2A — THE OBSERVER
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2019
LOCAL
D AILY
P LANNER
Seeds of
Hiroshima
arrive in
Union County
TODAY
Today is Friday, Nov. 29, the
333rd day of 2019. There are
32 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On Nov. 29, 1963, President
Johnson named a commis-
sion headed by Earl Warren
to investigate the assassina-
tion of President Kennedy.
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
ON THIS DATE
In 1890, the fi rst Army-Navy
football game was played at
West Point, New York; Navy
defeated Army, 24-0.
In 1910, British explorer
Robert F. Scott’s ship Terra
Nova set sail from New Zea-
land, carrying Scott’s expedi-
tion on its ultimately futile
— as well as fatal — race to
reach the South Pole fi rst.
In 1929, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Rich-
ard E. Byrd, pilot Bernt Balchen,
radio operator Harold June and
photographer Ashley McKin-
ney made the fi rst airplane
fl ight over the South Pole.
In 1947, the U.N. General
Assembly passed a resolu-
tion calling for the partition-
ing of Palestine between
Arabs and Jews; 33 mem-
bers, including the United
States, voted in favor of the
resolution, 13 voted against
while 10 abstained. (The plan,
rejected by the Arabs, was
never implemented.)
In 1952, President-elect
Dwight D. Eisenhower secretly
left on a trip to Korea, keeping
his campaign promise to assess
the ongoing confl ict fi rst-hand.
In 1961, Enos the chimp
was launched from Cape Ca-
naveral aboard the Mercury-
Atlas 5 spacecraft, which
orbited earth twice before
returning.
In 1981, actress Natalie
Wood drowned in a boating
accident off Santa Catalina
Island, California, at age 43.
In 1987, a Korean Air 707 jet-
liner en route from Abu Dhabi
to Bangkok was destroyed
by a bomb planted by North
Korean agents with the loss of
all 115 people aboard.
In 1991, 17 people were killed
in a 164-vehicle pileup during
a dust storm on Interstate 5
near Coalinga, California. Actor
Ralph Bellamy died in Santa
Monica, California, at age 87.
CORRECTIONS
The Nov. 27 article, “REDress
Project raises awareness of
missing and murdered indig-
enous women,” misspelled
Leona Kinsey’s last name. We
regret the error.
EO Media Group fi le photo
A new study indicates climate changes will intensify wildfi res in Oregon’s southern
Blue Mountains, making them more frequent, more extensive and more severe.
This August 2018 photo shows smoke from a wildfi re billowing out of the Walla
Walla River Valley in the foothills of the Blue Mountains east of Milton-Freewater.
Study shows Blue Mountain
forests are changing
By Paul Krupin
For EO Media Group
PORTLAND — A new
study indicates climate
changes will intensify wild-
fi res in Oregon’s southern
Blue Mountains, making
them more frequent, more
extensive and more severe.
Brooke Cassell, a forest
ecologist who now lives in
Everett, Washington, led a
team of researchers from
Portland State Univer-
sity, North Carolina State
University, the University
of New Mexico and the U.S.
Forest Service.
“Rising temperatures,
longer fi re seasons, in-
creased drought, as well
as fi re suppression and
changes in land use, have
led to greater and more
severe wildfi re activity,” said
the report published on Nov.
21. in Ecosphere, the Jour-
nal of the Ecological Society
of America.
“Over the next century,”
Cassell wrote, “the com-
bined effects of climate
change and wildfi res are
likely to shift the composi-
tion of mixed-conifer forests
toward more climate- and
fi re-resilient species, such as
ponderosa pine.”
“If these forests become
increasingly dominated by
only a few conifer species,
the landscape may become
less resilient to disturbances,
such as wildfi re, insects and
diseases, and would provide
less variety of habitat for
plants and animals,” wrote
Cassell, the study’s lead
author and a recent Ph.D.
graduate from Portland
State’s Earth, Environment
and Society program.
The researchers looked at
how climate-driven changes
in forest dynamics and wild-
fi re activity will affect the
landscape through 2100.
The team used a com-
puter model to simulate and
predict how the forests and
fi re potential will change
over time in response to cur-
rent management practices
and two projected climate
scenarios.
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The results show climate
warming in the western
United States is causing
changes to the wildfi re re-
gime in mixed conifer forests.
“Even if the climate
stopped warming now,
high-elevation species
such as white bark pine,
Engelmann spruce and
sub-alpine fi r will be largely
replaced by more climate-
and fi re-resilient species
like ponderosa pine and
Douglas fi r by the end of the
century,” said the report.
A growth of the shade-
loving grand fi r that has
been expanding in the
understory of the forest
also is expected to increase,
even under hotter and drier
future climate conditions,
providing more fuels to help
spread wildfi res and make
fi res even more severe.
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LA GRANDE — Ginkgo
trees have survived the ex-
tinction of the dinosaurs, the
bombing of Hiroshima and
traveled around the world.
The tree has become a sym-
bol of peace between Japan
and other nations through
the Green Legacy Hiro-
shima project, with seedlings
planted across the globe.
The cities of La Grande and
Elgin will join the movement
when they plant ginkgo trees
in the spring.
“It is a really neat
program,” said Teresa
Gustafson, urban forester
for La Grande. “We put in a
request and now we have a
tree to plant in April.”
Long-lived ginkgo trees
grew in Eastern Oregon
millions of years ago before
becoming extinct every-
where but China, according
to ODF’s public information
offi cer.Jim Gersbach.
The Oregon Department
of Forestry distributes
these special peace trees
in partnership with the
nonprofi t groups Oregon
Community Trees and the
Medford-based One Sunny
Day Initiative.
The seedlings were grown
from seeds from trees that
survived the atomic bomb-
ing of Hiroshima.
Medford resident Hideko
Tamura-Snider brought
the seeds to Oregon. She
survived the Hiroshima
bombing, which occurred 74
years ago on Aug. 6, 1945.
Her mother died in the
atomic blast.
State forestry selected 24
communities to receive the
trees, including Portland,
Bend and Klamath Falls.
La Grande and Elgin made
the cut because of their
ability to care for the trees,
according to Gersbach.
“La Grande said early on
that they were interested in
having the trees in town,”
Gersbach said.
The La Grande tree will
be planted during the Arbor
Day celebration in April
at Riverside Park, 3501 N.
Spruce St., and the tree
in Elgin will be part of a
newly constructed memori-
al garden at the Elgin High
School’s athletic complex.
“The tree is the perfect
way to start the garden,” El-
gin School District Superin-
tendent Dianne Greif said.
Greif said the school dis-
trict plans to get students
involved in the planting
during the spring.
The seedlings were
germinated in Ashland by
Michael Oxendine, a board
member of the Oregon
Community Trees.
“Oxendine grew them to
be big enough to establish,
but they are not huge,”
Gustafson said.
She explained the
seedlings will need protec-
tive gating in the early
stages until the roots grow
enough, but ginkgo trees
are very sturdy and will
be able to withstand the
weather of Northeast
Oregon. According to Gus-
tafson, there are several
ginkgo trees planted in the
town and this species of
tree does not require ad-
ditional care.
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Win for Life: Nov. 27
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Screening can prevent colorectal cancer
or catch the #2 cancer killer early when
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screened because they’re encouraged
by someone they know and trust. So
if you’ve been screened, please talk
about your experience. And encourage
others to get screened too.
Pick 4: Nov. 28
• 1 p.m.: 5-6-2-9
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NEWSPAPER LATE?
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“When you’ve seen beyond
yourself, then you may fi nd,
peace of mind is waiting
there.”
— George Harrison (1943-2001)
COLORECTAL CANCER
The cancer you can prevent.
TheCancerYouCanPrevent.org
Karen King
Pendleton, Oregon
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded campaign