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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 2019)
4A FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2019 The Observer OUR VIEW Hass is right on records The Oregon Legislature created the offi ce of Public Records Advocate and the Public Records Advisory Council in 2017. Now, in the wake of the resignation of the fi rst advocate, Ginger McCall, state Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, hopes to persuade lawmakers to give the council the right to appoint McCall’s succes- sor. Gov. Kate Brown agrees. There’s a problem, however. State Sen. Chuck Riley, D-Hillsboro, who chairs the Senate Business and General Government Commit- tee that would sponsor the bill, has reservations that could tank the effort. That would be unfortunate. Riley’s opposition is not new. He had problems with House Bill 2353, which his committee handled this year. It gives the attorney general and district attorneys the right to penalize public agencies that fail to respond or take too long to respond to public records requests. Despite that, he did vote for the measure. Still, Riley believes, according to an article in the Beaverton Valley Times, that calling the person who heads the advisory council the public records “advo- cate” is wrong. He sees the job as one of moderating between the public and state agencies, not advocat- ing on behalf of records seekers. The original law does, in fact, talk about the need for the advocate to provide education and training for government agencies so that their employees understand the public records law and make it work. Once that was done, the theory went, the number of disputes would decline and those that remained could be settled with the help of the public records moderator. But Brown and Hass understand how diffi cult and expensive agencies can make it for those who seek public records. The power, in other words, lies with agencies. Hass and Brown know that a council- appointed advocate is needed to bring some balance to the equation. CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS President Donald Trump: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1414; fax 202-456-2461; to send comments, go to www.whitehouse.gov/ contact. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. offi ce: 313 Hart Senate Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. Fax: 202- 228-3997. Website: merkley.senate.gov/. Email: merkley.senate.gov/ contact/. Portland offi ce: One World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-326-3386; fax 503-326-2900. Pendleton offi ce: 310 S.E. Second St. Suite 105, Pendleton 97801; 541-278-1129; email elizabeth_scheeler@merkley.senate.gov. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. offi ce: 221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C. 20510-3703; phone: 202- 224-5244; fax 202-228-2717. Website: wyden.senate.gov. Email: wyden.senate.gov/contact/. La Grande offi ce: 105 Fir St., No. 210, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-7691; fax, 541- 963-0885; email kathleen_cathey@wyden.senate.gov. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (2nd District): D.C. offi ce: 2185 Rayburn House Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C. 20515-0001, 202-225-6730; fax 202-225-5774. Website: walden.house.gov/. Email: walden.house.gov/e-mail-greg. La Grande offi ce: 1211 Washington Ave., La Grande, OR 97850; 541-624-2400, email jorden.noyes@mail.house.gov. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 900 Court St. N.E., Salem, OR 97301; 503-378-4582. MY VOICE Proactively managing forests today is better than letting them burn tomorrow I n his recent My Voice (“Science: Reducing fuel load in forests has little effect on wildfi res,” The Observer, Oct. 7), George Wuerthner cited weather as a reason not to manage forests to reduce wildfi re risks. His opinion piece misses a key point. Fire needs fuel to burn. We can’t control wind and weather, but we can control the fuel that has been steadily accumulating in the forests. Ultimately forest manage- ment is a choice, and I think the Forest Service has chosen wisely in seeking to reduce wildfi re risks and public safety hazards along the Lostine corridor. The conditions within the corridor have been well documented in The Observer and other Eastern Oregon newspapers. Land managers, public safety offi cials and local residents have long been concerned about the potential for wildfi re in the area and the hazards posed by dead and dying trees along roadways and camp- grounds. The need for action is long past due. The Lostine Corridor Public Safety Project has public support and is based in science. Yet activist groups have used the courts to stall and delay the project, though so far their legal attacks on the project have been unsuccessful. The project area is within the wild- land urban interface area and is identi- fi ed as a priority treatment area in the Wallowa County’s Community Wildfi re Protection Plan. It utilizes a number of forest management tools including thinning, removal of hazardous trees and fuels, as well as creations of small openings in lodgepole stands to open the canopy and promote variability in stand structure and composition. Opponents of the project have painted a picture of unfettered logging. But to put the project into perspective, Dr. James Johnston of About the author Nick Smith is the executive of Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities, a non- profi t, non-partisan coalition that advocates for active management of federal forest lands. My Voice columns should be 500-700 words. Submissions should include a portrait-type photograph of the author. Authors also should include their full name, age, occupation and relevant organizational memberships. We edit submissions for brevity, grammar, taste and legal reasons. We reject those published elsewhere. Send columns to La Grande Observer, 1406 Fifth St., La Grande 97850, fax them to 541-963- 7804 or email them to news@ lagrandeobserver.com. Oregon State University has noted the agency planned to treat only a small portion within the corridor, which itself is a small percentage of the landscape that should be treated to address uncharacteristic insect, disease and fi re conditions in this for- est. Within the 2,110 acres of national forest system lands, only 450 acres are being treated with thinning. The project will produce a relatively small amount of wood fi ber to support jobs in nearby rural communities. The Forest Service determined the Lostine River drainage is in a poor state of health, posing high risks to those who use and enjoy the corridor. Dr. Johnston adds that the very high fuel loadings pose a signifi cant risk to SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION STAFF Phone: SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE NEWSSTAND PRICE: $1.50 You can save up to 34% off the single-copy price with home delivery. Call 541-963-3161 to subscribe. Stopped account balances less than $5 will be refunded upon request. Subscription rates per month: By carrier...............................................$11.80 By mail, all other U.S. .............................. $15 A division of old-growth forest structure in the area, and all available evidence suggests thinning and prescribed fi re will reduce fi re severity and protect old-growth. The Lostine Corridor Public Safety Project is an example of what public land managers should be doing to pro- tect Oregon’s communities and natural landscapes. However, the current treat- ments being implemented in Eastern Oregon are just a fraction of what is needed. In many pine forests east of the Cascades, forests have become un- naturally dense and overcrowded and in some cases have been overtaken by tree species that are less resilient to wildfi re. Exacerbating the situation are the impacts of drought and warmer temperatures that promote tree stress and widespread beetle and disease epidemics. Forest management can help eastside forests better adapt to these changing conditions, and wood fi ber from restora- tion efforts can be utilized to support the regional economy and sustain our forest products infrastructure that is threat- ened by a lack of available log supplies. If Mr. Wuerthner doesn’t believe thinning activities can reduce the intensity of wild- fi res and protect nearby communities, he should ask the residents of Sisters who were spared the devastating impacts of the 2017 Milli Fire thanks to a thinning project. After two consecutive and disastrous wildfi re seasons, our land managers and fi refi ghters got a much-needed break thanks to cooler weather. Just because we experienced a mild wildfi re season doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be managing our forests. Though we have no control over next year’s weather, proactively managing our forests today is a better alternative to letting them burn tomorrow. 541-963-3161 An independent newspaper founded in 1896 (USPS 299-260) The Observer reserves the right to adjust subscription rates by giving prepaid and mail subscribers 30 days notice. Periodicals postage paid at La Grande, Oregon 97850. Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (except Dec. 25) by EO Media Group, 1406 Fifth St., La Grande, OR 97850 (USPS 299-260) COPYRIGHT © 2019 THE OBSERVER The Observer retains ownership and copyright protection of all staff-prepared news copy, advertising copy, photos and news or ad illustrations. They may not be reproduced without explicit prior approval. 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