifaceted ap- proach.” The package falls in line with a pre- session request from Gov. Kate Brown for the Legislature to commit $400 mil- lion toward affordable housing. past year shifted some production from Christmas trees in favor of timber trees because of their more immediate need in replanting efforts. “The Douglas fir for this year, we were prepared to sell a lot more and we booked those orders. Our crop came in surplus with extra trees and we’re sell- ing those,” she said. Timber giant Weyerhaeuser grows its own seedlings for replanting after log- ging, but the 2020 wildfires left signifi- cant impacts on its timberlands requir- ing seedlings be planted. “You look at the fire itself, both in terms of acreage and seedling demand, it was more than twice the impact to our company as the Mount St. Helen erup- tion. We’re looking at 125,000 acres to reforest and somewhere between 35-40 million trees to do that,” said Jeff Mehl- schau, Weyerhaeuser’s western regen- eration team leader. Weyerhaeuser nurseries in Oregon and Washington send out about 20 mil- lion seedlings each year to customers outside the company, from small land- owners to other timber companies. The nurseries supply a nearly equal amount for the company’s replanting. Mehlschau said the company wants to have its lands reforested by spring 2024. “We had to increase our internal pro- duction.” Mehlschau said. “The roughly half of our production that goes outside of Weyerhaeuser … we did not stop growing for somebody to grow more for Weyerhaeuser. We kept their space in our system available to them.” Contact reporter Adam Duvernay at aduvernay@registerguard.com. Follow on Twitter @DuvernayOR.