Opinion
A4
Saturday, June 4, 2022
OUR VIEW
A complicated
issue that needs
a resolution
ecent steps by area school offi cials to
ensure students are safe should be good
news to patrons and parents in light of the
recent deadly Uvalde, Texas, massacre.
It is a deeply tragic fact that school shootings
have become a part of our national consciousness,
and the death toll continues to rise every year.
In Texas, 19 young students — children —
were gunned down in yet another senseless binge
of carnage and butchery.
The school shooting phenomenon is a huge
subject, rife with competing theories, views and
fewer solutions but the push to increase secu-
rity in schools across the region — in places like
Union or Wallowa counties — should bring a
degree of comfort to parents and students.
Schools have added cameras, key cards and
limited access over the past few years and
learning centers have established protocols to
respond to an emergency situation. Annual
training of staff and drills for students are also
another positive feature added at area schools.
Police are also deeply involved with mitiga-
tion eff orts. For example, in La Grande, the police
routinely add an extra patrol to school zones
during the morning drop-off period.
That school and police offi cials are focused
on such security measures is a good sign for our
great communities.
The bigger question, though, is what can be
done to stop the school shooting phenomenon.
Punitive gun control measures are frequently
mentioned as one step to stop the massacres but
that suggestion is so loaded with local, state and
constitutional issues it seems like too big a leap.
Better mental health infrastructure for youth
appears to be a viable answer but, again, ques-
tions remain about how to implement such steps
over a nationwide canvas.
There are plenty of laws on the books
regarding guns and a fair question to ask is do we
need even more such edicts?
Perhaps the question is too big, the implica-
tions too complicated to be solved easily or at all.
It seems, though, that for a nation that sent
men to the moon and created grand infrastructure
masterpieces should be able to fi nd a method,
a way forward, to eradicate school bloodbaths.
We are a nation built on the ability to use inge-
nuity and know-how to achieve great things, yet
we seem unable to collectively solve an ongoing
problem such as school shootings.
Widespread and punitive gun control measures
are not the answer and unconstitutional to boot.
Yet, is there no other way to solve this ongoing
problem?
R
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Spring in the Blue Mountains
BILL
ANEY
THIS LAND IS OUR LAND
S
pringtime in the Blue Moun-
tains; I am starting to think this
is my favorite time of year.
One of my goals for this spring
was to see a white-headed wood-
pecker, the only Oregon woodpecker
not on my life list. After going
public with my quest for a white-
headed woodpecker sighting, a
couple of folks gave me a good lead.
So, one day in March I headed over
to Cove, in Union County, where a
resident had assured me she had this
species of woodpecker at her feeders
year-round.
Russ Morgan, a retired Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife
biologist and another birder, joined
me in La Grande and we headed out
with our binoculars and bird books.
The open forest of large diam-
eter ponderosa pine felt like the
right habitat, and I was optimistic
about our chances. We wandered
the property for 45 minutes or so in
a light snow shower, spotting nut-
hatches, chickadees and even a hairy
woodpecker. Eventually two larger
black and white birds showed up at
one of the seed feeders, each grab-
bing a sunfl ower seed and fl ying to
a nearby perch to crack and eat the
morsel.
White-headed woodpecker,
check.
On a diff erent birding mission
last spring, my wife and I found
and photographed nesting great
gray owls and watched as the young
owlets made some of their fi rst
explorations away from their nest
site. This winter, we visited a night-
time roost site for several hundred
gray-crowned rosy fi nches. I love
these kinds of expeditions.
Bird-watching is usually a benign
activity, but I must admit I also enjoy
more consumptive outdoor spring
pursuits. Morel season is upon us by
now and people have been fi nding
them along the Umatilla River and
on the Umatilla National Forest. I so
much enjoy the smell of morels sau-
teing in butter ready for my morning
egg scramble. There’s just something
primal about that odor.
I also enjoy turkey hunting and
use my meanderings during the
spring gobbler season to monitor
the timing of the mushroom crop. I
understand that soil temperature is
an important driver of mushroom
fruiting, but one can also gauge
the season by more right-brained
cues like blooming wildfl owers and
singing birds.
The early blooming plants, such
as grass widow and avalanche lily,
may be a bit too soon for morels,
but I noticed the other day that fairy
slippers had started to bloom in
the same places I was fi nding the
morels. I have also been hearing and
seeing chipping sparrows and moun-
tain bluebirds but no warblers yet.
The other day we came across
fresh wolf sign in our turkey hunting
area. I suspect that wolves may be
hard on turkey populations, as are
coyotes, skunks, raccoons and other
predators. However, I don’t begrudge
these animals the meal provided by
a turkey or their eggs. These preda-
tors are native and belong here; the
turkeys do not. If it comes down to a
wild predator or me getting a turkey,
the wild predator should have it.
Obviously, my opinion isn’t
shared by everyone. East of us, some
people took it upon themselves to
poison an entire pack of wolves in
Union County and shoot several
others in Baker and Union coun-
ties. The reward for information
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█
Bill Aney is a forester and wildlife biologist living
in Pendleton and loving the Blue Mountains.
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leading to the arrest of these miscre-
ants is substantial, perhaps enough
to buy someone a new pickup, and I
am hopeful that a tip will help bring
those responsible to justice. By the
way, the Turn in Poachers hotline
number is 800-452-7888.
Simply put, killing wildlife out of
season without a permit is poaching,
and putting poison bait out in the
fi eld for any animal to fi nd is incred-
ibly irresponsible. The same for
shooting wolves everywhere and
every time they are seen. Wolves are
currently on the federal threatened
and endangered species list, which
puts the federal government in the
driver’s seat.
If the wolf population was healthy
enough to be removed from this list,
management would revert to the
state of Oregon, a better situation for
all of us. Poisoning an entire pack or
indiscriminately killing wolves on
sight in the back country only delays
the recovery of wolves and keeps the
federal government in control.
I agree that we need to remove
those that develop a taste for
domestic livestock; let’s call these
the bad wolves. By the same token
we need to allow the good wolves,
those that stay out of trouble, to sur-
vive, reproduce and pass on their
genes and good habits to future gen-
erations of wolves.
How did I get here? I didn’t intend
this column to end with a lecture
about wolf management. Instead,
I encourage everyone to take a
walk in the woods. Get out there
— whether in search of morels, tur-
keys, woodpeckers or owls, or just to
revive your soul, take advantage of
these bright sunny spring days in our
loved Blue Mountains.
This land is our land — enjoy it.
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