ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
WYATT HAUPT JR.
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Bills
should be
clear about
intent
S
tate Senate President Peter Courtney
held a news conference before the
2021 legislative session to announce
steps to keep the legislative process acces-
sible to Oregonians.
“We have never seen a session like
this before. We need to keep members
and staff safe,” he said. “Legislative staff
worked hard to come up with a plan that
is safe and transparent. Every session,
Oregonians make their voices heard on
issues they care about. We need these
voices.”
But if you don’t know what the Oregon
Legislature is talking about it’s hard to
voice your opinion. Consider Courtney’s
Senate Bill 846. It’s a model of translu-
cency, not transparency. The bill shifts
money around. It also potentially reduces
the kicker tax refund.
Does the language of the bill clearly
state that it potentially reduces the kicker?
No.
Does it even mention the kicker? No.
Shouldn’t a bill that potentially reduces
the kicker clearly state that? Yes, we think
so. Do you?
Now if you are fluent in the budget-
speak of the Legislature you could figure
it out from the language of the bill —
maybe. What the bill does, in part, is
repeal transfers to the general fund of
$15 million from the state’s insurance
fund and from an operating account of
the Department of Justice. The money
stays where it is, at least temporarily. It
just doesn’t get shifted over to the general
fund.
That matters because it effectively
reduces the general fund by that $15
million. That affects the kicker. The
kicker is Oregon’s unique law passed by
voters. It occurs if state revenues exceed
forecast revenues by 2% or more over a
two-year budget cycle. If that happens, the
excess, including the trigger amount, gets
returned to taxpayers.
No final determination has been made
if there will be a kicker for the 2019-21
biennium. But the kicker is on target
to kick, according to the latest revenue
forecast. And because Senate Bill 846 is
moving forward, the amount returned to
taxpayers would be less.
Look, legislators need to be able to
move money around, such as in this bill.
They need to be able to balance the budget
and line money up how they want to spend
it. They also should be transparent about
what they are doing and clearly state in a
bill if it would reduce the kicker.
EDITORIALS
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.
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My complicated relationship with wild turkeys
BILL
ANEY
THIS LAND IS OUR LAND
hen it comes to wild turkeys,
I admit to being a little bit
conflicted.
April is gobbler season, when turkey
hunters across the country break the
bonds of winter by heading into the
woods. An early morning gobble rever-
berating through the trees is a truly
thrilling sound, and hunters work to lure
in a tom turkey with an assortment of
clucks, yelps and purrs imitating a love-
lorn hen. The closeup sight of an adult
tom in full strut, gobbling and drum-
ming, with bare head shifting brilliant
red, white and blue isn’t soon forgotten.
Elk hunters will find some aspects of
turkey hunting familiar, with a recipe of
equal parts calling, camouflage, subter-
fuge and adrenaline. One big difference
is that turkey hunters also experience the
fullness of spring; the sight of wildflow-
ers, the sound of songbirds, the smell
of moist earth, and the almost visceral
sensation of ruffed grouse drumming.
The problem is, turkeys don’t belong
here in the Blues.
Fossil records show that there was a
distant relative of the North American
wild turkey in Southern California more
than 10,000 years ago, but the first writ-
ten records indicate that the native range
was mostly east of the Rocky Mountains
and in Southern Arizona and Mexico.
Turkeys are not native to any other conti-
nent, and European explorers, having
found the birds to be excellent eating,
brought turkeys back with them to be
domesticated across Europe and Scandi-
navia by 1550.
Over the next several hundred years,
W
North American turkey numbers were
decimated as settlers arrived on the
continent, and then moved west. In the
mid-1900s, state wildlife agencies and
sportsmen’s groups repopulated the
continent with wild birds, including
establishing huntable turkey populations
in areas where they didn’t previously
exist. In Oregon, the Game Commission
started releasing birds in 1961, and over
the next 40 years transplanted almost
10,000 birds in 584 different releases. I
remember seeing my first turkey in 1978
near Tupper on the Umatilla National
Forest, a direct result of one of these
releases.
At one time the National Wild Turkey
Federation had a goal to establish hunt-
able populations in all 50 states by the
year 2000. As a turkey hunter who thrills
at the sound of a gobbler, I appreciate
that goal. As an ecologist, it gives me
chills.
So I am conflicted. Like ring-necked
pheasants, California quail, Hungarian
partridge and chukars, our region is host
to non-native populations brought here
solely for recreational purposes (a.k.a.
hunting), and I have spent many days
in the field in pursuit of each of these
winged invaders. I also understand that
the world is full of disastrous conse-
quences of introductions of non-native
species into new ecosystems.
Perhaps the most infamous exam-
ple is the introduction of two dozen
European rabbits into Australia in 1859
by an Englishman, nostalgic for the
rabbit hunts he experienced back home.
Presented with a climate of mild winters
and no natural predators, the rabbits
bred, well, like rabbits, and within 10
years were declared a nuisance with
more than 2 million killed by hunters
without any appreciable impact on the
population. In 1950, the population was
estimated at 6 million, and Australians
built rabbit fences, removed hunting
restrictions, and introduced a variety of
diseases in desperate attempts to control
the rabbits.
I could only imagine what could
happen in places like Hawaii, with large
number of unique species that have been
devastated by non-native animals and
plants. Yet, turkeys have been intro-
duced there as well.
To be fair, there is limited evidence
I could find of turkeys (or pheasants,
quail, or partridges for that matter)
having negative effects on native wildlife
or habitats in North America. They can
be an alternative prey source for medi-
um-sized predators like coyotes and
bobcats, and in theory their presence
could support higher predator popula-
tions higher than they would be without
turkeys, but no one has proven that yet.
Aldo Leopold, considered the father
of American wildlife management, is
famous for writing, “To keep every cog
and wheel is the first precaution of intel-
ligent tinkering.” I imagine he would
have added that intelligent tinkering also
means not adding extra wheels or screws
into the works without fully understand-
ing what might happen.
So I am conflicted. I have enjoyed
seeing turkeys in South Dakota, Oregon,
Washington, and even Hawaii. I also
understand that they don’t belong in
those places and dread what feels like
the inevitable unintended consequences.
In the meantime, I will do my feeble
best to control the spread of this alien by
attempting to fill one or more turkey tags
this spring.
As an ecologist and law-abiding
hunter, it’s at once both the least and the
most that I can do.
———
Bill Aney is a forester and wildlife biol-
ogist living in Pendleton and loving the
Blue Mountains.
to a corner to look at coats and a wild
mink jumped off the rack and flung
itself around her neck. I grabbed it and
flung it on the ground and stomped on
it. Unfortunately, my mother and I were
asked to leave immediately. My mother
wasn’t very pleased with my efforts to
save her life.
Mike Mehren
Hermiston
the historic downtown, the underground
tour and, yes, the Cozy Rooms. The
town is surrounded by cattle ranches,
fields of wheat, and not far away the
sheep that helped give rise to the Pend-
leton Woolen Mills.
Your older readers may remember
“Sky King,” the radio and TV show
that featured an airplane landing on
the ranch. Pendleton is close, with an
airport and a budding drone business. It
is time for Pendleton to be featured on
the big screen or a streaming service.
Paramount’s “Yellowstone” has been a
success. Why not Pendleton?
For any questions, I can be reached
at Kent.Hughes@wilsoncenter.org,
Kent.H.Hughes@gmail.com, or by
phone at 202-320-9078.
Kent Hughes
Bethesda, Maryland
YOUR VIEWS
Mink farmers should be
easily identifiable
I really enjoyed the humorous article
about mink as the precursor to depop-
ulating the world. I wonder how many
living in Eastern Oregon have ever seen
a domestic or wild mink? I thought I
saw one, but it turned out to be a furry
little dog that belonged to folks in
Meacham.
I think it would be great if mink
farmers and trappers wore a special
mask with a red M in the center, so we
could avoid them. While we’re at it,
maybe politicians should wear a mask
with a black P for the same reason.
When I was about 10, my mother
drug me along on a shopping trip. We
went to a huge store that had all differ-
ent kinds of garments. She walked back
Pendleton is due for big
screen success
Almost three weeks ago, the Wall
Street Journal published an article
(“Hollywood Renews Love for West-
erns,” March 8, 2021) that holds prom-
ise for Pendleton.
Pendleton has it all — the Round-Up,