VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, October 21, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 5A
On the value of literature
T
he Frank Church River of No Return
Wilderness was established along
Idaho’s Salmon River in the early
1970s. At that point, the BLM and Forest
Service burned several “unpermitted”
cabins that existed on both shores of the
Salmon.
There were some interesting folks living
in those cabins, like Rollie
Hammel who logged the river
for driftwood during peak
flow with a chunk of rope
from an open 12-foot fishing
boat, and the extended Jones
family at the bottom of Carey
Creek who counted coup on
bears with a switch in the old
orchards, and Lum Turner, the
gangly old loner, who was eventually killed
by the river after 70 years of threading the
trail to town on his monthly Social Security
quests.
I met Lum only once, in Summerville’s
Bar in Riggins, on a Saturday night when
our whiskey quests happened to mesh and
when coincidence, or his cantankerousness,
provided an empty stool at his left elbow. As
soon as I ordered a double shot of Jim Beam,
with a beer back, he waded into me.
“Where you from, son?”
“Well, I’m living up at Burgdorf.”
“No, I meant where you from, son?”
“Grew up in the Sandhills of Nebraska.
Got here by the way of Massachusetts,
Italy, Mississippi, Illinois, California and
Montana.”
“How do you make your living?”
“Right now I’m rolling logs to the
headworks in a houselog mill.”
“Oh yeah, for Little Bill Mockwitz up on
the school section. You can’t do that forever.
What do you want to do when you grow
up?”
“I’m thirty-one-years-old with a kid and
figure I’m just about grown now, but, if you
really want to know, I’d like to make my
living as a writer before I stop living.”
“That’s a good one. Somebody’s got
to put it all into words, I guess. I do some
reading myself, but I never
realized the true value of
literature until the winter of
1953. Buy me a shot, and I’ll
tell you the story.”
I bought the shot. What
follows is Lum’s assessment
of the value of the written
word:
“I was wintering four
mules, two of mine and two from the Owens’
ranch, in a little set of corrals behind my
cabin 15 miles upriver. It was a heavy winter
for this part of the world, maybe a foot and a
half of snow at river level that stayed forever.
I hadn’t got a whole lot of hay put up the
summer before.
“Sometime around Christmas I belled
one of my mules and turned all four out to
fend for themselves. The river is gentle and
quiet in the winter months, so I could hear
the bell real good. When the mules got too
far away from my place, I’d ski out to find
them, chase them back home, and hay them
a little, just enough so they would remember
the joys of civilization and not wander
completely off. I worried about cougar, too.
Just about every critter in the Salmon River
country comes down to the river during the
winter.
“A month or so before the snows
came, I had been in Riggins to pick up my
government check and get a few supplies.
I was out of
hay, but not
out of feed.
Quick takes
Pendleton to ban smoking
in public parks
How about dog crap in the parks? Can
that be banned too? Nothing better than
stepping in a fresh pile playing with your
kids. Plus it’s unsanitary.
— Paul Word
If you are mad you can’t smoke at a park
or on the levee, look it this way. Personally
don’t care if you do or not. I can leave the
area you are smoking. Children can’t. That’s
the difference. These are areas designed for
them. Please. Give them a chance to choose
for themselves.
— Cody Webster
More petty crimes they can get a little
revenue from because the police have
nothing better to do than respond to new
moms protecting their babies from the
evil man who hits the vape pen then took
a chew!
— Malvin Jamison
You all remember the movie “Demolition
Man” right? That’s pretty much what the
world is turning into now.
— Kristina Ellis
Wow! Such negative remarks! I see this
as the city showing and caring for other
people’s health and addiction plus the
beauty of our parks.
— ChrisTina Garner
Susie Arroyo passes away
Sounds like the world is a little bit better
because of her. What a great story sorry to
here about your loved one Arroyo Family.
— Christopher Waine
What a beautiful person inside and out.
We are blessed to have you touch so many
people with your love, joy and stories ...
truly will be missed.
— Tina Zuelich-Longhorn
ODOT prepares new fleet of
snowplows, salt for winter
To think, that is as clean and shiny new
as they will ever be! Have a safe season
ODOT. Thank you for all the work you
people do.
— Jim Noise
Definitely won’t be visiting there this
winter. I’ve seen what even very limited
exposure to salt can do to a vehicle.
— Jett Seale
Do not try to pass these plows on the
right. Bad things will happen.
— Buck McEntire
New restaurants in Hermiston
I want a place like Sweet Tomatoes
in Portland. It’s a huge salad bar. You can
make your salad however you like. They
also have soup and bread.
— Anne Waid Tankersley
Although I am in Pendleton, I would
LOVE to see more Mom n Pop types of
restaurants, with good ol’ fashioned home
cooked foods! So tired of chain locations
with no imagination to their foods.
— Pam Peterson
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.
While I was there a lady friend forced me to
take darn near a cord of her old used Readers
Digests back up the river to my place. I
didn’t want them in the first place, but I was
taught to accept gifts gracefully, so I hauled
them home and stacked them in boxes beside
my bed.
“Along about January I got lonely and
bored enough to read one. It was a Sunday
morning, a pretty nice day, and I was sitting
at my table with the window open, a pot
of coffee and one of those magazines. The
more I read, the more disgusted I got. The
one that really torqued me was an article
about this guy named Raymond L. Ditmars
who was working to save the American
rattlesnake. I’d lost two dogs to snakes the
summer before. I pitched the book out of the
window, out into the slop and snow of the
mule corral.
“A couple of cups of coffee later I decided
it was time to get to some sort of work, so
I went out to bell the mules and let them
wander for feed. While I was out there I got
to thinking that it would be just my luck that
this would be the day that the lady friend
would come to visit and find one of her
books out in the corral, so I’d best retrieve
it. You know, I could not find that Readers
Digest anywhere. And when I opened
the corral gate, the mules just stood there
looking at the cabin, didn’t want to leave.
“That’s when I discovered the true value
of literature. Those mules had literally
digested the Readers Digest, and were
waiting for more reading material. That
bunch of literature solved a lot of my
problems that winter. I was out of hay, but
not out of feed. Didn’t even have to bell the
leader anymore. Once every morning until
the snow melted, I’d pitch a wad of Readers
J.D. S mith
FROM THE HEADWATERS
OF DRY CREEK
Digests out into the corral and watch the
mules shred them into fodder. They’d come
home every night. I don’t know whether
it was the ink or whatever, but all four of
them shed off early and were plenty slick
and fat by mid-March when the grass started
growing again. Yep, you go ahead and
become a writer. You never know when a
book is going to come in handy.”
■
J.D. Smith is an accomplished writer and
jack-of-all-trades. He lives in Athena.
Wolf and livestock coexistence is a delusion
I
livestock often results in
t is a popular notion among
the social displacement and
some conservationists that
abandonment of the area by
the way to win acceptance
native ungulates such as elk.
for predators like wolves is to
If one assumes that
work with rural communities and
elk select the best habitat
ranchers. Gaining their support
for their needs, then
certainly helps wildlife managers
displacement to other lands
justify killing packs or individual
reduces their overall fitness.
wolves whenever they prey on
cattle.
And we cannot forget that on
But these control tactics have
many public lands, the vast
limited application. At best, they
majority of forage is reserved
reduce conflicts in targeted areas
and allotted to domestic
and have no significant effect
livestock, leaving only the
on the distribution or survival of
leftovers for native wildlife.
native predators. At worst, they
If we assume that one
of the limiting factors for
add to the delusion that widespread
native wildlife is high-
co-existence between predators and
quality forage, and that less
livestock is possible.
nutritious feed means fewer
The killing of seven members
Courtesy of Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
of the Profanity Peak pack in
The wolf designated as OR14 was captured and GPS-collared elk, deer and bighorns, then
Washington illustrates how a wolf
by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Weston we are literally taking food
pack paid the ultimate price for
Mountain area north of the Umatilla River on June 20, 2012. out of the mouth of our
merely trying to eke out a living in OR14 weighed 90 pounds and was estimated to be at least native predators.
When there is a conflict
a place where unfenced domestic
6 years old.
between private livestock
livestock had been released to
grazing public lands and the
graze.
public’s native wildlife, such as grizzlies,
Hundreds of cattle were released on the
coyotes and wolves, just which animals
allotment, and salt blocks used by cattle
should be removed? That is a question that
were placed near the den site. That led to
“collaboratives” never ask. It is always
wolf depredation on cattle followed by the
assumed that if predators are causing
killing of pack members.
problems for ranchers, the predators, not the
A growing body of scientific research
livestock, should go.
now shows that killing problem wolves
This assumption adds up to direct and
often begets yet more conflicts. Whether
indirect subsidies for the livestock industry.
the killing is done to protect livestock or for
As long as the dominant paradigm is that
“sport” by hunters, it tends to skew wolf
a rancher’s livestock has priority on public
populations towards younger animals less
lands, we will never fully restore native
skilled at hunting. Loss of individual pack
predators to our lands. That is why we need
members can also result in changes in a
to reframe the narrative and recognize that
pack’s ability to hold a territory, pushing
domestic livestock are the “problem” for
the animals into new areas where they
that are being exploited by ranchers. Cows,
our native wildlife.
are less familiar with native prey. Both
not native to the West, have preference.
Next time one of these collaboration
outcomes often lead to livestock getting
If I were to harass elk on a winter range,
groups asks for your money, consider
killed by wolves.
force bald eagles away from their nests or
giving your funds elsewhere. Look for
Even “predator-friendly” operations
in other ways harass our wildlife, I would
harm native wildlife. When ranchers
likely risk a fine. If I were to go out into the organizations that challenge the dominance
of livestock on public lands through grazing
use noisemakers like boat horns or
midst of a herd of sheep grazing on public
allotment buyouts or that promote the
firecrackers, shoot at predators to scare
lands and start shooting guns or firing off
notion that public predators have priority on
them, or otherwise harass wolves and other
firecrackers to stampede the herd, I would
our public lands.
predators, this hounding and stressing of
risk imprisonment. But when it comes to
■
our wildlife is considered legitimate. But
harrying wolves, somehow this kind of
George Wuerthner is a contributor to
why should conservation organizations pay
harassment has become legitimate.
Writers on the Range, the opinion service
for range riders or organize volunteers to
The negative impacts of livestock on
of High Country News. He is an ecologist
harass public animals like wolves to protect our native wildlife go even further than
who has studied predators and published
someone’s private livestock?
harassment or lethal control — something
38 books, including Welfare Ranching: The
In effect, these groups are saying that
that none of the “collaborative” groups
Subsidized Destruction of the Arid West. He
wolves, coyotes and other native wildlife
ever mention to their membership or the
lives in Bend.
do not have a “right” to live on public lands press. Just the mere presence of domestic
When there is a
conflict between
private livestock
grazing public lands
and the public’s native
wildlife ... just which
animals should be
removed?
Every day our choices show what kind of person we are
T
he choices we make every
parking signs, in driveways, loading
day say a lot about our view
zones, etc. — and those who don’t
of others, the world, and our
believe Round-Up magically
place in it. It’s overly simplistic,
dissolves the social contract of
I know, but in many ways the old
politeness, adherence to safe
saying is true, “there are two kinds
practices and considerate actions.
of people in the world.”
• People who are empathetic
For instance, there are:
toward the poor, and those who
• People who ease off the pedal
think only lazy or dull people are
Hal
to let a fellow motorists merge with
McCune poor.
traffic and those who consider such
• People who will give a buck
Comment
politeness a weakness.
or two to a panhandler, calm in the
• Drivers who zip in and out of
belief that a good deed is its own
traffic to save a few seconds and those who
reward regardless of what the “gift” is used
realize calm and safe driving makes the trip for, and those who sneer at the thought of
much less stressful and only slightly longer. sharing their good fortune with someone
• People who hold the door for others
they are certain will just waste it on booze
and those too unperceptive or self-absorbed or drugs, is lazy and should get a job, owns
to bother.
a Mercedes parked a block away or just
• Shoppers who faithfully take their cart
panhandles because it’s fun and easy.
back to the drop site and those who leave it
• Those who will circle the parking lot
to clutter the parking spaces.
relentlessly to get two spaces closer and
• Those who park in no parking areas
those who figure a little walking or rain
and fire lanes because “they’ll just be a
won’t hurt them.
minute” and those who think “no parking”
• People who smile with understanding
means just that.
and tolerance at a parent combating a tired
• Round-Up revelers who will park
and unruly child at the store and those who
anywhere — next to fire hydrants, no
scowl and mumble judgments.
• Those who think professing religious
belief makes them better than people who
don’t, and those who consider religious
belief a potential avenue to fulfillment but
hardly a ticket to be preachy or smug.
• Those who believe people have the
right to make their own decisions regarding
their body, and people eager to tell others
what they can and can’t do.
• Those who smile at others, including
people they don’t know, and those who
think smiling should be reserved for when
you win the lottery.
• People who like bagpipes and those
who don’t.
• Those who consciously choose to enjoy
the moment — the conversation, the food,
the sunset, the music in the background,
the walk – and those who choose instead
to concentrate on a hand-held screen. (I
appreciate my little phone/computer like
everyone else. But come on. Look up, listen
up, enjoy the real world and the people
around you).
So, what kind of person are you?
■
Hal McCune is a longtime Pendleton
resident.