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Wednesday, January 27, 2016
East Oregonian
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‘Science-based’ approach designed to protect sagebrush steppe
By KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — A year after
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell
shifted the national approach to
¿ghting wild¿res across a wide
swath of sagebrush country in the
West, her strategy is turning out
to be one of the most signi¿cant
federal land policy changes in
some 80 years, public land experts,
outdoor enthusiasts and scientists
say.
The ¿ve-page order she issued
last January directed federal
resources for the ¿rst time to ¿ght
massive blazes in open sagebrush
steppe habitat that supports cattle
ranching, recreation and some 350
species of wildlife, including the
imperiled sage grouse.
“It is one of the most imperiled
ecosystems in the United States,”
said Janice Schneider, the Interior
Department’s assistant secretary for
Land and Minerals Management.
Fire¿ghting of¿cials say Jewell’s
order led more of the nation’s
¿re¿ghting resources to respond
to blazes in Great Basin sagebrush
steppe last year, when the U.S.
experienced one of its worst wild¿re
seasons, with nearly 16,000 square
miles burned. Experts say her
strategy helped extinguish several
smaller ¿res, though one giant
blaze scorched sagebrush steppe in
portions of Idaho and Oregon.
Many ranchers have embraced
the order despite wariness and some-
times anger with federal oversight,
displayed in the armed occupation
of a federal wildlife preserve in
Oregon. Ranchers backing Jewell’s
order have formed Rangeland Fire
Protections Associations, teaming
up with federal ¿re¿ghters to stop
small ¿res from exploding and
charring forage needed by cattle.
“We know that a healthy
ecosystem and healthy economy
is inextricably linked,” said
Schneider, who helped organize
the collaboration between federal
and state of¿cials, scientists and
ranchers to carry out the order.
It calls for a “science-based”
approach to safeguard greater sage
grouse while contending with ¿res
that have been especially destruc-
tive in the Great Basin region of
Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Oregon
and California. The bird did not
receive federal protections under
the Endangered Species Act amid
efforts to save it.
Many ¿re rehabilitation efforts
have failed in previous decades
because federal of¿cials planted
the wrong species of the simi-
lar-looking sagebrush. Jewell’s plan
aims to solve that problem by using
local seeds or seeds from the correct
species found at similar elevations
and growing conditions.
The order led to the biggest
change for sagebrush steppe since
the Taylor Grazing Act of the 1930s,
which sought to stop overgrazing
on public lands, said U.S. Geolog-
ical Survey research ecologist
Matt Germino, who specializes in
sagebrush ecosystems.
“The initiatives that are
underway — preserving the good
habitat and restoring the bad habitat
— that’s unprecedented,” he said.
One large sagebrush ¿re formed
in southwestern Idaho and eastern
Oregon last summer, consuming
some 436 square miles, fueled
mainly by invasive cheatgrass.
Jewell’s order includes plans to
¿ght cheatgrass and restoration
work for burned sagebrush areas,
and $67 million is being spent to
rehabilitate the burned area.
“You can see what they’re doing
on the Soda Fire right now and the
commitment of resources in order
to get the job done,” said Idaho Gov.
C.L. “Butch” Otter, a Republican
who often bashes federal decision
makers but supports Jewell’s order.
Heading into last year’s wild¿re
season, it wasn’t clear how an
order from the Interior Department
would play out with the U.S. Forest
Service, which is within a different
department and responsible for
protecting national forests. It
also has the most ¿re¿ghters and
contracts all the large air tankers.
But “they were a partner all the
way,” said Ron Dunton, assistant
director of the Of¿ce of Fire and
Aviation with Interior’s Bureau
of Land Management, the agency
that oversees most of the nation’s
sagebrush country.
BRIEFLY
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PORTLAND AP — An Oregon resident has ¿led a
class-action lawsuit against two daily fantasy sports sites,
claiming the businesses are operating illegal online sports
betting.
The Oregonian reports that Polk County resident
Brandon Peck ¿led the suit in federal court in Portland
Monday. He ¿led it on behalf of himself and more than
100 Oregon players who lost money in the past three
years while placing bets through DraftKings and FanDuel.
The lawsuit asks the court to halt the sites’ operations
and have each business pay players back double the
amount they lost.
More than 30 class-action suits against daily fantasy
sports websites have been ¿led in more than 10 states.
The companies have argued that fantasy sports aren’t
gambling but a game of skill. That exempts them from a
federal law prohibiting online gambling.
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AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Eric Gullickson, front left, an avalanche instructor with the Northwest Avalanche Center, leads teenagers on an
avalanche awareness ield trip at Mount Baker, Wash.
Avalanche experts target safety
message at younger crowd
By PHUONG LE
Associated Press
MOUNT BAKER, Wash.
— Walker Smith has been
skiing in-bounds at resorts
since he was young, but lately
the Seattle teen has become
more interested “in getting
tracks where no one else has
really gone.”
He knows backcountry
travel comes with avalanche
risks, he said. So under a bril-
liant blue sky one Saturday,
he and a dozen teens hiked
out into the snowy landscape
outside the boundaries of
Mount Baker ski resort
to learn how to identify
avalanche terrain and spot
warning signs.
“It’s not 100 percent safe
in the backcountry so you
have to know about all the
dangers,” said Smith, 17, a
member of the Mountaineers
Adventure Club, a Seat-
tle-based teen program that
partnered with Northwest
Avalanche Center to organize
the avalanche awareness ¿eld
trip.
As more young adults head
out of bounds to ski, snow-
board or hike in the winter,
experts are targeting their
message about avalanche
safety to an even younger
audience. They’re trying to
reach kids early — in middle
or high school, sometimes
even in elementary school
— to build their knowledge
about snow and avalanches.
“They’re young, they’re
impressionable. They don’t
have a pattern of bad behavior
yet. By spending more time
on youth, we feel like we can
make a difference in changing
behavior,” said Scott Schell,
program director of the
Northwest Avalanche Center,
a Seattle-based non-pro¿t
and federal government
partnership.
The center, which issues
weather
forecasts
and
avalanche warnings, also
offers about 200 free or
low-cost education classes
each winter to church groups,
schools, shops and other orga-
nizations. About one-third are
now geared toward teens or
young adults.
“We feel that working
with younger people is the
way to affect behavior down
the line,” since they’re likely
to be lifelong users of the
outdoors, Schell said. “We
tell them that most of the time
it’s safe and sometimes it’s
not. Learning when it’s safe
and when it’s dangerous is
one of the key takeaways.”
At least 14 people have
been killed in slides so far this
season; the three most recent
deaths happened Sunday in
Washington and Wyoming.
This month has been the
deadliest January for slides
in nearly 20 years, according
to the Colorado Avalanche
Information Center, the
central archive for avalanche
accidents in the country. On
an average, 27 people die in
avalanches across the U.S.
each year. The center doesn’t
track age of all fatalities, but
avalanche deaths typically
involve men between 20 and
45, the center said.
After a 2003 avalanche
killed
three
young
men in Utah, the Utah
Avalanche Center created
a free avalanche awareness
program for middle and
high school students. The
hour-long program includes a
high-energy video that helps
them understand how to have
fun in the mountains while
avoiding avalanches.
Better gear, more media
coverage and rising lift
tickets at resorts have made
the backcountry more acces-
sible and appealing to a wider
range of people.
A lot of the kids may not go
into the backcountry, but the
idea is that “when someone
talks them into getting into
the backcountry 15 years
from now, they’ll have this
knowledge that they’ve
stored away,” said Paul
Diegel, executive director of
the Utah Avalanche Center.
More
than
200,000
students in Utah have been
exposed to the “Know Before
You Go” program over the
last decade. And the program
has spread to other states.
In Jackson, Wyoming,
the American Avalanche
Institute, which targeted high
schoolers, has expanded its
program to middle schools
as well. It runs several free
avalanche programs for kids
10 to 18, which is funding by
the Steve Romeo Memorial
Fund.
Lessons are shorter with
more hands-on activities; the
goal is repetition and learning
progresses through the age
groups. “We try and send our
younger, hipper instructors
who are easier to relate
to,” said Sarah Carpenter,
co-owner and teacher at the
American Avalanche Institute.
The message to younger
age groups is to stay in
bounds and avoid the back-
country, Carpenter said. But
with older teens, “our goal
is not to preach abstinence.
As the kids get older, they’re
going to go into the back-
country.”
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By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Two adver-
saries in a ballot initiative
to strip public sector unions
of the power to collect fees
from employees who opt out
of union membership are
united on one front: They’re
unhappy with the Attorney
General’s ballot title for the
2016 measure.
The initiative’s chief
petitioner, Jill Gibson, a
Portland-area attorney, and
initiative opponents Oregon
Education Association and
SEUI Local 503 have peti-
tioned the Oregon Supreme
Court to review the title.
Gibson said the description
that would appear on the
ballot fails to disclose the two
bene¿ts of the measure.
Employees who opt out of
the union would no longer have
to pay fees. The union, in turn,
would no longer be required
to represent non-members in
collective bargaining. Instead,
non-members would earn
merit pay from their employer
instead of receiving the pay
and bene¿ts outlined in the
union’s employment agree-
ment.
The description says a
“yes” vote would prevent a
public employer from “basing
non-union employee compen-
sation on union contract,”
allow “compensation differ-
ences” and require union fees
only if they “bene¿t from
representation.”
A “no” vote would retain
laws “allowing contracts that
specify all bargaining unit
public employees’ compen-
sation, require non-member
payments” and continue
prohibition against compen-
sation encouraging or discour-
aging union membership.
Union leaders argue
that the description fails to
communicate the fundamental
change the measure would
make to collective bargaining
in the state.
The title “fails to tell voters
that the proposal requires
different compensation and
other employment terms
for union and non-union
members,” union leaders
wrote in their petition.
The union leaders say that
change would effectively
allow discriminations by
“setting employment terms
for the purpose of encour-
aging or discouraging union
membership.”
It’s unclear when the
Oregon Supreme Court will
decide the dispute. Gibson
said she still has plenty of time
to collect the some 88,000
signatures she needs to get the
initiative on the ballot before
the July 8 deadline.
The U.S. Supreme Court
is expected to rule in June
on a case argued earlier this
month that also challenges
mandatory fees, as well as the
way they’re collected.
The court heard oral
arguments Jan. 11 in a case
brought by a group of 10
California teachers who say
the mandatory fees trample on
free-speech rights of workers
who oppose union causes.
Labor union of¿cials refer
to mandatory fees as “fair
share” fees because the money
pays for the cost of collective
bargaining and pursuing
grievances. While dues might
cover the cost of some of the
union’s political activities,
“fair share” fees are restricted
to paying for collective
bargaining, grievances and
other non-political services.
“The court could declare
that employees can’t be forced
to pay money to a union in
which case part of my measure
would be moot,” Gibson said.
Some states already have
passed laws that prohibit
mandatory union fees.
SALEM (AP) — An Oregon family has scheduled a
memorial service for a Marine who died in a helicopter
crash in Hawaii.
The Statesman Journal reports that Lance Cpl. Ty Hart
was one of 12 U.S. Marines who died when two helicopters
crashed during training exercises in Hawaii on Jan. 14.
His family announced Monday that they will hold a
memorial service for Hart on Saturday at Stayton High
School where he graduated and was a student-athlete.
Gov. Kate Brown ordered all Àags at public institutions
to be Àown at half-staff on the day of Hart’s memorial
service. The public is invited to attend the service.
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SEATTLE (AP) — The International Franchise
Association is appealing Seattle’s $15 minimum wage
law that it claims discriminates against franchise owners.
The Seattle Times reports the association said Monday
it has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case
after losing an appeal before a federal court panel last fall.
The city’s minimum wage ordinance requires
enterprises with more than 500 employees to implement
the $15 per hour wage faster than companies with fewer
workers.
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