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About Illinois Valley news. (Cave City, Oregon) 1937-current | View Entire Issue (April 30, 2003)
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, April 30, 2003 Page 6 OSU extension faces cutbacks in workforce ASSAULT AWARENESS TREE - The Illinois Valley Safe House Alliance sponsored a tree- planting to honor all women, men, children and elders who have suffered sexual assault, as part of events during April, which was Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Approximately 25 volunteers helped plant the Eastern Flowering Red Bud tree at the I.V. Family Resource Cen- ter in Cave Junction on Thursday, April 22.( Photo by I.V. Safe House Alliance) Huge wildfires to continue, say experts, unless polarized views change quickly Experts say that massive forest and wildland fires will be a permanent fixture of the American West unless the public and policy leaders work past extremist positions and social paralysis. They must move toward enlightened land management policies, and more than triple funding for applied, problem- solving research that could give managers better tools to work with and more proof of their effectiveness. These and other conclu- sions emerged from a recent meeting at Oregon State Uni- versity (OSU) of approxi- mately 100 agency managers, fire experts and other leaders, trying to bring together aca- demic researchers and field managers to learn from recent experiences and make plans for the next five years. The conference was the first of three of its type in the nation being held this year, under auspices of the National Fire Plan and Joint Fire Sci- ence Program. It followed the 2002 fire season, one of the worst in U.S. history. The season included the 500,000-acre Biscuit Fire in Illinois Valley and surround- ing area -- largest in the coun- try last year and which cost some $160 million to control, said to be the most money ever spent on a single fire in the United States. Debates are still raging over fuel reduction strategies, salvage logging, forest health and ecology issues, wildlife concerns, use of controlled fire and many other topics. Hal Salwasser, dean of the OSU College of Forestry and leadoff speaker, said that the National Fire Plan, with en- dorsement by the Western Governor's Association, pro- vides a solid blueprint for dealing with many problems. But it was indicated that it is being hindered by social discord and conflicts between extremists on both sides -- those who would take imme- diate swift actions and those who argue for doing little or nothing. "We've seen aggressive proposals for bold actions, and we've seen active political and legal resistance by agents of inaction who pretend the prob- lems don't exist," Salwasser said. "And we're relegating to the sidelines the visionaries who advocate integrated, adaptive approaches to prob- lem solving." This conflict is further hindered by an inadequate knowledge base to guide enlightened land management policies and provide conclu- sive evidence they would work, Salwasser said. ‘But the issue is so large, the fire potential so vast that we have to carefully evaluate what we've done in the past…’ said Shindler. He called for more than tripling the current federal appropriation for forest and rangeland health and wildland fire research, which is now only 1.6 percent of the man- agement budget for these is- sues. That could provide about $88 million more for research across the nation. "A 1.6 percent investment in building the intelligence needed to improve perform- ance is pathetic," Salwasser said. "The price we pay for underfunding research and development is inefficient and ineffective use of management resources, and vulnerability to agents of inaction who will stymie projects due to lack of science." Bruce Shindler, an associ- ate professor of forest re- sources at OSU and one of the coordinators of the confer- ence, said that fire manage- ment "has to become every- one's responsibility...fire sci- entists, managers and citi- zens." Effective fire preven- tion and fuel reduction pro- grams can be implemented only if all the partners under- stand the issues involved and reach agreement on how to proceed. "We're not starting at square one on these issues; there's much that researchers and fire managers already know," Shindler said. "But the issue is so large, the fire po- tential so vast that we have to carefully evaluate what we've done in the past, what works, what doesn't work, and then work closely with the public to help them understand the costs and benefits of the alter- natives." Shindler said that forest and wildland fire is such a critical issue that people may be responsive to well- reasoned changes and new land management concepts. And there are a few success stories right in Oregon that point to this, he said, includ- ing innovative and collabora- tive programs in the Metolius Basin of central Oregon and the Applegate Community Fire Plan in S.W. Oregon. Among the other conclu- sions and key research needs identified at the conference: *More information is needed about fuel reduction programs and better methods to implement them. *Research results need to be moved more quickly to field application, possibly us- ing the "Extension" concept developed at land-grant uni- versities. *Studies should determine the effectiveness of different restoration treatments after fire has moved through an area, and which approaches yield the desired ecological, economic and social values. *On a landscape scale, identifying what approaches most effectively reduce the potential for severe wildfire. *More studies are needed on such topics as the effects of smoke exposure on human health, the consequences of continued fire suppression policies, the potential for catastrophic events, and other topics. *Adaptive management needs to be encouraged, so that work can be done while research is still under way. *The public must be en- gaged at many points in the development of policies, to build trust and understanding despite the inevitable elements of risk and uncertainty. The Corvallis-based Ore- gon State University (OSU) Extension Service, which de- livers educational information across Oregon, is wrestling with the possibility of a size- able workforce reduction. It would leave the out- reach arm of OSU approxi- mately 40 percent smaller by 2005 than it was at the start of the current 2001-03 state funding biennium. The organization’s Jose- phine County office is at the county fairgrounds in Grants Pass. “The main reasons are an anticipated reduction in state funding because state reve- nues are down sharply, and increased mandated operating costs,” said Lyla Houglum, Extension dean and director. “Our state budget for the 2003-05 biennium may not be finalized until late summer, but we need to be proactive and plan for anticipated cuts,” said Houglum. “All indica- tions are that Extension may be smaller, and that therefore many educational services that Oregonians value won’t be available.” The Extension Service’s outside-the-classroom educa- tional efforts focus on areas such as agriculture, forestry, fishing, families, community development and 4-H youth development. Extension is supported primarily by state, federal and county funds and has offices in every county in the state. An Extension staffing plan under development is aimed at outlining how the organization would do its work if its funding dropped to the governor’s proposed budget minus 10 percent. Some forecast that this will be roughly Extension’s state funding level for the 2003-05 biennium, which starts July 1. The first draft of the pro- posed staffing plan was devel- oped with input from individ- ual Oregonians and represen- tatives of industries and or- ganizations around the state. There may be more re- gional programming, Houglum said, but Extension plans to maintain an office in every county that provides adequate fiscal support for a county Extension office. School funds dependent on bills being considered The state budget outlined by the Joint Ways and Means Committee co-chairmen calls for a 2003-05 State School Fund of $4.78 billion, roughly equal to the $4.8 billion set by the 1999 Legislature. The proposal shows the potential of another $162.4 million for K-12 schools if six bills under consideration to change Public Employees Re- tirement System are enacted. This budget assumes a K- 12 employer contribution rate in 2003-04 of 12.69 percent rather than the 18.58 percent rate to begin on July 1, 2003. The current rate is 12.73 per- cent. The co-chairmen’s budget suggests that if no K-12 salary or benefit increases occur in the next two years, school dis- tricts could save another $559 million. Co-chairmen Sen. Kurt Schrader (D-Canby) and Rep. Randy Miller (R-West Linn) called this “live-within- available-resources” budget a starting point for state budget talks to span the next several months. This K-12 appropriation is woefully inadequate to fund schools over the next two years and will mean many more staff layoffs, larger class sizes and fewer electives and interscholastic activities for students,” said OSBA Di- rector of Legislative Services John Marshall. “The proposed funding level also will likely stifle our economic recovery,” he said. “We’re hopeful this plan will spark a serious revenue dis- cussion.” The PERS savings sug- gested in the plan are “unrealized,” Marshall added. Also, K-12 salary and benefit cost reductions are unrealistic given the constraints of the collective bargaining law on employee contracts. The co-chairmen’s budget proposal is available from the homepage under “What’s New” at www.osba.org. YARD/TENT INSIDE SALE 18254 Redwood Hwy., Selma (Look for the yellow/orange tent) Come and dig through boxes All kinds of miscellaneous stuff. Grocery sale inside Cereal: Kelloggs and General Mills Buy 3 get 1 FREE (of equal or lesser value) Canned Goods, Boxed Goods, etc. GREAT PRICES! Chain Link Specialist 592-6192 Take & Bake or cooked for you on-the-spot! 2 Large Pepperoni Pizzas ONLY $12.95