FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5
Local
Councilman Andersen
continues efforts to clean up
City’s watershed
• MEETINGS HELD
BETWEEN VARIOUS
OFFICIALS
BY TODD ARRIOLA
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Last week, Baker City
Councilman and Ander-
sen Forestry Consulting
President Arvid Ander-
sen met with Baker City
Manager Fred Warner,
and U.S. Forest Service
(USFS) Whitman District
Ranger Jeff Tomac, in a
continuing effort to prompt
conversation and action to
reach Andersen’s ultimate
goal: Protecting the com-
munity’s drinking water
by reducing fuel loads and
restoring forest health in
the Baker City Watershed.
On March 9th of this
year, Andersen sent a letter
to Warner, in which he
thanked Warner for attend-
ing the “Era Of Megafi res”
presentation, held in La
Grande, and hosted by Dr.
Paul Hessburg, because
Andersen was hopeful
Warner would gain “...a
working knowledge of
forest ecology and the role
fi re plays in the forest.”
But Andersen cautioned
Warner against being
overly infl uenced by Hess-
burg’s presentation (which
ended in a heated exchange
between Andersen and
Hessburg), just because
Hessburg holds a PhD in
Forestry.
Andersen said, “It is my
personal opinion that Dr.
Hessburg is overly reliant
on under burning, and
used climate change as an
excuse for not conducting
a more aggressive action
to restore forest health ...
Also, I was deeply dis-
turbed by Dr. Hessburg’s
failure to mention or even
recognize the profound
negative effects that the
USFS Eastside Screens
have had on the current
mess our National Forest
timber lands are in.
“I had absolutely no
idea that Dr. Hessburg was
actually the author of the
USFS Eastside Screens,
and the 21-inch ‘no cut’
language.
“Our City watershed is
a crown jewel, providing
clean drinking water at a
very reasonable price to
the citizens of Baker City,
Oregon.
“Currently, the fuel
loads there are equal to
or greater than the fuel
loads that were present on
Dooley Mountain, when
the Cornet/Windy Ridge
Wildfi re occurred in 2015.
A wildfi re burning in the
city watershed would burn
with the intensity of the
Cornet/Windy Ridge Wild-
fi re fi re, and would result
in the need to construct an
expensive $15-20 million
water treatment plant.
“The citizens of Baker
City cannot afford, and
should not be forced to
bare, that cost, because
of our lack of action on
this critical issue. Endless
studies and delaying the
clean-up operations will
not end well!
“To effectively treat the
fuel loads in the Baker City
Watershed, some form of
commercial tree harvest
and machine piling must
occur; the newly revamped
pipeline road should be
engineered and constructed
to support log haul and the
use of logging machinery.
“Given the multitude of
having to treat a 10,000-
acre watershed in the most
cost effective way and
shortest time possible,
ground base logging opera-
tions and machine piling
should be used whenever
topography and environ-
mental conditions allow ...
all of us on the City Coun-
cil and city staffs need to
make it one of the highest
priorities to work with
the Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest staff to
see that the city watershed
fuel loads are reduced, and
forest health is restored,
to protect the Baker City
Watershed.”
On April 17th, Baker
City Mayor Mike Downing
sent a letter to Tomac, in
which he asked Tomac a
series of questions, in order
to “... better understand the
complex issues surround-
ing the watershed.”
Downing said, “...The
Baker City Council has
had discussions surround-
ing the increased fuel loads
in the Watershed and the
potential for a catastrophic
mega fi re, which could
threaten the entirety of our
Watershed. One of the
Council’s adopted agendas
for the 2017-2018 fi scal
year is to work proactively
with the Forest Service,
and all other stakeholder,
to assess the watershed
conditions and work on
remedying conditions that
threaten the Baker City
Watershed.”
Downing asked Tomac
three primary questions,
each of which included
several sub-questions.
Those primary ques-
tions were: “What does the
Forest Service consider to
be the forest health condi-
tions of the Baker City
Watershed from the per-
spective of Fire Manage-
ment? What analysis of
the Baker City Watershed
does the Forest Service
have? Please identify for
the Baker City Council
any constraints which
impede treatment plans for
forest restoration and fi re
resiliency in the Baker City
Watershed.”
Tomac sent a letter to
Downing on June 29th, he
apologized for the delay in
responding to Downing, he
reviewed various docu-
ments in preparation, and
he said, “Foremost, I do
recognize the importance
of the watershed supply-
ing clean drinking water
for residents of Baker City.
I also agree with your
statement regarding the
increased fuel loading in
the watershed, along with
the potential for a fi re that
could threaten the water-
shed we all value.”
In response to Down-
ing’s fi rst question, “What
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Arvid Andersen began calling for watershed cleanup
to prevent a megafi re shortly after his swearing-in,
shown here.
does the Forest Service
consider to be the forest
health conditions of the
Baker City Watershed,
from the perspective of
Fire Management?”
Tomac said, “As you
have already identifi ed, the
fuel loading has increased
on the watershed. The
watershed vegetative
cover is identifi ed on
page 8 of the WMP (the
2014 Watershed Manage-
ment Plan), and includes
three primary groupings,
including Principal Forest
Zone, Subalpine Zone, and
Alpine Zone. A combina-
tion of factors, including
vegetative cover (zones),
topography, species
composition, identifi ed
Inventoried Roadless
Area, and economics, have
resulted in reduced forestry
management and increased
fuel loading. Providing
adequate, clean water,
along with local resident
concerns regarding fi re and
smoke have also reduces
the ability for fuels reduc-
tion efforts, like prescribed
fi re.”
In response to Down-
ing’s second question,
“What analysis of the
Baker City Watershed does
the Forest Service have?”
Tomac said, “As iden-
tifi ed on page 9 of the
WMP, two analyses have
been completed within or
adjacent to the Watershed.
These include the Wash-
ington Watershed Project
FEIS (Final Environmental
Impact Statement) and
ROD (Record of Decision)
in 1995, and the Foothills
Fuels Reduction Project
DM (Decision Memo) in
2004. Specifi c project
activities are identifi ed for
both projects in the WMP.”
In response to Downing’s
third question, “Please
identify for the Baker City
Council any constraints
which impede treatment
plans for forest restoration
and fi re resiliency in the
Baker City Watershed,”
Tomac said, “Constraints
depend on the activity
proposed. Some informa-
tion can be reviewed in
the Watershed Conditions
section, on pages 20-27, in
the WMP.”
All of Tomac’s responses
included more detail, to
also address Downing’s
sub-questions.
In conclusion, Tomac
said, “In 2014, the Forest
Service worked with Baker
City to update the WMP, to
foster effective, economi-
cal, and equitable manage-
ment of water, and ensure
the continued protection of
the Baker City Watershed,
to provide clean drinking
water to stakeholders, and
support functions of the
environment by strength-
ening existing management
measures, creating strate-
gies, to mitigate risks to the
Watershed, and implement-
ing a framework to adapt
to new challenges. My
staff and I have met with
Baker City staff over the
past couple of years, con-
sidering options for poten-
tial fuel reduction projects
within or adjacent to the
Watershed. I am available
to meet to review maps
and options. I am also
available to participate in
a City Council meeting...I
value the partnership we
have with Baker City, and
will continue to work with
you on management of the
watershed.”
Andersen spent most of
an hour last week speaking
with Warner and Tomac
about the conditions in the
watershed, about reducing
fuel loads and restoring
forest health, and about
what projects could and
could not be completed,
including the associated
timing with those.
Andersen said, via email,
“I really care about forest
health. I am profoundly
unhappy about seeing my
National Forest burn up,
and my private landowner
clients get burned out
by fi res staring on USFS
ground...”
He wants to spread the
word about the issues, “...
and support WWNF (Wal-
lowa-Whitman National
Forest) to do the right
thing—protect our Baker
City drinking water.”
Subscribe today for as little as $29.95 per year!
www.TheBakerCountyPress.com
‘Blithe Spirit’ to
begin in Oct.
at EORT
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Eastern Oregon Regional Theater presents “Blithe
Spirit” by Noël Coward. The play will be directed by Scot
Violette.
According to the play description, “The smash comedy
hit of the London and Broadway stages, this much-re-
vived classic from the playwright of Private Lives offers
up fussy, cantankerous novelist Charles Condomine,
remarried but haunted (literally) by the ghost of his late
fi rst wife, the clever and insistent Elvira who is called up
by a visiting ‘happy medium,’ one Madame Arcati. As the
personalities clash, Charles’ current wife Ruth is acciden-
tally killed, ‘passes over’, joins Elvira and the two ‘blithe
spirits’ haunt the hapless Charles into perpetuity.”
Violette had decided to direct this play around a year
ago in September.
“One of my favorite plays in the world is done by
Neil Simon,” explained Violette. “He wrote a play called
‘Jakes Women’ and it’s a great play, I played Jake years
ago, and it’s about a writer who is going crazy and seeing
people that don’t exist anymore and having conversations
with them. Well, in that play, Jake—the lead character
in the play—tells his dead wife ‘Let’s not turn this into a
Noël Coward tribute.’ That reference is to ‘Blithe Spirit’,
Noël Coward wrote ‘Blithe Spirit’ that’s about a guy who
talks to his dead wife. Neil Simon basically stole the plot
from ‘Blithe Spirit.’ That’s one of the reasons and, two, I
love British comedies. I absolutely love British comedies,
and it’s a classic.”
Violette explained that Noël Coward wrote the play
during the blitz of World War II.
“He was living in London at the time,” said Violette.
“He moved north to get away from the bombs, and it was
such horrible times for the people in London, he wanted
to write a play that would lift their spirits. So, he wrote,
‘Blithe Spirits.’”
The play will be performed in the Basche Sage Mall
Friday, October 20-22 and 27-29 at 7:00 p.m. Fridays and
Saturdays and 3:00 p.m. Sundays.
Planning
Commissioner
investigated
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
Kitzmiller frowned upon the idea of using an engineer
inspecting the work after it’s completed and covered,
because the engineer couldn’t necessarily see any more
than the Building Department could.
She said that, if the Crawfords agree to get the addi-
tions permitted, in addition to the normal permit fees, the
Crawfords would pay Building Department investigation
fees, which are at actual cost. For example, if Hall had to
make one extra visit to the property, and only one certi-
fi ed letter was necessary to be sent to the Crawfords, the
extra cost could be around just $70.
Kitzmiller said, “The Building Department, and the
Planning Department are always happy to be of assis-
tance for property owners that want to make improve-
ments to their property. Our Department is governed by
the State laws, so at this point, if a violation is deter-
mined to exist, we will begin the process to attempt to
bring the property into compliance. The very fi rst thing
that will have to happen, is a zoning approval applied for
and received.
“Then, the Building Department can determine a path
to bring the structural, plumbing, electrical, and mechani-
cal additions/changes into compliance. If the property
owner is not willing to do so, then violations would be
submitted, and the legal process would begin.”
At this point in the process, Kitzmiller said, there is an
open investigation, based on the reported conditions from
multiple complainants.
Kitzmiller, who has worked as Permit Technician for
the City for the last two and a half years, is a homeowner
herself, and sees both sides of the issue.
She noted that there are some shoddy contractors out
there, and much misinformation and lack of information,
but she said, “The Oregon building code law—in most
cases—they do it for a reason, and it’s not that hard to
comply.”
She said, citing one example of common confusion
with differences in location and what’s required, “The
building code is exactly the same, for people in the City,
and the County (and Statewide)...What changes is the
development code—planning, not building.” She said
that there are additional City ordinances, but neither the
City Manager, nor the City Council or the County Com-
missioners, for that matter, could overrule the building
codes.
She said that there’s a common misconception that the
Building Department is “...out to permit you to death.
The reality is, that we’re busy—we don’t need to make
you get a permit, if you don’t need one. We can only
enforce Oregon building code law, and we don’t want to
make you get a permit, if one’s not required, we don’t
want to inspect your place, if we don’t need to ...
“If you want to do an addition, we want you to do an
addition. If you want to do an addition, we want you to
do it legally ...We want to do what we’re supposed to for
you. We want to be consistent and predicable, for the
people we serve.”