FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2015
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 9
Local
County Commissioners toss support behind
Douglas County’s opposition to new wilderness
• UPDATES ON
JUSTICE COURT
IGA HEARD
BY TODD ARRIOLA
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
The Baker County Board
of Commissioners held its
second, and last, regu-
lar session of the month
on Wednesday, which
included, among other top-
ics, a Justice Court update,
a resolution opposing
the Crater Lake Wilder-
ness designation, and the
County’s half mineral
interest in property along
Snake River Road.
Present from the Board
were Commission Chair
Bill Harvey, Commissioner
Tim Kerns, and Karlynn
Dolby from the County
Administrative Services
Department, filling in for
Executive Assistant Heidi
Martin. Commissioner
Mark Bennett was absent,
due to family commit-
ments.
Attendance also included
Baker County Justice
Court Trial Court Adminis-
trator Michael Finney, Ed
Hardt, Ken Anderson, John
and Ramona Creighton,
Tork and Wanda Ballard,
and Dave Noble.
Harvey called the meet-
ing to order, and, he recited
the Invocation and Pledge
of Allegiance shortly after
that. The agenda was ad-
opted, with a motion from
Kerns, and, a second from
Harvey.
Citizen Participation
included comments from
both Ballards, Ramona
Creighton, Hardt, and,
Dave Noble, which includ-
ed concerns about grazing
rights and the lack of graz-
ing, wildfire devastation,
and, the lack of U.S. Forest
Service (USFS) manage-
ment, including inexperi-
ence and lack of relevant
backgrounds with younger
staff members.
The minutes from the
regular session on Decem-
ber 2, 2015 session were
approved, with a motion
form Kerns, and, a second
from Harvey.
Finney provided the
Board with a Justice Court
update. This included a
discussion about the suc-
cessful implementation of
a more efficient process for
making fine payments to
the Justice Court. He said
that Contempt Of Court
cases and Probation Viola-
tions are heard in Justice
Court, and, that Fail To
Appear cases are heard in
Circuit Court.
Finney said that it’s
Travel
Management
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“The release of these
travel analysis reports is a
critical step to ensure our
future road system invest-
ments promote the greatest
good for the great number
in the long run,” said Peña.
“Given the long-term
funding expectations, these
reports will help the Forest
Service strike the right
balance between meet-
ing a diversity of access
needs while ensuring the
health of your forests and
streams.”
The reports will inform
fairly difficult to collect
payments on citations
from out-of-state drivers,
because, they mistak-
ingly believe that their
license, while suspended
in Oregon, isn’t suspended
otherwise.
Finney said that, while
all Circuit Courts have
implemented e-filing,
unfortunately, there are
no plans to implement
this system in Justice and
Municipal Courts. He
mentioned that, while the
Justice Court’s Polycom
(video conferencing) unit
is new, the County Jail
needs a new unit, but,
they’re very expensive.
An Intergovernmental
(IGA) Collection Agree-
ment, between the Baker
County Road Department
and Intermountain Mobile
Services (IMS), was ap-
proved, with a motion from
Kerns, and a second from
Harvey. The agreement is
for the service of random
alcohol and drug tests for
those Road Department
employees holding a Com-
mercial Driver License
(CDL). Terms include a
fee increase of $5 for Urine
Drug Collection in Baker
City, for a total charge of
$30, and, a Mobile Service
Fee increase, from $15, to
$20.
An IGA, between Baker
City and Baker County, for
Justice Court services, was
approved, with a motion
from Kerns, and, a second
from Harvey. This agree-
ment grants to the Justice
Court all judicial jurisdic-
tion, authority, powers,
functions, and duties of
the Municipal Court of
the City, in lieu of a City
Municipal Court.
Order No. 2015-150,
Adopting A Baker County
Fee Schedule, was ap-
proved, with a motion from
Kerns, and, a second from
Harvey. Prior to approval,
no testimony or public
comment was given, and,
this was the second public
hearing on the matter, the
first held on Wednesday,
December 2, 2015. The
schedule will go into effect
January 1, 2016.
Harvey, Kerns, Hardt
and Anderson discussed
their concerns and confu-
sion over the County’s ½
mineral interest in property
located along Snake River
Road, which runs from
Huntington, and continues
along the Snake River.
The property is described
as Township 12S., Range
45E., Willamette Merid-
ian Section 32, NE ¼ of
NE ¼. The County holds
one-half interest of the
mineral rights on the prop-
erty, which it foreclosed on
in 1996, with back taxes
owed in the amount of
$54.95. Gary and Janet
Vinsonhaler are in the
process of purchasing the
property, which would be
the back taxes plus the
recording costs of the deed,
and, there is no assessed
value of the County’s min-
eral interest, according to
the document. Hardt asked
how the County could have
acquired the ½ interest,
and, Harvey responded
that he doesn’t know.
Both Hardt and Anderson
discussed the mineral
interest with the Board,
Kerns expressed the desire
to research the matter more
thoroughly, and, more
discussion was postponed
until the next regular ses-
sion, with a motion from
Kerns, and, a second from
Harvey. Hardt informed
the Board that he would
assist with research into
the matter.
Order No. 2015-151, Ap-
pointing Members To The
Eastern Oregon Coordi-
nated Care (EOCC) Local
Community Advisory
Council (LCAC), was ap-
proved, with a motion form
Kerns, and, a second from
Harvey. Corina Zarkowski
and Candace Barbishe
were appointed, their terms
set to expire on February
1, 2018, and, February 1,
2017, respectively.
Resolution No. 2015-
1018, A Resolution Sup-
porting Douglas County’s
Opposition To The Crater
Lake Wilderness Designa-
tion, was approved, with a
motion from Kerns, and,
a second from Harvey.
Prior to approval, Harvey
read the resolution in its
entirety:
“WHEREAS, the
Douglas County Board of
Commissioners have is-
sued a resolution opposing
a wilderness designation of
500,000 acres encompass-
ing Crater Lake National
Park and surround Forest
Service managed lands in
the Umpqua Rogue River
and Deschutes National
Forest; and
“WHEREAS, much of
the forest within the pro-
posed area is categorized
as high risk for catastroph-
ic fire; and
“WHEREAS, much
of the area is a high use
recreational area centered
around Diamond Lake
and Crater Lake for sum-
mer and winter activities,
almost all centered around
motorized uses; and
“WHEREAS, much of
the surrounding Forest
Service land is roaded and
provides recreational and
hunting opportunities for
citizens who may be physi-
cally challenged; and
“WHEREAS, the
Umpqua National For-
est has identified 500,000
acres of dead and dying
Lodgepole Pine in the mid-
dle of the proposed wilder-
ness area and has only
been successful at treating
less than 20% of that area
because of legal challenges
by the same environmental
activists who are proposing
the designation; and
“WHEREAS, both the
Umpqua and Rogue-Siski-
you National Forests have
recently developed restor-
ative vegetation manage-
ment projects within much
of the proposed wilder-
ness areas that would be
otherwise prohibited under
the wilderness designation;
and
“WHEREAS, the Crater
Lake National Park has a
‘let burn’ policy and this
summer, a lightning strike
ignited a catastrophic fire
that burned 20,000 acres
in the northwest corner of
the park, most of it during
an uncontrolled run in mid-
August; and
“WHEREAS, USFS
(U.S. Forest Service)
campgrounds were closed
for public safety and own-
ers of summer cabins along
Diamond Lake were under
an evacuation watch for
several days and would
have been forced to leave
with very short notice if
the fire would have crossed
the Medford Crater Lake
Highway; and
“WHEREAS, the Forest
Service would not have
attempted to stop the fire
on the ground if it crossed
Highway 230 because
there were no safe evacua-
tion routes for fire fighters
or the public as the fire
approached the Diamond
Lake recreation areas; and
“WHEREAS, no fire pro-
tection exists for structure
fires in the area and all of
the recreational structures
including campground fa-
cilities, cabins and lodges
would be at risk of destruc-
tion by fire; and
“WHEREAS, the Med-
ford/Grants Pass air shed
which has been impacted
by smoke from recent
wildfires and the smoke
from a wildfire in the Dia-
mond Lake basin will flow
into the Medford/Grants
Pass air shed; and
“NOW THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED, the
Baker County Board of
Commissioners support the
Douglas County Board of
Commissioners in their op-
position of the creation of
a wilderness area encom-
passing Crater Lake Na-
tional Park and surround-
ing Forest Service lands in
the Umpqua, Rogue River
and Deschutes National
Forest; and
“BE IT FURTHER RE-
SOLVED, that a copy of
this resolution be provided
to the Oregon Congres-
sional Delegation. Done
and Dated this 16th day of
December, 2015.”
The Board discussed the
issue of funding for opera-
tion of the Blue Mountain
Translator District
(BMTD), which provides
over-the-air television
broadcasts for Union and
Bake counties, via tow-
ers located on Mt. Fanny,
Mt. Harris, and Beaver
Mountain. The annual fee
for receiving and using the
signal is $100 per property,
however, as noted at this
and previous meetings, de-
termining how many users
are actually utilizing the
signal, receiving funds for
that usage, and, whether
to assess a low, flat, yearly
fee, in order for BMTD to
continue in operation, are
all issues to be resolved.
Assistance to BMTD
from the County, of up to
$3,000, for legal services
in solving certain issues,
was discussed, however,
since Kerns is on the Board
of BMTD, further discus-
sion was postponed.
No items were noted dur-
ing Commissioner Update,
however, Harvey men-
tioned, during Comparison
of Calendar, that there
will be a government-to-
government coordination
meeting, between the
Board and the Oregon
Department of Forestry
(ODF), on Wednesday,
December 30, 2015, at 9
a.m., in the Commission
Chambers.
future decisions on where
and how to invest limited
resources on building new
roads, managing current
roads, or decommissioning
old roads. Travel analy-
sis reports identify roads
“likely needed” and “likely
not needed” in the future,
as well as opportunities to
change road operation and
maintenance strategies,
decommission, convert
to other use, or add to the
system.
As part of a national
travel management pro-
cess, the Forest Service
is working to achieve a
financially and ecological-
ly sustainable road system
that meets access needs,
minimizes adverse envi-
ronmental impacts, and
reflects long-term funding
expectations.
Through a variety of
processes, national forests
have worked closely with
the public and stakeholder
groups to collect informa-
tion and feedback about
social, economic, and
ecological concerns and
impacts around forest road
systems. For many national
forests, this is the first time
they have looked at their
entire road system in a
comprehensive way.
The Forest Service man-
ages approximately 90,000
miles of roads in Oregon
and Washington that must
be maintained to provide
safe public and administra-
tive access for a variety of
uses, including recreation,
fire suppression, com-
mercial activities, forest
restoration, and other
management purposes. It is
a challenge to maintain all
roads to proper safety and
environmental standards
due to increased use,
aging infrastructure, and
decreasing budgets. Many
roads, built between 1950
and 1990, have exceeded
their designed lifespan
and require costly repairs.
Unmaintained roads and
infrastructure can impact
water quality and wildlife
habitat, especially fish-
bearing streams. Backlog
maintenance projects top
$1.2 billion, and funds
available for road mainte-
nance each year are only
about 15% of what is
needed to fully maintain
the current road system.
Of the 90,000 miles of
Forest Service roads in
Oregon and Washington,
about 2/3 of those are cur-
rently open and maintained
for both public and ad-
ministrative purposes. The
other 1/3 of the current
road system is managed for
specific project uses. These
roads are opened dur-
ing project activities, and
closed and put in storage
between uses. The travel
analysis reports indicate
that about 12% of the over-
all road system is “likely
not needed” for resource
management purposes in
the future. However, the
majority of roads in this
category are part of the
closed and stored road
system. Only about 20%
(approximately 2,000
miles) of the roads shown
as “likely not needed” in
the travel analysis reports
come from the group of
roads that are currently
open to the public.
Travel analysis reports
for individual national
forests in Oregon and
Washington can be found
online..
The Pacific Northwest
Region consists of 16 Na-
tional Forests, 59 District
Offices, a National Scenic
Area, and a National
Grassland comprising 24.7
million acres in Oregon
and Washington and em-
ploying approximately
3,550 people.
To learn more about the
U.S. Forest Service in the
Pacific Northwest, please
visit www.fs.usda.gov/r6
Todd Arriola / The Baker County Press
Baker County Justice Court Trial Court Administrator Michael Finney speaks to the Baker County
Commissioners.