ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
PHIL WRIGHT
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
TUESDAy, JUNE 1, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Merkley forest
plan has merit
O
regon voters should feel pretty
good about U.S. Sen. Jeff Merk-
ley’s ideas on forest manage-
ment, concepts he discussed last week.
Merkley wants to push the Biden
administration to spend at least $1 billion
per year for logging, proscribed burns
and other work to get the tinderbox
forests of the state in shape to withstand
disease and uncontrolled blazes.
Forest management are the key words
Merkley used, and we hope that is exactly
what happens. Forest management is not
closure of forests. It does not mean block-
ading vast tracts of forest land to watch it
die and then become kindling for another
massive fire.
Instead, Merkley seems to back a
cooperative concept where traditional
rivals — such as the timber industry and
conservation groups — work together to
help forests.
Merkley correctly pointed out that in
the 2018 federal farm bill he included
authorization to double spending on
forest collaborative projects. That is just
not idle talk. That is putting hard cash
behind a concept that is probably the only
way we can move forward in the future.
Merkley’s next challenge will be to get
the money into the U.S. Forest Service
budget.
Meanwhile, Merkley’s focus on coop-
erative projects has great merit. It seems
obvious even to the most pessimistic
observer of the forest situation in the
Northwest, the only way forward will be
through collaboration. That isn’t going to
be an easy sell for either environmental
or timber advocates, but it is the way to
the future.
For a special interest group — such as
the timber industry or an environmental-
ist group — to believe they can have it all
one way simply is not a viable solution. In
fact, it is a roadblock that pushes import-
ant matters, such as the health of our
forests, away and puts the focus on egos.
The cooperative model is one that will
be, we think, utilized on rangeland as
well.
For too long there was a “winner-
takes-all” mentality regarding natural
resources issues. On one side stood the
timber advocates, on the other count-
less environmental groups. Both sides
believed they were right, and both could
conjure up data and rhetoric to make it all
seem real.
Fact is, none of that matters when
the broader problem of forest and range
management is placed firmly into focus.
What matters is finding compromise and
solutions. Fighting over dogma is not
going to get us to where we want to be in
terms of forest health. Good, sound plan-
ning will.
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.
LETTERS
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
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Unsigned letters will not be published.
SEND LETTERS TO:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
More than just punching a time clock
DANIEL
WATTENBURGER
HOME GROWN
I
f all goes well, I’m near the
midway point in my working
career. The six paid jobs I’ve had
since the age of 15 — research assis-
tant, pizza delivery driver, security
guard, after-school youth mentor, jour-
nalist and communications consultant
— also put me about halfway to the
12 jobs the average American holds
during a lifetime.
I’m not planning on another six job
changes in the next 25 years, but you
never know. Learning new skills and
working on new projects is equal parts
challenging and rewarding. Finding
fulfilling work that also pays the bills
and allows for a healthy life balance is
an ever-changing goal.
Thinking on the jobs I’ve had —
and the times between jobs — I’ve
been trying to make sense of worker
shortages in nearly every occupa-
tion. From shorter-term positions like
lifeguards and fast-food workers to
careers in agricultural production
and health care, everyone seems to be
hiring but few are looking. Reporting
in the East Oregonian has highlighted
this quite well in recent months.
Some have chalked it up to an over-
abundance of unemployment benefits.
There is truth to that, as COVID-19
restrictions sent a lot of people home
and the government responded with
fully replaced incomes. In some cases
those benefits still are paying out as
restrictions subside. If that’s the main
driver, there should be a surge in the
coming months as the checks stop
coming and people get back into the
workforce.
COVID-19 also kept a lot of people
out of the workforce to care for their
children. A recent report from the
Oregon Office of Economic Analy-
sis shows 350,000 working parents
— about 17% of the total workforce
— had no ability to work from home
and no other nonworking adult avail-
able to provide childcare. With schools
reopening, another hurdle will be
removed although the larger issue will
persist.
The shortage of workers, espe-
cially in Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties, is not a new phenomenon. And the
impact of government programs isn’t
new, either. Five years ago, Umatilla
County and Blue Mountain Commu-
nity College conducted a skilled work-
force study to identify the strengths
and weaknesses of the local labor
supply.
The report, which relied on surveys
from hundreds of businesses, found
employers were struggling to find
applicants who weren’t already earn-
ing more money from government
assistance and could pass a drug test.
Other challenges included cumber-
some licensing requirements imposed
by the state of Oregon and an evolving
definition of work ethic.
The lack of willing and able work-
ers has many specific negative effects.
The shortage of school bus drivers,
for instance, leads to disruptive delays
and stunts educational time for certain
students. Too few lifeguards on duty
means limited instructional classes. A
psychiatric or medical facility unable
to maintain staff leads to diminished
care for everyone.
There are broader effects as well,
including developers and employ-
ers opting to set up somewhere with a
more predictable workforce.
I don’t know what the second half
of my working life will look like, for
myself and much less for the rest of the
workforce. Automation will continue
to play a growing role, protecting busi-
nesses from the expense of labor short-
ages. Cultural values will continue to
change. The gig economy will grow.
There has to be room in society
for these kinds of changes. We must
be able to maintain a high quality
of life, value personal development
and encourage community contribu-
tion, while recognizing that punch-
ing a time clock isn’t the only way to
achieve these things.
Few people are lucky enough to
find a dream job, the kind where it
feels like you never have to work a day
in your life. I’m skeptical that truly
exists.
But that collection of less-than-per-
fect jobs you accumulate by applying
and learning and growing have a real
impact on yourself and your commu-
nity. We’ll be better off by embracing
work as a societal good rather than
simply a path to a paycheck.
———
Daniel Wattenburger is the former
managing editor of the East Oregonian.
He lives in Hermiston with his wife and
children and is an account manager for
Pac/West Lobby Group. Contact him at
danielwattenburger@gmail.com.
work for future management deci-
sions.
Strong voices and comments from
sportsmen and women will be critical
to ensure the final management plans
contain ample fish and wildlife habitat
protections.
Identifying and conserving big
game migration corridors, reducing
road densities in certain areas and
actively managing forest and stream
restoration projects should be priori-
ties in the next plan revision, all while
continuing to provide for local socio-
economic priorities. Proper manage-
ment of fish and wildlife habitat will
help to recover struggling mule deer
herds and ensure the robust elk popu-
lations spend more time on public
lands to minimize increasing damage
concerns on private lands.
Michael O’Casey
Bend
licensed a company to rent their motor-
ized scooters for use on city streets. An
ordinance was modified to allow use
in city parks, specifically to include
the river walkway. State law requires
that bicycle helmets must be worn, and
operators must be at least 16. Riding on
sidewalks is also prohibited.
I have yet to see any individ-
ual wearing a helmet, and riding on
sidewalks seems to be preferred over
using the streets. It seems they have
become very popular with youngsters
and adults wishing to avoid a driving
under the influence charge.
I’ve discovered filing a complaint
with city hall is simply a waste of
time, as you are just given the Bird
(the company that owns the scooters)
phone number and website. Besides,
I’ve been told the mayor claims he
hasn’t gotten a single complaint.
It’s only a matter of time before
there’s a fatality, especially during
Round-Up, but don’t fret, explains the
city attorney: The company has insur-
ance.
Rick Rohde
Pendleton
YOUR VIEWS
Forest plan needs robust
input from all stakeholders
Almost every fall since childhood,
I have headed into the Blue Moun-
tains to hunt big game. As the decades
pass, I spend more and more time here,
hunting black bears and turkeys in the
spring, and fishing the many rivers
throughout the year. The Blue Moun-
tains provide some of the best hunting
and fishing anywhere in Oregon and
contain more than 5.5. million acres
of public lands across three national
forests: the Malheur, Umatilla and
Wallowa-Whitman.
Finding the appropriate balance of
multiple uses on 5.5 million acres is
no easy task. The efforts to find that
balance have been ongoing for nearly
20 years through the Blue Moun-
tains Forest Plan Revision process. A
draft plan has already been completed
twice, but they both received wide-
spread objections and were never
finalized.
These forest plans determine the
social, economic and ecological goals
on public lands and provide a frame-
Scooter complaints go
nowhere
The city of Pendleton recently