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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2019)
A3 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2019 Tiny Micro-Chip Now In The Ear: Available! Now You See It... Now You Don’t! Kirk Siegler/National Public Radio The Eastern Sierra mountains near Mammoth Lakes, Calif. Tiny micro-processor ‘An eerie silence’ where federal land agency workers are furloughed By KIRK SIEGLER National Public Radio The government shut- down has forced the partial or complete closure of some of the nation’s most popular national parks and has fur- loughed thousands of fed- eral land agency workers. This means all kinds of under-the-radar, yet critical, work has mostly stopped — from timber sales to wildfi re prevention projects to the general upkeep and enforce- ment of laws on millions of acres of U.S. public lands. “It’s an eerie silence,” says John Wentworth, a town councilman in Mam- moth Lakes, California. “The folks that are respon- sible for stewarding, main- taining and watching out for one of the great legacies of the United States are absent; they’re gone.” Wentworth’s town is completely surrounded — and largely dependent on — U.S. public lands, not the least of which is its ski resort which operates on a U.S. Forest Service lease. The shutdown has coin- cided with one of his town’s busiest seasons. Suddenly there’s no one staffi ng area visitor centers or popular trailheads for snowshoeing or snowmobiling. There’s no one to interact with vis- itors, enforce the rules and just manage the land. “It’s kind of scary,” Wentworth says. “We don’t know what to tell our visi- tors; we don’t know how to be good hosts and stew- ards of these public lands because the federal presence is not there.” Wentworth’s anxiety is familiar to communities across the West that pro- mote themselves as gate- ‘IT’S KIND OF SCARY. WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TO TELL OUR VISITORS; WE DON’T KNOW HOW TO BE GOOD HOSTS AND STEW- ARDS OF THESE PUBLIC LANDS BECAUSE THE FEDERAL PRES- ENCE IS NOT THERE.’ John Wentworth, a town councilman in Mammoth Lakes ways to massive amounts of U.S. public land. Much of that land is open to the pub- lic and to everything from natural resource extraction to outdoor recreation. The latter contributes billions to the U.S. economy, accord- ing to several recent studies. So when your landlord is suddenly unreachable, almost everything is thrown into limbo. About half of all of California is federal land. Next door in Nevada it’s more like 80 percent. “Sure, there are lots of citizens out there that will pick up trash, but the larger landscape planning issues, they’re not being addressed,” says Jaina Moan, of the Nature Con- servancy’s Nevada chapter. In recent years, groups like the Nature Conser- vancy have played a big role in large collaborative con- servation and other devel- opment projects on federal land, such as programs that help improve rangeland for ranchers and reduce wildfi re risk in national forests. Moan’s group can keep working on the side, but they can’t access certain lands or the federal scien- tists who work on them. And big collaborative meet- ings about these projects are postponed indefi nitely. “Like most of America, we hope that Congress and the president can resolve this soon because we need those government partner- ships to work so that we can make sure that the conserva- tion of our lands and waters can continue,” Moan says. Westerners have been watching for years as fund- ing for federal lands agen- cies and infrastructure has generally been on the decline. John Wentworth, of the Mammoth Lakes town council, says local govern- ments like his have been try- ing to plan around this new reality, launching collabo- rative partnerships to pool resources and get some of the work done that was tra- ditionally the federal gov- ernment’s responsibility. “So that if these spasms that come out of Washing- ton due to unprecedented, existential, partisan crazi- ness, we will have partner- ships and working relation- ships in place to be able to mitigate these effects,” he said. This summer, his town is partnering with the For- est Service to remove trash and staff area trailheads. But this latest shutdown, Wentworth says, happened so quick there was no time for even short-term contin- gency plans. • One of the smallest custom hearing aids ever made • 48 channel digital signal processing • Digital engineering allows 1,000’s of custom settings • Controlled by state-of-the-art software Spaces are Limited Call Today for your FREE* Hearing Evaluation! And a FREE* Turkey on US! Miracle-Ear Center Miracle- Ear Center Youngs Bay Plaza 173 S. Hwy 101 Warrenton, OR 97146 (503) 836-7921 2505 Main Ave N, Suite C Tillamook, OR 97141 (503) 836-7926 Mention Code: 19JanMicro One More Thing Some parts of the evaluation include the use of a familiar voice, so please bring a spouse or family member with you. Call us today to confirm your appointment time! 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