FROM PAGE ONE
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2021
TRAILS
Continued from Page A1
City offi cials at each
end of the proposed trail
are eager to see it accom-
plished, anticipating both
economic and health ben-
efi ts. Elgin, at 1,700 pop-
ulation, has no accessible
trails from downtown,
according to a press release
announcing the grants.
Joseph, with roughly 1,000
people, also will benefi t
from the trail.
Interest at each end
As it turns out, Brock
Eckstein has an offi cial
interest at each end of
the trail. He’s Elgin’s city
administrator and also is
interim city administrator
for Joseph.
“Our city staff , collab-
orating closely with the
Joseph Branch Trail Con-
sortium and WURA, are
prepared to lead and assist
as needed to ensure the
project is a success, because
the potential economic and
health impacts from this
trail for our city, commu-
nity, and region will be
momentous,” said Eckstein
of the benefi ts to Elgin.
“In the future, it’ll be
really great for Joseph,” he
added, lamenting the delays
in the project over acquiring
funding.
A board member of the
Wallowa Union Railroad
Authority, which owns the
right-of-way alongside the
tracks, Eckstein sees the
grants as a step forward in
solving the fi nancial woes
of the project.
“I’m really excited get-
ting two grants,” he said.
One grant, from Oregon
State Parks’ Recreational
Trails Program, will fund
construction of the trail-
LETTER
Continued from Page A1
Heikkila wrote that he
was attaching the draft of
a letter “that could be sent
to Sen. Wyden in advance
of next week’s town hall
meeting on the legislation. I
thought it might make sense
to have it come from a
group of commissioners.”
Heikkila didn’t respond
to emails or voice messages
seeking comment, and
Anderes, the county com-
missioner, didn’t respond to
emails or voice messages
about the matter.
The American Forest
Resource Council is a trade
organization that lobbies for
the timber industry out of
Portland and in Washington,
D.C. The group has a polit-
ical action committee that
contributes to both Repub-
lican and Democratic candi-
dates at the state and federal
level, according to the non-
profi t Open Secrets. Anderes
has not received any con-
tributions from the group,
according to Open Secrets.
The draft letter that
Heikkila sent to Anderes on
Aug. 24 was addressed to
Wyden and posed questions
ahead of a town hall he
hosted later that month.
Within three days,
Anderes and 13 other
Eastern Oregon commis-
sioners signed the letter and
sent it via email, verbatim,
to Wyden’s offi ce. The
letter expressed concern
that the River Democracy
Act would create too many
regulations for agencies to
enforce and leave millions
of fi re-prone acres of forest
untouchable.
“As you know, federal
land management agencies
must navigate an unending
and often confl icting maze
of federal laws, regulations,
and litigation as they seek
to implement land manage-
head, which will also serve
as a pocket park for the city
of Elgin. The trailhead/
pocket park will be on city-
owned land across from the
train depot in downtown
Elgin.
Eckstein said there is a
“time cap” of December
2024 to complete the fi rst
13-mile segment.
“We’re just taking it
piece by piece until we get
the whole thing done,” he
said.
In addition to trail infor-
mation, the trailhead/pocket
park will include an elec-
tric vehicle and e-bike
charging station — the only
one between La Grande and
Enterprise — an Americans
with Disabilities Act-com-
pliant parking place,
ADA-compliant picnic
tables, interpretive signage
about the area’s earliest
inhabitants and more recent
history, a bicycle mainte-
nance stand and a water
fountain.
The Oregon State Parks
grant also will fund con-
struction of the inaugural
0.6 mile of the trail that will
be an ADA-compliant path
running out of town along
the railroad tracks.
A second grant, from
the Oregon Department of
Transportation’s Transpor-
tation Growth Management
program, will fund devel-
opment of a detailed refi ne-
ment plan for the 13-mile
segment of the trail between
Elgin and Lookingglass
in rural Union County on
the Grande Ronde River
near Palmer Junction. This
funding will also support
local outreach and educa-
tion about the trail.
Parts of the trail, near
trailheads located in towns,
will mostly be ADA-com-
pliant and made of hard-
packed gravel, said Gregg
Kleiner, project coordinator
for the consortium.
“The ADA-compliant
sections will accommo-
date electric wheelchairs,
and E-bikes will be allowed
on other parts of the trail,”
Kleiner said in an email.
“Other parts of the trail will
be a more basic gravel trail
that can be used by hikers,
bicyclists and equestrians.
… We we hope it might be
used by local school ath-
letes, like cross-country
teams.”
ment activities and treat
millions of at-risk acres
across Oregon,” the letter
said. “Unfortunately, the
Forest Service and Bureau
of Land Management are
falling far behind the pace
needed to get ahead of the
growing crisis and we are
deeply concerned about any
legislation that would com-
pound the challenges they
face.”
Anderes had earlier
adopted language on the
issue produced by the
American Forest Resource
Council. On Aug. 4, he and
Union County Commis-
sioners Matthew Scarfo
and Donna Beverage issued
a resolution opposing the
River Democracy Act.
Emails obtained by Oregon
Wild showed the resolution
was drafted by Nick Smith,
public aff airs director
for the American Forest
Resource Council, and
emailed to Anderes about a
month before the commis-
sion passed its resolution.
Smith told the Capital
Chronicle that the Amer-
ican Forest Resource
Council urges public offi -
cials to take up their causes,
just like Oregon Wild.
“We have serious con-
cerns about this bill and its
potential to worsen wild-
fi res in Oregon,” he said.
“We encourage elected offi -
cials and organizations to
take positions. If they’re
using that information, and
it sounds like they did, then
they have serious concerns
about the bill and want to
be heard.”
Arran Roberts, com-
munications manager at
Oregon Wild, said, “We
haven’t had someone stick
anything we’ve said on their
letterhead and call it their
own.”
He agreed that advocacy
groups press their positions
with public offi cials.
“We have a role to say
you should do this, ask
these questions. There’s a
diff erence between that and
writing a whole resolution
and having it copied and
pasted,” he said.
Erik Fernandez is wil-
derness program manager
at Oregon Wild. He sought
the public records from
Union County after noticing
similarities between press
releases from the American
Forest Resource Council
and statements from sev-
eral Eastern Oregon county
commissioners.
“The statements, the
talking points, they were
clearly all reading from the
same script,” he said.
“These Eastern Oregon
county commissioners are
criticizing this bill for being
written by Portland envi-
ronmentalists. But here you
have timber industry lobby-
ists based out of D.C. and
Portland talking for them,”
he said.
Smith said that there is a
deep frustration in North-
eastern Oregon and else-
where over the bill.
“There are people in
rural Oregon that have had
their input and concerns
ignored about the bill,” he
said. “We have members
who operate in rural areas,
who employ people in rural
areas, and are in communi-
ties where members would
be deeply aff ected by the
implications of this bill.”
Adding more river miles
to the Wild and Scenic
Rivers system would
impose higher standards for
water quality and more pro-
tection for cultural and rec-
reational values. It could
also mean more land off
limits to logging and log-
ging activities. The Amer-
ican Forest Resource
Council said the proposal
could restrict forest thin-
ning and management
needed to protect the state
from wildfi res.
Grants a perfect fi t
Kleiner, who joined
the consortium as its fi rst
project coordinator in
March, fi nds the grants a
perfect fi t for the project.
“These two grants dove-
tail perfectly and will be
a catalyst for the larger
project, which has been
in the planning stages for
many years now,” Kleiner
said. “This funding will
establish a wonderful, fully
accessible community asset
for residents of Elgin (and
Joseph) to enjoy while also
generating an economic
boost for (each) city from
visitors stopping in town
to hike or bike out of town
along the Grande Ronde
River on the initial trail
segment … or to charge
their electric vehicles.”
He said students enrolled
in Eastern Oregon Universi-
ty’s Sustainable Rural Sys-
tems Program are helping
research and develop con-
tent for the interpretive sig-
nage and other components
of the project.
The project also will help
draw people to the Eagle
Cap Excursion Train, which
runs from the train depot
in Elgin up to Minam and
back about twice a week
from late spring through
fall.
Charles & Eileen
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THE OBSERVER — A5
VETERANS
Continued from Page A1
A long-term home
Scudder was homeless
prior to moving into Veter-
an’s Village Union County,
and he said there are many
other veterans struggling.
Scudder emphasized that
the village gives a fresh
start to veterans who need
a safe and reliable place to
live.
“No drugs or anything
are allowed. This is the
perfect environment,” he
said. “I’m not a people
person. My issues are more
of a personal matter. Being
around other veterans will
be nice. I couldn’t ask for
more. I’m so happy.”
Tsiatsos noted that a
vital part of the project is to
create permanent housing
instead of a temporary stay.
“We wanted it to be a
place someone could call
home for 20 years,” he said.
“We’re hoping to create an
environment where people
will live long term.”
Scudder found out
about the veterans vil-
lage through his VA social
worker, Angel Smith.
Through a program called
HUD-VASH, veterans go
through a screening pro-
cess similar to the Section
8 housing process. The
program guides veterans
in need of rental assistance
who have experienced
homelessness.
The housing authority
does the fi nancial
screening and background
checks, while Smith pro-
vides ongoing case man-
agement, drug and alcohol
counseling and any other
services the veterans may
need for at least a year
after fi nding a new resi-
dence. The aim is to make
sure the veterans are
able to stay successfully
housed.
“It really is a great pro-
gram for veterans,” Smith
said.
The HUD-VASH pro-
gram bases rental rates
on gross monthly income
adjusted according to
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Francis Weatherwax stands in the doorway of his new home at
Veteran’s Village Union County on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. He is
among the U.S. military veterans who were selected to live in the
community of cottage-style homes in La Grande.
the individual’s needs,
including obstacles such
as mental health, drug and
alcohol abuse or physical
disabilities.
“It helps promote an
environment where vet-
erans can help each other
out,” Blais said.
Gold standard
Tsiatsos said he thinks
Veteran’s Village Union
County is a model that
other communities can
mirror to alleviate veteran
homelessness.
“We’re hoping that
maybe other communities
will come see this and try
to model a similar design.
It doesn’t have to be per-
manent, but I think per-
manent housing is more
rare than transitional, so to
me there’s more value to a
community there,” Tsiatsos
said. “I think once people
see that and see that the liv-
ability is sustainable, then
it might be something other
communities will want to
do.”
Having been home-
less himself and knowing
many veterans who face
similar issues, Scudder
emphasized that communi-
ties like Veteran’s Village
Union County can be life
changing.
“I feel like a whole
person again,” Scudder
said. “I can’t tell you how
excited and thrilled I feel.”
GCT Land Management
is in the process of creating
another veterans village
in Baker City, which will
include nine one-bedroom
homes and three two-bed-
room homes.
The city of La Grande
and the planning commis-
sion adopted a code change
in 2018 that allowed for
the construction of cot-
tage-style homes and small
dwelling units. Tsiatsos
was the fi rst to make major
plans after the code change,
bringing the veterans vil-
lage to life.
“It’s one of those things
Gust became more and
more passionate about and
got a lot of folks behind
it,” La Grande Commu-
nity Development Director
Mike Boquist said. “The
city is very supportive of
his project.”
A new beginning
For Scudder and
the future veteran ten-
ants of the village, the
micro-neighborhood pro-
vides an essential piece in
getting back on one’s feet
— a place to call home.
With the goal of cre-
ating a model to help vet-
eran homelessness around
the state, Tsiatsos has
spoken with other com-
munities about similar
possibilities.
“Most of the communi-
ties now have the cottage
home ordinance in place,
so they can bring that den-
sity into their communities
because housing is in such
short supply across the
nation right now,” he said.
National Rural Health Day 11-18-21
National Rural Health Day is an opportunity to
“Celebrate the Power of Rural”
by honoring the selfless, community-minded
spirit that prevails in rural America. Rural
medicine has been called the purest form of
health care. Our technology may be state of the
art, but our people are as timeless as
the landscape that surrounds us.
Keep it real – keep it close to home – keep it
rural. That’s how we do health care.