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East Oregonian
Thursday, June 1, 2017
LOSTINE: Local residents First prison sentence given in
were generally supportive
Bundy armed standoff in Nevada
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A judge almost 16 months, so the sentence
He had been expected to get a
of thinning the corridor
called a New Hampshire man a means the 62-year-old former U.S. six-year sentence after pleading
Continued from 1A
Scenic Lostine River until it dead
ends at Two Pan Trailhead, encom-
passing some private land along
with seven campgrounds and three
trailheads for visitors to access the
surrounding wilderness.
For decades, the corridor was
managed lightly to avoid disturbing
natural resources including habitat
for fish, wildlife and sensitive plant
species. Now Stein says there is so
much dense and overgrown vege-
tation that it poses a safety risk for
the nearby community.
“A lot of people were really
concerned about the condition out
there,” Stein said. “We needed to
do something about this.”
But Rob Klavins, northeast
Oregon field coordinator for
Oregon Wild, said the project
goes well beyond mere public
safety. According to the lawsuit,
the Lostine Corridor project would
harvest an estimated 4 million
board feet of wood, with just 7
percent of tree removal designed to
protect people.
“The vast majority of the project
is not about that,” Klavins said.
“It’s an industrial timber sale.”
Klavins said the project was
shielded from NEPA review thanks
to what he described as a loophole
in the 2014 Farm Bill. That year,
Congress amended the Healthy
Forests Restoration Act to help
expedite small logging projects
“in an area in which the risk of
hazard trees poses an imminent
risk to public infrastructure, health
or safety.” The amended was
based largely as a response to
the outbreak of pine bark beetles
across the West.
By designating the Lostine
Corridor as a so-called categorical
exclusion, Klavins said the Forest
Service was able to push the project
forward without an environmental
impact statement to address how
resources would be affected by
logging.
“This is a very special place,”
Klavins said of the Lostine River
Canyon. “We do think the Forest
Service has the responsibility to
conduct an environmental analysis,
and to consult with landowners in a
meaningful way.”
The lawsuit, which was filed
in U.S. District Court in Portland,
also alleges that even after the
Forest Service proceeded with a
categorical exclusion under the
Healthy Forests Restoration Act, it
still did not develop the project in
collaboration with stakeholders as
required by the law.
While Klavins emphasized
there are parts of the project
the groups would support, the
conservation community was
not included in any collaborative
process.
“We would love to come to the
table, but there’s been no table for
us,” he said.
The Forest Service does have
a timeline of public outreach that
dates back to meetings in late 2015.
A 30-day scoping period began on
Feb. 2, 2016, and forest officials
also hosted field trips to the project
area last summer.
Comments from local residents
were generally supportive of thin-
ning the corridor in order to reduce
the fuel load for forest fires.
“We’ve been having a very
positive interaction with the
majority of the public,” said Stein,
the forest district ranger.
Bruce Dunn, chairman of the
Wallowa County Natural Resource
Advisory Committee, said the
project needs to move forward as
conditions in the corridor deterio-
rate.
“It’s a bad situation,” Dunn
said. “If we got the right type of
conditions and a fire started, it’s
going to take off like a tinderbox.”
Dunn said the corridor is a
heavily used recreation area with
only one unpaved road. If fire
breaks out, he said people could
become trapped, putting lives at
risk.
Dunn, who manages RY Timber
in Enterprise, also said the project
is now what he would describe as a
big timber sale.
“Yes, there would be some
commercial product moved,” he
said. “But it’s about public safety.”
Brian Kelly, restoration director
for the Hells Canyon Preservation
Council, said the groups adamantly
supports improving public safety in
the Lostine Corridor but deserves
the best management they can
provide.
“This is a really important part
of the wild country of northeast
Oregon,” Kelly said. “We will
continue to advocate for reason-
able public safety measures and
for the protections that the Lostine
Canyon deserves”.
“bully vigilante” and sentenced him
Wednesday to more than seven years
in prison for his role organizing
armed backers of Nevada rancher
Cliven Bundy after a standoff with
U.S. agents in 2014.
Gerald “Jerry” DeLemus became
the first person sentenced for his ties
to the confrontation that became
a rallying cry for those who want
vast stretches of federal land in the
U.S. West put under local control.
Eighteen others are in custody.
DeLemus has been jailed for
Marine will spend about six more
years behind bars. His attorney,
Dustin Marcello, said he will appeal.
DeLemus arrived at the Bundy
ranch hours after the tense armed
standoff that led to the release of the
rancher’s cattle and was hailed as a
victory in a decades-long fight over
government-owned land.
He then spent more than a month
in an encampment organizing armed
patrols and serving as an interme-
diary between a self-styled militia
and local authorities.
guilty last August to conspiracy
to commit an offense against the
U.S. and interstate travel in aid of
extortion.
But Chief U.S. District Judge
Gloria Navarro in Las Vegas added
time after faulting DeLemus for
trying to withdraw his pleas. She
said she didn’t think he accepted
responsibility for his actions.
“I have to say, Mr. DeLemus,
that you unfortunately are blinded
by the information you choose to
believe,” she said.
TRANSPORTATION: Gas tax would
increase from 30 cents to 42 cents by 2025
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The money for the plan would
come from a combination of hikes
in the gas tax and registration and
license fees, tolls, new taxes on
payroll, vehicle dealers and adult
bicycle purchases.
The plan identifies a few specific
projects to ease congestion, but
other projects would be prioritized
by the Oregon Transportation
Commission. Specific projects
would:
• Add lanes on Interstate 5 near
Portland’s Rose Quarter from Inter-
state 84 to Interstate 405.
• Add northbound and south-
bound lanes on Highway 217
through the Portland metro area.
• Widen Interstate 205 to six
lanes from Oregon City to Stafford
Road.
• Widen and seismically rein-
force Interstate 205’s Abernethy
Bridge.
The plan raises an average of
about $800 million per year in
additional transportation funding.
The money would come from
increases in the gas tax and vehicle
fees and a set of new taxes over the
next 10 years, including:
• Gradual gas tax increase from
30 cents to 42 cents by 2025.
• Tiered increases in title and
registration fees, depending on type
of vehicle.
• A surcharge of $100 for
electric vehicles, and $15 for other
vehicles.
• Statewide payroll tax of
one-tenth of 1 percent to pay for
mass transit.
• Tolls to be determined.
• Bicycle excise tax of 5 percent.
• Dealer privilege tax of 0.75
percent on new and used vehicle
purchases.
The bill also includes several
accountability measures, including:
• Giving authority to appoint the
director of the Oregon Department
of Transportation to the Oregon
Transportation Commission.
• Requiring a website where
taxpayers could follow the progress
and budgets of projects in their
area.
• Providing an independent staff
for the OTC, which sets policy for
ODOT.
The state’s December and
January snowstorms also shaped
the package. One provision requires
ODOT and cities with a population
greater than 160,000 to salt roads
when there is more than 2 inches of
snow on the ground.
FIRE: Humans caused 51 of 67 large fires in 2016
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acres in grass and brush. Oregon
and Washington had 67 large fires
in 2016 that burned almost 499,999
acres at a cost of $106.5 million.
The Range 12 fire north of
Sunnyside, Washington, began
July 30 and grew to 176,600 acres,
the largest fire in the Northwest.
Firefighting efforts contained the
blaze on Aug. 8 and doing so cost
$1.7 million.
Oregon’s largest fire was the
Rail fire that started July 31 five
miles west of Unity. The burn
rolled over 41,706 acres, but it
took a large number of resources
two months to contain and cost
$34.9 million, making it the most
expensive in the Northwest.
Humans caused 51 of the large
fires, and lightning the rest.
Fire season typically starts in
early July, Saltenberger said, and
there should be a similar timeframe
in 2017. Cold, wet winters have
an unclear relationship with fire
season, he said, but the weather
during fire season delivers a clear,
direct affect. He recalled 1996
as having a wet spring that still
produced plenty of serious fires
once August rolled around.
And this August, Saltenberger
said, comes with its own unique
situation — the total solar eclipse.
A large swath of Oregon is prime
viewing for the Aug. 21 astronom-
ical event, which some estimate
will draw more than a million
people. The eclipse, he said, coin-
cides with the height of fire season.
Fourth of July and Labor Day
Weekend correspond to spikes in
wildland fire starts, Saltenberger
said. And extrapolating from that,
the unprecedented number of
campers and visitors to Oregon
will likely cause additional fires as
well.