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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2015)
8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015 Local Disaster assistance programs Family history available after fi e season focus of event BY BRIAN ADDISON Brian@TheBakerCountyPress.com Jason Yencopal, director of Baker County Emer- gency Management, led a seminar organized by the office of U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), designed to help Baker County land owners navigate state and federal programs designed to assist those who were negatively impacted by the wildfires this past summe . Financial assistance pro- grams are in place to help homeowners, businesses, agricultural producers and timberland owners rebuild and recoup some of what they lost to wildfire. Pr - grams were also introduced to assist those needing to complete in-stream and erosion repair and mitiga- tion projects on their land. The event was held at the Baker County Event Cen- ter and the building held a roomful of local residents who this fire season, the worst in Baker County history, suffered losses ranging from lost grazing resources for livestock, to devastated timber stands, to structure loss. Field representatives from Senator Wyden’s, US Senator Jeff Merkley’s (D- OR), and Oregon Gover- nor Kate Brown’s offices attended the meeting along with local agency person- nel from the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), US Department of Agri- culture (USDA), USDA Farm Services Agency, and USDA Rural Development. Baker County Commission Chair Bill Harvey, Com- missioner Mark Bennett, and Wallowa County Commission Chair Mike Hayward joined the panel and could also be seen asking questions of agency personnel alongside county residents. USDA Farm Services Agency Programs USDA Farm Services Agency (FSA) presented a long list of programs designed to assist agricul- tural producers with losses associated with wildfire and other financially cat - strophic events. FSA offers an Emer- gency Loan Program to help producers recover form production and physi- cal losses due to drought, flooding, and other natural disasters or quarantine. Emergency Loan funds may be used to restore or replace essential property; pay all or part of produc- tion costs associated with the disaster year; pay essential family living expenses; reorganize the farming operation; and, to refinance certain debts Livestock grazers may be eligible for assistance through the FSA Livestock Forage Disaster Program. According to the agency overview, the 2014 Farm Bill makes the Livestock Forage Disaster Program a permanent program and provides retroactive authority to cover eligible losses back to Oct. 1, 2011. Compensation may be requested by eligible producers who’ve suffered grazing resource losses on land that is native or improved pastureland with permanent vegetative cover or is planted specifi- cally for grazing. Compen- Todd Arriola/ The Baker County Press Ray Field and Ronda Crow at the LDS Church. BY TODD ARRIOLA Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com Brian Addison / The Baker County Press Baker County Commission Chair Bill Harvey asks questions during the meet- ing Sept. 28, organized by US Senator Ron Wyden’s office about fire recover assistance programs offered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. NRCS personnel from left to right are Rangeland Specialist Joshua Read, District Conservationist Misty Bennett, and Greg Kuehl. sation may also be made for loss of grazing resourc- es on federally managed rangeland. The FSA Emergency Forest Restoration Pro- gram is designed to assist landowners suffering loss of non-industrial forest resources in order to carry out emergency measures to restore land damaged by a natural disaster. FSA administers the 2014 Farm Bill Livestock Indemnity Program. This program provide benefits to livestock producers for livestock deaths in excess of normal mortality caused by adverse weather or attacks by animals rein- troduced into the wild by federal government and protected by federal law including wolves and cer- tain avian species. The pro- gram is retroactive back to Oct. 1, 2011. As with many of the financial assistance programs offered through FSA, thorough record keeping by the producer is a essential. The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Pro- gram was reauthorized by the 2014 Farm Bill and provides financial a - sistance to producers of noninsured crops to protect against natural disasters that result in lower yields or crop losses, or prevents crop planting. Eligible causes of loss include damage caused by drought, freeze, hail, excessive moisture, excessive wind, earthquake, flood, exce - sive heat, plant disease, or insect infestation. FSA administers the Emergency Conserva- tion Program providing emergency funding and technical assistance to agricultural producers to rehabilitate farmland dam- aged by natural disasters and to implement emer- gency water conservation measures in periods of severe drought. The list of programs, eli- gibility, and loan require- ments are available by contacting Trent Luschen, County Executive Direc- tor, Baker-Grant County FSA office, 3990 Midway Drive, phone number 541- 523-7121 ext. 2. USDA Rural Develop- ment-Oregon programs. Vicki Walker, Oregon State Director USDA Rural Development, explained the program providing single family home repair loan and grant programs and the agency’s disaster assistance program. USDA Rural Develop- ment also offers programs to help rural communities, businesses, and individu- als impacted by a disaster, such as drought, fire, or earthquake. Detailed information on the programs admin- istered through USDA Rural Development may be obtained by contact- ing Patty Good, Area Specialist-Single Family Housing, at 1901 Adams Avenue, Suite 1, in La Grande or by phone at 541-963-4178 ext. 102. For more information on programs administered by USDA Rural Development and eligibility require- ments, contact Jill Rees, Community and Economic Development Coordinator, at phone number 503-414- 3302. USDA Natural Re- sources Conservation Service The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has funding now available to help Oregon farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners recover from wildfire impacts on private agricultural and forest lands. Funding targets areas with the most extreme fire severity in Baker, Grant, and Malheur counties targeting conser- vation practices to control soil erosion, to promote vegetation cover, and reduce sediment and debris to streams. Those who need to begin work in streams may need a permit to do so and should contact Bethany Harrington, Division of State Lands Natural Resources Coordinator for Wetlands and Waterways Conservation District, at PO Box 219, Pendleton, Oregon 97801. Harrington may assist with permit application and also may determine individual eligibility for waiver or expedition of permitting requirements. As with many of the fed- eral assistance programs, application should be made as soon as possible. The Natural Resources Conservation Service as- sistance programs have an application deadline set for October 16, 2015. For more information on assistance programs offered through the Natural Resources Conservation Service, contact Misty Bennett, District Conser- vationist, by visiting 3990 Midway Drive or by call- ing 541-523-7121. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Litigation Grant Program Baker, Douglas, Grant, Josephine, and Wallowa counties has been declared eligible for the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program after the damage incurred through the 2015 fire season. These counties col- lectively become eligible for up to $441,555 to help fund county projects to control erosion, to pro- vide for seeding projects, for public infrastructure projects, and for private facility mitigation projects, such as houses that have been determined to be substantially damaged by fires and are required to be mitigated per flood plain ordinances. Yencopal encourages all residents within Baker County to sign-up for the Red Alert telephone noti- fication system. Landline telephones are automatical- ly enrolled in the Red Alert system and receive notifi- cation via telephone of any emergency situation within the county. Yencopal said that is especially important for those who carry only cellular phones to contact the Baker County Emer- gency Management depart- ment to enroll in the Red Alert as cellular phones are not automatically included in the Red Alert system. Wyden’s field represent - tive from the La Grande office relayed a message from the senator: “It is truly humbling to work with all of you,” Wyden’s message began. “People here work together and really pull together. We are in awe of the fire fighter and the local people who came together.” Last Saturday morning, the Family History Center, lo- cated in the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints (LDS, or Mormon) on Hughes Lane in Baker City, hosted another successful annual Family Discovery Day. Among those joining Center Director Ray Field for a day of genealogical research training and discovery were speakers and consultants including his wife, Carol, Ronda Crow, Caren Stephens, Linda Rich, Maure Albert, Judy Whitley, and Barb Scrivner. Attendance was good, Field noted, but said, “It’s hard to pick a day. Today is good—it’s one of the last fall days, and all the people that go hunting, or shoot coy- otes or something, are out doing that.” He said the event has been held annually for the last two years, but with sustained interest, the frequency may increase to two or three times per year. Live instructional sessions from the consultants in- cluded such titles as: What’s New at Family Search? (a research program, with Stephens); RootsMagic (another research program, with Rich); Using the Census (with Albert); Why Search for Descendants? (with Whitley); Findagrave.com (with Crow); and Ancestry.com (with Scrivner). Downloaded video sessions from the 2015 RootsTech conference, held in February at the Salt Palace Conven- tion Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, included titles such as: Getting Started in Genetic Genealogy; The Write Stuff; You’ve Mastered the Census, What’s Next?; Find- ing Missing People in your Family Tree; Discover New Research Opportunities with the My Heritage and Family Search Partnership; Map My Ancestors; Branching Out; Six Steps to Choreograph Your Research across the Internet; Building a Research Toolbox; and Tracing Your British and Irish Roots with Findymypast.com. A welcome was extended to guests, along with an Opening Prayer, and instructions for the event, in the large area in the center of the building called the Cultural Hall, at 9:30 a.m. The sessions were held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in various rooms within the building, with delica- tessen snacks and beverages provided by Field, purchased from a local grocer. Crow explained that, while research consultant services are available at the Center, they can also be provided in a home environment, for individuals with that need. Both Crow and Field said that the services are generally avail- able to not only Church members, but non-members as well. The event included a mixture of both. Crow, a Photo Index Consultant, said, “We wanted to photograph all of the headstones in Baker County cemeteries,” speaking about the enormous task associated with hers and others’ contributions to Findagrave.com. “I like a challenge; I’ll take Mt. Hope,” she said, when asked initially which cemeteries she’d like to cover. Beginning in 2012, she spent a year and a half, sec- tion by section, photographing headstones at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Baker City, and then uploading the photos to Findagrave.com, in the form of memorials on the website. There were about 3,200 memorials uploaded when she started, with over 17,000 currently, she said. “I’ve taken over 14,000 pictures of the headstones at Mt. Hope,” Crow said. “You can find a lot of information on there (Findagrave com) … Because we are a historical county—and there are so many cemeteries all over the place, Sparta, Wing- ville, and places like that—those headstones are deterio- rating, and it’s going to come to the point that, someday, we’re not going to be able to read them.” “Another thing that’s good about it, is that, for myself, I have a lot of ancestors who came from New York and Kansas, and so, when I went into this site that I’m work- ing on, Findagrave.com, I put in my ancestor’s name, and somebody had created a memorial for my great great grandfather, and had taken a picture of his headstone. I was able to contact that person who did that, and say, ‘I have this other information,’ “ and the uploaded memo- rial was easily updated. A quote from David O. McKay (September 8, 1873-January 18, 1970), 9th President of the LDS Church, on the interior door of the Family History Center, reads: “One of the most important phases of gospel activity is associated with the temples. Upon intelligent, constant genealogical research, vicarious temple work is wholly dependent. Genealogical research is not only a function of the priesthood, but also a responsibility of every family. When conscientiously performed, it contributes to unity in the home, and permits us to catch the division of the divine nature. Therefore, let us, as a Church and as a people, labor with all our might to qualify as saviours on Mount Zion.”