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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
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OUR VIEW
Agency flubs rescue from wolves
When wolves endanger
humans, pick what’s
best for the humans
I
f you knew someone’s life was in
danger in the rugged forest, would
you send a chopper to rescue them
within minutes or let them wait three
hours while a crew hiked to the site?
The quick rescue seems like an easy
choice. Not for the Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife
Two weeks ago a seasonal Forest
Service researcher — a student from Utah
— was conducting a stream survey in the
Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest
in northern Washington when she was
confronted by two wolves from the Loup
Loup pack that seemed intent on making
her lunch. The woman yelled, waved her
arms and used bear spray before climbing a
tree and radioing for help.
She was rescued by a Department of
Natural Resources helicopter crew within
about 45 minutes.
Reporting by Don Jenkins of our sister
newspaper, the Capital Press, shows that it
almost didn’t go that way.
Despite what the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife said after
the event, it was reluctant to send in the
chopper because of the presence of the
wolves, a federally protected species in
that part of the state. It wanted to send an
overland party — a three-hour trek.
Washington Department of Natural Resources
The helicopter crew that rescued a researcher treed by wolves in the Okano-
gan-Wenatchee National Forest. From left, helicopter manager Daryl Schie, crew mem-
bers Matthew Harris and Jared Hess, and pilot Devin Gooch.
‘How could they possibly spin leaving this
woman clutching a tree for dear life for three
hours while wolves circled below?’
The Department of Natural Resources
pushed back and prepared to dispatch an
air crew that eventually executed a swift
rescue.
Notes from a call between DNR
dispatcher Jill Jones and a wildlife officer
summarized WDFW’s position, and her
position, shortly before the helicopter
launched.
“No helicopter. Federally listed species.
3 WDFW personnel saying so,” according
to DNR’s call log.
“We are more concerned for her life than
the listed animal,” Jones told the wildlife
officer. “He indicated that she is safe up in
the tree. ... I told him that we do not know
how safe she is. I don’t know how stout
the tree is, and if the limbs will continue to
hold her or how long she can hold on.”
Finally, at the DNR’s urging, the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and WDFW
agreed to launching the air rescue.
The wolves scattered when the chopper
arrived at the site about 30 minutes later.
The woman was rescued and all ended
well.
But it could have gone badly had
WDFW been allowed to put the well-being
of the wolves ahead of the student clinging
to the tree.
We can’t imagine that these experts
really thought through the possible
consequences for the young woman had
it gone wrong, or considered the potential
public relations disaster this episode
presented.
How could they possibly spin
leaving this woman clutching a tree for
dear life for three hours while wolves
circled below? And what did they think
the optics would be if she lost her
grip or otherwise made contact before
rescuers arrived?
We hope that if a similar situation
presents itself that WDFW won’t hesitate to
do the right thing. When wolves endanger
humans, pick what’s best for the humans
every time.
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OTHER VIEWS
Trump using tariffs to advance radical free-trade agenda
G
ive President Trump credit. When
he chastised NATO allies over their
failure to spend adequately on our
common defense, his critics said he was
endangering the Atlantic alliance. Instead, his
tough stance persuaded allies to spend bil-
lions more on defense, strengthening NATO
instead.
Now, Trump is doing the
same on trade. At the Group
of Seven summit in Quebec,
Trump was roundly criticized
for publicly berating allies
over their trade practices
MARC A.
and provoking a needless
THIESSEN trade war. Well, once again,
it appears Trump is being
proved right. On Wednesday, he and European
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
announced a cease-fire in their trade war and
promised to seek the complete elimination
of most trade barriers between the United
States and the European Union. “We agreed
today ... to work together toward zero tariffs,
zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on
non-auto industrial goods,” declared the two
leaders in a joint statement.
Zero tariffs. Wednesday’s breakthrough
with the European Union shows that, contrary
to what his critics allege, Trump is not a pro-
tectionist; rather, he is using tariffs as a tool to
advance a radical free-trade agenda.
In a little-noticed interview with Fox
News’s Maria Bartiromo earlier this month,
Trump revealed that during the G-7 summit
he made a sweeping proposal. “I said, ‘I have
an idea, everybody. I’ll guarantee you we’ll
do it immediately. Nobody pay any more tax,
everybody take down your barriers. No barri-
ers, no tax. Everybody, are you all set?’ ... You
know what happened? Everybody said, ‘Uh,
can we get onto another subject?’” Trump
offered to eliminate all trade barriers — and
his supposedly pro-free-trade allies passed.
Right before his meeting with Juncker this
week, he repeated the offer, tweeting, “The
European Union is coming to Washington
tomorrow to negotiate a deal on Trade. I have
an idea for them. Both the U.S. and the E.U.
drop all Tariffs, Barriers and Subsidies!”
Trump knows that most of our trading part-
ners don’t really want free trade; they want
managed trade, where they can get access to
U.S. markets while protecting certain indus-
tries from U.S. competition. Trump’s strategy
to get them to drop these protectionist barriers
is to impose crushing tariffs. At a rally earlier
this week, Trump explained his strategy for
getting to zero tariffs. “You know, other coun-
tries have tariffs on us. So, when I say, ‘Well,
I’m going to put tariffs on them,’ they all start
screaming, ‘He’s using tariffs,’” Trump said.
“I said [to the European Union], ‘You have
to change.’ They didn’t want to change. I
said, ‘Okay. Good. We’re going to tariff your
cars.’ ... They said, ‘When can we show up?
When can we be there?’ [Laughter.] ‘Would
tomorrow be okay?’ Oh, folks, stick with us.
Stick with us.”
Now Trump’s hard-line trade strategy is
being vindicated. Not only is the E.U. negoti-
ating zero tariffs, but also it agreed to immedi-
ately buy more American soybeans — which
helps Trump in his trade battle with China.
After Trump imposed tariffs on $34 billion
worth of Chinese goods, China responded
with retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products,
including soybeans. Beijing knows that China
is the single largest importer of U.S. soybeans,
and that about 96 percent of U.S. soybeans
are grown in 18 states — all but two of which
voted for Trump in 2016. Their tariffs left
soybean farmers none too happy with Trump
and gave a political boost to vulnerable Senate
Democrats in soy-producing farm states such
as Heidi Heitkamp, N.D., Joe Donnelly, Ind.,
and Claire McCaskill, Mo.
Now, Trump has enlisted the European
Union to help U.S. soybean farmers to coun-
teract the repercussions of Chinese tariffs,
in addition to the $12 billion in aid he has
promised for U.S. farmers. That’s three-di-
mensional trade chess.
Earlier this week, Trump tweeted, “Tariffs
are the greatest! Either a country which has
treated the United States unfairly on Trade
negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with
Tariffs. It’s as simple as that.” Well, maybe
it is and maybe it isn’t. Trump is a long way
from a final deal. And in trade, nothing is
agreed to until everything is agreed to. But
this is a surprisingly positive first step. If
Trump succeeds in using trade wars to bring
down European and Chinese trade barriers,
he may end up being one of the greatest free-
trade presidents in history.
Marc A. Thiessen is a syndicated columnist
for the Washington Post Writers Group.