Opinion
4A
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
The Observer
MY VOICE
Collaboration is
necessary for forest
management
he decision by two groups to withdraw from the
Northern Blues Forest Collaborative is extremely
unfortunate. It is imperative that stakeholders with
all perspectives work together to address the challenging
issues facing our national forests and communities.
The Northern Blues Forest Collaborative was origi-
nally developed to foster tough conversations and rela-
tionships between groups representing diverse per-
spectives and
values relevant
LINDSAY
to public land
WARNESS
management.
NBFC FOUNDER
The goal was to
develop projects
that would help restore and steward the forest ecosystem
and sustain social and economic benefits to local com-
munities. Regrettably, they objected to a simple briefing
from the U.S. Forest Service exploring the continued use
of the 21-inch screen under current forest conditions, and
anticipated future climate effects. That’s not collabora-
tion — that’s a “my way or the highway” type of attitude.
To be clear, the collaborative agreed only to discuss
science behind the “21-inch rule,” also known as the
“Eastside Screens.” There has been no proposed action
from the Forest Service, nor has the collaborative agreed
to anything other than a discussion. Apparently, this
potential discussion prompted these two groups to “pick
up the ball and go home” rather than to listen, talk and
work with others who have different views.
Today the 21-inch rule restricts opportunities for sci-
ence-based forest restoration across at-risk forested land-
scapes. Fast-growing grand fir have proliferated in the
absence of fire, and are driving a shift from historically
open forests in the northern blues dominated by fire-re-
silient species like ponderosa pine, western larch and
Douglas fir, to densely stocked, closed forests.
It’s worth discussing solutions that give land man-
agers more flexibility and give collaboratives more space
to work together to reduce the risks of wildfires, insects
and disease on national forests. These natural distur-
bances are occurring at unprecedented size, severity and
frequency — and this trend is projected to accelerate
under most climate models.
The 21-inch rule imposed decades ago was origi-
nally only an 18-month amendment to the forest plan.
The one-size-fits-all solution does not reflect the condi-
tions on the forests in 2020, which are at a high risk for
uncharacteristic wildfires that drastically affect the eco-
systems and local communities.
Rather than allowing our forests to burn and fill our
air with unhealthy smoke, thinning overstocked stands
reduces competition for sunlight and water and enables
trees to grow older and larger. This type of forest man-
agement also improves and enhances wildlife habitat for
species that depend on diverse forest types.
Collaboratives do not succeed if they do not work
toward the three legs of collaboration: ecological, eco-
nomic and social. In having the nuanced discussions
about these goals, the collaborative must be able to use
all the tools available to meet the restoration needs of
the forests and communities. Active forest management
is one tool to address these issues, even if there are dis-
agreements on where, when and how broadly these tools
should be used.
In today’s world, working and talking together to
achieve common goals is as important as it has ever
been. Collaboratives are where solutions are found, and
while they may be uncomfortable for multiple parties,
it is imperative that we continue the spirit of working
together rather than against each other.
T
About the Author
Lindsay Warness works in the wood products industry
and is a former member and founder of the Northern
Blues Forest Collaborative.
Your views
Civility key to society;
we must all work together
Western Europeans flocked to
the country we now call the United
States of America for several reasons:
two of which were to escape perse-
cution (i.e., someone telling them
what they should or shouldn’t do and
believe), and to exploit the vast nat-
ural resources. In order to protect
and support themselves they devel-
oped civil societies with rules and
guidelines of acceptable behavior. (It
should be mentioned that there were
already indigenous civil societies
here existing for the same reason.)
Our rules and guidelines became the
Constitution of the United States of
America.
As the population grew, people
who felt persecuted in their new envi-
ronment, or who simply didn’t like
being held to the rules of the cur-
rent civil society, simply moved over
the next hill and created their own
rules and guidelines and exploited
untapped natural resources. Eventu-
ally, however, more seekers of per-
sonal and financial freedom showed
up and someone had to adapt or find a
new hill to cross over.
Well, friends, we’ve run out of
hills. Unless you live totally off the
grid in some secret canyon in the
wilds of Idaho or Alaska, or Man-
hattan, you eventually must have con-
tact with a civil society that has cer-
tain expectations of your behavior
for the protection and support of the
greater population. The Constitution
wasn’t written by hill-crossers — it
was written by those who stayed and
fought and died to make the country
work for the society in which they
chose to live.
We Americans have historically
romanticized hill-crossers, but now
they just seem desperate and sad. We
are all on the beach now, and we have
to work together to survive as a civil
society.
H. J. Whitmore
Summerville
Don’t believe it just
because an authority
figure says it is so
It is doubtful that another Eastern
Oregon University faculty member
will be lured into a mud-wrestling
debate with professor Tom Herr-
mann’s unethical comment published
on the opinion page of the July 9
Observer.
Apparently Dr. Herrmann has used
his academic credentials to attest to
the veracity of his political or reli-
gious views, which is a no-no in aca-
demic circles.
I graduated from EOU twice, two
different degrees, although not with
a prestigious PhD. However, I took
physics courses in the early 1960s
from Ralph Badgley, who would
never have published such a com-
ment. I also knew physicists profes-
sors Paul Stephas and David Gilbert,
who went on to become president of
EOU.
Tom Herrmann has used a tauto-
logical argument with specious data
in attempting to justify his comments.
I found an article where he may have
found the 43% he quotes. The article I
found had a range of 60-43%; perhaps
Herrmann chose the lowest figure to
bolster his opinion. Currently, Presi-
dent Donald Trump’s Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention rates the
COVID-19 death rate at .26% while
pandemic experts report the death
rate being 50 times higher than that of
the flu.
Herrmann is a relative young-
ster to me. I’m 77. I voted for Repub-
lican Govs. Mark Hatfield and Tom
McCall, who would find it hard to
accept the current beliefs of the
Republican Party. I also voted for
Independent Sen. Wayne Morris, who
began as a Republican and is arguably
the most famous Oregon senator.
I would encourage all of your
readers to check out YouTube for
Trump’s death clock in Times Square,
which shows approximately half of
the COVID-19 deaths could have
been avoided if his administration
had responded appropriately to the
pandemic.
I, for one, am not willing to die for
Herrmann’s opinion.
One thing is obvious, Trump is not
taking hydroxychloroquine; if he had,
he’d be dead by now.
I urge everyone to develop some
street smarts to avoid falling for egre-
gious propaganda.
Stuart Croghan
La Grande
CONTACT YOUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS
President Donald Trump:
The White House, 1600 Penn-
sylvania 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. office: 313 Hart Senate
Office Building, U.S. Senate,
Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-
224-3753; fax 202-228-3997.
Portland office: One World
Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon
St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR
97204; 503-326-3386; fax 503-
326-2900. Pendleton office:
310 S.E. Second St. Suite 105,
Pendleton 97801; 541-278-1129;
merkley.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C.
office: 221 Dirksen Senate Office
Building, Washington, D.C.,
20510; 202-224-5244; fax 202-
228-2717. La Grande office: 105
Fir St., No. 210, La Grande, OR
97850; 541-962-7691; fax, 541-
963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden
(2nd District): D.C. office:
2182 Rayburn Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-
225-6730; fax 202-225-5774. La
Grande office: 1211 Washington
Ave., La Grande, OR 97850; 541-
624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402;
walden.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown:
254 State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310; 503-378-3111; www.
governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer
Tobias Read: oregon.treasur-
er@ost.state.or.us; 350 Winter
St. NE, Suite 100, Salem OR
97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General
Ellen F. Rosenblum: Justice
Building, Salem, OR 97301-
4096; 503-378-4400.
State Sen. William S.
Hansell (29th District/Athe-
na): Salem office: 900 Court St.
NE., S-423, Salem, OR 97301;
503-986-1729. Website: www.
oregonlegislature.gov/ hansell.
Email: sen.billhansell@oregon-
legislature. gov.
State Rep. Greg Barreto
(58th District/ Cove): Salem
office: 900 Court St. NE., H-384,
Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1458.
Website: www.oregonlegisla-
ture.gov/barreto. Email: rep.
gregbarreto@oregonlegislature.
gov.
State Rep. Greg Smith
(57th District): Salem office:
900 Court St. NE., H-482,
Salem, OR, 97301; 503-986-1457.
Heppner office: P.O. Box 219,
Heppner, OR 97836; 541-676-
5154; Website: www.oregonleg-
islature.gov/smithg. Email: rep.
gregsmith@oregonlegislature.
gov.
City of La Grande: Mayor
Steve Clements, City Manager
Robert Strope; P.O. Box 670,
La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-
1309; fax 541-963-3333.
Union County Commis-
sioners: Donna Beverage, Matt
Scarfo and Paul Anderes; 1106 K
Ave., La Grande, OR 97850; 541-
963-1001; fax 541-963-1079.
Wallowa County Com-
missioners: John Hillock,Todd
Nash and Susan Roberts; 101 S.
River St., Enterprise, OR 97828;
541-426-4543, ext. 11.
Elgin City Councilors:
Mayor Allan Duffy, 501 N 11th
St., 541-437-1016, mayor@
cityofelginor.org; Mary West,
260 N 5th Ave., 541-805-0443,
councilor3@cityofelginor.org;
Kathy Warren, PO Box 697,
541-786-9611, councilor6@
cityofelginor.org; Risa Hallgarth,
PO Box 525, 541-437-9462, coun-
cilor2@cityofelginor.org; Rocky
Burgess, 800 N 14th St., P.O. Box
854, 541-786-2417, councilor1@
cityofelginor.org; David Reed,
1011 Detroit St., PO Box 368;
541-975-3306, councilor4@
cityofelginor.org; Ryan Martin,
councilor5@cityofelginor.org.
La Grande City Council:
Mayor Steve Clements, Gary
Lillard, Nicole Howard, Corrine
Dutto, Mary Ann Miesner, Justin
Rock; city manager’s office, 541-
962-1309.
City of Cove: Mayor Del
Little, 503-508-6727, 504 Alder
St., P.O. Box 8, Cove, OR 97824;
City Recorder Donna Lewis,
(541) 568-4566.