A2
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2020
Training day at Camp Rilea
IN BRIEF
County to distribute
free masks to help combat virus
Clatsop County will distribute free KN95 masks
Thursday at multiple locations.
The drive-thru handout events will take place
between 4 and 7 p.m. at Elsie-Vinemaple Fire Station,
Seaside Fire Station, Gearhart Fire Station, Warren-
ton Fire Station, Lewis & Clark Fire Station, Astoria
Aquatic Center, Cannon Beach City Hall and Knappa
Fire Station.
When people get to the front of the line, they will be
instructed to stay in their car, hold up fi ngers to show
the number of masks needed and roll down the win-
dow to receive the masks.
For more information, contact Clatsop County
Emergency Management at 503-325-8645 or clat-
sopemd@co.clatsop.or.us
Oregon lawmakers, meanwhile, approved $94 mil-
lion more to expand coronavirus testing and contact
tracing, but deadlocked on $105 million more for the
state to buy personal protective equipment for distri-
bution to counties and tribes.
The deadlock Wednesday by the 20-member Emer-
gency Board could be resolved when the full Legisla-
ture opens a special session Monday.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
Aug. 5, 2020
In ADOLPHSON,
Brief
LeRoy
Peter, 72, of Astoria, died
in Astoria. Caldwell’s
Deaths
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
FERGUSON, Shawn,
59, of Astoria, died in
Astoria. Hughes-Ransom
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
Aug. 4, 2020
BOCKOVER, Che-
rie, 66, of Astoria, died in
Astoria. Hughes- Ransom
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
Aug. 3, 2020
BARROWCLIFF, Kaden,
20, of Beaverton, died in Can-
non Beach. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
Aug. 2, 2020
CVITANOVICH, Mat-
thew, 45, of Astoria, died
in Astoria. Hughes-Ran-
som Mortuary is in charge
of the arrangements.
July 29, 2020
ROSHAY, Brittany,
30, of Seaside, died in
Seaside. Hughes-Ransom
Mortuary is in charge of
the arrangements.
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
The 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade from Joint Base Lewis–McChord in Washington state worked in a role-play scenario
at Camp Rilea to create a plan to build roadways around a beach and increase access for military forces.
MEMORIALS
First Baptist Church, 30 N.E. First St. in Warrenton.
An online guest book is available at caldwellsmortu-
ary.com
CORRECTIONS
Last name mis-
spelled — Annalyse
Steele is this year’s Asto-
ria Regatta queen. Her
last name was incorrectly
spelled as Steel in an A1
story on May 23 listing
the Regatta Court.
Last name mis-
spelled — Launa DeGi-
usti is the administrator
at Clatsop Retirement
Village. Her last name
was incorrectly spelled
as DeGuisti in an A1
story on March 26.
ON THE RECORD
Assault
the second degree and
On
the Record
• Jonathan
Taylor unlawful use of a weapon.
Lisle, 21, was indicted
Monday for assault in the
fi rst degree and assault in
the second degree.
Domestic violence
• Troy Wayne Skin-
ner, 31, was sentenced
Wednesday to more than
one year in prison for
crimes related to domes-
tic violence. He pleaded
guilty to kidnapping in
Theft
• Arrin Damien James
Ruiz, 25, of Seaside, was
indicted Wednesday for
aggravated theft in the
fi rst degree, burglary in
the second degree, fi ve
counts of identity theft,
two counts of unlawful
entry into a motor vehi-
cle and theft in the sec-
ond degree.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Cannon Beach Rural Fire Department Board, 6 p.m.,
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Fire-Rescue Main Station, 188 Sunset Ave.
Youngs River Lewis & Clark Water District Board, 6 p.m.,
34583 U.S. Highway 101 Business.
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Planning Commission, 10 a.m., (elec-
tronic meeting).
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main
Ave.
Lewis & Clark Fire Department Board, 6 p.m., main fi re
station, 34571 U.S. Highway 101 Business.
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
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Forestry agency lobbied for timber industry
Restricted from
infl uencing policy
By ROB DAVIS
The Oregonian
By TONY SCHICK
Oregon Public Broadcasting
As Gov. Kate Brown
crafted a bill in 2018 to enact
sweeping limits on green-
house gas emissions, leaders
at an obscure state agency
worked behind the scenes
to discredit research they
feared would persuade her
to target one of the state’s
most powerful industries.
The research, published
that March, calculated for
the fi rst time how much car-
bon was lost to the atmo-
sphere as a result of cutting
trees in Oregon. It concluded
that logging, once thought to
have no negative effect on
global warming, was among
the state’s biggest climate
polluters.
Researchers led by Ore-
gon State University for-
est ecologist Beverly Law
found that the state could
dramatically shrink its car-
bon footprint if trees on
private land were cut less
frequently, a recommen-
dation that pushed against
the approach of Wall Street
real estate trusts and invest-
ment funds that cut trees at
a younger age to maximize
profi ts.
The fi ndings alarmed for-
est industry leaders in Ore-
gon, who quickly assembled
scientists and lobbyists to
challenge the study and its
authors. Among the groups
leading the fi ght was the
Oregon Forest Resources
Institute, a quasi-govern-
mental state agency funded
with tax dollars that is, by
law, restricted from infl u-
encing or attempting to
infl uence policy.
Alan Sylvestre/Oregon Public Broadcasting
A helicopter sprays water over a recently logged slope owned by
Starker Forests near Philomath during a demonstration in 2015.
Leaders at the institute
worked behind the scenes for
months to persuade lawmak-
ers and the dean of Oregon
State’s College of Forestry
that the research was fl awed,
informing timber lobby-
ists of their efforts along the
way, according to an inves-
tigation by The Oregonian,
Oregon Public Broadcasting
and ProPublica.
The institute needs to
“develop a swift, fairly
immediate, response so that
this study doesn’t drive all
of the initial narrative and
so that it doesn’t drive early
attempts at the state level to
develop carbon policy based
on what appears to me to
be faulty science,” Timm
Locke, the agency’s forest
products director at the time,
wrote in a May 2018 email
with the subject line “Bev
Law carbon BS.” “One rea-
son I feel this way is that
the Governor’s offi ce is
noticing.”
Then, Locke, a public
employee, offered to help a
timber lobbyist draft a coun-
terargument “those of us in
the industry can use.”
The email is one of the
thousands obtained as part
of an investigation by the
news organziations , which
found that the Oregon Forest
Resources Institute, created
in the early 1990s to edu-
cate residents about forestry,
has acted as a public-rela-
tions agency and lobbying
arm for the timber indus-
try, in some cases skirting
legal constraints that forbid
it from doing so.
Oregon’s biggest for-
est owners have eliminated
thousands of jobs, shrink-
ing their contribution to
the state’s economy while
receiving an estimated $3
billion in tax cuts since
1991, a June story that is
part of this yearlong investi-
gation revealed. The timber
industry has maintained out-
sized infl uence in the state,
thwarting attempts to restrict
logging with the help of a
decadeslong public opinion
campaign. And through the
institute, the timber indus-
try executed that campaign
from behind the veneer of
the state government.
The tax-funded institute
spends $1 million annually
on advertising that for years
promoted Oregon’s logging
laws as strong, even as many
became weaker than in
neighboring states, a review
by the news organizations
found. It worked to under-
cut university research,
challenging the validity of
studies and the credibility
of professors. Its executive
directors sat through pri-
vate industry deliberations
about dark money attack ads
that opposed Brown’s 2018
reelection. And, in 2019, its
board discussed rushing a
report in an attempt to stop
ballot measures that targeted
logging, the news organiza-
tions found.
Erin Isselmann, the insti-
tute’s executive director
since July 2018, defended
the agency. Isselmann said
she has operated “under the
highest ethical standards.”
After the news organizations
obtained the emails, Issel-
mann told board members
she had solicited an opin-
ion from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Justice about the
institute’s legal constraints.
She declined to make it pub-
lic, citing attorney-client
privilege.
Locke said in an inter-
view that the line between
lobbying
and
educat-
ing at the institute was
unclear. He said his push-
back against Law’s study
wasn’t an attempt to sway
Brown’s carbon policy, “so
much as to ensure that the
policy was based on sound
information.”
Charles Boyle, a spokes-
man for the governor, called
the news organizations’ fi nd-
ings “deeply troubling.” He
said they merited “at the
very least an investigation
by the Oregon Government
Ethics Commission or the
secretary of state’s offi ce,
and perhaps an audit to bring
more facts to light.”
“It is clear that they have
openly disregarded the idea
that OFRI is a public entity
that should serve the inter-
ests of Oregonians,” Boyle
said.
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Saturday, Aug. 15
Memorial
COFFEY, William C. “Bill” — Memorial at 1 p.m.,