A8 — THE OBSERVER
POLITICS
Fagan
unveils
plan to
set up
board
By DICK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
SALEM — If the last
110 years are any indica-
tion, Secretary of State
Shemia Fagan could have
a big say in the makeup of
Oregon state House and
Senate districts for the next
decade.
While state lawmakers
technically get the fi rst
crack at drawing new polit-
ical districts every 10 years,
they have succeeded in
passing a legal plan just
twice since 1911. If they
fail this year, the hugely
important job of creating
state legislative maps falls
to Fagan. But the Demo-
cratic secretary says she’ll
have help.
In step with a pledge she
made on the campaign trail
last year, Fagan is planning
to form a “People’s Com-
mission” to off er thoughts
on what maps should look
like, should the job fall to
her.
“Our goal is that our
commission will refl ect
the regional diversity of
Oregon, the racial and
ethnic diversity of Oregon,
and really provide that
input,” Fagan said in an
interview Wednesday, sug-
gesting the process would
be the “most inclusive”
Oregon has ever seen in a
redistricting eff ort.
Beginning Thursday,
Aug. 5, Fagan’s offi ce is
opening up a web portal
where Oregonians can
apply for the new com-
mittee, which would only
be convened if lawmakers
fail to pass their own plans.
To qualify, applicants
must be at least 16 and have
lived in Oregon since April
2020. But there are a lot of
things potential commis-
sioners can’t be, too: cur-
rent or recent lawmakers,
current or recent lobbyists,
candidates for offi ce, and
legislative or party staff .
Depending on how
many applicants it receives,
the Secretary of State’s
Offi ce plans to select up
to 20 commission mem-
bers, with a focus on people
with diverse experience and
backgrounds, and a goal
to include people from all
fi ve of Oregon’s congres-
sional districts. Commis-
sioners will be paid for their
time — $100 per half day,
and $150 per full day —
and be expected to attend
a training, fi ve public hear-
ings, and a fi nal “debrief”
meeting to off er input.
States throughout the
country have increas-
ingly opted to take the job
of drawing political maps
from lawmakers with a
vested interest in that pro-
cess and put it in the hands
of independent redistricting
commissions.
Typically these com-
missions contain the same
amount of Republicans
and Democrats to guard
against attempts to draw
maps in either party’s favor.
Depending on the state,
they also might include
people not affi liated with
any major party.
Washington, California,
and Idaho have all adopted
a commission model for
redistricting, but a cam-
paign last year that would
have asked Oregon voters
to approve such a system
failed to gather enough sig-
natures. Supporters are now
hoping to place the ques-
tion on the 2022 ballot,
with the goal of forcing a
fresh redistricting process if
voters approve. Meanwhile,
minority Republicans have
called for Democratic law-
makers to send a commis-
sion proposal to voters on
their own, but have found
little interest.
OREGON
SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 2021
Umatilla County farmer pitches in to fi ght fi re
Lloyd Piercy
helps fight Elbow
Creek Fire in
Wallowa County
By BRYCE DOLE
East Oregonian
ECHO — Lloyd Piercy
was looking for a bit of
adventure.
Piercy, who turns 70
on Aug. 12, spent the last
few weeks helping fi ght
the Elbow Creek Fire with
a team of more than 400
fi refi ghters in the Blue
Mountains near Troy. A
self-described adrenaline
junky, he drove a bull-
dozer and cleared roads
and cut fi re breaks for fi re
crews.
But it had been more
than two decades since he
worked for a fi re depart-
ment near Moses Lake,
Washington.
“It was kind of fun,”
said Piercy, a longtime
Echo resident and farmer
who owns wineries outside
of the town.
The fi re has so far
burned through roughly
22,960 acres in Ore-
gon’s Grande Ronde River
Valley, according to the
Oregon Department of
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Echo farmer Lloyd Piercy poses for a portrait with his Caterpillar
D6N on Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Stanfi eld. Piercy spent several
weeks using his bulldozer to help cut fi relines and roads at the El-
bow Creek Fire near Troy.
Forestry, which on Aug.
2 reported was 95% con-
tained, up from 50% last
week. The forestry depart-
ment also reported its
Type 1 Incident Manage-
ment Team 3 handed man-
agement of the fi re to a
smaller Type 3 organiza-
tion on Aug. 3.
After heading up to
the town of Maxville,
in Wallowa County, to
help a friend protect his
cows from the wildfi res
that had begun to sweep
through the nearby moun-
tains weeks ago, Piercy
got a call from fi refi ghters
asking if he could bring his
bulldozer to help them in
the fi ght.
For more than a week,
he said he was positioned
at the heart of the fi re,
where the embers hopped
over the roads and smoke
trails ran up the hills
among the steep canyons.
But when he arrived, he
realized most bulldozers
were attached with more
safety equipment than his.
He felt somewhat out of
his league, he said, but he
added there were plenty of
men around his age driving
tractors.
“It’s a job for loggers,”
Piercy said, “not farmers.”
One night, he got the
opportunity to push a trail
with his dozer through
what he described as a
hotspot.
“It was exciting,” he
said. “I felt protected
because of everyone
around me, but I also know
there’s a level of protection
they can’t off er you in a
fi re. A lot of smoke.”
Piercy said he was fas-
cinated by the way fi re-
fi ghters used science,
weather patterns and other
strategies to curb the
spread of the blaze.
He also said he was
pleased with the effi ciency
of supporters, noting
the large meals his team
received throughout the
day, which he estimated
to be thousands of calo-
ries daily. Each morning
they received fresh coff ee,
hash browns, eggs, sau-
sage, cold cereal, milk and
juice. During the day, they
ate sandwiches, vegetables,
apples, canned tuna, bags
of nuts and chips. Every
night they received a salad
and a warm meal.
“It’s logistically
amazing,” he said.
Restaurants in towns
up to two hours away over
windy gravel roads fi xed
meals for the fi refi ghters.
Schools received funds
for allowing fi refi ghters to
camp in their yards. Every-
body in town who wanted
to work and help out could
get a job, he said. They
were serious about saving
their forests.
“It’s an industry,” he
said. “It energizes those
towns.”
Although he enjoyed the
experience, Piercy said he
doubts he’ll ever fi ght a fi re
like the Elbow Creek Fire
again.
“I’ve realized,” he said,
“this is probably a young
man’s work.”
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