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