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About Capital press. (Salem, OR) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 2017)
6 CapitalPress.com January 20, 2017 Editorials are written by or approved by members of the Capital Press Editorial Board. All other commentary pieces are the opinions of the authors but not necessarily this newspaper. Opinion Editorial Board Publisher Editor Managing Editor John Perry Joe Beach Carl Sampson opinions@capitalpress.com Online: www.capitalpress.com/opinion O UR V IEW Owyhee monument plan shelved? the monument proposal. We don’t know why the proposal has been shelved, or if it really has been shelved. It could be the administration thinks the designation would be too inflammatory, given the area’s proximity to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the site of last year’s armed occupation by followers of the Bundy clan. It could be Obama chose an easier target, instead expanding the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Southern Oregon earlier this month. If the president doesn’t proclaim the Owyhee Canyonlands a national monument, it’s a near certainty that such a designation won’t be made during the Trump administration. The president has the sole authority under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate land owned by the federal government as a national monument. We are encouraged that Congress is considering curbing executive authority under the Antiquities Act, if not repealing the law outright. Congress, the affected states and local residents should have more say over such designations, and the restrictions that accompany them. O UR V IEW Ore. Idaho 26 Proposed national Ontario conservation area Nyssa 78 Jordan Valley Burns Junction Idaho Ore. and conservation area would cover 40 percent of Malheur County — about 2.5 million acres of what is now controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. Residents believe the designation would be accompanied by restrictions and regulations that would prohibit or severely complicate grazing, mining, hunting and recreation. While proponents say traditional uses of the land will be allowed, local opponents don’t believe them. When the locals put it to a non-binding vote — because locals really don’t get a vote — 90 percent of Malheur County voters opposed Ore. BAKER O O regon Sen. Jeff Merkley told OPB Sunday that Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewel told him the proposed Owyhee Canyonlands National Monument in Eastern Oregon’s Malheur County has been shelved. Merkley says he doubts President Obama will make the proclamation before leaving offi ce Friday. That’s encouraging, but at this writing Obama still has time to make the proclamation. Backed by the Oregon Natural Desert Association and Portland’s Keen Shoes, the proposed Owyhee Canyonlands wilderness Area in detail 95 Ore. McDermitt Nev. N 95 20 miles Alan Kenaga/Capital Press O UR V IEW Paleo diet just another food fad F What Mother Nature takes away, she can also restore B ig storms over the past few weeks have dumped enough snow and rain on California to end drought conditions in 40 Percent of the historic average snow water percent of the state, according to equivalent for Jan. 11, measured in inches. the U.S. Drought Monitor. Mother Nature is fi ckle. What Northern Sierra/Trinity: she takes away she can restore with 131% of normal Redding a fury. 5 As of Jan. 13, California’s snow- Central Sierra: 156% of normal water content had vaulted to 163 Sacramento percent of normal statewide after 80 Southern being just 70 percent of normal two Sierra: San Francisco weeks earlier. 187% of normal Fresno The snow water equivalent N in the Northern Sierra was 132 50 miles 5 percent of normal, 163 percent in 15 Bakersfield 40 the Central Sierra and 197 percent Statewide Los Angeles average: 158% in the South. 10 Many of California’s reservoirs Source: California Dept. of Water Resources are well above historical averages 8 Alan Kenaga/Capital Press for this time of year. Shasta Lake, the Central Valley Project’s main reservoir, was at 81 percent of It’s too early to entirely call an capacity as of Jan. 15 and 126 percent end to California’s six years of of average, while Lake Oroville, drought. Winters can start wet and the chief reservoir for the State end dry. But in the short run it’s Water Project, was at 80 percent of good news for just about everyone capacity, or 126 percent of average, in a state that’s been parched. according to the Department of Water We’re told that the recent Resources. intense storms are something of California snow water equivalents an anomaly, described as an atmospheric river. Because you never know when it’s going to rain and snow, it only makes sense to bank as much as you can — a little something for a non-rainy day. In 2014 California voters approved Proposition 1, a $7.5 billion water bond to pay for water infrastructure projects. The bond sets aside $2.7 billion for large storage projects. The $3.6 billion Sites Reservoir project is one of several around the state that have been identified for potential funding under Proposition 1. Another project expected to seek funding is the $2.5 billion Temperance Flat Reservoir near Fresno. One way to manage our water resources is to make sure excess runoff during the wet winters is stored either in reservoirs or in aquifers. That’s obvious when it’s bone dry. While water appears now to be more plentiful, the exigency for more water storage still exists. ads come and go, and diet fads are no different. Just as poodle skirts and Bobby socks gained popularity and disappeared during the 1950s, new diet fads will come and go — as long as there’s money to be made. In a sense, diet fads are indicators of two conditions. One, people want to take good care of themselves, and will do the strangest things to do that. And two, ours is a society rich enough so we can eat anything, and as much of it, as we want. People in a Third World nation gripped by famine do not worry about whether they need to go gluten-free. In the U.S., if people want to eat a diet of possum and grits, good for them. If they want to eat non-fat, non-GMO and non-everything else, that’s fi ne, too. Just don’t try to argue that everyone else must follow the same regimen. Diet fads are nothing knew. A quick search of the Amazon online bookstore turned up more than 1,000 diet books of various types. They ranged from the Water Diet to the Clean Food Diet to the Bone Broth Diet — and almost everything else you can imagine. The “Badass Body Diet” was one that caught our eye. It’s clear there’s no limit to the creativity of those who cook up diets. It’s the American way: to come up with a shtick and try to make money from it. One fad that has gained attention on talk shows and blogs is the Paleolithic diet. It is patterned after what was eaten during the Paleolithic period, which was between 2.5 million and 10,000 years ago. Followers of this diet forsake such foods as dairy, potatoes and grains — anything that the typical caveman would not have eaten. It should be noted that the Paleo diet also leaves out mice, insects, tree bark and other nutrient sources that Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble may have eaten to hold them over during the long winter, when berries and other foods were not available. Some farmers and others in the food industry rankle at the thought of someone targeting their crop as a way to sell books. We completely understand that. A dietitian will tell you that a well-rounded diet that includes all the major food groups offers the best overall health. We agree. One problem with the fad all-or-nothing diets is they don’t teach good eating habits. If a person loads up on proteins but neglects other foods, he or she will ultimately become less healthy. It’s also ironic that some food faddists pick on potatoes, which possess all of the nutrients a person needs to stay healthy. In fact, some people have lived exclusively on potatoes for years. Food fads will continue to come and go. Today’s Paleo diet will be replaced by some other diet, and that will in turn give way to something else. As long as there’s money to be made with diet and recipe books, that’s the way it will go. The best diet, though, includes advice mothers have offered for millennia: All foods in moderation. No one will ever come up with a better diet. Readers’ views Share the joy of having wolves around The way the state of Wash- ington is handling wolves, people like John Browne of Vashon Island have no skin in the game. Why don’t they petition the state of Washington to import a breeding pair of wolves to Vashon Island and every county in Western Washington? That way they could share the joy and fun that farmers and ranchers are experiencing in Eastern Washington. Maybe it would be cheap- er for the state of Washington to just sell hunting tags for wolves. Let hunters control the number of wolves killing livestock. That way the state and communities affected by wolves would reap some eco- nomic benefi ts. Laurence C. Pederson Carson City, Nev. EPA protects environment I just don’t hold the same view as you regarding the EPA. You continue to harangue about the abuses of the EPA “going overboard” and “trying to put the screws to farmers, ranchers and for- esters across the West” as per your recent editorial (“Another environmental pipe dream”, Dec. 23). In the same editorial you applaud how, when a farm- er is found to be polluting, he “will do his level best to rectify it” (Cow Palace, Sunnyside, Wash.) The inference is that the EPA wouldn’t be needed to tell the farmer to do the right thing. It needs to be pointed out, however, that the dairy farmer didn’t decide on his own to install the double liners in his storage lagoons, but rather as a result of a lawsuit settlement involv- ing himself and an environ- mental group and the EPA, whose studies identified his operation to be contributing to the polluting of neigh- boring residents’ drinking water. I’m sure the EPA does go overboard, but I per- sonally view many of their rules and regulations more as “protections” for our environment and the pub- lic rather than “regula- tions” to put the screws to anybody. Bruce Schwartz The Dalles, Ore.