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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2017)
A trio of juvenile red-tailed hawks sit in a nest perched on a rock outcrop on Wednesday in Juniper Canyon, north of Pendleton. Staff photo by E.J. Harris THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 2017 141st Year, No. 163 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD TRANSPORTATION PACKAGE Legislators make bill an all-or- nothing deal By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau Photo by Debbie McIntosh This 2015 fi le photo shows a grove of aspen trees near the East Lostine River Trail, less than a mile from Two Pan Trailhead in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Conservation groups sued to stop a logging project on the road to the trailhead. Groups sue over Lostine logging and safety project Complaint fi led in federal court By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Two nonprofi t conservation groups are taking the U.S. Forest Service to court over a contro- versial logging project in the Lostine Corridor — one of the most popular and well-trodden entry points into the Eagle Cap Wilderness in Wallowa County. The complaint, fi led Wednesday by Oregon Wild and the Hells Canyon Preservation Council, accuses the Forest Service of violating the National Environmental Policy Act by improperly authorizing the project as a “categorical exclu- sion,” allowing the agency to sidestep a formal environmental impact study. Kris Stein, district ranger for the Eagle Cap Ranger District on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, signed off on the project April 5. Restoration activities include treating roughly 2,110 acres of forest and removing hazard trees to make the area safer and more resilient to wildfi re. The Lostine Corridor is located along an 11-mile stretch of road that follows the Wild and See LOSTINE/8A “It’s a bad situation. If we got the right type of conditions and a fi re started, it’s going to take off like a tinderbox.” Bruce Dunn, chairman of the Wallowa County Natural Resource Advisory Committee SALEM — Oregon’s proposed 10-year, multi-billion-dollar transportation package could be repealed in its entirety if voters challenge even one of its provisions. Legislators said they added that caveat to the transportation bill because projects and programs depend on corresponding increases in taxes and fees in the package. “The logic is that this is a package. If you pull one string, the whole thing comes apart,” said Sen. Lee Beyer, D-Springfi eld, co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Trans- portation Preservation and Maintenance. Legislative counsel, who drafted the provisions of the package, unveiled the fi rst draft of the 298-page legislation to the committee Wednesday, May 31. The 14-member committee will hold public hearings on the bill June 5-7 at the state Capitol in Salem. A vote on the House fl oor could come as soon as mid-June. “I am feeling relieved we have (the package) out on the table,” Beyer said. “I don’t think the Oregon Legislature has ever done as openly transparent a package as this.” Beginning last year, the committee held meetings throughout the state to speak to constituents about their transportation needs and held open meetings at the Capitol to negotiate specifi cs of the package. The end result would raise about $8 billion over a 10-year period to pay for projects to relieve congestion, maintain roads and bridges and enhance safety for different types of commuters. See TRANSPORTATION/8A Fire season expected to be worse than 2016 By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian EO fi le photo In this July 2016 fi le photo, a pair of helicopters perform bucket drops while fi ghting a wildfi re near Emigrant Hill east of Pendleton. Oregon and Wash- ington had 2,519 wildfi res spread across 513,226 acres in 2016. Northwest offi cials are expecting the 2017 fi re season to be more damaging. The 2017 fi re season in the Northwest may be more damaging than last year. And a total solar eclipse is a late-season wildcard that will bring hundreds of thousands of people stream into Oregon forests and pose a major challenge to fi re safety. In 2016, Oregon and Wash- ington had 2,519 wildfi res spread across 513,226 acres, according to data from the Northwest Inter- agency Coordination Center. John Saltenberger, the fi re weather program manager for the center, said that was below average for both states. But both Oregon and Washington, he said, should expect a normal fi re season this year. Going back to 2000, Salten- berger said Oregon and Wash- ington average around 4,000 wildland fi res per year, a fi gure he described as fairly reliable. And the center’s data pegs the 10-year average number of acres burned at almost 760,000. The number of large fi res is more diffi cult to pin down. The center defi nes large fi res as blazes that burn more than 100 acres in timber or more than 300 See FIRE/8A
