NORTHWEST
Saturday, August 6, 2016
East Oregonian
Page 9A
BLM enacts new plan for western Oregon amid criticism
Timber industry
says new logging
levels still too low
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
BEND — A federal agency
enacted a plan Friday to manage
about 2.5 million acres of land
in western Oregon that would
increase the potential timber
harvest by as much as 37 percent.
It immediately drew ire from both
the wood-products industry and
conservationists.
The Bureau of Land Manage-
ment predicted the resource
management plan would increase
job growth, tourism and recre-
ation.
BLM Deputy Director Steve
Ellis said the agency “has
achieved an extraordinary balance
that will create predictability and
sustainability in Western Oregon.”
The BLM estimated 278
million board feet per year could
be harvested once the plan is fully
implemented. Sarah A. Levy, a
BLM spokeswoman, said in a
telephone interview that allow-
able sale quantities were being
AP Photo/Don Ryan, File
Mark Ylen /Albany Democrat-Herald via AP
In this ile photo taken Jan. 8, mature Douglas ir trees line a road
through the Santiam State Forest in Linn County south of Mill City.
The BLM has enacted a plan to increase the potential timber har-
vest. The plan immediately drew ire from both the wood-prod-
ucts industry and conservationists, with one group complaining
that the new logging levels are still too low and another saying it
endangers the Northern Spotted Owl and another protected bird.
increased from 203 million board
feet to 205 million board feet and
that an additional 73 million board
feet that are in reserves could also
be harvested if special measures
to protect ish, water and wildlife
are met.
In those reserves, the BLM
would protect stands of older
forests, which have the highest
value to northern spotted owl, the
agency said in a statement.
But Steve Holmer of the
American Bird Conservancy
said: “The BLM is now planning
to log mature forests that are
needed to recover populations of
the threatened Marbled Murrelet
and Northern Spotted Owl, and
that provide for clean water and
In this 2003, ile photo, a
Northern Spotted Owl sits on a
tree in the Deschutes National
Forest near Camp Sherman.
carbon storage.”
Levy also said that under the
plan, which replaces the 1994
Northwest Forest Plan, 20 percent
of the landscape is designated as
recreational that local communi-
ties can use.
After the U.S. government
around 1990 imposed restrictions
on timber harvesting on federal
lands to save the northern spotted
owl, logging started to freefall
in Oregon and in other Western
states. Mills closed. Counties in
Oregon that had received reve-
nues from the logging under the
O&C Lands Act of 1937 suddenly
found themselves short of money
to run services. It was unrealistic
to steeply raise property taxes on
residents, many of whom had lost
their jobs, to compensate for the
shortfall.
The American Forest Resource
Council, a forest products industry
association, said Friday the BLM
plan “is doomed to fail because it
starts from a false premise: that
walking away from 80 percent
of the O&C Lands is good for
Oregon workers, rural communi-
ties, and our forests. The truth is,
this plan will ... mean draconian
cuts to public services in many
rural counties.”
The council noted that
members of Oregon’s Congres-
sional delegation had advocated
for annual harvests of from 450
million to 550 million board feet
and said the BLM plan falls far
short of generating these levels of
harvests and revenues to county
governments.
The council called on Oregon’s
Congressional delegation to
legislate “a balanced solution”
to management of the lands that
stretch from the California border
to Portland.
Judge: ‘Special accommodation’
Committee: No changes to
Measure 97 voters’ guide text for six accused in Ore. standoff
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM
—
The
November elections guide
will say that revenue from a
controversial corporate sales
tax measure must be spent
on education, health care
and senior services, despite a
legal opinion to the contrary.
Measure 97, formerly
Initiative Petition 28, levies
a 2.5 percent tax on the
Oregon sales of certain large
corporations
exceeding
$25 million. The measure,
proposed by union-backed
Our Oregon, would yield an
estimated $3 billion per year
in new revenue.
Each year, a committee
of state and local oficials
composes what is intended
to be an unbiased descrip-
tion of the inancial impact
of each ballot measure
to include in the voters’
pamphlet.
The committee is made
up of the secretary of state,
state treasurer, director of
revenue, head of the Depart-
ment of Administrative
Services and a local govern-
ment representative.
The committee on Friday
denied multiple requests to
change language in the state-
ment on Measure 97 that
“the increased revenue will
require increased expendi-
tures by the state in the areas
of public early childhood
and kindergarten through
grade 12 education, health
care, and senior services.”
The requests were based
on an opinion by legisla-
tive counsel. The opinion
concludes the measure
effectively places no restric-
tions on lawmakers from
spending the revenue on
other things.
The Legislature “may
appropriate revenues gener-
ated by the measure in any
way it chooses,” according
to the opinion.
Get to know the ballot measures
SALEM — Seven ballot measures up for a vote in
November have received measure numbers from the Secre-
tary of State’s Ofice.
• Measure 97 is the new name for Initiative Petition 28.
The Measure proposes levying a 2.5 percent tax on Oregon
sales of certain large corporations exceeding $25 million.
• Measure 98 is the new name for the Initiative 65. The
measure requires $147 million in new funding for high
school dropout prevention, college readiness and career
technical education programs.
• Measure 99 is the new name for Initiative 67. The
measure dedicates lottery proceeds to continuously fund a
statewide outdoor education program.
• Measure 100 is the new name for Initiative 68. The
measure seeks to prohibit the sale of items made from 10
endangered species.
Three of the seven ballot measures stem from legislative
referrals. Those include:
• Measure 94 amends the constitution to abolish the
mandatory retirement age for state judges, which is set at 75.
• Measure 95 allows public universities to invest in
equities to reduce inancial risk and increase investments to
beneit students.
• Measure 96 dedicates 1.5 percent of state lottery
proceeds to support services for Oregon veterans.
The measures are numbered according to the order the
Secretary of State approves each initiative for the ballot.
Legislative referrals are irst in line. Campaigns for the
initiatives already largely knew what number each measure
would receive, but the Secretary of State’s Ofice made the
numbers oficial Friday.
Rep. John Davis, R-Wil-
sonville, wrote in an email to
the committee that the iscal
impact statement is “both
factually incorrect and also
misleading to the public.”
Committee
members,
however, noted that the
Legislature could alter any
non-constitutional
ballot
measure, including Measure
97.
“I don’t think we put
that caveat in all of statu-
tory changes in measures
in the past,” said George
Naughton, interim director
of DAS. “I probably
wouldn’t include it just for
that reason.”
How the money will be
spent is a point of contention
between the campaigns for
and against the measure. The
opposition has compared the
tax with writing “a blank
check” to lawmakers, while
proponents have described
the tax as a ix-all to the
state’s school and health
care funding problems.
Pat
McCormick,
a
spokesman for the Defeat
the Tax on Oregon Sales
campaign,
said
the
committee could have easily
addressed the inaccuracy
in the statement by saying
the ballot measure “states,”
rather than requires, that
the revenue is to be used to
provide additional funding
for education, health care
and senior services.
“It’s
disappointing,”
McCormick said. “I think
they are failing to provide
the kind of help to voters
they are supposed to
provide.”
P E N D L E T O N R O U N D -U P
C O W M IL KIN G
Local entries for Cow Milking will be taken Monday, August 15 th at
the Round-Up office beginning at 8:30 a.m. A Social Security
number and medical insurance is required on all contestants. Entry
fees must be paid at the time you enter.
COW MILKING
1. First 30 paid teams
2. Mail and phone orders accepted
3. $200 per team
4. Proof of medical insurance
on all team members
The Round-Up Association reserves the
right to refuse entry to any team.
For more information call 541-276-2553
or stop by the Round-Up & Happy Canyon
Office in the Hall of Fame Bldg.
1114 SW Court
Pendleton, OR
Given courthouse
location to prepare
for Sept. 7 trial
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — A
federal judge said in court
papers that he has allowed
six of the defendants accused
in the armed occupation of
an Oregon wildlife refuge
earlier this year to meet with
their attorneys — and some-
times with each other — at a
special courthouse location
after they complained about
their ability to prepare for
trial from a county jail.
The defendants are being
housed at the Multnomah
County Detention Center,
and U.S. District Judge
Robert E. Jones said in
the declaration iled late
Thursday he at irst kept the
meetings “off the record”
because jail staff was
concerned other inmates
would request similar treat-
ment.
The trial of Ammon
Bundy and seven others
charged in the 41-day occu-
pation of Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge is scheduled
to start Sept. 7.
The takeover lasted nearly
six weeks and included the
fatal shooting by police
of rancher and occupation
spokesman Robert “LaVoy”
Finicum. The occupiers
wanted the federal govern-
ment to relinquish public
lands and free two Oregon
ranchers imprisoned for
setting ires. Neither demand
was met.
Under the arrangements,
the defendants can meet with
their attorneys and an inves-
tigator and have access to the
internet, cellphones and can
review evidence in the case
electronically.
Agents with the U.S.
Marshals Service observe
the meetings on a screen,
but the conversations are not
recorded.
Ammon Bundy and his
brother, Ryan, met under
these conditions for two
full days in June. A second
meeting in July was canceled
after their attorneys did not
show up, Jones wrote, and
they have not requested
another one.
Four other defendants
also used the location for
meetings with their attorneys,
Jones said. “The feedback
from those who had met with
their clients in the Marshal’s
lock up was uniformly posi-
tive,” he wrote.
The Bundy brothers and
others complained in court
papers in May that they
did not have a conidential
phone line in jail, had no
access to federal court iles
online and jailers sometimes
read and coniscated their
trial preparation notes.
“They want to direct their
defense, with the assistance
of their lawyers to do so,”
the papers read. “The current
conditions of the jail make
this impossible.”
AG seeks reforms in public records law
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Legislation
headed for the 2017 session
would set clearer deadlines
for public agencies to respond
to public records request, give
priority to the public’s right
to access records and provide
a manual for understanding
exemptions to disclosure.
Attorney General Ellen
Rosenblum proposed the
reforms to the public records
law based on recommen-
dations by a task force she
formed about nine months
ago.
The proposal gives public
agencies a ive-day deadline
to acknowledge receipt of
public records requests and
10 days to either furnish
records or provide a reason
for the delay. The Attorney
General’s Ofice also would
be required to maintain a
catalog of disclosure exemp-
tions and make that available
free of charge to the public.
The language in the legisla-
tion also gives priority to the
public’s right to know.
“It is important to
emphasize that we cannot
implement these suggested
reforms without the active
support and involvement of
our governor and the Legis-
lature,” Rosenblum said in a
statement.
The Attorney General’s
Ofice will accept comments
about the proposal from
journalists and the public at
an Aug. 18 hearing in Bend.
The task force that recom-
mended the changes to the
public records law includes
journalists, state and local
governments, other interest
groups and individuals.
Rosenblum formed the
task force in September to
review and simplify more
than 500 exemptions to the
public records law and to ind
ways to make records more
accessible to the public.
The task force also plans
to examine the fees that
public bodies charge for
records and consider whether
the state should create a
position to help the public
access records from state
government, said Michael
Kron, special counsel to the
attorney general. who has
headed up the public records
law review.
TM
thanks the following local supporters for making the 2016
CCT Summer Youth Theatre Camp a rousing success:
Umatilla County
Cultural Coalition
Gene Ann McLean
Wildhorse Foundation
Pendleton School District 16R
Pendleton High School
Blue Mountain Community College
Debbie McIntosh
Terry Dallas
Colee Mayfi eld
Lezlee Flagg
Sharon Vincent
& Jerry Como
Brooke McKay
Tony & Tammy Flagg
Roberta Lavadour
Shannon O’Rourke
Marjorie Iburg
Joe’s Fiesta
And all of the parents, grandparents, guardians & community members
for supporting the wonderful talented kids who participate in this camp!