VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, May 14, 2016
Quick takes
Hermiston gets back to
watermelon logo
Because Hermiston doesn’t have bigger
issues to deal with than a logo. Nice prior-
ities guys.
— Marie Johnson
Marketing and branding done correctly
brings more tax dollars to the community. A
lot more than what was spent. This is chess
not checkers.
— Jae Gomez
Round-Up, Happy Canyon
names Hall of Famers
Congratulations JD Yates! Awesome
cowboy and an awesome lifelong friend.
— Abby Farrow-Stapleman
Congratulations to my friends Heather
and Doug and a big shout out to my teacher
Mr. Burke!
— Melissa Davis Joseph
Vanilla Ice at Wildhorse
Word to your mother.
— Keith Walker
One of the great lessons of the Twitter age is
that much can be summed up in just a few words.
Here are some of this week’s takes. Tweet yours
@Tim_Trainor or email editor@eastoregonian.
com, and keep them to 140 characters.
East Oregonian
Owyhee monument ignores local voices
M
y family has lived and
federal agencies.
worked in southeast
The protections include at least
Oregon since the
ive federal acts (Taylor Grazing Act
1800s. We are people of the
of 1934, National Wild and Scenic
land and for the land. Our
Rivers Act of 1968, Endangered
businesses have worked hand-
Species Act of 1973,
in-hand with the U.S. Bureau
Federal Land Policy
of Land Management, Oregon
and Management
Department of Fish and Wildlife
Act of 1976 and
Linda
and Oregon Department of State
Archaeological
Bentz
Lands to care for this land since
Resources Protection
Comment
the agencies were created.
Act of 1979) and
With our intimate knowledge
three land-use plans
of the lands, we assist in reporting, locating (Federal Land Policy
and ighting rangeland ires and helping
and Management Act,
with search and rescues missions. Our goal
Southeastern Oregon
for our own land and the public’s land is
Resource Management
to maintain a healthy viable sagebrush
Plan of 2002 and Oregon
ecosystem in the high desert of southeast
Greater Sage-Grouse Approved Resource
Oregon.
Management Plan of 2015).
Now, all of this may come to an end.
When likely Oregon voters were told in
An outdoor clothing corporation and
a recent poll about the existing protections
special interest groups have proclaimed
and plans in place for these lands, 61
2.5 million acres in southeast Oregon as
percent said the Owyhee Canyonlands has
“unprotected” in their campaign to pressure enough protection.
President Obama to turn the land into a
This monument declaration doesn’t
monument.
offer further protection. It’s more an act of
To call this public land “unprotected” is
exclusion.
like saying the land in downtown Portland
Once a monument is declared, public
has no zoning code.
lands become less accessible — not more.
The Owyhee Canyonlands along the
It would restrict road maintenance and
Oregon-Idaho-Nevada border and the
that would inhibit search and rescue and
water and wildlife that run through it enjoy
ireighting operations. It would also restrict
protections from more than seven layers of
ranchers’ ability to care for the land under
local, state and federal government and is
their grazing permits, limiting our ability to
actively managed by professional resource
maintain water sources and reservoirs that
managers employed by the three state or
beneit all wildlife.
The monument would limit access
for people who are not aggressive hikers,
especially the elderly, handicapped and
veterans. Those who enjoy hunting,
ishing, rafting and viewing birds, wildlife
and wildlowers in the
Canyonlands area will also
be greatly restricted.
Special interest groups
are urging President
Obama to act alone under
the Antiquities Act of 1906
to cut Congress and our
community out of this
decision. But their agenda
runs counter to the voice
of Oregonians across
the state, from Malheur
County to Multnomah County.
At the ballot in March, 90 percent of
Malheur County voters opposed the idea.
In the poll of likely Multnomah County
voters, 69 percent agreed that Congress
should get a voice in the decision.
Polls show the feeling is the same in
urban and rural Oregon. This land belongs
to everyone – not just members of select
interest groups. We all deserve a voice in
the future of our land. This is an extreme
overreach of presidential power. The
people of the Oregon need to stand and be
heard from Malheur County to Multnomah
County. It is our land and our voice.
■
Linda Bentz lives in Juntura and is a
sixth-generation rancher in the Owyhee
Canyonlands.
A monument
declaration
doesn’t offer
protection.
It’s more an act
of exclusion.
Privatize public lands? Start with grazing fees
regard any public-lands grazing as welfare
ranching and a waste of the West. Why? Because,
in 2014, the BLM and Forest Service spent
$144 million on grazing programs and earned
e’ve all heard the refrain from those
who distrust and disparage the federal a piddling $19 million in lease income. We’ve
got an Old West legacy persisting in a New West
government: Give the nation’s public
economy.
lands back to the people. With 600 million
“Taxpayers are getting a raw
acres of public land and over
deal regarding grazing,” says
330 million Americans, that
Travis Bruner, executive director
means we would all get about
of the Western Watersheds Project.
two acres each. And once
“Americans are supporting a
those acres were privatized,
narrow welfare program for the
where would ranchers run their
beneit of Western livestock
livestock?
operations.”
These self-styled “patriots”
Although some ranchers
don’t really believe that all
bellyache about having to pay any
Americans should have a slice
federal fees, in 16 Western states,
of the nation’s public lands.
public-land grazing is 80 percent
They want ranchers to gain
cheaper than grazing on private
more control without paying for
land. Where do those grazing
it, though right now, ranchers
fees go? Half the dollars return
already use our public lands at a
to beneit stockmen, by funding
highly subsidized rate.
cattle guards across roads, fencing,
This is how it works: The
corrals, stock ponds and other
Bureau of Land Management
improvements.
and the U.S. Forest Service
Then there’s the federal agency
charge fees for ranchers to
— Travis Bruner,
called Wildlife Services, which
run a cow-calf on public land;
Executive director,
slaughters native predators like
effective March 1 of this year,
bobcats, wolves, black bears and
grazing fees were raised to
Western Watersheds
coyotes. For a century, taxpayers
$2.11 per A.U.M., or animal unit
Project
have footed the bill to make public
month, which is equivalent to
lands safer for sheep and cattle.
one cow and calf or ive sheep.
Public-lands ranching may be a proud tradition
Though this is a 25 percent hike over last year’s
out here, but less than 5 percent of the livestock
$1.69 fee, it is still woefully below fair market
consumed in the United States is produced on
value.
the West’s public land. There’s better grass in
The fee change will affect 8,000 permits on
Forest Service lands and 18,000 permits on BLM Missouri and Florida, and lots more of it.
If the federal government stopped renting
leases, covering a total of 235 million acres.
out public land for grazers, the fees on private
Both the Public Lands Council and the National
land would most likely balloon to about $20
Cattlemen’s Beef Association support the fee
for every animal unit month. We’d cancel
increase. But some ranchers resent paying a
range improvements and ground the Wildlife
penny more, while some environmental groups
By ANDREW GULLIFORD
Writers on the Range
W
“Americans
are supporting
a narrow
welfare
program for
the beneit of
Western
livestock
operations.”
Services’ paid killers. And if we were serious
about capitalism and free enterprise, we’d open
grazing allotments to public bid just as we do oil
and gas leases. If environmental groups moved
to outbid cattle ranchers and sheepmen to protect
high country meadows, so what? Let the market
decide.
Old West sentimentality and Western heritage
bump up hard against 21st century economics.
“Grazing on federal land accounts for less than 1
percent of total income and employment in most
of the region, according to the economist Thomas
Power. Meanwhile, recreation and tourism
have become ever more important,” writes
James Surowiecki in The New Yorker. He adds,
“Demonizing the federal government and trying
to resuscitate the past may have its demagogic
appeal. But the Old West is gone, and it isn’t
coming back.”
I would rather see a cow than a condo on our
public land. I like beef, though I prefer elk and
venison, and for Christmas dinner this year, we
had leg of lamb with jalapeño mint jelly. Most
Americans live in cities and suburbs, and they
don’t know which end of a cow gets up irst. But
those city slickers do know about sweetheart
subsidies, and they know what steak or lamb
costs at the supermarket.
As a historian, I believe in tradition. I believe
in the hard work that generations of ranching
families have put into living in a semi-arid
Western landscape. Public-lands ranching has a
irm place in the American West, but ranchers
might want to stop spouting anti-government
rhetoric and give the revived Sagebrush
Rebellion a pass. Privatize public lands? Be
careful what you ask for.
■
Andrew Gulliford is a contributor to Writers
on the Range, an opinion service of High
Country News. He is a professor of history and
Environmental Studies at Fort Lewis College and
can be reached at gulliford_a@fortlewis.edu.
Serve your community as a city of Pendleton volunteer
By JOHN BRENNE
Pendleton City Councilor
T
he city of Pendleton is always
looking for citizens to serve on
one of its various committees,
or to volunteer in a city department.
City committees are advisory in
nature, but give citizens a chance to
understand more clearly how the city
operates. Listed below are several
opportunities to serve:
• Airport Commission: Advises
staff and city council on airport
policy. Meets once a month.
• Budget Committee: Reviews
new iscal city budget and makes
recommendations. Meets 5 or 6
times in April and May each year.
• Parks & Recreation Commis-
sion: Advises staff and city council
on parks policy. Meets once a
Page 5A
Giving a few
hours back to your
community is a
great way to spend
some time.
month.
• Pendleton Convention Center
Commission: Advises staff and
city council on convention center
policies. Meets once each month.
• Pendleton Library Board:
Advises staff and city council on
policy matters related to the library.
Meets once a month.
• Sanitation Regulatory Board:
Advises staff and city council on
sanitation policy. Meets as needed.
• Transient Room Tax
Committee: Hears appeals of room
tax. Meets as needed.
• Air Quality Commission:
Recommends air quality measures to
the city council. Meets as needed.
• Arts Committee: Recommends
appropriations from arts fund for city
art. Meets as needed.
• Pendleton Development
Commission subcommittee: Advises
city council on new projects to help
meet goals of commission. Meets
monthly or as needed.
• Pendleton Planning
Commission: Makes interpretations
and quasi-judicial decisions on
implementation of city land use
code. Meets monthly.
• Restore Pendleton Committee:
Advises city on strategies to reduce
blights in city neighborhoods. Meets
monthly.
The city’s volunteer coordinator
is Tiffany Hegarty. Her ofice is
located at city hall, phone number is
541-966-0244.
Volunteers in 2015 donated
5,028 hours for city departments,
including library, parks and
recreation, police, ire, airport, and
community development. Volunteer
positions are short and long term,
and are suited for individuals or
groups.
Giving a few hours back to your
community while learning about
your city is a great way to spend
some time.
■
John Brenne represents Ward 1
on the Pendleton City Council.
He was irst elected to the seat in
1978.
PHS students
back Bernie,
Brown, Bailor
E
very election, Brian
Johnson’s government
class for seniors at
Pendleton High school holds
a mock vote.
This time it was an open
primary, unlike Oregon’s
closed process. Most of the
students are old enough
to vote, Johnson said, and
many already have. The
class used materials from the
Oregon League of Women
Voters and editorials from
the East Oregonian to
discuss the candidates and
issues.
The results of the student
election are as follows.
• President:
Bernie Sanders
• U.S. Senator:
Ron Wyden
• Governor: Kate Brown
• Secretary of State:
Dennis Richardson
• State Treasurer:
Tobias Reed
• Attorney General:
Ellen Rosenblum
• County Commissioner:
Tom Bailor
• Circuit Court Judge:
Jon Lieuallen
• Pendleton Mayor:
John Turner
• Ward 1: Becky Marks
• Ward 2: Scott Fairley
• Ward 3: Dale Primmer
• At-Large: Rick Rohde
State contacts
Governor
Kate Brown
900 Court Street NE, 160
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-378-4582
State Treasurer
Ted Wheeler
350 Winter ST NE, 100
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: 503-378-4000
oregon.treasurer@state.or.us
Secretary of State
Jeanne Atkins
255 Capitol St. NE
Salem, OR 97310
Phone: 503-986-1518
elections.sos@state.or.us
Be heard!
Comment online at
eastoregonian.com