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Hood River News, Wednesday, July 1, 2015
A11
Wyden calls out USFS over stalled Mt. Hood landswap
By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
Sen. Ron Wyden joked at
Saturday’s town hall meeting
that “there’s no script, no
teleprompters” in his town
halls. The Hood River town
hall, his 734th, was a wide-
ranging forum attended by
about 75 people. Wyden dis-
cussed trade, education, in-
frastructure, Medicare re-
form, foreign policy, oil train
transport and many other is-
sues, but when it came to
stalled land swap between
Mt. Hood Meadows and US
Forest Service, Wyden was
clearly working without a
script.
Wyden, when asked by cit-
izens about the impasse, was
visibly surprised and angry,
and leveled criticism at
USFS for holding up the land
trade that was approved after
considerable negotiation and
legal challenges six years
ago.
He turned to his legisla-
tive aid, Mary Guitteau.
“We’re trying to get this
done. This has become one of
the longest running battles,”
she said. In the exchange, the
2009 Act called for 770 acres
at Cooper Spur, owned by Mt.
Hood Meadows, to be traded
for 120 acres at Government
Camp owned by the Forest
Service.
“The message was sent six
years ago,” Wyden said. “It’s
called a bill. It is a law —
passed in 2009.”
USFS was contacted Fri-
day morning but did not re-
spond by press time.
When asked by Wyden,
Guitteau said the holdup
seems be over wetlands is-
sues.
Wyden responded, “That
doesn’t pass the smell test. I
knew they had been drag-
ging their feet but I was not
aware of this. It’s almost an
unprecedented lack of re-
sponsiveness,” Wyden said.
“The Forest Service does-
n’t respond,” Wyden said.
“We’re going to stay on this
until it changes.”
In a May 25 letter to mem-
bers, Hood River Valley Resi-
dents Committee president
Polly Wood wrote, “HRVRC
has been working for a solu-
tion for over a decade and we
have one: a land trade that
conservation groups, recre-
ation clubs, local residents,
the public, Hood River Coun-
ty, Mt. Hood Meadows and
our Congressional delega-
tion whole-heartedly sup-
port. All these parties sup-
port the land trade because it
a great solution allowing Mt.
Hood Meadows to develop in
an area that is appropriate
and zoned for development
while bringing 770 acres of
beautiful forest land in the
Crystal Springs watershed
into public ownership. We
are extremely disappointed
in the Forest Service’s fail-
ure to make reasonable
progress and negotiate this
trade in good faith. The For-
est Service is supposed to be
a public agency working for,
rather than against, a clear
public benefit.”
The letter was cosigned by
board member Michael Mc-
Carthy and HRVRC execu-
tive director Heather Staten,
who noted that the issue
comes down to three issues,
including a conservation
easement on 8 acres of wet-
lands on the USFS Govern-
ment Camp properties and
the need for the exchange to
go through NEPA (National
Environmental Policy Act),
which is a review of the en-
vironmental impacts of the
trade. This allows citizens
and policy makers to get en-
vironmental information on
the trade properties before it
is complete.
“The conservation groups
have already vetted the pro-
posal extensively and NEPA
would, in our view, focus on
the future management of
the North side of Mt. Hood,”
Staten said.
Third, the property values
Leos reschedule
H EAT
bottle drive July 11
Continued from Page A1
Hood River Valley Leos
have their monthly bottle
and can collection on the
first Saturday of each
month.
However, with the
Fourth of July parade
and other festivities, the
club has rescheduled
July’s collection to the
next weekend — Satur-
day, July 11.
Leos along with the
HRV Robotics team will
be collecting, sorting and
redeeming containers
with a nickel deposit
from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to
suppor t the Robotics
team’s activities.
“We hope to capitalize
on the Fourth of July hol-
iday,” said Olivia Acosta,
HRV Leos co-President
and member of the robot-
ics team. “With all the
celebrations on the
Fourth, we’re hoping
everyone will bring their
bottles and cans July 11
to help support our club
and the Robotics team. It
F OURTH
Continued from Page A1
The grand marshal will be
the people associated with
Fish Food Bank which
opened its new facility last
month. The theme is “Beau-
tiful Bounty” describing the
wonderful area of the Hood
River Valley and Columbia
River Gorge and the assis-
tance that is given to our
neighbors by the Fish Food
Bank. Attendees are asked to
bring a can of fruit or soup
to Jackson Park that will be
given to the FISH Food Bank.
A flyover is planned at
about 10 a.m.
For safety to children and
adults along with keeping
the parade route litter free,
the Hood River Lions ask
that no candy be passed out
or thrown from the entries.
The Hood River Rotary Club
and Heights Ice Cream are
western and central Colum-
bia River gorge. The North-
west Interagency Coordina-
tion Center in Portland ad-
vises that “A surge of mois-
ture and instability will con-
tinue moving northward
across Oregon and Washing-
ton today and tonight. Light-
ning strikes are expected to
ignite new fires despite
showers with the thunder-
storms. The combination of
fire danger, instability, and
numerous lightning strikes
is creating nearly optimum
conditions for ignition and
growth of large, costly fires
across much of the geo-
graphic area through Mon-
could be a record day!”
The HRV Leos club has
been doing monthly bot-
tle and can collections on
the first Saturday of each
month for more than six
years.
As a result, the club
has raised nearly $20,000
for a variety of local
causes, including Lila
Mae, Wy’east Middle
School’s summer pro-
gram, 4-H Leaders, Big
Brothers Big Sisters, and
St. Francis House.
Hood River Valley Leos
meets on the first and
third Sundays of each
month at Providence
Hood River Memorial
Hospital.
Youth ages 12 to 18 are
invited to get involved
with Leos and make a dif-
ference in our communi-
ty. For more information,
contact Leos advisor
Kristin Reese at 541-806-
0278
or
email
kristinr@hrecn.net.
need to be equalized, accord-
ing to Staten. The Cooper
Spur property is much larger
but the Government Camp
property has much more de-
velopment potential because
of its zoning. The idea was
that the properties would
have similar values. An ap-
praisal will be done on both
the properties and some
equalization may be neces-
sary.
“One effect of the Forest
Service 5 year delay in com-
pleting the deal is that the
trees on the Cooper Spur
property have grown — the
timber cruises are stale and
day before conditions moder-
ate during the new week.”
On Monday DOF an-
nounced that a high pressure
system is forecast for the
southern Oregon area, with
high temps, dry weather and
slight chance of thunder-
storms. The National Weath-
er Service is calling for a hot
and dry air mass to settle
back into the Willamette Val-
ley and Por tland areas
through the end of the work
week; a Red Flag warning for
thunderstorms is in effect
for northeast Oregon.
To assess the overall im-
pact, pilots and observers in
three aircraft were dis-
patched Monday to survey
the affected area, according
to Orlando.” She reported 13
fires Sunday in the DOF
John Day unit, in east cen-
tral Oregon
SCIENTIST ADDRESSES FOREST FIRE
SUPPRESSION ISSUES
It’s a timely public talk given
the onset of what will be a hot,
dry summer in the Mt. Hood
National Forest. Dominick Del-
laSala, Chief Scientist of the
GEOS Institute of Ashland, will
give a free talk at the Hood
River County Library on July 8
from 6 to 8 p.m.
DellaSala will discuss the
again teaming up to offer ice ecological benefits of wildfires
cream at a discounted price in our public forests. The talk
in Jackson Park for the chil-
dren after the parade.
On lookers will be treated
to about 50 local entries but
also a Portland band called
“The Beat Goes On” with its
musicians and baton
twirlers. They will also per-
form in Jackson Park for 40
minutes starting at noon
with the raising of the Amer-
ican Flag.
At 11 a.m. the Hood River
Fire Dept. will began serving
its annual barbecue lunch.
Around 1:00 p.m. we will be
entertained by the Willy &
Nelson band. Also in the
park will be ice cream, two
bounce houses, face painting
and some games for the chil-
dren.
■
Donations for the fire-
works program are needed
and can be mailed to Eye-
opener Lions, 1767 12th
Street #136, Hood River, OR
97031.
W ATER
Continued from Page A1
Ayers said the record low
snowpack and stream levels
affect agriculture and fire
danger most profoundly.
“What’s called ‘potable’ or
drinking water is in good
shape. But our irrigation dis-
tricts are deeply concerned,”
Ayers said.
Camarata said FID is
reaching out to large users
including schools, churches,
and Hood River Goff Course,
to conserve as much as possi-
ble.
“We are asking our com-
munity to help our or-
chardists,” Camarata said.
FID draws from the Kings-
ley reservoirs, west of Hood
will focus on the conservation
needs of burned forests, how to
live safely in fire-country, and
the controversy surrounding
wildfires in a rapidly warming
and changing world. The talk
will nclude a short video and
time for a discussion with the
author.
Free handouts will be avail-
able re: how to have a “fire-
wise” home.
River. The lower reservoir is
half way down, Camarata
noted, explaining that the
district keeps the upper
reservoir full and then draws
down to the lower one as
needed.
“People go to the upper
reservoir on the weekend
and it looks full,” he said.
“We’ll bring water from rom
the upper to the lower soon
and people will see that
change pretty dramatically.”
Camarata also asked that
FID residents who see water
being spread inefficiently —
onto roads or sidewalks, or at
times other than mornings
or evenings — to call FID,
which will then speak with
the offender.
“We hope that peer pres-
sure will kick in and we can
get through this,” he said.
will need to be redone. Much
of the Cooper Spur land
value is in its timber — so
more timber and higher tim-
ber prices than in 2009 make
that property worth more
and create a disparity be-
tween the two trade proper-
ties.
“By taking so long to com-
plete the trade, the Forest
Service has really worked
against the public benefit as
we are likely to receive less
land than the 770 acres envi-
sioned by the Act due to in-
creases in land values as
USFS delays,” Staten said.
Photos by Kirby Neumann-Rea
MOST SEATS were filled at
Hood River Valley Adult Center,
where staffers passed the mi-
crophone for citizens to ask
questions of Sen. Wyden. Mayor
Paul Blackburn introduced
Wyden. The center’s new direc-
tor, Suzanne VanOrman, facili-
tated the Q-and-A, in the room
also used for community meals,
Bingo nights, and other gather-
ings.
WHAT IS ERC?
ERC (Energy Release Component) is a number related to the
available energy per unit area (square foot) within the flaming
front at the head of a fire. Daily variations in ERC are due to
changes in moisture content of the various fuels present, both
live and dead. Since this number represents the potential “heat
release” per unit area in the flaming zone, it can provide guid-
ance to several important fire activities. It may also be consid-
ered a composite fuel moisture value as it reflects the contribu-
tion that all live and dead fuels have to potential fire intensity.
The ERC is a cumulative or “build-up” type of index. As live
fuels cure and dead fuels dry, the ERC values get higher, thus
providing a good reflection of drought conditions.
C HASE
Continued from Page A1
to remove Matilton from the
vehicle and perform lifesav-
ing measures until EMS per-
sonnel arrived.
Matilton was transported
from the scene by Hood River
Fire and was ultimately
flown by LifeFlight to Legacy
Emanuel Hospital in Port-
land, where he was listed in
g rave condition Monday
night.
ODOT assisted at the
scene, as interstate traffic
was closed to a single lane
while the investigation was
conducted.
No shots were fired by law
enforcement personnel, nor
were any of the responding
units injured during the inci-
dent. The Hood River County
Sheriff ’s Office is leading the
investigation, which is still
ongoing.
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FRESH
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