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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2019)
4A FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2019 The Observer OUR VIEW Both sides must work together Oregon Republicans most likely clearly understood at the end of the last session that the controversial carbon emission issue wasn’t going to go away. Already, one of the architects of the carbon emis- sion reduction bill that failed during the last session is hard at work crafting a new proposal. Readers probably remember that Senate Republi- cans walked out of the 2019 session, a decision that destroyed hopes by Democrats to push their favored carbon emission blueprint into law. The bill was designed to slash the state’s green- house gas emissions and generate funds to use on a host of environmental programs. There is also, apparently, a push by an environ- mental group to put a carbon emission reduction measure before voters. Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, the lawmaker who led the effort for the carbon emission reduction legislation, is working to simplify a new bill and that should be good news for everyone, especially voters. That’s because the original piece of legislation was a confusing tome that created a host of questions from critics. A more narrowly tailored piece of legislation is needed because there isn’t any doubt — or shouldn’t be — that climate change is real and we all need to discover a way to address it. But we can’t develop a solution on the backs of the rural residents of Oregon. Nor barge ahead with a solution that ignores the valid concerns of those of us who live and work and play in the great rural areas of Oregon. Dembrow and his Democratic supporters on a new carbon emission bill must fi nd a middle ground with Republicans on this issue, and that is going to be a pretty tall order. The well between the two parties on this issue has, indeed, been poisoned. But that shouldn’t mean lawmakers throw up their hands and walk away. This is an important issue, and just because it was bungled in the last session doesn’t mean it should be discarded. What must be avoided is another long, drawn-out political battle that ends with the minor- ity party walking away from the capital. No one is going to say fi nding a solution will be easy. It won’t be. Democracy is a messy business sometimes, and the last session’s battles over the carbon reduction initiative clearly reinforce that scenario. The Democrats staked their legislation success last session on a bill that was essentially a prototype on political overreach. They must work with their political brethren in both the House and Senate to fi nd a viable solution. MY VOICE Fuel reduction is a flawed assumption P roponents of thinning for “fuel reductions” on the Lostine River operate under a number of fl awed as- sumptions, including that fuel build- up is responsible for large blazes. Yes, you need some fuel and igni- tion, but fuel and ignition aren’t what creates large fi res. If this were the case, the largest fi res in Oregon would be in the Coast Range where fuel biomass is many times higher than anything found in Eastern Oregon. But large fi res are rare in the Coast Range because it is too cool and moist to burn. What drives all large fi res is cli- mate/weather. For instance, the Camp Fire that consumed Paradise, California, burned through two previous burns (fuel reduction), through extensively clearcut private timberlands (fuel reduction) and Forest Service fuel reduction treatments. None of these precluded the Camp Fire from burn- ing down the town during extreme fi re weather when winds up to 80 mph drove the fi re at rates of one football fi eld a second. The qualifi er “extreme fi re condi- tions” is critical. Some 99% of all fi res burn under less than extreme conditions where fi re spread is slow and fi res are easily controlled — with or without fuel reductions. But under conditions of extreme weather de- fi ned as drought, high temperatures, low humidity and high winds, almost nothing stops fi res. This is important these extreme- weather-driven blazes are the only fi res that really matter, and they are exactly the fi res that make “fuel reductions” ineffective. That is why numerous fi re ecolo- gists have concluded that thinning and “uel reductions are futile. For ex- ample, fi re ecologists at the FS Mis- soula Fire Lab wrote in a research About the author George Wuerthner, of Bend, is an ecologist and author. 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. paper: “Extreme environmental conditions … overwhelmed most fuel treatment effects.… This included almost all treatment methods includ- ing prescribed burning and thin- ning.… Suppression efforts had little benefi t from fuel modifi cations.” More than 250 scientists in a letter to Congress said the same when they wrote: “Thinning is most often proposed to reduce fi re risk and lower fi re intensity.… However, as the climate changes, most of our fi res will occur during extreme fi re weather (high winds and tempera- tures, low humidity, low vegetation moisture). These fi res, like the ones burning in the West this summer, will affect large landscapes, regard- less of thinning, and, in some cases, burn hundreds or thousands of acres in just a few days.” Keep in mind that the Eagle Fire jumped across a mile and a half of 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 the Columbia River where there was “zero fuel” and ignited forests on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge. The Lostine River Canyon is only about 1-2-mile-wide in most places. Under extreme fi re conditions, em- bers are regularly blown 1-2 miles ahead of the fi re front and could easily jump across the entire canyon — fuel reduction or not. Even more critical is that thin- ning has been shown to increase fi re spread in many instances. A review of Western fi res by the National Research Council found that “logging and clearcutting can cause rapid regeneration of shrubs and trees that can create highly fl ammable fuel conditions within a few years of cutting. Without ad- equate treatment of small woody material, logging may exacerbate fi re risk rather than lower it.” That is why another recent study that looked at 1,500 fi res across the West in ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forests (exactly like those found in the Lostine) and found that “forests with higher levels of pro- tection (like parks and wilderness) had lower (fi re) severity values even though they are generally identifi ed as having the highest overall levels of biomass and fuel.” Much of the upper Lostine Canyon is dominated by dense lodgepole pine and subalpine fi r forests that have long fi re rotations of hundreds of years because they are usually too moist and shady to burn. The best way to protect homes in the Lostine Valley is to reduce the fl ammability of the homes and the immediate area surrounding them. As Fire Researcher Jack Cohen has concluded, treatments more than 100-200 feet from a home provide no additional safety benefi t. 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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