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November 4, 2016
CapitalPress.com
5
Critics say monument proposal would Opponents: Owyhee monument
nix logging, grazing, hurt economy
designation will infl ame divisions
By TIM HEARDEN
Area in
detail
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Cascade-
Siskiyou
National
Monument
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Medford
238
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Ashland
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Cattle and timber industry
representatives say the pro-
posed expansion of the Cas-
cade-Siskiyou National Mon-
ument will lead to lost grazing
lands and timber production
and injure the area’s economy.
In October, Oregon Sens.
Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden,
both Democrats, asked the
U.S. Department of the Interi-
or to expand the monument’s
border by about 50,000 acres,
much of which would involve
Bureau of Land Management
lands.
The existing 62,000-acre
monument in Southern Or-
egon was designated by
then-President Bill Clinton in
2000.
A loss of cattle grazing
in the area that abuts the Or-
egon-California state line
would result in increased
wildfi re fodder in an already
dry, hot and fi re-prone area,
the Oregon Cattlemen’s Asso-
ciation says.
Moreover, adjacent private
landowners could lose access
to their properties if roads
are not maintained or gates
become permanently locked,
said Jerome Rosa, the OCA’s
executive director.
“Quite a bit of it is really,
really prime grazing ground,”
said Rosa, who recently
toured the area.
“This is prime land that
also is very, very susceptible
to fi re and lightning strikes
hitting that area,” he said.
“We saw knee-high oats in the
area. It’s drier than dry.”
The designation would be
R og
ue R
ive
Capital Press
ORE.
CALIF.
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10 miles
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
“potentially devastating” to
the timber industry, taking “a
lot of volume off the table,”
said Travis Joseph, president
of the American Forest Re-
source Council.
Existing timber sales on
the land “could be grand-
fathered in,” he said, “but
we’ve seen with other mon-
ument proposals that tim-
ber sales that are grandfa-
thered in don’t actually get
implemented.”
The move could have an
impact on Southern Oregon
and Northern California mills
that purchase timber, noted
Mark Pawlicki, Sierra Pacifi c
Industries’ director of corpo-
rate affairs and sustainability.
Merkley held a hastily
scheduled meeting Oct. 14
in Ashland to gather input
on the proposal, and about
100 people showed up. He
is taking written comments
through Nov. 20 and plans to
give them to President Barack
Obama.
“It’s important to Senator
Merkley that all interested Or-
egonians are able to weigh in
on” the proposal, “including
the agricultural community
and especially any producers
who believe their operations
may be affected,” spokes-
woman Martina McLennan
told the Capital Press in an
email.
If the monument is ex-
panded, there will be oppor-
tunities for input on how the
area would be managed, she
said.
But critics say many in
opposition to the proposal
didn’t know about Merk-
ley’s meeting or didn’t have
time to prepare. A town-hall
meeting by Jackson County
commissioners on Oct. 27 to
discuss the monument drew
about 400 people, and Klam-
ath County commissioners
were set to hold their own
hearing on the proposal on
Nov. 1.
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Press
Designating a new nation-
al monument in the Owyhee
Canyonlands would “infl ame
and deepen divisions in our
communities” in the wake of
the surprise not-guilty ver-
dicts in the Malheur occupiers
trial, a southeastern Oregon
group said.
In an open letter to Pres-
ident Barack Obama, who
has authority to declare a
new monument and has done
so several times in recent
months, the Owyhee Basin
Stewardship Coalition said the
verdict “does little to heal the
wounds created in our state
and nation by the unfortunate
events of the past year.”
A federal court jury in Port-
land acquitted seven defen-
dants Oct. 27 of conspiring to
keep federal employees from
doing their jobs during the
occupation of the Malheur Na-
tional Wildlife Refuge head-
quarters outside Burns, Ore.
The occupation touched off
a heated debate about federal
land management. The possi-
bility that Obama would desig-
nate the Owyhee Canyonlands
monument is seen as a contin-
uation of that argument. Local
residents have asked him not
Capital Press File
A sign posted in Jordan Valley, Ore., opposes the Owyhee Canyon-
lands National Monument in Malheur County. In light of the acquit-
tal of those who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the
Owyhee Basin Stewardship Coalition has asked President Barack
Obama not to designate the monument.
to do it in what has become a
“troubling and volatile atmo-
sphere.”
The stewardship coalition’s
letter said the president’s au-
thority to designate a monu-
ment without congressional
approval “should be exercised
with caution and careful con-
sideration.” The group urged
Obama to consult with Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown, Sens. Ron
Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who
represents Eastern Oregon in
Congress.
The Bend-based environ-
mental group Oregon Natural
Desert Association, backed
by the Keen Footwear, has
proposed a 2.5 million-acre
Owyhee Canyonlands wilder-
ness and conservation area.
Critics say the area is bigger
than the Yellowstone, Yosemite
or Grand Canyon national parks
and would cover 40 percent of
Oregon’s Malheur County.
Local opposition is strong.
Opponents believe designation
would ban or severely restrict
grazing, mining, hunting and
other recreation. Proponents
have said traditional land uses
will be allowed, but opposi-
tion leaders doubt it.
USDA
deregulates
newest
generation of
Innate spuds
Capital Press
BOISE — The USDA has
deregulated two more pota-
toes from the second gener-
ation of J.R. Simplot Co.’s
Innate line of spuds, which
were developed using bio-
technology.
Simplot announced the ap-
proval of Innate Ranger Rus-
sets and Atlantics on Oct. 28.
The approval follows USDA’s
deregulation of second-gener-
ation Innate Russet Burbanks
in August of 2015, which was
followed by U.S. Food and
Drug Administration approval
in January.
Ranger is a late-maturing
variety used both as a baker
and for making fries.
Atlantic is a mid-season
chipping variety.
The second generation of
Innate contains traits to help
both growers and consumers,
including reduced bruising
and black spots, late blight
disease resistance, reduced
levels of a chemical tied to
accumulation of a potential-
ly unhealthy chemical found
in certain fried foods called
acrylamide and enhanced cold
storage.
According to a Simplot
press release, researchers con-
sulted by the company esti-
mate the late blight resistance
trait can reduce the need for
fungicide applications by half.
Furthermore, the potatoes
can be stored at 38 degrees for
more than six months without
increased sugar levels, which
improves fry quality, accord-
ing to the press release.
The two varieties now
await Environmental Protec-
tion Agency registration and a
FDA consultation before they
can enter the marketplace.
Innate lines utilize genes
from wild and cultivated pota-
toes introduced using biotech-
nology, which has led to con-
cerns by some in the industry
that the product could affect
foreign trade markets where
consumers are wary of geneti-
cally modifi ed organisms.
The fi rst generation of In-
nate, which offered low bruis-
ing, non-browning and low
acrylamide, was approved by
FDA in March of 2014 and
saw its fi rst signifi cant com-
mercial production in 2015.
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