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OPINION
East Oregonian
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JANNA HEIMGARTNER
TIM TRAINOR
Business Ofice Manager
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Free low of
information missing
from wolf policy
Managing wildlife — especially
full-on crisis on its hands.
hot button predators such as
Amaroq Weiss, a representative of
wolves — requires total openness
the Center for Biological Diversity,
on the part of all parties. Ranchers,
told others at a recent rally that
conservationists, members of the
nobody should be threatened.
public and even critics need to
“That has no place in this
have access to timely and accurate
discussion at all,” she told a Capital
information.
Press reporter
By trying to
afterward.
It could be
manage information,
The tragedy of
oficials in
recent
events is
expected that magniied
Washington state
by the fact
are creating a
some opponents that the state spent
void that has been
$800,000 to reboot
of removal
illed by rumors
its wolf advisory
and misinformed
would not like group in an effort
opinions.
to open a civilized
the removal
The folks at the
discussion of wolf
Washington State
management.
decision. The
Department of
The members
fact that the
Fish and Wildlife
of the group
have found that
representing
agency choked —
out the hard way.
ranchers,
off information conservationists
They established a
policy of releasing
others — were
about the efforts and
information once
ultimately able to
a week about their
only inlamed forge a working
efforts to remove
They
those passions. relationship.
the Profanity Peak
even developed
wolfpack after it
a new policy for
repeatedly killed
removing wolves
cattle in the area.
that repeatedly kill livestock.
It could be expected that some
All of that hard work is now at
opponents of removal would not like risk.
the removal decision. The fact that
The free low of timely and
the agency choked off information
accurate information is the only
about the management efforts only
way to restore any level of trust in
inlamed those passions.
the department, its policies and its
Others, including a Washington
managers. The WDFW must provide
State University carnivore
information on wolf removal and
researcher, jumped into the fray,
other developments when they
providing “facts” that weren’t
happen and let everyone know
accurate and further fanning the
what’s happening and why.
lames.
We hope the Oregon Department
As a result, the ranchers and the
of Fish and Wildlife is taking notice,
wildlife managers even received
and doesn’t fall into the same trap of
death threats and WDFW had a
keeping information locked up.
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.
YOUR VIEWS
Owyhee protection won’t
happen by itself
I’m not a special interest lobbyist or
rancher. I live in Harney County and am
part of a growing “everyone” in Oregon
who favors permanent protection for
the Owyhee Canyonlands — free from
mining, oil and gas development; free
from looters of ancient Native American
sites; free for animals to roam; free for
23 species of unusual plants that only
grow there to lourish untrammeled.
My husband and I have rafted the
Owyhee from Rome downwards; visited
spectacular campsites in Leslie Gulch,
Three Forks and Succor Creek; followed
many of the rough dirt tracks into remote
areas between Burns Junction and
McDermitt. Sat high above the Owyhee
River on basalt ledges, peered into
emptiness and listened to the silence —
absolute, vast silence, sometimes broken
by a bird on the wing or shufles of
breeze through grasses. Few places offer
silence. Those who understand what it is
to match that silence with a deep quiet
within understand and care about its
value.
Much of the area proposed for
protection is accessible only a few
months a year — too hot, too cold, too
arid, and, in storm seasons, dangerous
to venture out into starkly remote areas.
Fires are common. In wet seasons, roads
become thick puree. In some areas, the
roads become slivers of hard lava that
slices tires like a scythe.
I’ve seen evidence of overgrazing
near fragile water resources, and a lot
of cheat grass and other invasives. It’s
been years since the BLM has made a
resource assessment. There’s no money.
“Ranchers are taking care of these lands”
is an oft-quoted phrase. To claim all
ranchers are responsible land stewards is
the same as claiming all who ish, hike
and camp are environmentalists.
Two Congressional proposals would
have led to greater protection for the
Owyhee Canyonlands and enabled local
ranchers and farmers to control their
future.
One would have designated them
as wilderness study or conservation
areas — making possible collaboration
with local farmers and ranchers for their
management.
The other would prevent mineral,
oil and gas extraction, at the same time
expanding programs to develop eficient
water storage systems for livestock,
improve roads, train veterans and young
people for farming and ranching jobs,
and expand local agricultural research.
I was happy with either proposal.
They got tied up in a dysfunctional
Congress and thick barrage of
misinformation.
What’s left? Making the area into a
national monument.
I’m all for it.
Diane Rapaport
Hines, Ore.
Tone down violent
football rhetoric
I was very much appalled at the
language used by the Stanield football
coach whose article on the game that
was in Saturday’s East Oregonian.
“Killer instinct?” “Punish teams?” This
is small school high school football,
not the NFL, and Stanield had won the
game by 32 points.
Go ahead, have a good season, we
all like to win. Just remember the teams
are playing against their area fellow
students, not the enemy.
Katie Weinke
Pilot Rock
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 Managing
Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email
editor@eastoregonian.com.
OTHER VIEWS
We are all Noah now
R
faster than before the global spread
obert Macfarlane, in his
of humanity,” explained the great
book “Landmarks,” about
biodiversity expert E.O. Wilson,
the connection between
another speaker here. “Half of the
words and landscapes, tells a
species described today will be gone
revealing but stunning story about
by the end of the century, unless we
how recent editions of the Oxford
take drastic action.”
Junior Dictionary (aimed at
These species, he noted, evolved
7-year-olds) dropped certain “nature
words” that its editors deemed less
Thomas over 3.5 billion years “to create
relevant to the lives of modern
Friedman an exquisite and careful balance
of interconnected resilience.”
children. These included “acorn,”
Comment
These plants and animals and their
“dandelion,” “fern,” “nectar,” “otter,”
“pasture” and “willow.” The terms
ecosystems sustain the foundations of
introduced in their place, he noted, included
life on which we depend. When we lose the
“broadband,” “blog,” “cut-and-paste,” “MP3 trees that maintain watersheds, the coastal
player” and “voice-mail.”
mangroves that protect against storm surges,
While this news was irst disclosed in
the glaciers that store fresh water and the
2015, reading it in Macfarlane’s book still
coral reefs that feed ish, we humans become
shocks me for what it signiies. But who
less resilient. Indeed, strip them all away,
can blame the Oxford editors for dumping
said Wilson, “and the world as we know it
Amazon words for Amazon.com ones?
will unravel.”
Our natural world is rapidly disappearing.
The magazine Discover just noted that
Just how fast was the major topic here last
we’ve been tracking average temperature
week at the global conference held every
over global land and ocean surfaces since
four years by the International Union for
1880 — or for 1,639 months. Due to
Conservation of Nature, which I participated global warming, the National Oceanic and
in along with some 8,000 scientists, nature
Atmospheric Administration reported that
reserve specialists and environmentalists.
July 2016 was the hottest “of all 1,639
The dominant theme running through the
months on record.”
IUCN’s seminars was the fact that we are
That is why actress Alison Sudol, an
bumping up against and piercing planetary
IUCN goodwill ambassador, opened the
boundaries — on forests, oceans, ice melt,
plenary by observing that our planet is now
species extinctions and temperature — from
“under attack” — by us.
which Mother Nature will not be able to
“Our vast oceans, full of mysteries and
recover. When the coral and elephants are all wonders, are thick with plastic and mercury,”
gone, no 3-D printer will be able to recreate
she noted. “Rain forests — abundant sources
them.
of oxygen and medicine; land of ancient
In short, we and our kids are rapidly
lore and tradition; home to thousands of
becoming the Noah generation, charged with species of wildlife, many as yet unknown to
saving the last pairs. (This is no time to be
us — are being plowed down before we have
electing a climate-change denier like Donald a chance to properly discover what it is we
Trump for president.)
are losing.
Sylvia Earle, the renowned
“These are lungs of the Earth, the oceans
oceanographer, put it well to a sustainability
and the forests, and we are destroying them.
conference hosted here by the East-West
Deeply, desperately, we are hoping someone
Center alongside the IUCN meetings. In her
will do something before it is too late. That
lifetime, said Earle, she has felt as if she’s
someone we are hoping for is you.”
been “witness to the greatest era of discovery
So do we have a plan? Wilson has one
and the greatest era of loss” in our planet’s
— a big, audacious plan. It’s the title of his
history.
latest book, “Half-Earth,” a call to action to
So now, she said, “we are at a crossroads.
commit half of the planet’s surface — land
What we do right now or fail to do will
and oceans — to protected zones.
determine the future — not just for us, but
Right now, the IUCN says, close to 15
for all life on Earth.”
percent of the Earth’s land and 10 percent of
Those really are the stakes — there is
its territorial waters are covered by national
a reason nature words are being removed
parks and protected areas. If we protect
from children’s dictionaries. Last week, for
half the global surface, Wilson argues, the
instance, The Times reported on a study
fraction of species protected will be about
that revealed how “the African elephant
85 percent, which would keep life on Earth,
population is in drastic decline, having
including the human species, in a safe zone.
shrunk about 30 percent from 2007 to 2014.
Naive, you say? Not so. Naive is thinking
... The deterioration is accelerating: Largely
we humans will survive without the healthy
because of poaching, the population is
natural systems that got us here. Naiveté is
dropping 8 percent a year, according to the
the new realism — or else we, the human
Great Elephant Census. ... Patricia Awori, an
species, will become just another bad
oficial with the African Elephant Coalition,
biological experiment.
said, ‘These numbers are shocking.’”
■
OK, so you don’t care that your kids
Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer
may never see an elephant in the wild,
Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for
only in a zoo. That’s not all. The species
The New York Times. He became the paper’s
extinction rate is now about “1,000 times
foreign-affairs columnist in 1995.
OTHER VIEWS
Beware punitive rules for work schedules
The (Corvallis) Gazette-Times, Aug. 31
K
eep an eye on a proposal in Seattle that
would require retail and food-service
businesses with hourly employees
to schedule their shifts at least two weeks in
advance.
The so-called “secure scheduling” proposal
also would require businesses to compensate
workers in the event of last-minute schedule
changes.
Here’s why this is worth watching: How
the proposal fares in Seattle could play a
role in determining whether Oregon’s 2017
Legislature attempts to pass a similar measure.
There is precedent here to keep in mind:
Seattle was among the irst U.S. cities to phase
in an increase in the minimum wage and to
mandate sick leave for many companies — two
ideas that were later adopted by Oregon legis-
lators. (In the case of the scheduling proposal,
however, San Francisco has been the national
leader, passing similar legislation in 2014.)
And we know there is interest in this idea
among Oregon legislators.
In fact, the 2015 regular legislative session
spent some time working on a predictive
scheduling proposal, House Bill 3377, which
eventually died in committee. Among other
provisions, that bill penalized businesses that
made changes in work schedules less than
three weeks in advance. For example: If an
employer had to change a work schedule with
less than three weeks’ notice, the employer
would have been obligated to pay an employee
for one additional hour in addition to the time
actually worked. If an employer had to change
a shift with less than 24 hours’ notice, the
business would have to pay an additional four
hours in addition to the time actually worked.
In addition to its punitive nature, the bill
certainly would have created a paperwork
nightmare and added untold layers of dificulty
to the already challenging work of scheduling
employees. It also would have made it more
dificult for workers who needed a last-minute
shift to their schedules, as employers tried
to work through the various sets of rules
governing those schedule changes.
The bill died in committee, but not because
of its merits: Rather, as part of a compromise
to push the sick-leave bill through the session,
legislators put the scheduling idea on hold
until the 2017 session.
In the meantime, legislators convened a
work group on “schedules that work” and
invited a number of business organizations to
join. But the business organizations, dismayed
at the anti-business attitude they saw in
the work group, dropped out after the irst
meeting.
And that’s where matters stood, at least
until news of the Seattle proposal broke this
week.
Considering Seattle’s history, though, it
seems more likely to assume that the proposal
will be approved there. And that could help
pave the way for an Oregon proposal in 2017
— and could give businesspeople yet another
reason to wonder why the state’s leaders
are so intent on making it so tough to run a
business here.