8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
Local
Walden holds town
hall with focus on
local wildfi es
BY BRIAN ADDISON
Brian @TheBakerCountyPress.com
Forest fire prevention,
restoration, and Greater
sage-grouse habitat topped
the items discussed during
a question-and-answer
presentation given dur-
ing a Townhall meeting,
September 15, led by local
agency personnel and host-
ed by US Representative
Greg Walden (R-OR 2nd
Congressional District).
Walden was joined by
Tom Montoya, Supervi-
sor for the Forest Service
(USFS) Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest; Lori
Woods, Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) Field
Manager; Misty Bennett,
District Conservationist
for the US Department
of Agricultural Natural
Resources Conservation
Service; Joe Hessel from
Oregon Department of
Forestry (ODF); Wes Jen-
nings, USDA Farm Service
Agency Malheur County
Executive Director; and
Chair of the Baker County
Board of Commissioners
Bill Harvey. The meeting
was attended by about 50
local citizens.
During the meeting, a list
of important facts about
the fires in Baker County
were revealed: Hessel,
representing ODF, reported
that 63,000-acres of private
land n the county burned
this summer impacting 175
land owners. The Cornet
Creek Fire burned through
22.000 acres of privately
owned land impacting 93
separate land owners from
Ebell Creek west.
The Windy Ridge Fire,
which eventually burned
together with the Cornet
Creek Fire, burned 25,000
acres of private land
from Ebell Creek east to
Interstate-84 impacting 50
land owners. The Eldorado
Fire burned 16,000 acres
of private land impacting
10 private land own-
ers. Eagle Complex Fire
burned through 500 acres
on private land impacting
25 land owners. The Dry
Gulch, started Saturday,
Sept. 12, was still burning
as the Walden Townhall
meeting took place with,
“a big impact to private
land,” said Hessel.
Most of the privately
owned land burned held
timber, native grasses, and
sage brush. ODF personnel
provide technical assis-
tance to land owners while
walking the lands to assess
timber salvage options,
erosion potential, and other
interests such as loss of
cattle grazing resources.
Bennett from NRCS
reported a number of
federal financial assistance
programs put in place to
help agricultural produc-
ers who’ve lost valuable
resources to the fires. She
mentioned livestock for-
age assistance programs,
a livestock indemnity
program designed to help
compensate ranchers for
death rates above normal
to livestock. Drought as-
sistance is also available to
livestock producers.
Bennett emphasized the
timeliness of application
for the programs and the
importance for agriculture
producers to document and
keep extensive records on
their losses. She said there
is a 30-day window for
most financial assistance
programs and urged those
in need to contact the near-
est NRSC office to begin
the application process.
NRCS is currently taking
signup applications for soil
erosion control programs
through the Environmental
Quality Incentives Pro-
gram, said Bennett. The
deadline for the erosion
control program is Oct. 16.
Notices will be placed in
the local newspapers, ac-
cording to Bennett.
Rep. Walden mentioned
the funding during a disas-
ter declaration begins with
county government and
then from state resources
and once state resources
are depleted that the Feder-
al Emergency Management
Agency may offer help.
Agriculture producers in
need of financial or techn -
cal assistance to assess the
damage to private property
resources due to fire are
encouraged to contact
representatives of county
government, ODF, NRCS,
and/or the USFS.
Walden began the meet-
ing by explaining the status
of legislation he’s intro-
duced referred to as the
Restoring Healthy Forests
for Healthy Communities
Act (H.R. 1526). The legis-
lation passed the House
of Representatives, for the
third time, again this sum-
mer by a bi-partisan vote.
H.R. 1526 now sits in the
Senate where, in past at-
tempts, it has failed to gain
approval.
“We’ve ignored fed-
eral forests long enough to
take stock of the results:
staggering unemployment
in rural Oregon, county
governments on the brink
of bankruptcy, catastrophic
wildfires summer after
summer, massive bug kill,
and threatened habitat and
watersheds. Simply put,
our federal forests are a na-
tional treasure in peril. It’s
time to act to put people
back to work in the woods,
present catastrophic wild-
fires, and improve forest
health,” Walden states.
Provisions within H.R.
1526 include methods for
quicker removal of fuel
loads in the national forests
by limiting the requirement
of the USFS in approving
timber sales, a provision
to ward off the onslaught
of lawsuits brought against
federal agency land man-
agers and USFS timber
sales by placing a require-
ment on those who appeal
to post a bond in order
to bring appeal-money
appellants stand to lose
should their appeal fail
through the court system,
and methods and funding
for forest restoration after
catastrophic forest fires
The legislation has sup-
port from other Oregon
Representatives Peter
DeFazio (D-Oregon 4th
District) and Kurt Schrader
(D-Oregon 5th District).
“It’s time for Congress to
act,” Walden said.
Walden joined Baker
County Commissioner
Harvey on a short field trip
Tuesday morning, Sept. 15,
to assess some of the dam-
age caused by the Cornet
Creek Fire several miles
south of Baker City.
“We looked at some of
the damage this morning.
Greg understands it,” Har-
vey told the roomful of his
constituents. “We’re trying
desperately to protect what
we’ve got. Our hands are
tied constantly and the
Forest Service’s hands are
tied.“
Harvey spoke of the need
to address forest fire timber
salvage as quickly as pos-
sible. “This is time-limited,
we’ve got two years to
get this timber out of the
woods or it’s worthless,”
he said.
Local forester Arvid An-
dersen concurs with Har-
vey on the need to expedite
timber salvage operations
on the burnt national forest
lands and also recognized
the limited ability by the
USFS to do so because of
environmental regulations.
Andersen spoke to
Walden and the panel of
agency representatives
about the urgent need
to repeal environmental
conservation measures
referred to as the “East-
side Screens” in order to
address forest manage-
ment problems, problems
that include overly dense
timber stands that lead to
catastrophic fires and then
result in soil erosion and
added sediment to streams.
Andersen believes the
huge wildfires and massive
erosion events following
forest fires are caused by
restrictions limiting the
size of tress cut for harvest
on national forest land to
21-inches and the 300-foot
buffer zones prohibiting
tree-cutting near streams.
Both regulations are
within the Eastside
Screens, originally put into
the Wallowa-Whitman For-
est Management Plan in
the early 1990s, according
to Montoya.
“How’s that 21-inch rule
working today, how did
the 300-foot buffer zone
protect streams,” Andersen
asked to prove his point.
“We’re working with both
hands tied behind our
back and a ball-and-chain
around our ankle. I want to
cut that chain.”
Walden agreed with
Andersen’s sentiment and
analogy and explained
that H.R. 1526 contains
provisions for repealing
the 21-inch limitation on
trees cut and also the 300-
foot buffer zones which
disallow for timber harvest
work in riparian areas.
Supervisor Montoya
speaks of method of
repealing the Eastside
Screens.
WWNF Supervisor
Montoya then mentioned
Brian Addison / The Baker County Press
US Representative Greg Walden (R-OR 2nd Congressional Dist.) was joined
by a panel of agency representatives to discuss the wildfires in Baker County
during a town hall meeting held Sept. 15. From left are USDA-Farm Service
Agency County Executive Director Wes Jennings, Natural Resources Conser-
vation Service District Conservationist Misty Bennett, Baker County Commis-
sion Chairman Bell Harvey, Rep. Greg Walden, Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest Supervisor Tom Montoya, Bureau of Land Management Field Manager
Lori Wood, and Oregon Department of Forestry representative Joe Hessel.
what may be the quickest
and surest method of doing
away with the Eastside
Screens regulations that
many believe killed the
local timber industry back
in the 1990s.
During a somewhat
detailed explanation of
how the Eastside Screens
were originally conceived
and enacted, Montoya
said that eventually those
regulations became part
of the Forest Management
Plans themselves. Montoya
currently leads the proj-
ect of revising the Forest
Management Plan for the
WWNF.
“In order to change it, it
must be done by a revi-
sion of the Forest Plan,”
Montoya said.
Montoya said he is hope-
ful that the 21-inch rule
can be repealed through
the revision of the Blue
Mountain Forest Man-
agement Plan. That plan,
which guides all activities
on three national forests
of northeastern Oregon,
is expected to be finalized
sometime in 2017, accord-
ing to the latest USFS time
estimate.. Montoya said
changing the 21-inch rule
within the forest plan revi-
sion requires a study under
guidelines of the National
Environmental Policy Act.
Andersen continued his
commentary by asking
Walden and USFS staff
about preventing the
catastrophic forest fires in
the future and about insect
infestation and disease
plaguing the timber stands
in the fire e fected areas.
“The Whitman District
is very generous at sharing
the bark beetle with private
property,” Andersen began.
“I’m seeing a trend: bark
beetle, lightning strike,
crown fires. What can
we do about insect and
disease.”
Whitman District Ranger
Jeff Tomac spoke about
an insect treatment project
that was recently imple-
mented on a 10,000-acre
unit in south Baker County.
Andersen has spoken
recently about the USFS
treatment project men-
tioned by Tomac and
believes it is much to small
an area to adequately quell
the insurgence of the bark
beetle infestation taking
place within the Whitman
District.
During the discussion,
fire demographics eme ged
that paint a bleak financial
picture for federal and state
government agencies.
Fire fighting costs for
the USFS this summer
have tallied $1.2 billion,
which equates to half of
the USFS total budget.
Montoya explained that,
through August, there were
26,000 fire fighters on th
ground in the west and
an additional 250 orders
for additional crews that
went unfilled because there
wasn’t enough personnel
available to respond.
“If we can pass this
legislation (H.R. 1526),
we also solve the forest
fire funding conundrum,”
Walden added.
Local resident Gary Guy-
man had specific questions
regarding the strategy for
fighting the fires this s -
mer. Guyman asked why
fire management meetings
were held at 8 a.m. and
not at 4 a.m., so that fire
fighting resources could be
management and enacted
during the times of day
and night when tempera-
tures are low and humidity
levels higher.
ODF representative Hes-
sel fielded the question e -
plaining that normally the
agencies try to run a night
shift and a day shift but
that most of the work was
done this fire season during
the day hours because of a
shortage of resources.
Ed Hardt, who attends
most public meetings
dealing with issues of land
management, along with
several others attending,
mentioned that in the past
private individuals and
companies would lend
their equipment and labor
to help contain wildfires
before burning out of
control.
Montoya answered
that there were liability
concerns when allowing
private sector individuals
to help fight fires. He sai
that through a partnership
with the BLM that, “we
capture 98-percent of the
fires we get.”
Near the end of the meet-
ing the issue of Greater
sage-grouse habitat within
the fire region arose along
with questions about the
decision expected this Fall
from US Fish and Wildlife
on the possible listing of
the bird as a nationally
recognized endangered
species.
“It’ll make what hap-
pened with the spotted
owl look like child’s play
compared to what will hap-
pen if the sage-grouse is
listed,” Walden warned.
Walden said there were
funds allocated from
within the Farm Bill to go
toward enhancing sage-
grouse habitat. He added
that he is doing everything
within his power to avoid
the listing.
BLM Field Manager
Lori Wood told the crowd
that fire damage was the
main cause of sage-grouse
habitat problems. She said
that additional federal
funds have been provided
within eastern Oregon
for equipment purchases
by the agency of several
bull-dozers, engines, and
helicopters to help restore
sage-grouse habitat.
Wood said that efforts by
the BLM are being under-
taken to replant sage-brush
and grasses within the fire
burn areas.
Several citizens attend-
ing disagreed with Wood’s
assessment of the damage
to sage-grouse habitat
and stated the belief that
predators, including human
hunters, remain the great-
est threat to the bird.
“Fire increases sage-
grouse habitat,” said local
miner Guy Michael in a
total disagreement with the
statements made by Wood.
“Historically, it was grass-
land in this region, not
sage brush. The fires are
natural through the grass-
lands. Fire takes down the
sage-brush and regenerates
the grasses. It’s obvious,
it doesn’t take a scientific
graduate who spends eight
years in a classroom to see
it.”
The USFS, in partner-
ship with NRCS, ODF,
BLM, NRCS, and Baker
County, continue with the
Burn Area Emergency
Response on USFS lands
to assess threats to human
safety, property, and cul-
tural resources, and erosion
issues, and potential for
timber salvage.
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