NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, March 11, 2021
Lostine Canyon project passes halfway point
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
LOSTINE CANYON — Despite
past controversy, hard work and
uncertain weather, the Lostine
Corridor Public Safety Project is
well underway, just past the halfway
point in efforts to remove hazard and
diseased trees, improve public safety,
and improve forest resources in the
area.
“It’ll be completely dependent on
what the weather does for us,” said
David Schmidt, owner of Integrated
Biomass Resources in Wallowa,
which successfully bid on the timber
harvest portion of the stewardship
contract in September 2018.
The harvest is slated to conclude
Feb. 28, 2023, he said, though it
could qualify for an extension.
But the logging must be done
under “winter conditions,” said Jim
Zacharias, a member of the Wallowa
Resources Board of Directors.
Schmidt said those conditions
require 6 inches of frost or 12 inches
of snow on the ground for logging
equipment to operate on.
The approximately 2,110 acres
of timberland along 11 miles of the
Lostine River is being thinned of
hazard trees and underbrush to make
the area safer for recreationists and
residents of the Lostine Canyon.
The hazard trees appear the great-
est threat to public safety, the experts
said on Thursday, March 4, during
an interview in the canyon.
“The Forest Service spends an
abundance of time and effort trying
to keep this corridor open safely to
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Logs cut to 16-foot lengths await
loading onto log trucks alongside
the road on Feb. 25, 2021, in the
Lostine Canyon.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
A cut-to-length harvester operated by Tom Zacharias, of Pro Thinning Inc.,
of Joseph, falls, limbs and cuts a tree into standard 16-foot lengths in just
minutes on Feb. 25, 2021, on the Lostine Corridor Public Safety Project.
the public,” said Mark Moeller, U.S.
Forest Service assistant fire manage-
ment officer. “That consists primar-
ily of falling hazard trees that present
a danger to the public.”
A decision memo by the Forest
Service dated in 2017 included
photographs of those hazard trees
that had fallen on tables in camp-
grounds and across roads, backing
up the Forest Service claim of the
necessity of their removal.
In addition to tree removal, the
project also includes installing a heli-
copter pad, re-decking the bridge at
Lake Creek and removing slash left-
over from the logging work. Some
of the slash will be burned, while
some will be masticated — ground
into mulch for the forest floor. Some
slash will be left for use by campers
as firewood.
“The purpose of this project is to
reduce the risk of these forest stands
in the corridor to future insect and
disease impacts (such as falling
trees), which, in turn, reduces the
risk to the people who use this corri-
dor, the improvements in the corridor
to private land and the resource in
the canyon including the riverfront,”
said Matt Howard, of the Oregon
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
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SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Department of Forestry’s Wallowa
Unit.
In addition to public safety, the
timber harvest portion of the stew-
ardship contract is seen as a benefit
both for safety against wildfires and
economically.
Moeller estimated there would
be a total of 4 million board feet of
timber harvested. Pro Thinning Inc.,
operated by Zacharias’ sons Tom and
Seth Zacharias, has been contracted
to do the harvesting.
“This number is a ‘total,’ and
lumber is only one of numerous
forest products that may be produced
out of this total,” Moeller said.
The smaller logs are going to
Schmidt’s IBR mill in Wallowa,
while larger “saw logs” will be sold
on the open market. Schmidt said
some are going to Jim Zacharias’ Jay
Zee Lumber in Joseph, some to the
Boise-Cascade mill in Elgin, some to
Woodgrain in La Grande and some
to Idaho Forest in Lewiston, Idaho.
Nils D. Christoffersen, executive
director of Wallowa Resources, said
the project has been sought for more
RV campers will pay a little more
at some Oregon state parks in 2021
By JAMIE HALE
The Oregonian/OregonLive
Plenty of sunshine
Plenty of sunshine
Partly sunny
A shower in the
afternoon
Breezy in the
afternoon
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
55° 29°
60° 32°
61° 34°
56° 33°
63° 36°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
59° 26°
62° 28°
65° 31°
61° 36°
66° 36°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
52/31
49/28
57/26
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
53/33
Lewiston
57/29
61/27
Astoria
52/33
Pullman
Yakima 59/26
54/27
54/31
Portland
Hermiston
59/34
The Dalles 59/26
Salem
Corvallis
56/29
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
50/20
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
56/32
51/26
51/24
Ontario
56/28
Caldwell
Burns
55°
24°
56°
33°
73° (2015) 15° (1948)
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
56/27
0.00"
0.04"
0.32"
1.12"
0.38"
2.56"
WINDS (in mph)
58/26
50/19
0.00"
0.04"
0.37"
3.06"
4.32"
2.88"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 45/17
56/31
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
55/29
59/31
52°
28°
54°
34°
76° (2015) 16° (1948)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
54/28
Aberdeen
50/27
52/30
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
53/34
Today
Medford
57/32
Fri.
W 3-6
NW 6-12
Boardman
Pendleton
WSW 3-6
NW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
50/20
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
New
6:15 a.m.
5:56 p.m.
6:01 a.m.
4:10 p.m.
First
Full
Last
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 94° in Zapata, Texas Low -6° in Stanley, Idaho
Mar 13
Mar 21
Mar 28
Apr 4
than 15 years.
“When I chaired the county’s first
community wildfire protection plan
processes back in 2005-06, this area
was one of four areas that emerged
as the highest priorities based on the
risk of fire, and the potential conse-
quence that a wildfire would have on
people’s lives, our community and a
wide range of environmental values
at risk,” Christoffersen wrote in an
email.
“That risk assessment, and
the potential consequences in the
Lostine Corridor, have not changed
— if anything they have risen. If
a fire broke out in the corridor last
summer, when the parking lots were
filled beyond capacity (from recre-
ationists) and hundreds of additional
cars were parked along the side of the
road, it could have been catastrophic.
Evacuation routes would have been
clogged, and access by firefighting
crews blocked.”
Howard, of the ODF, agreed.
Earlier he noted that it’s not “if”
wildfire comes to the area, but
“when.”
“We’re a fire-dependent ecosys-
tem; we have wildland fires in this
county every year. The Lostine
Corridor is not free from that,” he
said, noting that “fire-dependent”
means fire helps maintain forest
health.
“As long as summer thunder-
storms keep rolling through, we’re
going to have fires, and fire’s a normal
part of the ecosystem,” Howard said.
“When we say ‘fire-dependent,’ we
mean our forests depend on that as
part of their normal cycle.”
SALEM — It will get a
little more expensive to hook
up your recreational vehicle
at Oregon’s busiest camp-
grounds this year.
The Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department
announced a $3 increase
for electric and full hookup
campsites at select state
parks, in effect during the
busy camping season from
May 28 to Sept. 6.
The fee increase comes as
the parks department contin-
ues to anticipate big revenue
losses due to the coronavirus
pandemic.
Last year, the depart-
ment laid off 47 full-time
employees and 338 seasonal
employees as officials esti-
mated a $22 million budget
shortfall by June 2021. Park
officials now estimate the
budget shortfall will total $20
million.
The Monday, March 8,
announcement comes just
before the one-year anni-
versary of the closure of all
Oregon state parks at the
beginning of the COVID-19
pandemic. The loss of reve-
nue as parks remained closed
in the spring, coupled with
losses of Oregon State Lottery
funds — which in large part
fund the parks department —
led to the shortfall.
“Our visitors and staff
have weathered a rough 12
months,” parks Director
Lisa Sumption said in a news
release. “Our park staff, oper-
ating with fewer employees
because of a revenue shortfall
that prevented us from hiring
our usual seasonal staff,
have rallied and are look-
ing forward to the coming
months.”
Aside from the pandemic,
Oregon’s state parks system
suffered from devastating
wildfires that swept across
the state last summer, as well
as brutal wind, rain and ice
storms this winter. As the
state’s busy camping season
approaches, a few popular
campgrounds remain closed.
Most campsites across the
state have either reopened or
are scheduled to reopen
following closures caused
by the pandemic, includ-
ing Devils Lake and Cape
Blanco state parks on the
Oregon Coast, which recently
announced their reopenings.
An out-of-state camp-
ing surcharge, implemented
during the pandemic, ended
on March 1 and will not be in
effect this year.
Public health precau-
SOME STATE
PARKS TO SEE
INCREASE
Here is the full list of state
park campgrounds that
will see $3 fee increases
for electric and full hook-
up RV sites:
• Bullards Beach State Park
• Cape Blanco State Park
• Cape Lookout State Park
• Champoeg State Heri-
tage Area
• Detroit Lake State Recre-
ation Area
• Devil’s Lake State Recre-
ation Area
• Fort Stevens State Park
• Harris Beach State Park
• Jessie M. Honeyman
Memorial State Park
• L.L. Stub Stewart Memo-
rial State Park
• La Pine State Park
• Nehalem Bay State Park
• Silver Falls State Park
• South Beach State Park
• Sunset Bay State Park
• Tumalo State Park
• Valley of the Rogue State
Park
• Wallowa Lake State Park
• William M. Tugman State
Park
tions to prevent the spread of
COVID-19 remain in place at
state park campgrounds.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
IN BRIEF
Patrols to increase at Malheur
County’s Snively Hot Springs
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
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VALE — The Bureau of Land Management
Vale District and local officials will soon be
taking stricter measures to protect the visitor
experience and natural resources at Snively Hot
Springs day use area along the Owyhee River,
according to a press release.
BLM law enforcement rangers, Malheur
County sheriff’s deputies and Oregon State
Police will increase patrols of the site beginning
on Friday, March 19, and citing those violating
the site rules or law governing public lands.
“We want to keep the hot springs open
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As a day use area, the hot springs is closed
to use from sunset to sunrise, and camping is
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always prohibited in and around the site.
“These rules have been in effect for some
time, but have been lightly enforced,” Vale
BLM Law Enforcement Ranger Stephanie
Cox said. “Going forward, we will be strictly
enforcing the nighttime closure. Those found in
violation will be issued citations for trespassing
and/or federal violation notices.”
Littering, illegal drug use, including mari-
juana, underage drinking, and driving under
the influence are prohibited on public lands.
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ered causing a hazard or nuisance.
“The BLM wants you to enjoy our public
lands, but to do so responsibly — pick up your
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