Page 4A
OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, April 7, 2016
OTHER VIEWS
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OTHER VIEWS
It’s spring season
for the exciting
sport of botany
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possibly a species of pollen
here was a particular
beetle, though I don’t know my
willow-studded meadow
bugs. Northwest plant gurus Jim
along the Sweetwater River
Pojar and Andy MacKinnon note
where columbines and Rocky
trilliums are mostly noted for
Mountain irises rippled in the
a relationship with ants, which
grass like delicate pastel asteroids
relish their seeds. After eating
zipping in a verdant emerald sky.
an oil-rich appendage on these
Family rock-hunting expeditions
seeds, ants carry them to rubbish
often paused there as my dad
Matt
and uncle made certain it was
Winters piles, where new trilliums
spring up. “This is a reasonably
safe to ford the snow-fed stream
Comment
effective mechanism for seed
in lumbering four-wheel-drives.
dispersal, especially
There was
for plants of the
time to wander
dim, becalmed
around picking
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experts write.
ostensibly for
mama, though truth
Older than
be told, I just liked
the trees
them.
Botany, zoology
On March 24 in
and geology were
southern Oregon,
our family sports,
Umpqua National
so by age 6 I knew
Forest issued a plea
irises are less
for people to leave
innocent than they
trilliums alone.
appear. “Roots
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were ground by
this early in the
the Indians, mixed
season means that
with animal bile,
Matt Winters/Eo Media Group the plant is stripped
then put in the
A trillium was backlit by the evening of its ability to
gall bladder and
sun on a ridge just above the Pacific make more energy
ZDUPHGQHDUD¿UH Ocean this week.
to store in the root,
for several days.
the U.S. Forest
Arrow points were
Service said. The depleted root then
dipped in this mixture, and it is reported
lacks nutritional reserves necessary for
by old Indians that many warriors only
next year’s showy bloom to appear.
slightly wounded by such arrows died
“The interesting thing about trillium
within 3 to 7 days,” my uncle’s 1963
is they can grow to be very old,” said
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Umpqua National Forest botanist
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Richard Helliwell. “There are trillium
pumping with life force before plucking
in the Siskiyous that
always swiftly wither
are greater than 80
into pathetic victims,
years. In some cases,
becoming limp
the trillium can be
corpses within minutes
older than the trees
of being picked. As I
surrounding the plant.”
would eventually learn
Like many native
about fashion models,
plants, trilliums were
they are best cherished
much cherished by
in their native habitat.
traditional healers.
(Jim Harrison, a
They contain a
literary hero of mine
uterotonic, which
who died last week,
induces labor and
amusingly observed
reduces postpartum
“If you’ve known a
hemorrhaging, giving
lot of actresses and
rise to a folk-medicine
models, you return to waitresses because name of birthroot. “King’s Medical
at least they smell like food.”)
Dispensatory” of 1898 attributes many
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Bloom season begins
including treating “tumors, indolent or
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offensive ulcers, anthrax, buboes, stings
outer coast are running a few
of insects, and to restrain gangrene.”
days behind last year. It has been
Good to know, I suppose, if you’re ever
comparatively warm, but heavy overcast stranded in the wilderness.
denied plants the ambitious head start
I recommend the sport of botany
they got during 2014-15’s bizarrely
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Knowing a little about our incredible
spring began March 20, some local
world will make your life far richer.
rain gauges pushed above 6 feet for the
(Closing with a personal boast, my
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uncle Tom Bell, who helped spark these
feet more than our recent normal. Any
interests in me and his many students,
VHQVLEOHZLOGÀRZHUFDQ¶WEHEODPHGIRU will this spring be presented an honorary
feeling a little washed out and depressed. doctorate from our alma mater, in
Wake-robins, better known in these
company with similarly inspirational
parts as trilliums, may be an exception.
science writer John McPhee.)
They’ve been in bloom on the forest
Ŷ
ÀRRUVIRUWKHSDVWGD\VZKLOHLQ
Matt Winters is editor and publisher
they weren’t feeling very enthusiastic
of the Chinook Observer and Coast
until almost mid-April.
River Business Journal, sister papers in
They are crawling with little insects,
the EO Media Group.
As I would
eventually learn
about fashion
models, they are
best cherished
in their native
habitat.
‘Fresh face’ might
be best GOP nominee
ne thing that unites many
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supporters of Donald Trump
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and Ted Cruz is the suspicion
Thursday night, with many Trump
that party elders might try to hand the
and Cruz supporters expressing
Republican presidential nomination
outrage. But Rove is not the only one
to another candidate if neither Trump
contemplating, or at least open to, a
nor Cruz arrives in Cleveland with the
non-Trump, non-Cruz nominee.
1,237 delegates required to win.
As it happened, I had a
Important voices in the
conversation
Thursday afternoon
Byron
conservative world have voiced such
with Milwaukee conservative radio
York
concerns. Rush Limbaugh, for one,
host Charlie Sykes, who has played
Comment
has speculated that the Republican
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establishment will try to “install
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whoever they want” at a contested convention. in the days leading up to Tuesday’s Wisconsin
/LPEDXJKJXHVVHGVXFKD¿QDOFKRLFHPLJKW primary. I asked Sykes whether the GOP
nominee has to be someone
be Jeb Bush or Paul Ryan.)
Now Karl Rove, a
for whom people actually
man many view as the
voted in the 2016 primaries
physical embodiment of the
and caucuses.
establishment, has poured
“It’s got to go to an open
convention,” Sykes told
gallons of fuel on the
me. “What I want to see is
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(Trump) to come in with
on Hugh Hewitt’s radio
fewer than 1,200 votes. If
show Thursday evening,
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Rove said a “fresh face”
chosen at the convention might turn the GOP’s ballot, there’s no way he wins the nomination.
And frankly, anything that happens after that,
fortunes around and win in November.
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Hewitt asked Rove, “Who is the most
“Does it have to be Cruz for you?”
electable Republican ... of the people who
“No, absolutely not.”
could be available to run?” All the current
“Does it have to be a candidate that people
candidates have their problems, Rove
answered. But there might be an outsider with have voted for in this primary season?”
“No. Look, at this point, there are no good
just the right combination of attributes who
options. There’s no scenario in which you go,
could lead Republicans to victory:
well that’s fantastic. They’re all sort of less
“If we have somebody who we think
bad. It’s going to be messy no matter what. I
has, has been battle-tested, and has strong
don’t see any easy exit here. But nothing is as
conservative principles and the ability to
articulate them, and they are nominated at this bad as nominating Donald Trump.”
After word of Rove’s statement came out,
convention, there will be a lot of acrimony
another radio host, Atlanta’s Michael Graham,
from the people who were seeking the
agreed with Rove. “If US wakes up Tues after
nomination. But if it’s somebody who has,
Labor Day w/a sane, likable GOP ticket vs
you know, has those convictions that they can
Hillary, nobody will care re: process,” Graham
express in a compelling way, we could come
tweeted Thursday.
out of the convention in relatively strong
Ŷ
position ... And a fresh face might be the thing
Byron York is chief political correspondent
that could give us a chance to turn this election
for The Washington Examiner.
and win in November against Hillary.”
O
Karl Rove has
poured gallons
of fuel on the
Republican fire.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher
Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
YOUR VIEWS
Big difference between
a poacher and a hunter
I appreciate the East Oregonian
using the term “poachers” for the two
criminals who killed and decapitated the
two rams along Interstate 84 (something
we hear happens to elephants and rhinos
by poachers in Africa).
Too many times poachers are referred
to as hunters. Anyone who is a hunter
resents criminals called by any other
name.
I have applied for ram tags since they
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drawn for this once-in-a-lifetime tag.
Every trip on I-84 I watch for the sheep
along the road and love seeing them.
I will never understand why someone
would want a trophy head that they
didn’t get in “fair chase.” Do they make
up a story about their great skill and the
thrill of the hunt? How pathetic! Your
picture shows a mature full curl ram
and an immature baby ram. What is the
point? These stupid criminals deserve no
human compassion.
I only hope, and insist, that these two
idiots are punished to the fullest extent
of the law. This is the time to make an
example of these poachers. I don’t want
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released. If the state won’t do it, let some
real hunters have a try at them.
Bill Wilson
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LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public
issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website.
The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns
about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of
private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include
the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not
be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to 211 S.E.
Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
Managing Oregon’s national forests
contractors to do forest thinning on 200 acres
outside of Lakeview on the Fremont-Winema
National Forest. Federal timber sales money
he state of Oregon signed a new
will help cover the costs.
agreement this week that should bring
In the watershed of the John Day River,
more cooperation between the state and
national forest staff members are going to be
the federal government in managing national
getting help from the Oregon Department of
forests.
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They’ll be doing things like installing screens
the national forests and the air in Bend gets
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smoky, it’s tempting to throw up your hands
getting sucked in.
and think the federal government is never
But hold it.
going to get forest management right.
Doesn’t this mean that the federal
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government isn’t doing enough to manage
Oregon Good Neighbor Authority Master
$JUHHPHQW²FRXOGPDNHDELWRIGLIIHUHQFH federal land?
Yes, it does.
The state and the federal government already
But if Oregon doesn’t do something about
work together on projects in Oregon. This will
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enable them to do more.
challenges with endangered species, it means
What kinds of things do they do? Here are
less revenue for what could be a thriving
a few examples:
Oregon has committed $7.9 million to help sustainable industry in wood products.
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the federal government do projects on federal
the air and wasted resources. This is another
lands in the state.
step, though, toward making things a bit
The Oregon Department of Forestry is
better.
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The (Bend) Bulletin
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