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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 2018)
Page 4A East Oregonian Thursday, August 16, 2018 CHRISTOPHER RUSH Publisher KATHRYN B. BROWN Owner DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor Founded October 16, 1875 OUR VIEW Forest plan offers hope, but much is uncertain T he U.S. Forest Service is taking comment from individuals and groups with legal standing to file objections on its final draft of the much-anticipated Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision. The plans, which were last updated in 1990, will guide land management activities — including timber harvest, livestock grazing and recreation — over 5.5 million acres in the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur national forests in Eastern Oregon for the next 10-15 years. The Forest Service has been working to replace the 1990 management plan since 2003. Four years ago it released a draft Environmental Impact Statement for a proposed replacement. Near universal backlash from timber, grazing, recreation and environmental interests prompted three years of “re-engagement” with the public. The Forest Service says its preferred revision calls for more active management to improve forest health and reduce the risk of the large and dangerous wildfires plaguing the West. To that end, the plan calls for doubling the annual timber harvest across all three forests from a recent average of 101 million board-feet to 205 million board-feet. It could also add as many as 51,600 animal unit months, or AUMs, associated with vacant allotments for livestock grazing across the three forests. Stakeholder response to the revisions have been tepid at best. Doubling the timber harvest would be a boon to loggers and the economies of communities that once depended on the paychecks from lumber mills. But timber interests say the proposed revision doesn’t offer any guarantees the Forest Service will be able to meet those targets each year. It’s impossible to maintain mills and other industry infrastructure without that certainty. Livestock producers would like to be able to graze more cattle and sheep in the forests. There have been many changes to the management of the forests in the last 28 years that have caused the active number of AUMs to decline from what was provided in the 1990 plan. The 1990 plan called for 524,000 AUMs for grazing, but only 242,800 are currently available. The revised EO file photo The management plan for the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman and Malheur national forests in Eastern Oregon will cover an area about the size of New Jersey and come under intense scrutiny from all sides. plan calls for up to 294,400. Ranchers are skeptical they’ll actually get to graze on those additional AUMs. Environmental groups, on the other hand, say the plan places too much emphasis on resource extraction, and does not do enough to protect old- growth trees and wildlife. We think more logging and more grazing is a good idea. The fuel load in the forests needs to be reduced. Rural communities in Eastern Oregon could use the 1,200 extra jobs and additional $60 million in income the plan could generate. Those with standing have until the end of the month to comment. The Forest Service then has 90 days to make further revisions. Whatever plan is eventually adopted, the operational details will be as much a product of litigation as careful consideration. Because in the end, it’s the federal judiciary, not the Forest Service, that writes the working forest management plan. OTHER VIEWS With Mueller, like Starr, beware wishful thinking I OTHER VIEWS Not the enemy e’ve been complacent. We thought everybody knew how important a free press was to our world and that all this talk about us being the enemy of the people would be dismissed for the silliness it is. But the reckless attacks have continued, instigated and encouraged by our president. When the leader of the free world works to erode the public’s trust in the media, the potential for damage is enormous, both here and abroad. We once set an example of free and open government for the world to follow. Now those who seek to suppress the free flow of information are doing so with impunity. The time has come for us to stand up to the bullying. The role journalism plays in our free society is too crucial to allow this degradation to continue. We aren’t the enemy of the people. We are the people. We aren’t fake news. We are your news and we struggle night and day to get the facts right. On cold January nights, we’re the people’s eyes and ears at city council and school board meetings. We tell the stories of our communities, from the fun of a county fair to the despair a family faces when a loved one is killed. We are always by your side. We shop the same stores, attend the same churches and hike the same trails. We struggle with daycare and worry about paying for retirement. In our work as journalists, our first loyalty is to you. Our work is guided by a W Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. set of principles that demand objectivity, independence, open-mindedness and the pursuit of the truth. We make mistakes, we know. There’s nothing we hate more than errors but we acknowledge them, correct them and learn from them. Our work is a labor of love because we love our country and believe we are playing a vital role in our democracy. Self- governance demands that our citizens need to be well-informed and that’s what we’re here to do. We go beyond the government issued press release or briefing and ask tough questions. We hold people in power accountable for their actions. Some think we’re rude to question and challenge. We know it’s our obligation. People have been criticizing the press for generations. We are not perfect. But we’re striving every day to be a better version of ourselves than we were the day before. That’s why we welcome criticism. But unwarranted attacks that undermine your trust in us cannot stand. The problem has become so serious that newspapers across the nation are speaking out against these attacks in one voice today on their editorial pages. As women’s rights pioneer and investigative journalist Ida B. Wells wrote in 1892: “The people must know before they can act and there is no educator to compare with the press.” A version of this editorial was circu- lated by the Boston Globe, and Newspapers across the country are printing a version of it in their Thursday, August 16 editions. n Washington in the 1990s, it London loosely connected to the was a sure bet that whenever Manafort case. One is a California conservative journalists man charged in relation to the and activists got together, the Russian troll farm. And the great conversation turned to the Clintons, majority of those charged, 29, are Russians or Russian companies out Kenneth Starr and the Whitewater of Mueller’s reach. investigation. There was a good The special counsel has bagged bit of what one editor memorably Byron a few big names: Manafort; Rick called “hush-hush and heavy York Gates, Manafort’s right-hand man breathing” when insiders discussed Comment who has pleaded guilty to many momentous developments of the same crimes Manafort is on that were surely on the way. Somebody knew somebody who had heard trial for; Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, who has pleaded from somebody close to Starr that big guilty to lying to the FBI; and George indictments were imminent — just around Papadopoulos, a short-lived campaign the corner. adviser who has also pleaded guilty to The big indictments were just around lying to the FBI. the corner in 1995, in 1996, in 1997. They So far, Mueller has five guilty pleas, didn’t come. Then, in 1998, the Lewinsky one trial under way, and 29 cases that are scandal seemed to fall into the laps of anti- Clinton types. But even as the scandal rolled probably never going to go anywhere. People cheering Mueller on — the “It’s toward impeachment, some on the right Mueller Time!” crowd — often say that’s still looked for indictments in the matters quite an achievement. that had raised Republican hopes over the Starr accomplished a lot, too. While years: Whitewater, Filegate, Travelgate, the best remembered for pursuing the Rose Law Firm billing records, the death of Lewinsky affair, Starr got 15 convictions Vincent Foster and more. over the course of his investigation, But 1998 passed, and then 1999, including Jim and Susan McDougal, and then 2000 without the anticipated President Clinton’s business partners in indictments. Bill and Hillary Clinton left office bruised by impeachment but without the Whitewater venture; Webster Hubbell, the criminal charges their adversaries once the Clintons’ close friend and top Justice Department official; and Jim Guy Tucker, believed were coming. Now, it is not unusual to encounter anti- the sitting governor of the president’s home state of Arkansas. Trumpers who believe big indictments Now Mueller is conducting his first from Trump-Russia special counsel trial, and he might well win a conviction. Robert Mueller are just around the corner. If that happens, look for the special Recently, I had a long conversation with counsel’s cheerleaders to declare that this a smart and deeply engaged follower of is just the beginning. Trump-Russia events who was convinced Maybe it will be. Or maybe it won’t. that Paul Manafort, the former Trump With the Lewinsky matter, Starr went campaign chairman currently on trial for on to write a report that served as the basis tax evasion and bank fraud, and awaiting for impeaching Clinton. That is why Starr trial for failing to register as a foreign is remembered today. For his part, Mueller agent, would be indicted yet again — is undoubtedly working on a Trump- and this would be the big one, on charges Russia report now, and it, too, could lead that would finally include conspiring with to impeachment, depending on which Russia to fix the 2016 election. party controls the House after November. One doesn’t have to wander around the Perhaps there will be more indictments anti-Trump web to see similar sentiments, from Mueller. Perhaps, say, Roger Stone not just about Manafort but about other will be charged for something related to top figures in the Trump circle. The his business affairs, or there will be other indictments are on the way. charges against other people unrelated to Mueller has indeed indicted a lot of collusion. In the end, though, it’s likely the people. But to this point, no one around report will be what Mueller is remembered President Trump has been charged with for, while those big new indictments colluding, or conspiring, with Russia to remain just around the corner. influence the 2016 election. ■ Mueller has charged 32 people and Byron York is chief political correspondent three companies. Four individuals are for The Washington Examiner. former Trump aides. One is a lawyer in 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. 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.
