Friday, March 8, 2019
CapitalPress.com
9
NE Oregon planners put brakes on rail-to-trail plan
By KATY NESBITT
For the Capital Press
ENTERPRISE, Ore. —
The Wallowa County Plan-
ning Commission denied
an application requesting a
conditional use permit for a
non-motorized trail between
Joseph and Enterprise at its
Feb. 26 meeting.
Garrett Stephenson, rep-
resenting the Joseph Branch
Trail Consortium, said the
application he prepared
demonstrates how the trail
would neither force a signifi-
cant change on the surround-
ing land, dedicated to farm
and forest practices, nor cre-
ate a significant increase to
the cost of farming — crite-
ria required by state law.
The 100-page applica-
tion addressed several spe-
cific concerns as well, raised
in a series of public forums
and private meetings with
landowners, such as pri-
vacy, crime, litter, dog-live-
stock interaction, trespass,
liability and lower property
values.
“We did a ton of research
into every trail in the entire
nation and how people live
with them,” Stephenson
said.
Building a trail for horse-
Courtesy photo
The Wallowa County, Ore., Planning Commission has denied the Joseph Branch Trail
Consortium’s application for a conditional use permit to develop a trail along the
railroad tracks between Joseph and Enterprise.
back riding, bicycling, run-
ning and walking along the
63-mile Joseph Branch Rail-
road from Elgin to Joseph
has been a desire of many
residents since Union and
Wallowa counties purchased
the line nearly 20 years ago.
In 2014 Oregon Parks
and Recreation teamed up
with Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity to develop a feasibil-
ity study. When it was com-
pleted, the Wallowa Union
Railroad Authority, owner
of the line, gave the Trail
Consortium permission to
pursue funding to build the
trail in segments. The six
miles from Joseph to Enter-
prise was identified as one of
the least expensive areas in
which to build and a stretch
that would likely be heavily
used.
On Feb. 26, ahead of tes-
timony by dozens of Wal-
lowa County citizens for
and against the application,
Franz Goebel, the county
Planning Director, recom-
mended the planning com-
mission approve the con-
ditional use permit for the
proposed 10-foot wide trail
stretching from the Joseph
Rodeo Grounds to the Marr
Pond Wildlife Area on the
edge of Enterprise.
Dr. Ken Rose, a surgeon
at Wallowa Memorial Hos-
pital, spoke on behalf of the
medical community in sup-
port of the trail at the pub-
lic hearing at Cloverleaf
Hall. He said exercise helps
prevent disease and early
mortality.
“We have a lot of mem-
bers of the community with
high blood pressure, diabe-
tes, heart disease and obe-
sity,” Rose said. “I think
it is a great idea to put this
underutilized facility into
use.”
A local botanist and avid
skier, Jerry Hustafa said he
grew up along a similar trail
that connects an urban area
to Lake Michigan, winding
through the small towns in
between.
“I know the trail is going
to change a sense of privacy
and we are asking a portion
of the community to accept
that change — the rest (of
the concerns) can be miti-
gated,” Hustafa said.
David Schmidt, owner
of Integrated Biomass
Resources, a small mill in
the lower Wallowa Valley
bordering the railroad, said
he sees anglers use the cor-
ridor to access fishing holes
and people who rent pedal
powered rail riders every
day during the summer.
“Our experiences have
been great,” Schmidt said.
“As for the concerns from
friends who oppose the trail
because of a loss of privacy,
I tell them we own a mill
with 25 employees and lots
of equipment and no one
stops and looks at what we
are doing.”
It was 10 p.m. by the
time the supporters had fin-
ished their arguments and
the opposition lined up at the
podium.
Josh Hulse of Wallowa
said he owns land adjacent
to the railroad. He worried
the trail would eventually be
extended down to his prop-
erty at some point in the
future.
“The main aspect of that
property is privacy,” Hulse
said.
Velda Bales said she lives
near the railroad outside
Enterprise.
“We don’t want dogs
running loose and pooping
everywhere and I don’t want
to look out my window and
see an outhouse or someone
relieving themselves,” Bales
said.
The commission voted
5-1 to deny the application
shortly before midnight.
Penny Arentsen, pres-
ident of the Trail Consor-
tium, said her board of direc-
tors will decide whether to
appeal the commission’s
decision when the planning
director releases his findings
March 26.
Idaho Sheriffs’ Association Counties petition feds for national forest access
opposes industrial hemp bill
By KATY NESBITT
For the Capital Press
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
The Idaho Sheriffs’ Associa-
tion has announced its opposition
to House Bill 122, which would
legalize the production of indus-
trial hemp in the state.
The bill lacks a mechanism for
testing agricultural hemp for meet-
ing the standards set forth by Idaho
HB 122 and federal law and lacks
a method to pay for staff monitor-
ing, testing and lab analysis, asso-
ciation president and Kootenai
County Sheriff Ben Wolfinger said
in a news release.
The 2018 Farm Bill legalized
industrial hemp, defined as con-
taining no more than 0.3 percent
of psychoactive tetrahydrocan-
nabinols (THC), if growers and
processors follow procedures set
by USDA and state agriculture
departments.
“Unlike field tests used by law
enforcement to detect the presence
of THC, there are no field tests
that can perform quantitative anal-
ysis to determine THC concentra-
tions,” Wolfinger said. “In fact,
Idaho State Police forensic labora-
tories do not have the capability to
do quantitative analysis in any of
their labs and must send samples
out of state for lab testing at con-
siderable expense.”
However, Idaho Rep. Doro-
thy Moon, R-Stanley, in a Feb.
18 hearing on HB 122 before the
House Agricultural Affairs Com-
mittee, said there is a new road-
side test that can determine THC
content and distinguish hemp from
marijuana.
The committee did not vote
on the bill Feb. 18, a federal holi-
day, because it wanted more input
from police and prosecutors. Only
Idaho, Nebraska and South Dakota
have not legalized hemp in some
form.
As for funding, Wolfinger said,
“It is not right that the taxpayers
of Idaho should pay for these reg-
ulatory considerations and allow
those few who would profit from
hemp production to not be held
responsible for the cost of their
chosen industry.”
In its text, House Bill 122 does
not establish a funding mecha-
nism. But an attached fiscal note
estimates startup and other costs,
and says current and ongoing costs
would be at least partly offset by
fees — charged to growers, trans-
porters and processors — as deter-
mined by administrative rule-mak-
ing that follows enactment of new
legislation.
“This introduction of hemp
without proper safeguards in
place is the proverbial camel’s
nose under the tent with growing
marijuana in Idaho,” Wolfinger
said.
Idaho has an opportunity to be
preventive as the state explores
hemp, he said.
ENTERPRISE, Ore. — Six
Eastern Oregon counties signed a
petition last week asking the U.S.
Forest Service to waive the agen-
cy’s travel management planning
process for the Wallowa-Whitman
and Malheur National forests.
Mark Owens, Harney County
commissioner, said county rep-
resentatives hand delivered their
request to Forest Service Chief
Vicky Christensen during meet-
ings of the National Association of
Counties in Washington, D.C. on
March 1-7.
“We want the Forest Service to
take travel management planning,
on that scale, off the table,” Owens
said. “We can handle road closures
through individual projects.”
The petition, signed by com-
missioners in Baker, Union, Wal-
lowa, Malheur, Grant and Harney
counties, asks the Forest Service
to exempt the Wallowa-Whitman
and Malheur National forests from
the 2005 “Travel Management
Rule” that closes cross-country
travel and roads deemed redun-
dant, in poor condition or causing
harm to fish and wildlife.
The petition says that with the
abundance of heavily used motor-
ized roads and trails within the two
forests and the protections already
in place, exempting the Wal-
lowa-Whitman and Malheur from
the 2005 rule would uphold public
values and protect rural communi-
ties from the costs of applying the
EO Media Group File
Six Eastern Oregon counties will deliver a letter to the head of
the U.S. Forest Service seeking more local input on decisions
impacting access to the Malheur and Wallowa-Whitman National
Forests.
rule’s restrictions and prohibitions.
Susan Roberts, chair of the
Eastern Oregon Counties Associ-
ation said, “Over time these two
forests have had multiple road clo-
sures and access is becoming more
difficult for grazers, firefighting
and general access to the forest.”
State Sen. Bill Hansell rep-
resents two of the counties that
signed the petition — Union and
Wallowa. In a letter addressed to
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny
Perdue, he wrote he supports the
petition for the economic future of
Eastern Oregon’s rural counties.
“Federal forest policies over
the last three decades have dev-
astated the economies of the once
timber-dependent areas and as the
local governments and citizens
have struggled to diversify, the
ability to access the federal lands
is vital,” Hansell said.
The petition addresses a lack of
consideration for the people who
live in communities adjacent to
the Malheur and Wallowa-Whit-
man national forests and says the
forests’ 1990 plan “adequately
balances multiple-use consider-
ations” while providing plenty of
guidance for development, main-
tenance and management of the
forests’ road systems built for tim-
ber management, recreation, for-
est administration and resource
protection.
Donna Beverage, chair of the
Union County Commission, said
the counties aren’t asking for new
roads or money to maintain exist-
ing roads, but to allow the coun-
ties to be involved when road clo-
sures are included in forest project
planning.
“We want decisions to be made
on a case-by-case level and let
local people be part of those deci-
sions,” Beverage said.
10-4/106