FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2015
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion
— Letters to the Editor —
Cleaning up meth problem will
take societal changes
To the Editor:
Recently there was an article about my
son and his meth addiction and suicide in
The Baker City Herald. I would like to
follow up. Meth has disrupted the fam-
ily. My 3 ½ year-old granddaughter is
under my oldest son’s care and I am an
on-call grandpa babysitter. I’m living in
an RV and try to take advantage of some
free camping at state camp grounds a few
days per month or maybe a Forest Service
camp ground with reduced rates for dis-
abled vets.
There are lot of Viet Nam service bum-
per stickers. Conversations usually start
with, “Who were you with” then progress
to “Where are you from?” I usually end
up telling them my troubles with meth. In
almost all cases they can tell a meth story
too. I have been making it a point to ask
travelers about their meth stories. I would
venture to guess that 98% have a family
member on it, son, daughter or grandchild
or know of a close friend’s trouble with it.
I’ve learned enough to know that we have
a national emergency. Maybe the number
two emergency in the country. Number
one is apathy.
I’ve gotten cynical the last several years.
I’m appalled at the ignorance of most of
the people. Many actually brag about the
fact that they don’t read a newspaper or
watch the news. The attitude among men,
fathers, with kids or grandkids is, if the
beer is cold and the women are hot and
there is game in the hills and a game on
TV, don’t bother me. I would venture to
say that most in this country have never
met a senator, congressman or state rep-
resentative or written a letter to the editor.
I guess they figure freedom and good
government just falls from the sky. If that
description fits then you are the problem.
Curing a problem like the meth epidemic
is going to require a shift in attitude.
And it better happen. Take it seriously.
America will not survive this unless a
turnaround happens.
Since Nixon declared a war on drugs
we have probably spent near a trillion dol-
lars, have had untold incarcerations, and
millions of broken homes and untold sui-
cides. Billions of dollars flow out of the
country to enrich foreign drug cartels and
with half of the country running for presi-
dent I hear nothing on what to do about
it. I have some ideas but I guess they will
have to be on Face Book or talked about
with my government leaders because the
problem exceeds any 300 words every two
weeks. Thirty years of liberal approaches
haven’t worked. It’s time for some gonad
regeneration.
Steve Culley
John Day
Forest Service ignoring and us-
ing stall tactics
To the Editor:
For several years it was a shell game.
Throw out enough varying plans, Sub-
parts, and meetings, with different catch
phrases for what equated to closing roads
and restricting overall motorized access
and the forest service hoped to either
disenfranchise enough of the public, or
aggravate enough, to make them quit,
unfortunately, I and the people of East-
ern Oregon have not wavered under that
approach and have actually became more
proficient in following the pea and keep-
ing tabs on what the USFS is doing.
Now we return to the tactics of Monica
Schwalbach the initiator of the first
Record of Decision to restrict motorized
access on our forest, which is to ignore
and stall hoping for the people to simply
fall out and go away. No more prime an
example exists of that than my dealings
over the last month with the current forest
supervisor and former understudy to Ms.
Schwalbach, Mr. Tom Montoya.
For the last month I have requested
information as to who makes up his inter-
disciplinary team for the development of
the Subpart A report of travel management
on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.
My initial request was June 6th 2015, as
of today’s date, July 6th Mr. Montoya
has not answered my email. I believe we
should know who is planning our future
access to the Blues.
I again request from Supervisor
Montoya a list of who makes up the ID
team for the development of the Subpart
A report, and what tools, models and
best available science they are using to
plan the minimum roads needed for the
Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.
Maybe in a more public form Mr.
Montoya will answer the question, but as
of this afternoon, no such information has
been given.
John George
Bates
‘Circumvent’ describes USFS
actions
To the Editor:
“Circumvent.” I came across this word
recently, and now it sticks in my already
cluttered head.. (The definition—around,
to get the better of or, prevent by craft or
ingenuity.) I feel the workshops being fa-
cilitated by High Desert Partnerships are a
platform to circumvent the overwhelming
negative response to the Blue Mountain
Forest Plan Revision.
Over 1,300 comments were received with
95% disapproval of the plan.
I find it alarming no workshops are sched-
uled for Union or Baker County.
Repeatedly Forest Access For All has
requested public meetings with the Forest
Service and voiced our dislike of the work-
shop scenario.
Once again this agency appears to suffer
hearing loss. Baker County Commission
Chair, Bill Harvey, is working to arrange a
public meeting.
Last year FAFA spent thousands of dol-
lars presenting meetings and encouraging
people to speak and write concerns on
the proposed Blue Mountain Forest Plan
Revision. FAFA members traveled across
eastern Oregon throughout the summer
months. The efforts of dedicated members
combined with others generated over 1,300
comments. Finally late in the fall, 11 coun-
ties made the right move and rejected the
proposed forest plan. Something worked.
Be aware when you attend these work-
shops. It is imperative you stick to your
message. A piece of information came out
of the John Day meeting, which to me was
very alarming. The forest supervisor re-
sponded to the crowd with the insinuation,
when it comes to push and shove the forest
service doesn’t need to respond to any of
our concerns.
Once again engagement with the Forest
Service would indicate we are dickering
over a preconceived conclusion with the
illusion public concerns have been ad-
dressed.
At the very least we need language in the
Blue Mountain Forest Plan that preserves
and protects our present level of access.
That would be a fair beginning for dia-
log. Road closures through the back door
of projects needs to stop.
To date, 14 workshops have been sched-
uled, none in Union or Baker County.
I want endless meetings and comments
to end, but request two more: One in Union
and one in Baker County. Preferably at a
time and date working people can attempt
to attend the meetings.
Wanda Ballard
Baker City
2015 legislative session ends
Oregon’s current legisla-
tive session, which began
February 2, has officially
come to an end as of
lTuesday.
Just two weeks into the
session, a new governor,
Kate Brown, replaced
scandal-embattled John
Kizhaber.
The five-month session
then turned particularly
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— Guest Opinion —
WWNF update
By Tom Montoya
The Wallowa-Whitman National For-
est is well into summer-mode! And that
means the usual increase in forest activi-
ties, forest visitation, and the opportunity
to enjoy the seasonal splendor of the Blue
Mountains. As we approach the bustling
summer season, I wanted to relay the
status of ongoing planning projects here
on the forest.
As most of you know, we are continuing
to engage our communities on forest plan
revision, focusing on several key topics
that have been brought forward through
formal public comments and continued
public involvement. The forest will be
participating in upcoming public engage-
ment opportunities through assistance
from local organizations including coun-
ties, tribes, members of the public, and
stakeholder groups. We don’t have all
the meetings scheduled in the communi-
ties surrounding the Wallowa-Whitman,
but are working hard on making sure our
publics have an opportunity to be a part
of this dialog on the Forest Plan Revision.
So more information is coming soon about
meetings in the area and how you can
participate.
Secondly, the Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest is continuing its efforts to
complete Subpart A of travel management
planning. What is Subpart A? Subpart
A process is a science-based, interdisci-
plinary roads analysis at the forest level
which will be documented in a Travel
Analysis Report (TAR). It is important to
understand that Subpart A is a process and
not a decision with actions to be imple-
mented. The completed report (TAR) is
a living document that displays findings
as opportunities and recommendations to
inform future management decisions. The
TAR will support the objectives found in
the current Wallowa-Whitman forest plan
as amended.
The road system identified under the
Subpart A analysis would: 1) be a baseline
system for Forest Service administration
and management of natural resources
across the forest; 2) consider long-term
funding expectations; 3) describe potential
options for roads not identified as neces-
sary for future resource management
needs; and 4) provide recommendations
for roads where resource concerns have
been identified as well as looking at those
roads where we do not have concerns.
Based on the analysis roads could be
considered for a status change (opened,
closed, decommissioned or converted to
a motorized trail). These are only recom-
mendations which would be considered
as part of future project level decision
making.
The Wallowa-Whitman remains commit-
ted to completing the Subpart A analysis
by this fall. The Forest has incorporated
key public concerns raised during the
public involvement process over the past
eight years. A preliminary draft analysis
report (TAR) that addresses these concerns
is currently undergoing review at our
Regional Office.
Based on the review results, the forest
will complete any updates or changes
needed and the complete Travel Analysis
Report will be made available to the pub-
lic and shared with our communities. It is
also important to understand that the TAR
is a living document that may be updated
as needed in the future. This analysis is
only providing road management sug-
gestions for future site specific planning
Submitted Photo
Tom Montoya began his Forest
Service career in 1985. He is cur-
rently the Forest Supervisor for the
Wallowa Whitman National Forest,
headquartered in Baker City.
efforts, and those site specific planning
efforts will be open for comment from
the public prior to any decision. So I do
strongly encourage further public involve-
ment during site specific project planning
efforts when road management decisions
will actually be made.
Many folks may recall that the forest
previously prepared an environmental
impact statement (EIS) and Record of
Decision for Subpart B of Travel Manage-
ment; Subpart B is the process to actu-
ally designate the roads, trails, and areas
available for public motor vehicle use and
publish in a motorized visitor use map
(MVUM). After careful consideration, and
recognizing intense community concerns
it was determined to withdraw the deci-
sion in early 2012.
In March, 2015 Jim Peña, Pacific
Northwest Regional Forester, directed
me, as Forest Supervisor for the Wallowa-
Whitman National Forest to defer any
additional work required under Subpart B
of the Travel Management Rule until after
the Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision
is completed, with the following excep-
tions: Hell’s Canyon National Recreation
Area, Bald Angel and Sled Springs Travel
Area decisions, to comply with court
orders that resulted from past litigation,
and complete implementation of the deci-
sion on the South Fork Burnt River Travel
Planning Area.
In line with the Regional direction, the
Wallowa-Whitman National Forest outside
of the above exceptions has paused Sub-
part B analysis until the Forest Plan Revi-
sion is complete. Although the process is
currently paused, we continue our efforts
to develop and build trust and relation-
ships with our communities, and when
we resume work across the forest on the
Subpart B analysis we hope to continue to
work with you through both formal and
informal engagements.
I recognize that travel management plan-
ning continues to generate considerable
public interest and debate. I also know
that forest access is vital to sustaining the
customs, culture, and economic stability
of the region and that there are also those
who are concerned about the impact of the
road system on natural resources. Because
of these concerns the forest remains com-
mitted and obligated to providing a safe,
responsible, and affordable transportation
system that meets the needs of the natural
resources and public. I understand that this
process has been and continues to be chal-
lenging, but we look forward to innova-
tive opportunities and creative solutions
that result in meeting community needs,
improving forest resource protection, all
while meeting the intent of the agency’s
national policy.
Thank you for taking time to engage on
these important issues, and I look forward
to all of our community conversations.
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