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3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2018 Documents show value of recreation at Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Information was heavily redacted By TONY SCHICK Oregon Public Broadcasting Recreation in an untamed part of southern Oregon gen- erated far more economic ben- efit than grazing and logging put together. Yet it’s difficult to say how changing the bound- aries of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument might alter that mix. That’s because of the way the Trump administration heavily redacted documents it recently released. They were made public in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from Oregon Public Broadcasting, EarthFix and other parties about the contro- versy-shrouded Cascade-Siski- you National Monument. The documents are part of the Trump administration’s review of several national mon- ument designations, including the one in southern Oregon. Both supporters and oppo- nents of the monument expan- sion say the multiple pages of blacked out information are a troubling sign. The Cascade-Siskiyou mon- ument is a 114,000-acre pre- Bob Wick/Bureau of Land Management The Trump administration may shrink the Cascade-Siskiy- ou National Monument in southern Oregon. serve connecting three moun- tain ranges in southern Oregon. It was designated a national monument to preserve the region’s biodiversity. In 2017, President Barack Obama dou- bled its size just before leaving office. The Trump administra- tion is now considering shrink- ing it. Among the newly pub- lic documents is an economic assessment from the Bureau of Land Management that esti- mates recreation generated $16.6 million in economic out- put and supported 200 jobs in 2016. Estimates for ranching and timber were $1.1 million and $600,000. “Economics is not the rea- son for the monument. If Widow of Longview dockworker files wrongful death lawsuit Walters sworn in as chief justice of state Supreme Court ment play. The court ruled that Martin, whose circulatory dis- Martha Walters has been order made it difficult for him sworn in as chief justice of the to walk, was protected under Oregon Supreme Court, the the Americans with Disabilities first woman to lead the state’s Act and must be allowed to use highest court. a golf cart. Walters, 67, was elected Gov. Ted Kulongoski by her fellow justices to suc- appointed Walters to the Ore- ceed Thomas Balmer, who gon Supreme Court in 2006. has served on the She has since won two court since 2001 and elections. will remain on the Balmer described bench, The Orego- his replacement as nian reported. Walters, enthusiastic, smart sworn in Monday, will and hardworking. He preside over the sev- noted that there were en-member court for no women justices Martha the next six years. when Walters joined Walters Walters said she the court in 2006. Now plans to use her new there are five. role to ensure Orego- “She will set a high nians have access to a fair and bar for the next chief justice, impartial justice system. whether it’s a man or woman, “We are at the forefront of because she will do a great the problems the people in our job.” society face,” Walters said. The year Walters gradu- Walters graduated from the ated law school, Betty Rob- University of Oregon School of erts became the first woman Law in 1977, and then worked appointed to the Oregon Court of Appeals. Roberts went on as a lawyer in Eugene. She was part of the legal to become the first woman on team that won a 2001 U.S. the Oregon Supreme Court in Supreme Court case on behalf 1982. of professional golfer Casey Walters said she looked up Martin, who sued the PGA Tour to Roberts and knows she might over its requirement that play- inspire other women who wish ers must walk during tourna- to follow in her career path. Associated Press WANTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 there is a recreation bene- fit, and according to the BLM there is a remarkable eco- nomic recreation benefit, that’s a byproduct. That’s a bonus. That’s frosting on the cake,” said Dave Willis of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council. “Green is gold. When you pro- tect public lands it’s economi- cally better off in the long term than degrading them.” The Interior Department, which oversees the BLM, declined comment, citing pend- ing litigation over the monu- ment. Officials referred inqui- ries to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Department of Jus- tice did not respond to requests for comment. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican who opposed the monument expan- sion, did not respond to a request for comment. The latest documents include a draft memo that is entirely blacked out, veiling who reviewed it and what input they gave. The administra- tion also blacked out its exam- inations of land management trade-offs, which include the government’s estimate of how the land would be used today had the monument not been designated, particularly for timber and ranching. Those are the portions of the documents watchers of the monument debate say are likely to have the most impact on the administra- tion’s decision-making. “Regardless of whether you support it or don’t sup- port the expansion and the pro- cess. I think it reveals that there really is a lack of information flow from the government to the public. And that should be a concern,” said Travis Joseph, president of the American For- est Resource Council. Joseph took issue with the economic estimates in the doc- uments. He said recreation in the area was likely to be high regardless of whether the land was officially designated a monument or not. He also said the agency is lowballing the potential for timber production. Associated Press The widow of a Longview, Washington, dockworker killed when a mooring line snapped on a cargo ship has filed a $15 million wrongful death law- suit against the ship’s owner and operators. Byron Jacobs was killed June 28 while he was attending the vessel at the Port of Longview. The Oregonian says Megan Jacobs filed a law- suit on behalf of her hus- band. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Port- land, names SE Harmony Corp., the Taiwan-based vessel owner, and Bright Charter Shipping Ltd., which managed and oper- Clatsop Post 12 Meatloaf Dinner With Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Salad and Rolls ated the ship. The lawsuit alleges they repositioned the ship without checking if the crew was in danger and did not provide safe lines to shift the ship. The vessel owner and oper- ators couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. Oregon attorney general considers investigation into election fraud Questions over IP 31 By LAUREN DAKE Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is consider- ing whether to investigate if a crime was committed during the process of putting one of the more controversial initia- tives on the November ballot. At issue is a tax-related measure that could make it harder for Democrats to raise money in the future. The measure, Initiative Peti- tion 31, would require a three-fifths vote of the Leg- islature for all taxes and fee increases, meaning Demo- crats without a supermajority would need Republican votes to raise revenue. The governor is in the midst of working with busi- ness and labor groups to keep the measure off the ballot. Despite calls from some Democratic lawmakers to halt the measure verifica- tion process while an inves- tigation is underway, the secretary of state’s office is moving forward with the cer- tification process. The complaint and inves- tigation could, however, jeopardize the measure’s chance of making it to the ballot. Stephen Trout, the state’s election director, said the secretary of state’s office will continue to certify the signa- tures and wait to hear back from the attorney general’s office. After hearing from the attorney general’s office, the secretary of state could con- sider whether to levy civil penalties. Trout said his office has until the first week of August to certify the signatures. “We often get com- plaints at the last minute,” Trout said, adding that, to his knowledge, it’s never halted the certification process. The complaint filed by Connea Derber outlines a litany of issues. Derber said she was collecting signatures when she wasn’t certified to do so, she alleges some- one else hired by the signa- ture-gathering firm signed the sheets of signatures she collected, and she suggests she was paid based on the number of signatures she was able to collect, which is against the law. Lee Vasche, who owns Ballot Access — the firm who hired Derber and over- sees the signature gathering process — said Derber was being used by Our Oregon, a union-backed group, to sty- mie the measure. Vasche, whose business tends to support more con- servative measures, and the more liberal Our Oregon have a history of filing elec- tion complaints against each other. “They want to stop this measure,” Vasche said of Our Oregon. “The politicians are passing fee increases. Every- thing is a fee increase instead of a tax increase and they are skirting the three-fifths requirement. This petition tightens this down … Our Oregon is strongly against that and that’s fine, that’s their prerogative, of course, but they are using the com- plaint process to score polit- ical points.” Realtors have been pour- ing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the cam- paign, in part to ward off the future possibility that law- makers could curb the mort- gage interest and property tax deductions. In a statement Tuesday, the director of Our Oregon called the incident one of the state’s more significant cases of voter fraud. 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