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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2015)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015 THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 7 Outdoor Rec / Local HELP WANTED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. BAKER COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE is accepting applications for the position of Executive Director. APPLICATION DEADLINE: Oct. 15, 2015. JOB LOCATION: Baker City, OR. HOURS PER WEEK: 40. REQUIREMENTS: 1) Bachelor’s degree in marketing, public or business administration, economic development, or related field. 2.) Minimum of 3 years experience in management, business development, tour- ism or related field. 3.) Must be a creative thinker, detail- oriented, and have outstanding people skills. 4.) Must have advanced computer skills, knowledge of budgeting, accounting, and financing and experience in creating a business plan. Please send cover letter, resume and a list of 3 professional references to: Chamber, P.O. Box 305 North Powder, OR 97867. 10.16. REPORTER wanted to cover City Council meetings in Halfway and Richland, serve as backup reporter for events in those areas. Send letter of interest to editor@ thebakercountypress.com. Go online to www.TheBakerCountyPress.com or look at the top of page 6 for how! Ladies golf and bridge The Quail Ridge Ladies Golf wnners for Friday, September 30 are: First Flight: 1st Sammye Linzel, 2nd Judy Karstens, 2nd Flight: 1st Margo Kenworthy, 3rd Flight, 1st Roxanne McAdams. Bridge Winners: Oct 7, 1st Deni Smith, 2nd Karen Lewis, 3rd Nancy Ferree. 3rd Nine week Winners: 1st Karen Lewis, 2nd, Lavelle Woodcock, 3rd Deni Smith. Elkhorns East Face project CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The alternatives range from a “no action” to a proposed alternative with an extensive network of fuel reduction areas on key ridges, road systems, private land boundaries, wildland urban interface areas, and developed recre- ation areas, according to a USFS news release. The EA describes the pro- posed action (Alternative 2), focusing on improving timber stands and meeting the goals of the National Cohesive Wildfire Strategy to restore and maintain landscapes, create fire adapted communities, and improve fire response times. The favored alternative proposes a combination approach to fuels reduc- tion including 6,722 acres of commercial timber thinning; 10,376 acres of non-commercial timber thinning; and, 6,685 acres of prescribed burning implemented over a period of 10 years. Timber harvest treat- ments are estimated within the proposed alternative to remove 21.9 million board feet of saw and non-saw material using yarding systems with skyline yard- ing on 1,094 acres, ground based yarding on 5,295 acres, and helicopter yard- ing systems on 333 acres. The identified timber harvest projects as docu- mented within the pre- ferred alternative require 12.6 miles of temporary road construction with sub- sequent treatment includ- ing installation of erosion control devices, seeding, methods to reduce soil compaction, and blocking and camouflaging roads to discourage further use. Additionally, 107-miles of closed road would be temporarily reopened to facilitate timber harvest and fuels reduction. The proposed alternative deals with road closures citing, “38.5 miles of roads Long’s Waterworks CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 She said that, since acquiring the business last year with husband and co- owner Justin, there’s been a major effort to organize the property, and the result of that labor was evident that day, with the products inside and outside well- organized and stocked. Part of this process includes over 80 new suppliers for the Long’s products. “We’re getting some erosion control products for the fires. We were personally affected by the fires, so, we’re going to be installing a lot of that at our house,” Long, a civil identified as either dupli- cate access or no longer needed on the landscape for resource management and recreation access and would be decommissioned, returned to resource production, and removed from the road system.” Detailed road closure maps are provided within the EA document. While the EA describes a wide range of alterna- tives, there a list of eleven elements that are common to all of the action alterna- tives. These include: 1) identification of prior- ity treatment areas based on proximity to private property, values at risk from wildfire, and areas determined as logical for fire suppression operations 2) silvicultural treatment prescriptions and objec- tives to deal with timber stand density and forest health; 3) fuels reduction criteria; 4) removal of roadside hazard trees; 5) implementation of Ripar- ian Habitat Conservation Areas; 6) implementation of requirements to protect scenic resources along the Elkhorn Scenic Byway, the Anthony Lakes Recreation Area, and several forest roads; 7) to maintain and enhance the connective corridors; 8) protection from removal of snags in harvest and fuel reduc- tion units; 9) enhancement work with Aspen enhance- ment, white bark pine restoration, and removal of the culvert on Wolf Creek on the 4316800 road identified as a fish passage barrier; 10) Forest Plan amendment to address old growth treatment commer- cial and non-commercial harvest in wildland-urban interface areas; 11) road right-of-way and bridge replacement to remove the old bridge and install a new one over the North Fork of Anthony Creek on the 7312 road. Among the 22 official comments submitted dur- ing the EA scoping period, Baker County Commis- sioner Tim Kerns and his wife Jan, a member of the Baker County Natural Resource Advisory Com- mittee Jan, submitted an official comment during the scoping period. The Kerns own and operate the Kerns Ranch near the base of the Elkhorn Mountain range. “We have private forest land on the face of Hunt Mountain, and are greatly concerned about the over- all health of the US Forest Service forests not only above us, but in the sur- rounding area in general,” the Kerns submit. “We are enrolled in both an NRCS Conservation Security Program in which we have a timber pre-commercial thinning and slash elimi- nation project (3 year/30 ac) as well as an on-going NRCS EQIP project for pre-commercial thinning and sanitation harvest of the mistletoe infested and beetle kill timber. We are aggressively working to improve the overall health of our private forest so that we not only have a more sustainable forest, but we will also have a fire resis- tant one. We are strongly in support of the proposed activities of the Ease (sic) Face project in that it will further improve the forest health for fire resistance, as well as the thinning and disease logging will make the overall forest more a more (sic) health and vig- orous forest. As you well know, the fire and insects originating on the US For- est Service lands do not respect private property boundaries. We encourage an aggressive East Face project approach to forest health.” An opposition to the pro- posed project within eight separate comments was submitted by Dick Artley, retired forest planner, NEPA legal compliance reviewer, forest NEPA coordinator, forest appeals/ litigation coordinator for engineer with experience in land development and land use planning, said, as she provided a tour of the property, showcasing dif- ferent products. Continuing with the tour, she mentioned that Long’s is well-stocked with cul- verts, and she pointed out different sizes of plastic tanks and metal troughs. She said that the prod- ucts Long’s has focused first on stocking are mostly requested items from members in the commu- nity, primarily ranchers. Long said she’s attempt- ing to deal directly with the manufacturers of the larger diameters of irrigation piping, in order to provide better pricing. “That’s what I’m try- ing to do here; I want to have prices that are close to Home Depot pricing,” she said, explaining that she wants to pass on good deals to customers. “I think we’re one of the only places in town to cut and thread pipe,” she said, as she entered the shop where this type of service is offered. Different diam- eters of metal pipe were in stock, up to 12”, and she displayed equipment that, with additional parts in the near future, will be able to handle cutting and thread- ing up to 6” diameter pipe. The rest of the room consisted of shelving, with fittings moved from the other, larger building, for better organization. These include ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene- Styrene), CPVC (Chlori- nated Polyvinyl Chloride), PEX (cross-linked Polyeth- ylene), quick-connect and fire fittings. Photo Courtesy of the NRCS. According to the NRCS, fuel load reduction as shown in the photo released above, will result from the project. the Nez Perce National Forest, Idaho. Artley’s comments highlight the difficulty professional agency land managers face when pro- posing just about any land treatment project. Within his comments, Artley objects to timber harvest activities; cites “best science” to show that logging is ineffective at reducing fire intensity and rate of spread and claims logging exacerbates fire behavior; “roads dam- age the proper ecological functioning of the natural resources in a forest;” “in- sect activity is a beneficial natural disturbance event in the forest;” cites that, “natural resources in the forest benefit from fire;” cites Dr. Jack Cohen’s re- search to support removal of fine fuels near homes rather than hazardous fuels removal as a better method of protecting structures from loss to wildfire; cites the importance of dead and dying trees to the survival of natural resources and states, “should not be removed to provide op- portunities for corporate profit or to produce private industrial tree-farm condi- tions; and claims, “timber harvest degrades forest health and restores nothing in a forested ecosystem.” In his summary com- ment, Artley begins, “Before I retied (sic) from the USFS in 2003 I learned something most Ameri- cans don’t know. I learned that a small minority of USFS line-officers (mostly District Rangers) were obsessed with accumulat- ing timber volume and would stop at nothing to satisfy their needs. Ranger Gamble, your scoping package attempts to trick the public into believing private industrial tree farm condition (as you are at- tempting to create with this sale) will benefit the natu- ral resources in the forest and enhance recreational opportunities.” Artley closes his sum- mary with, “Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Read your local newspapers closely. The public will be informed of this travesty. You might change your mind about trashing the Grande Ronde river for short-term corporate profit if you receive comments from several hundred outraged Americans and you become aware that you will be dealing with several lawsuits (perhaps a class-action suit) filed by landowners in the area. The court of public opinion is sometimes as effective as a court of law.” The full EA for the East Face Vegetation Manage- ment Project, with detailed description each alterna- tive and the scoping period public comments, may be accessed on internet site: http://a123.g.akamai. net/7/123/11558/abc123/ forestservic.download. akamai.com/11558/ www/nepa/95458_ FSPLT3_2576894.pdf. NRCS has provided funds in an ongoing effort to assist private land own- ers with timber thinning and land restoration proj- ects. In the first year of the East Face project (2014), NRCS provided $1.4 mil- lion of financial assistance to private land owners, ac- cording to Tracy Robillard, NRCS State Public Affairs Officer. The 2014 funding went toward 33 contracts for conservation practice on 3,076 acres. In 2015, NRCS provided private land owners another $705, 243 for 16 projects on 1,687 acres. NRCS is currently ac- cepting applications from private land owners for further financial assistance and for technical assis- tance. “This funding is avail- able through the NRCS Environmental Qual- ity Incentives Program, a popular cost-share program in the Farm Bill that allows the NRCS to reimburse landowners for a por- tion of the cost to install conservation practices on private lands,” Robillard states, “We plan to award additional contracts and funding through 2016. To apply, landowners should contact their local USDA Service Center at: Baker County 541-523-7121 or in Union County: 541-963- 4178. “We try and specialize in the odd ball sizes. They all (local supply stores) carry a lot of these products, but only up to, like 2”, and so, we try and make sure we have up to 4”, and a wide variety. We‘ve got a variety of clamps, too,” Long said. “This is where we really shine, is, we’ve stocked up on everything PVC, and any size reducer you can think of, all the way up to 8”, for the farmers. We’ve got a wide variety of the PVC, and we get really good pricing,” she said. Allen continued where Long left off, with a tour of the larger building, the warehouse, which was also well-organized. Sprinkler fittings, irrigation wheel line and hand line fittings, black iron fittings, various types of valves, pumps, and “ancient clamps,” as Allen put it, are included in the items stocked there. “These are mostly for the municipal stuff…” she said, displaying the larger metal pipe fittings. As the former business name sug- gests, municipal pipe items were, and still are, in stock at Long’s, and the intention is to also continue this type of service. “Almost all of this is left over from what Bob had,” Allen said, about most of the warehouse items. “The newer stuff, which we are constantly replacing, are the black iron and the gal- vanized fittings. The PEX, the PVC, all of that stuff.” She said that many potential customers aren’t necessarily aware of all of the available stocked items, because, “People haven’t really figured out that we’re here yet. Not everybody.” Allen, a neighbor of the Longs who‘s experienced in the automotive and electron- ics industries, worked for them since last fall, she said. “Jenny tries to keep the prices competitive with anyone, including Home Depot,” Allen said, echo- ing Long’s comments. Allen concluded the tour with the “Back 40,” an area north of the ware- house, with municipal items remaining from the previous business, also well-organized. For further information, including days and hours of operation (which have been extended), Long’s WaterWorks can be con- tacted at 541-523-5012.
