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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Saturday, August 3, 2019 Judge upholds Hells Canyon grazing permits neys to discuss the lawsuit. Kris Stein, who man- ages the Forest Service’s Hells Canyon National Rec- reation Area and Eagle Cap Ranger District, said she was pleased that Simon upheld Sullivan’s March ruling. The Greater Hells Can- yon Council’s lawsuit named as defendants the U.S. Forest Service and Stein. Greater Hells Canyon Council argues that cat- tle grazing along the lower Imnaha River endangers the Spalding’s catchfly, a perennial species that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice listed as threatened in October 2001. Spalding’s catchfly grows on grassland prairies mainly in the Palouse region of Washington, as well as in parts of Oregon, Idaho and Montana, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Its name, “catchfly,” refers to the dense, sticky hair that cover its leaves and stems and can trap insects and dust. In September 2015 Stein signed a decision allowing grazing to continue on four allotments covering about 44,000 acres. During an analysis that preceded Stein’s decision, By JAYSON JACOBY EO Media Group BAKER CITY — A federal judge has upheld a magistrate’s March order allowing cattle grazing to continue in a section of Hells Canyon despite an environmental group’s con- tention that grazing imper- ils a threatened plant. Judge Michael H. Simon adopted the findings of Magistrate Judge Patri- cia Sullivan, who in March recommended denial of a motion for summary judg- ment from the Greater Hells Canyon Council of La Grande, which sued the Forest Service in January 2018. Sullivan recommended approving a motion for summary judgment by the Forest Service and two intervenors in the lawsuit — McClaran Ranch Inc., which has the permit to graze cattle in the contested area, and Wallowa County. A summary judgment means the judge believes one side in a lawsuit should prevail without having to take the matter to trial. Darilyn Parry Brown, the Greater Hells Canyon Council’s executive direc- tor, said the plaintiffs will be meeting with their attor- Capital Press File Photo A federal judge has upheld a magistrate’s March order allowing cattle grazing to continue in a section of Hells Canyon despite an environmental group’s contention that grazing imperils a threatened plant. Forest Service employ- ees found 948 Spalding’s catchfly plants, distributed among 70 patches and three of the allotments, in that area. No plants were found in one of the allotments. The plaintiff described the catchfly population in the grazing allotments as “vulnerably small.” There are much larger populations, of around 40,000 plants, on The Nature Conservancy’s Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY Sunny Mostly sunny and hot Mostly sunny and hot Mostly sunny and hot Partly sunny 90° 59° 96° 61° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 99° 64° 100° 63° 99° 66° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 93° 56° 99° 58° 102° 62° through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW Olympia 77/55 85/51 89/56 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 91/63 Lewiston 84/56 92/55 Astoria 75/55 Pullman Yakima 90/57 83/50 94/62 Portland Hermiston 89/61 The Dalles 93/56 Salem Corvallis 89/56 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 89/57 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 91/56 89/54 93/56 Ontario 100/68 Caldwell Burns 94° 69° 90° 59° 104° (1965) 44° (1987) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 89/57 0.00" 0.00" 0.01" 4.56" 5.10" 5.93" WINDS (in mph) 98/63 93/54 0.00" 0.00" 0.02" 9.61" 6.49" 7.97" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 86/51 89/58 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 90/59 93/61 89° 66° 90° 60° 107° (1898) 40° (1897) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 81/53 Aberdeen 86/56 87/63 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 81/60 By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Oregon Capital Bureau PENDLETON TEMP. Seattle Tamara Dykeman charged with putting the Student Success Act into action ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 97/65 Sun. NNE 4-8 NNW 6-12 NNE 4-8 N 6-12 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 91/53 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 5:40 a.m. 8:22 p.m. 8:47 a.m. 10:20 p.m. First Full Last New Aug 7 Aug 15 Aug 23 Aug 30 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 116° in Thermal, Calif. Low 35° in Boca Reservoir, Calif. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY plete range of options for protecting Spalding’s catch- fly habitat.” That option, Stein wrote, “introduces additional management activities to protect the hab- itat and plants while moni- toring changes to determine the effectiveness of those management changes.” One of those activities is changing the grazing rota- tion in some areas to reduce the risk that cattle will eat Spalding’s catchfly plants or trample on the plants or Transforming Oregon’s public schools begins with one person 100° 64° 101° 66° OREGON FORECAST Zumwalt Preserve, also in Wallowa County, accord- ing to the Fish and Wildlife Service. In the 2015 decision authorizing grazing to con- tinue in areas with catchfly populations, Stein acknowl- edged that “there is uncer- tainty about the extent of the effects of cattle grazing on Spalding’s catchfly or habitat.” However, she wrote that she picked the option that “provides the most com- its habitat. Stein said cattle graze in the allotments from Novem- ber through May. Greater Hells Canyon Council did not seek an injunction to stop grazing while the lawsuit is in court. Officials from Greater Hells Canyon Council point out that the Forest Service’s 2003 management plan for the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area requires the agency to have a recov- ery plan for all threatened species, including Spald- ing’s catchfly. Sullivan wrote in her findings in March that “the Forest Service used the best available science to deter- mine that its decision would benefit the catchfly. The Forest Service’s choices of how to proceed with lim- ited data and in the face of uncertainty were decisions within Forest Service’s expertise that are entitled to deference.” Sullivan also concluded that the Forest Service complied with federal envi- ronmental laws in approv- ing grazing plans for the four allotments, and that the agency had adequate information about the Spal- ding’s catchfly to assess the potential effects of grazing on the plant. SALEM — Oregon’s ambitious and costly plan to transform its public schools begins with one person. The first employee — one of dozens — charged with putting the Student Success Act into action joined the state’s education department on Thursday. Lawmakers voted in May to raise new tax dollars to boost the amount of money flowing toward Oregon’s public schools by $1 billion every year. It’s a major effort to increase academic achieve- ment, improve students’ mental health, boost high school graduation rates and improve Oregon kids’ long- term prospects. That first employee, Tamara Dykeman, will coordinate, plan and put into action the programs paid for by the Student Success Act, according to the job description. While she has a myriad of duties, much of the work will involve shepherding the agency through the land- mark new program. Dykeman, who previ- ously worked as an analyst for the legislative policy and research office, is expected to work with multiple teams, offices and divisions of the education department and advise department leaders on how the agency can inno- vate, grow and improve. She will report to the department’s director and deputy superintendent of public instruction, Colt Gill. Among her other duties, Dykeman is also supposed to foster relationships inside and outside the agency, bringing together students, teachers, school districts and other interested people and groups to make the legisla- tion effective. “It’s one that we are diving into as quickly as possible, but as cautiously and thoughtfully as possible” Colt Gill , Department’s director The money raised by the new tax will support new and ongoing state efforts to renew Oregon’s flagging public education system. Those efforts range from increasing preschool slots to helping Latinx, Native American and Black stu- dents do better in school to cutting class sizes. Over the next year, the department plans to hire about 70 new workers to make the expanded pro- grams run, including grant managers and research analysts. Lawmakers authorized $25 million to pay for those positions, contracts and “other costs necessary” to implement the law. Legislators directed the department to improve edu- cation for Oregon students who aren’t being adequately served by its public schools, Gill said. For example, a good share of the money will go to school districts and charter schools for “stu- dent investment.” The state will apply the same formula the state nor- mally uses to distribute money for schools, but with a key tweak. The process will be weighted to account for pov- erty in a given school dis- trict to boost the education money available for poor students. “I think that’s a critical aspect,” Gill said. Districts have to have a plan for spending the money that has been approved by the education department to get the extra state money, according to legislative records. Those positions will include auditors to check that all that new money is spent properly. “The Legislature was really clear around design- ing the implementation of this process around two things,” Gill said. “One is that we keep equity at the forefront, and the second is that we are accountable for the public dollars that we’re spending.” Local school districts won’t start seeing the new money until the 2020-21 school year. Gill noted that the Stu- dent Success Act is the state’s largest investment in education in at least three decades. “It’s one that we are div- ing into as quickly as pos- sible, but as cautiously and thoughtfully as possible,” Gill said. Two other state agencies are expanding to brace for the expanded schools effort. The state Revenue Depart- ment got an extra $4 million to put in place the system to collect the new corporate tax and the state Justice Depart- ment received $460,000 to work on legal issues around the new tax. 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