THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2015
Business & Ag
County meets with Oregon
Department of Forestry
BY TODD ARRIOLA
— Weekly Hay Report —
Friday, November 20, 2015 — Eastern Oregon
Prices trended generally steady compared to week-
ago prices. The upcoming holidays have slowed
sales. Many producers have decided to hold on to
their hay for now, in hopes for higher prices. Snow
has hit some of the hay producing areas.
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
On Tuesday, the Baker
County Board of Commis-
sioners met with Northeast
Oregon District Forester
John Buckman, La Grande/
Baker City Unit Forester
Joe Hessel, and Baker City
Fire Protection Supervi-
sor Steve Meyer, all of
the Oregon Department of
Forestry (ODF), for a gov-
ernment-to-government,
informational coordination
meeting.
Present from the Board
were Chair Bill Harvey,
Commissioners Mark Ben-
nett and Tim Kerns, and
Executive Assistant Heidi
Martin.
Also in attendance were
Baker County Natural Re-
source Advisory Commit-
tee (NRAC) Coordinator
Eric Wuntz, NRAC Chair
Doni Bruland, Craig Bru-
land, Wanda Ballard, Art
and Suzette Sappington,
and Cynthia Long.
Buckman introduced
himself, and Hessel and
Meyer, seated in that order
to his right, then he began
a PowerPoint presentation,
using the County’s interac-
tive Smart Board, to give
attendees an overview of
ODF structure and activity.
He displayed, using an
area map, the forest district
boundaries, a total area
of about 290,000 acres of
private land for which the
ODF provides fire pro-
tection in Baker County.
Next, he explained the
three primary ODF pro-
grams in the Northeast
Oregon District:
1) To provide fire
protection on private and
non-federal public lands
(Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife, or
ODFW, parks, etc.).
2) To administer the Or-
egon Forest Practices Act.
3) To assist landowners
by providing technical
forestry assistance and by
seeking out and adminis-
tering cost-share grants.
“Northeast Oregon has
fire protection responsi-
bilities in seven counties.
There are four primary
counties; Wallowa, Union,
Umatilla, and Baker. We
have a little bit in Malheur,
a little bit in Grant, a little
bit in Morrow. We have 25
permanent staff. Most of
those are associated with
the fire protection program.
Three of the permanent
staff are in Baker County.
We hired about 50 seasonal
firefighters, and, nine of
those are in Baker Coun-
ty. We staff up to four
engines, during the peak
of the season, in Baker
County. Again, because
of that intermix of (land)
ownership, there’s a whole
lot of cooperation that
occurs,” Buckman said,
noting that ODF shares an
interagency dispatch center
in Northeast Oregon, and
ODF works closely with
federal agencies, counties,
rural fire departments, and
rangeland fire protection
districts.
Buckman said that ODF
provides fire protection for
1.9 million acres in seven
northeast Oregon counties,
which includes the 290,000
acres in Baker County, and
an annual forest patrol as-
sessment of $1.45 per acre
for timber, and $.38 per
acre for grazing, was paid
in 2014 by landowners.
“There’s no getting
around it,” he said, stating
Tons Price Range Wtd Avg
Alfalfa — Small Square, God
100 190.00-190.00 190.00
Last week:
Alfalfa — Large Square, Fair
200 130.00-130.00 130.00
Alfalfa / Orchard Mix — Small Square, Premium
50 215.00-2150.00 2150.00
Alfalfa / Orchard Mix — Small Square, Premium
40 200.00-200.00 200.00
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
— Cattle Market Report —
Todd Arriola / The Baker County Press
L-R: John Buckman, Joe Hessel, Steve Meyer, Mark Bennett, Bill Harvey, and
Tim Kerns.
that fire protection isn’t
cheap, and that the as-
sessment fees account for
about 45% of the total cost
for the protection program,
the remainder coming from
matching State funding.
He said that, on average,
the District experiences
about 82 wildfires a year,
resulting in an average
loss of about 2,300 acres
per year. When asked by
Harvey about the loss this
year, Buckman said that
about half of it was grazing
land.
Buckman said statewide,
ODF has about 700 FTE
(full-time equivalent)
employees, three inci-
dent management teams,
and about 20 aircraft for
firefighting. He discussed
the statewide funding
structure, including: base
funding of $48 million in
12 Districts, with about
$4.4 million of that for the
Northeast Oregon District;
severity funding of $5
million; a shared annual
premium of $3.6, by land-
owners and grant funding;
a shared insurance deduct-
ible of $50 million--$30
million by the State, and
$20 million by grant
funding and landowners;
and $76 million spent on
large fires last year, with
a net cost of $30 million
(about $8 million of that in
Northeast Oregon), after
including funding support
from the Federal Emergen-
cy Management Agency
(FEMA).
Buckman spoke about
the Oregon Forest Prac-
tices Act, a set of standards
related to forest manage-
ment activities, and he
explained that, through the
best management pos-
sible, and interaction with
landowners and others,
enforcement of the Act is
minimized. He said typi-
cally in the District, there
might be one citation on
average issued per year for
violations.
During a discussion
about riparian damage, sal-
vage timber processes, and
rule flexibility, Hessel said,
“There haven’t been too
many hiccups locally, on
those issues…In working
with landowners and their
objectives, across their
whole ownership, I think
we encourage active man-
agement across all their
landscape, including those
riparian areas, and, so,
whether it’s commercial
thinning, or commercial
harvest, there is an ability
to get in there and manage
it…There are pretty good
avenues to get in and do
that, and, we encourage
that…The intent is to have
a healthy forest…”
Buckman discussed the
forest landowner assis-
tance program, and he
said that 12,000 acres of
over-stocked forest stands
have been treated in Baker
County since 2002, via
$3.5 million in fuels reduc-
tion grants. He said ODF’s
a key player in the North-
east Oregon Cohesive Wil-
ffire Strategy pilot project,
and major accomplish-
ments on the East Face
project include 2,020 acres
of completed thinning on
private land, with another
2,150 acres left. He also
noted that one of ODF’s
goals is to assist ODFW in
forest management
In response to a ques-
tion from Bennett about
working with the Natural
Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS), Hessel
explained the development
of a partnership between
ODF and NRCS over the
last eight to 10 years, with
NRCS primarily providing
funding for forest manage-
ment projects, and he said,
“It’s benefited the land-
owners in Baker County
tremendously…They’re a
really good partner…”
Buckman said, “That
relationship is just wonder-
ful, and, a lot of that came
out of Baker County…We
told the executives, ‘You
show us the money, we’ll
make you look good.’”
Harvey discussed the
East Face project, explain-
ing Wuntz’s associated
efforts, and Buckman and
Hessel echoed Harvey’s
thoughts that Wuntz has
been, and will continue to
be, a valuable asset with
that endeavor.
Speaking about partner-
ships and working with
ODF and others, Harvey
said, “I’m kind of actually
excited about the oppor-
tunity to do that, because,
I’m liking what you guys
do. I mean, you just start,
and run, and you get things
going, and, I’d love to
transition from fire fighting
to fire protection, so that
we’re all saving things…”
Buckman and Harvey
both mentioned they think
the U.S. Forest Service
(USFS) employs some
good foresters in the
area, but, unfortunately,
regulations, which they are
required to follow, seem
to often times cause major
roadblocks.
Harvey emphasized the
interagency cooperation
with fighting fires this sea-
son, and, he applauded the
ODF and others for their
efforts.
He said, “We had great
responders, we had cats,
we had everything going.
A lot of people didn’t see
that. We did…You guys
were updating us, and
keeping everything going,
and, it was great to see
that. I want to emphasize
that to the public, and the
press, and say, ‘We are
catching fires…’ What you
guys did was basically
awesome…”
Buckman used the
phrase, “moving the nee-
dle,” to describe the way
the ODF seeks methods for
continuous improvement.
Hessel said, speaking
about post-fire salvage, “I
checked with Logan (Ross,
Habitat Conservation-
ist for the Baker County
Soil and Water Conserva-
tion Districts, SWCD)
yesterday, and, I think,
for private landowners
to conduct some form of
forest management on their
property, especially if it’s
commercial harvest, there’s
a process they go through
to notify ODF, of their
activity.” He said there are
around 29 notifications for
fire salvage projects, eight
of those from Hancock
Forest Management, with
around 8,000 acres burned
by wildfire. The remaining
20 notifications are non-
industrial, private lands,
he said, from around 20
different landowners, look-
ing to complete salvage
projects.
Hessel said that refor-
estation is probably the
biggest issue, consider-
ing the future. He said
ODF is trying to speed up
the seedlings collection
and planting effort, via a
seedling clearing house,
dubbed the Private Lands
Forest Network, based out
of La Grande. He said
it’s probably going to be
a two to 10-year project
to get most of the replant-
ing completed in northeast
Oregon. The seedlings
may cost around $1 each,
all costs considered, he
said, and, around June or
July next year, the process
may begin.
Kerns encouraged the
ODF to implement more
aircraft statewide, ex-
plaining the value of that
resource, and, Hessel said
there are about 20 aircraft
available, and, he’ll work
to acquire more for fire-
fighting use.
“I was impressed,”
Kerns said, about the pilots
and swiftness of the aerial
attack on the wildfires.
Harvey said it’s a good
idea to have a mix, both
airplanes and helicopters,
and, he was also impressed
with the abilities of the
pilots.
Bennett mentioned that
he appreciated the consid-
eration given to landown-
ers, and, he wishes to see
the continued firefight-
ing training of National
Guardsmen, and, possibly
some inmate crews.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 1,785
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk 231.00 - 261.00 Top 275.00
400-500# Bulk 187.00 - 243.00 Top 249.00
500-600# Bulk 174.00 - 199.00 Top 209.00
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk 187.00 - 201.00 Top 203.00
400-500# Bulk 163.00 - 211.00 Top 213.00
500-600# Bulk 157.00 - 178.00 Top 182.00
Yearling Steers
600-700# Bulk 161.00 - 182.00 Top 183.50
700-800# Bulk 143.00 - 164.00 Top 165.00
800-900# Bulk N/A Top N/A
900-1,000# Bulk 144.00 - 150.00 Top 151.00
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 142.00 - 163.00 Top 164.00
700-800# Bulk 135.00 - 148.00 Top 149.00
800-900# Bulk N/A Top N/A
900-1,000# Bulk 121.00 - 128.00 Top 131.00
Thin Shelly Cows 51.00 - 62.00
Butcher Cows 63.00 - 69.00
Butcher Bulls 66.00 - 83.00
Stock Cows Yng. 1385.00 - 1700.00
Younger Hfrts. 94.00 - 127.00
Stock Cows Older. - 975.00 - 1285.00
ProducersLivestock.com
541-473-3136
— Log Price Report —
Price per 1,000 board feet: Northeast Oregon
Doug Fir is $415.00/mbf
White fir is $365.00/mbf
Ponderosa Pine is brought sold
on diameter splits
6 to 11 inch dib $300 to $310/MBF
12 to 17 inch dib $350 to $375/MBF
18 to 23 inch dib $400 to $430/MBF
24 inch plus dib $450 to $500/MBF
DIB is diameter inside bark at
small end of log.
MBF is thousand board feet lumber, net scale.
People interested in selling logs
should call and get specific
quotes from saw mills.
Courtesy of Arvid Andersen,
Andersen Forestry Consulting
— Precious Metals Report —
Price per ounce, USD
Gold: $1,067.10
Silver: $14.08
Platinum: $845.73
Palladium: $538.55
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Corn: $372.75/bu/USD
Wheat: $497.25/bu/USD
Soybeans: $864.50/bu/USD
Oats: $227.50 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $12.13/cwt/USD
Canola: $460.90 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $133.55/lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $164.75/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $58.15/lb./USD
Bloomberg.com