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.