OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN, Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Listen to the lessons
Native American
tribes have to tell
he Chinook Indian Nation’s First Salmon ceremony last
month at Chinook Point in Fort Columbia State Park in
Washington state was a fresh reminder of how much all
our lives can be enriched by a greater consciousness of Native
American heritage at the mouth of the Columbia River.
The event was attended by representatives from a number of
other tribes, including the Shoalwater Bay Tribe, who occupy the
only reservation now extant in the Columbia River estuary coun-
ties. It is both newsworthy and symbolic that their small homeland
at the northwestern tip of Willapa Bay is under threat of gradual
destruction by the ocean: All native traditions in our vicinity are at
risk, in one way or another.
The First Salmon event was overwhelmingly positive, however.
As in many past years, a Chinook cedar canoe was paddled into
sight of the spectacular coves at the point, evoking centuries-old
beliefs and customs. Famously at home on the water, except for
their modern jackets, the paddlers could have been from a cen-
tury ago or 10 centuries ago. Tribal members and guests waiting
on the shore were visibly moved by the arrival of a bright Chinook
salmon representing countless others that sustained local people
back into the depths of time.
Chinook Chairman Tony Johnson spoke of the original names
of places and of customs like having tribal children place ripe
salmon berries in the mouth of the First Salmon by way of
acknowledgment of its sacrifice. Salmon harvests once were gov-
erned by many taboos, violation of which would result in the
salmon spurning efforts to catch them. Along with upriver dams
and other handicaps, we can perhaps imagine it was the violation
of such standards of care that led to sadly diminished salmon runs
of today.
There are interesting efforts underway to rebuild Chinook
resilience and sense of self. One woman was honored for teaching
others how to weave Pacific Northwest tribal hats from strips of
cedar fiber, while another spoke of successful collaboration
with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in get-
ting wild fish and game meat to people in need. Later this year,
Chinooks will participate in Tribal Journeys 2017, a voyage in
open canoes to Vancouver Island. All these things are good to hear
about.
Johnson spoke of a renewed effort to gain formal federal legal
status, a step that could bring better health care and other opportu-
nities for tribal members and their non-native neighbors.
T
Intelligent work needed
against invasive species
T
wo Daily Astorian stories last week illustrated sharply
contrasting attitudes to plants we struggle to eradicate and
others we endeavor to nurture. In certain respects, such
struggles harken back to our earliest days as hunter-gatherers,
while in other ways we are entering a new era in which humans
have to actively manage our environment.
Policeman’s helmet, an ornamental garden plant from the
Himalayas in Asia that discovered a desirable habitat in our
local outdoors, is the target of weeding by the North Coast Land
Conservancy and the Necanicum Watershed Council. It joins
Japanese knotweed, Scotch broom and other invasive plants that
are combated with varying levels of intensity in the lush wet-
lands, riparian areas and forests of the Lower Columbia region.
By all indications, policeman’s helmet is far from the worst of
the vegetative freeloaders, but keeping ahead of it may avoid
more serious problems in the future.
If you examine photos of our area from around 1900 and ear-
lier, it becomes obvious that early settlers made many decisions
— or accidents — that transformed our outdoors from what it
was when Lewis and Clark visited. European beach grass now
covers once free-flowing sand dunes. Evergreen and Himalayan
blackberries thickly shroud hillsides where lush ferns once grew.
If we were to subtract out of our environment all the plants
we’ve introduced, we might only barely recognize the place.
On the other hand, native violets have been crowded out by
human-introduced grasses and weeds, putting Oregon silver-
spot butterflies at risk. In their caterpillar stage, they depend on
the violets for food. In some areas, violets are being reestab-
lished, while in others — such as Saddle Mountain — they still
naturally thrive, but the butterflies seem not to have found them.
Biologists are now transplanting caterpillars back into these lat-
ter areas.
As more humans occupy the planet and the climate changes,
intelligent hard work will be needed to fight invasive species and
help native ones. We all can play a role by being careful what
we plant and supporting measures like butterfly reintroduction.
Maintaining a rich, interesting and healthy mix of plants and ani-
mals is increasingly up to us.
GUEST COLUMN
In the GOP health care
bill, Oregon’s kids lose
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Children could lose health care coverage under a Republican proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare.
By JEFF MERKLEY
and TONIA HUNT
Special to The Daily Astorian
W
e’ve been hearing a lot
about winners and losers
these days. Yet, even as
our kids on the
baseball or soccer
fields may be win-
ning trophies, they
are in imminent
danger of losing
something much
more important.
Children in
Oregon and across
the country risk
losing health care
coverage through
Medicaid, and all
of the benefits that
accompany it, due to the U.S. Sen-
ate’s Better Care Reconciliation
Act.
The act provides tens of thou-
sands of dollars in tax breaks to the
top 1 percent richest Americans,
actually raising their incomes by
2 percent. It cuts financial aid that
families need to obtain coverage. It
cuts the average federal contribu-
tion over the next seven years to 57
percent of the actual cost of Med-
icaid, leaving states to pick up the
tab or cut eligibility and coverage. It
allows radical cuts to which health
services can be covered. In short,
these drastic cuts to Medicaid and
health services, huge financial ben-
efits to the wealthy, and cost-shifts
to states, will result in millions of
Americans — millions of children
— losing coverage.
Here are five ways children
could lose:
First, attacking Medicaid expan-
sion puts at risk health coverage for
the more than 30 million children
across the country who depend on
it; children account for 43 percent
of all Medicaid enrollees. In Ore-
gon, over 400,000 children receive
their health care coverage through
Medicaid and “CHIP,” the Chil-
dren’s Health Insurance Program.
Gains made since 2008 in children’s
health care coverage will be lost
even though expanded eligibility
and coverage has led to more chil-
dren receiving the health care they
so desperately need.
Second, rural children will be
disproportionately affected by cuts
to Medicaid because poverty rates
are higher in rural Oregon. The agri-
culture and small business jobs in
these communities are less likely
to offer insurance through employ-
ment. In fact, more than 9,000 chil-
dren in Eastern Oregon’s 2nd Con-
gressional District rely on Medicaid
and CHIP for their coverage, which
protects their families from finan-
cial risk. Children in both urban and
rural areas thrive when they have
primary and preventive care. Third,
children with pre-existing condi-
tions will suffer. Although com-
panies can’t charge sick children
more for their coverage, they can
cut which health conditions they
choose to cover. There will be no
guarantee of mental health, den-
tal, drug and addiction services, or
even maternity care. The Congres-
sional Budget Office estimates that
maternity and mental health cover-
age will be dropped from many pol-
icies in many states, making them
much more expensive for those who
need them. The lack of accessibil-
ity of these services would dispro-
portionately harm those least able to
afford them.
Fourth, kids with severe disabil-
ities will have fewer choices and
less access to care when Medic-
aid is capped. According to the Kai-
ser Family Foundation, nearly half
of all children with special health
needs receive health insurance
through Medicaid, CHIP, or pub-
lic coverage. Low-income families
with disabled children rely on early
screening, diagnosis, and treatment.
The act slashes funding to pediatri-
cians and children’s hospitals pro-
viding those services.
Fifth, caps to Medicaid are
a calamitous cost-shift to Ore-
gon, which is already financially
over-burdened. Make no mistake:
caps are cuts. According to the Con-
gressional Budget Office, the “caps”
amount to $772 billion in cuts. The
act passes the buck to states and
risks damaging kids — now and
into the future. Over 50 years of
data prove that kids with Medicaid
coverage have better health, fewer
adolescent deaths, lower high school
dropout rates, higher college grad-
uation rates, and greater wealth and
income. Eviscerating Medicaid will
never bring Oregon the results chil-
dren deserve.
Don’t be fooled by the prom-
ises of legislators who want a “win”
with this plan. In the end, when Sen-
ate Republicans cap Medicaid and
end essential benefits, and leave the
most vulnerable Americans to pick
up the tab, Oregon’s kids lose.
Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, is the
junior U.S. senator for Oregon.
Tonia Hunt is the executive director
of Children First for Oregon.
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