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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (May 8, 2015)
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3 FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2015 Business & Ag FAFA reflects on recent meetings • MIXED REVIEWS COME IN FOR LAST WEEK’S USFS RE-ENGAGEMENT MEETING News@TheBakerCountyPress.com USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov — Cattle Market Report — Kerry McQuisten /The Baker County Press L-R, Chuck Chase, Bobbie Danser, Ramona Creighton and John Creighton dis- cuss details for the upcoming FAFA Banquet. More than 80 auction/door prize donation items have been received in support of this fundraiser. an invitation to Montoya to meet possibly three on three, possibly monthly, to at least maintain steady communications. Many in the room expressed overall frustra- tion—with Wanda Ballard summing up the sentiment best: “We want the roads open. All the roads. It’s pretty simple.” Baker County Chair of the Board of Commission- ers, Bill Harvey, told the group that Montoya has agreed to meet with the County in an open public meeting each month with the time, place, and loca- tion still to be determined. The discussion then turned toward yet another meeting from last week: the April 29th County Commissioners’ meeting that was held with Forest Service representatives, including Montoya. Harvey expressed that the meeting was a “great format, respectful and polite.” Two others in the room said they saw the meeting more as “lip service.” All who attended that meeting, including Harvey, were unable to yet determine what outcome those meetings would have, but Harvey stressed he had emphasized setting one goal at a time and following up to make sure that goal was completed with the Forest Service by the next meeting. As always, maintaining the County’s strongest le- gal stance through coordi- nation rather than coopera- tion was touched upon. “The Forest Service knows we know what coordination is and what cooperation is,” Harvey said. Harvey assured FAFA, “Coordination is how we will legally work together.” He stated the County will remain firm, even if there is confusion in others, including some within the County’s Natural Resourc- es Advisory Committee (NRAC). At least a dozen FAFA members in the room expressed concern about the “warm fuzzy” approach some members of the NRAC seemed to desire. Accuracy of Forest Ser- vice Road maps was also discussed—the same topic as addressed at the County Commissioners session. FAFA members recollected how earlier Forest Service maps listed many more roads than current maps, and called accuracy into question. Harvey assured, “We’re not accepting anything right now. We want to de- velop a baseline.” (Regard- ing the map to adopt.) He went on to say that since the Forest Service is oper- ating under the 1990 Forest Plan, the forest is open. “There’s no legitimate reason to make these roads closed. Remove the red!” Harvey praised fellow commissioner Mark Ben- nett’s questioning of the current map situation and said they want to sit down with Montoya and go over the maps in detail, making sure they’re as correct as humanly possible before presenting a new map to the public. Several Grant County residents also attended, and expressed wishes that Grant County would strongly stand for coordi- nation. “The work the Forest Service has done so far this year is minimal to what needs to happen for the public to be fully engaged in the process,” said Judy Kerr with Citizens for Pub- lic Access, of John Day, in a press release. “We continue to point out the shortcomings of the Forest Plan Revision yet the For- est Service continues to ig- nore those concerns as they always have. They will not make an opportunity to meet with the larger body of residents in the region who are interested in the issue and are dispropor- tionately impacted by the decisions in this plan.” The remainder of time during the meeting was spent discussing house- keeping items such as details of the upcoming FAFA Banquet on May 16 at which coordination/co- operation expert, attorney Fred Kelly Grant, will be guest speaker. Additional information about the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision and FAFA is available online at forestaccessforall.org. The Blue Mountain Forest Plan Revision will impact both Eastern Oregon, South- eastern Washington and a small section of Western Idaho. Walk the Moon gets ‘stranded’ here • BILLBOARD TOP 100 BAND TAKES UNEXPECTED STOP IN BAKER CITY BY KERRY McQUISTEN News@TheBakerCountyPress.com “It’s not a bad spot to be stranded for a few hours!” said Walk the Moon drum- mer, Sean Waugaman. Back on March 23, the talent behind “Shut up and Dance”— what The Today Show has dubbed “the song of the summer,” was stuck for a few hours in Baker City. The song topped at number seven on Bill- board’s Hot 100. The band was meander- ing across the area enjoy- ing a couple days without a scheduled performance on its way to Denver. (Their “Talking is Hard” tour is in full swing.) That’s when the tire blew Friday, May 1, 2015 — Eastern Oregon Prices trended generally steady compared to the same quality last week. Trade activity and demand picked up slightly this week. The continued good weather in several areas of Oregon has slowed down demand, as pasture grasses are growing causing end users to be able to turn animals out on pasture rather than purchase and feed additional hay. Export hay business seems to slowly be picking up, however continued issues with few containers available and backup of containers needing to be loaded at the shipping ports continues to slow down the ability to export hay overseas. Most producers have sold all that they plan to sell for this season. Timothy Grass. Large Square/Premium. 80 tons. $150 average. BY KERRY McQUISTEN Members of the group Forest Access for All (FAFA) met last Saturday afternoon at the Sunridge in Baker City to discuss the subject at the heart of that organization: open ac- cess to public roads. Last week, about 10 FAFA members met privately with Wallowa- Whitman National Forest Supervisor Tom Montoya, Forest Plan Revision Team lead Sabrina Stadler, and one other USFS employee to communicate the goals for each side regarding access and travel manage- ment. FAFA wished to get three points across: 1) remove designated routes, 2) select Alternative A to the Blue Mountain Forest Plan revi- sion, which keeps an “open forest” somewhat mirror- ing the 1990 Forest Plan currently in place, and 3) set more public meetings. “We genuinely want the Forest Service to incorpo- rate the last eight years’ worth of comments and correspondence on the matter to create a plan that allows our communities to remain resilient in these tough economic times. This can only happen if the Forest Service actually listens to the public and acts upon their wishes,” said FAFA President Tork Ballard earlier in a press release. The consensus in the room, however, was that the Forest Service’s primary goal during that re-engagement meeting seemed to be to talk to the group into meeting with “greenies”—environmen- tal groups whose focus is closing roads and increas- ing wilderness areas. Ballard and member John Creighton expressed that such discussions would be fruitless as FAFA has no common ground with those groups. Ev- ery member in the room agreed with that point of view. FAFA decided to extend — Weekly Hay Report — out on their U-haul trailer. The group’s driver called for help while the band waited roadside looking at the view. At that point, it began to hail. The band and crew got out of the weather and made their way to The Truck Corral for a late lunch, where they sat largely unrecognized at the counter for better than half an hour. Said waitress Shelley Jampolsky, “They were just really nice.” “And just like that, we’re back on the long road to Denver,” they Tweeted as they headed out of town. They also took several photographs of the freeway and other scenery, as well as their blown tire, which they posted on Instagram. Ohio-based Walk the Moon’s members are singer Nicholas Petricca, Kevin Ray, Sean Wauga- man, and Eli Maiman. Wednesday, April 29, 2015 Vale, Oregon Cattle sold through the auction: 580 Steer Calves 300-400# Bulk 284.00 - 326.00 Top 331.00 400-500# Bulk 279.00 - 323.00 Top 328.00 500-600# Bulk 246.00 - 275.00Top 280.00 Heifer Calves 300-400# Bulk 262.00 - 295.00 Top 300.00 400-500# Bulk 251.00 - 277.00 Top 286.00 500-600# Bulk 238.00 - 259.00 Top 264.00 Yearling Steers 600-700# Bulk 231.00 - 246.00 Top 248.00 700-800# Bulk 196.00 - 211.00 Top 214.00 800-900# Bulk N/A Top N/A 900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A Yearling Heifers 600-700# Bulk 213.00 - 228.00 Top 233.00 700-800# Bulk 182.00 - 203.00 Top 205.00 800-900# Bulk 168.00 - 179.00 Top 183.00 900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A Thin Shelly Cows 82.00 - 93.00 Butcher Cows 93.00 - 104.00 Butcher Bulls 104.00 - 121.00 Stock Cows Yng. N/A Younger Hfrts. 108.00 - 139.00 Pairs B.M. - 1375.00 - 2125.00 ProducersLivestock.com 541-473-3136 — Log Price Report — Price per 1,000 board feet: Northeast Oregon Doug Fir is $415.00/mbf White fir is $365.00/mbf Ponderosa Pine is brought sold on diameter splits 6 to 11 inch dib $300 to $310/MBF 12 to 17 inch dib $350 to $375/MBF 18 to 23 inch dib $400 to $430/MBF 24 inch plus dib $450 to $500/MBF DIB is diameter inside bark at small end of log. MBF is thousand board feet lumber, net scale. People interested in selling logs should call and get specific quotes from saw mills. Courtesy of Arvid Andersen, Andersen Forestry Consulting — Precious Metals Report — Submitted Photo. Crew member Blake O’Brien took this shot while waiting for the band’s tire to be repaired. Price per ounce, USD Gold: $1189.30 Silver: $16.48 Platinum: $1,138.38 Palladium: $792.30 Bloomberg.com — Ag Commodities — Submitted Photo. This familiar view, captured by the band’s drummer, had fans guessing they were already in Colorado. Corn: $365.50/bu/USD Wheat: $478.25/bu/USD Soybeans: $984.50/bu/USD Oats: $239.00 bu/USD Rough Rice: $9.80/cwt/USD Canola: $456.20 CAD/mwt Live Cattle: $150.45/lb./USD Feeder Cattle: $216.75/lb./USD Lean Hogs: $83.85/lb./USD Bloomberg.com
