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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 2020)
A6 REGION East Oregonian National forests receive $2.7 million in funding Funding aimed at reducing long-term costs of fire management By ANN BLOOM For the East Oregonian ENTERPRISE — The Wallowa Whitman and Umatilla national forests will receive $2.7 million to improve forest resil- iency, reduce long-term costs of fire management and improve watershed conditions across North- east Oregon and Southeast Washington. Alyssa Cudmore, Forest- land Program manager and coordinator for Wallowa Resource’s My Blue Moun- tains Woodland Partner- ship, said the total invest- ment could exceed $40 million over the next 10 years, if Congress contin- ues to fund this program. “We are deeply excited that the Northern Blue Mountains Collaborative will be receiving fund- ing from the Collaborative Landscape Forest Resto- ration Project this year after being ranked the top pro- posal from across the coun- try,” she said. Congress created the Forest Restoration Project funding in 2009, intended to support large-scale for- est restoration projects and benefit local commu- nities using collaborative approaches to solve forest health problems. “In particular, we are very excited about the CFL- RP’s ability to implement all lands’ shared steward- ship of forest restoration and fires resilience projects across the Northern Blues landscape,” Cudmore said. Many of the challenges forests and communities face today, such as severe wildfire, invasive species, insects and disease, she said, don’t adhere to bound- aries and don’t stop at fire lines. “In order to prepare our forests to withstand these natural disturbances we need solutions that cross boundaries regardless of who owns the land,” she said. The $2.7 million will only be used for projects on federal land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. How- ever, this investment will help leverage other funding for projects on tribal and private land adjacent to For- est Service-managed public land. East Oregonian, File The Wallowa Whitman and Umatilla national forests will re- ceive $2.7 million to improve forest resiliency, reduce long- term costs of fire management and improve watershed con- ditions across Northeast Oregon and Southeast Washington. According to Cudmore, these treatments will reduce overstocked forests with timber harvest, thinning and prescribed fire, creat- ing landscapes and commu- nities that can better endure wildfire. All of this will ultimately support vibrant, local economies, healthy watersheds and healthy for- ests with reduced wildlife risk, she said. Cudmore said the con- cept of shared steward- ship of the land was evi- dent throughout the grant proposal, and emphasized there were many partners involved in its creation and the prioritization of proj- ects. The project is sup- ported by the Forest Ser- vice, the counties within the Umatilla and Wal- lowa-Whitman national forests, and industry and conservation groups like Wallowa Resources, one of the lead organizations that worked on the grant application. Executive Director Nils Christoffersen said the Northern Blues Col- laborative, with its found- ing members serving since 2012, recognized an urgent need and has long aspired to scale up the collaborative’s early success to address res- toration and rural economic revitalization in projects, such as the Lower Joseph Creek project in Wallowa County and the East Face project bordering Union and Baker counties. Included in the funding is money to pay for moni- toring Forest Service timber harvest, thinning and pre- scribed burning projects. Baker and Wallowa coun- ties are looking to employ youths and young adults to learn and execute forest monitoring techniques. “We’re excited that part- nerships continue to expand and deepen as we pursue all lands shared stewardship across Northeast Oregon and Southeast Washing- ton,” Christoffersen said. “We look forward to the opportunity this will create for the next generation of land stewards to gain jobs and experience in caring for this special place.” Lindsay Warness, Woodgrain Millwork in La Grande’s forest policy and environmental manager, said she was looking for- ward to working with the Forest Service and using the funding to develop proj- ects that are beneficial and meet the social, economic and ecological needs of both forest and communi- ties that depend on them. “This is an exciting opportunity to increase the pace and scale of resto- ration in our area, as well as provide economic benefits to our local communities,” Warness said. According to Mike Bill- man, Oregon Department of Forestry’s Northeast Ore- gon Federal Forest Resto- ration program coordinator, the funding will be instru- mental in accomplishing fuel reduction and forest restoration projects vetted through the environmental planning process, but still in need of funding. “The Wallowa Whitman and Umatilla national for- ests have huge backlogs of acres needing treatments and increased funding will certainly help in attain- ing some level of catch- ing up,” Billman said. “It has been truly inspiring to watch the stakeholder part- nerships form and step up in the process of preparing the CFLRP proposal and now draw together to begin implementation.” Thursday, October 22, 2020 Political propaganda meets civics lesson in Athena library workshop By SHEILA HAGAR Walla Walla Union-Bulletin ATHENA — Misinfor- mation campaigns are not a new political invention, even as charges of “fake news” are leveled at daily headlines. Take, for example, a photo of suffragettes taken in the early 1900s. The image suggested partici- pants in the women’s move- ment were homely and unrefined. The implication was that if you cared about the rights of women, you must be like those women. “If you want to make someone seem bad, you make them look bad,” said educator and librarian Donna Cohen. Cohen is the creator of “Civics for Adults,” a workshop project she began more than three years ago to teach the duties and rights of citizenship to peo- ple no longer in school and remind them how to evalu- ate media platforms, photos and messages. Thanks to COVID-19, those workshops have gone virtual, and Athena Pub- lic Library is sponsoring Cohen’s “Misinformation: Fake News and Political Propaganda” at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29. The event is free, but space will be limited and registration is required. When people can exam- ine news headlines through WORKSHOP PROJECT To reserve a virtual space, call Athena Public Library at 541-566-2470. Participants will be sent a Zoom link before the event. shop, most people can accept there is misinfor- mation floating around that can fool almost anyone until they dissect it with knowledge and a nonpar- tisan perspective, Cohen added. “We are touching on political things, but that’s not what we are talking about. We’re talking about, ‘How do you know if a Facebook post is true?’ I go through multiple platforms and I talk about language,” she said. “Language can be very emotional, and it can be used in trying to make you afraid.” In political polls, results can differ widely depend- ing on wording used to ask the question, she explained. “I talk about how to look at what you are not seeing or hearing,” Cohen said, listing America’s economic data as a primary source of incomplete and thus mis- leading information. OK, jobs are coming back, but what do they pay and are they part time or full time, she queried, not- ing it’s not always a case of apples to apples. Cohen offers time at the end of workshops for ques- tions and discussion. critical thinking, democ- racy is strengthened, Cohen said, emphasizing the importance of accu- rate and nonpartisan civic knowledge. Cohen’s goal is to show her virtual students how they and everyone else can be unknowingly influenced by political and marketing messages, and create an awareness of that, she said. As media seemingly evolves at a high rate of speed, Cohen is constantly updating and refining her presentation to meet the challenge. “One of the first things I do is show (the audience) a slide,” she said. “It’s a polit- ical headline. The first I say is, ‘I don’t care what you think about this, but the issue is how do you tell if it is true?’” Cohen walks her listen- ers through how to verify an internet address, investi- gate logos and examine the authenticity of photos and other images, she said. “I am always trying to balance things,” she said. “I don’t tell people how to think. I am giving them the tools so they can think for themselves.” By the end of a work- VISIT US ON THE WEB AT: www.EastOregonian.com Honor your loved one by putting their photo, name, military branch & rank in our special section for FREE this year! Sample of FREE ad sample of 1x4 ad *artwork will vary Thank you for your service! We are so proud of you! MESSAGE ADS ARE AVAILABLE these include a message to your loved one, their photo and name 1x4 ad - $40 2x3 ad - $60 private party only Thank you for your service! 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