KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
PHIL WRIGHT
News Editor
JADE McDOWELL
Hermiston Editor
THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
A half-hearted
commitment
to open
government?
H
ere’s an editorial for the people
who work in Oregon govern-
ment. They can be excused for
not getting as wound up about govern-
ment transparency as journalists or other
members of the public do.
But Oregon governments, from the
governor’s office down to the library
boards, are supposed to be transparent.
They are in a number of ways. But they
don’t always put their heart into it. Some-
times they don’t follow the law. So when
one part of Oregon government calls out
another part of Oregon government for
not being transparent, we pay attention.
The Oregon Secretary of State’s
Office recently released a follow-up to an
audit it did in 2019. That original report
encouraged the state — and in particular
the state’s Department of Administra-
tive Services, or DAS — to enhance the
transparency in the state’s budget.
If it’s not easy to find out where the
state gets its money or how it spends it,
that’s a problem.
The department did implement a
number of recommended changes since
that 2019 audit. It worked with the Legis-
lature to allow additional money to beef
up the state’s transparency website. And
it hired a consultant to compare what
Oregon does against some of the best
practices of other states. That’s good.
But DAS is not monitoring a practice
of state agencies to use non-budgeted
positions. And it’s not using its position
on the Transparency Oregon Advisory
Commission to encourage the commis-
sion meet regularly and release transpar-
ency reports required by law in a timely
manner, the report said.
For instance, there’s a requirement in
state law that the commission shall report
to the Legislature on completed improve-
ments to the transparency website and
ways to improve it further by Feb. 15 of
each odd-numbered year. The Legisla-
tive Fiscal Office missed that deadline
in 2019. It apparently has missed it again
this year. At least, we couldn’t find it on
the office’s website.
EO Media Group emailed last week
the two members of the Legislative Fiscal
Office assigned to the commission to ask
what was going on. No response.
The impact of the pandemic on state
staff could have certainly been a reason.
There could be other parts of a heavy
workload that they chose to prioritize.
It would be nice, though, if they were
transparent about why they aren’t filling a
transparency obligation required by state
law.
One other thing struck us about the
way the Department of Administra-
tive Services — which it is important
to note is overseen by Gov. Kate Brown
— responded to the audit. DAS chose to
respond to some of the audit recommen-
dations with what state auditors called
“extraneous responses.” DAS declined to
even disagree or agree with some of the
audit recommendations.
Do some employees at DAS not have
a commitment to transparency in their
heart? Is Gov. Brown going to insist they
act like they do?
Touring my secret mushrooming spots
BILL
ANEY
THIS LAND IS OUR LAND
M
y mushrooming roots run
deep.
About the time that spring
turkey hunting season winds down,
my forays into the national forest shift
to searching for another wild delicacy,
the morel mushroom. I come by this
pastime honestly, as I was exposed as a
teenager to the wonders of mushrooms
by my mother and grandparents.
Grandpa Elden Johnson in particular
was a brave explorer into the world of
wild fungi. He was known for occasion-
ally trying what he called “just a small
sample” of an unknown mushroom to
see if it was delectable, barely edible or
would make him sick. This is definitely
not a recommended way of learning
about mushrooms, but as a result of
his style Grandpa’s suite of mushroom
species that collected for the table was a
lot broader than mine.
I know morels, king boletes, shaggy
manes and corals, but I remember him
also talking enthusiastically about
oyster mushrooms, chicken-of-the-
woods and slippery jacks, none of which
are on my positive go-to list.
Somewhere in my collection of
papers I have a manuscript he wrote
about the wonders of mushrooming in
the Blues. He challenged the reader to
take time to meander slowly among the
trees soaking in the sounds, smells, and
feelings of the spring woods. His words
resonate in me every time I step into
the forest in search of mushrooms, and
I find it is easy to fall into a meditative
state. No wonder mushroom hunters get
lost so often.
What I wouldn’t give for one more
chance to go with my grandpa to some
of his favorite mushrooming spots in the
Blues, for his haunts are lost to memory
now. But I have started to develop my
own mushrooming spots, and I like to
think that some of them are the same
pieces of ground that my grandparents
used to walk.
This spring has been incredibly
dry, and while turkey hunting I noticed
how the forest floor was crunchy, more
like August than May. But last week
we had just a bit of rain, and my good
friend Matt and I decided it might be
time to look for mushrooms. We found
the woods to be teeming with people
heading out for Memorial Day week-
end, with camps tucked into small forest
openings and vehicles parked in wide
spots along the forest roads.
Undaunted, we slipped into the woods
and moved from one known honey hole
to another, and after an hour of search-
ing had collected exactly one medi-
um-sized king bolete, one morel and one
fresh coral mushroom. We moved down
the road, parked at a road closure gate
and hiked 20 minutes to another spot I
had marked last year with my GPS. As I
entered into the stand, my eyes were first
drawn to the abundant corals.
These are not my favorite, so I
continued my mushroom meander
when I was rewarded by — a morel. I
bent down to cleanly sever it from the
stalk and saw another, and another and
another. That’s how morel hunting goes,
and by crawling on hands and knees I
was able to collect several dozen in just
a few minutes.
The best part? There was no evidence
of other pickers. My secret spot was
and still is mine; Matt can be trusted to
keep it to himself. A mushroom spot is a
secret worth keeping close, and mush-
room hunters understand that it is an
honor to be taken to another’s favor-
ite spot, a sacred trust that is not to be
violated.
There are some places in the Blues
that hold mushrooms but that are
off limits to me — private lands, the
Umatilla indian Reservation. Fortu-
nately for us, the national forests have
millions of acres of ground to search for
these delicacies, and it is there for all of
us. You don’t even need a permit if you
are just picking mushrooms for your
personal use.
My grandparents and mother had
their mushrooming spots, I have mine,
and our daughter is developing her own.
While my grandparents left me their
books, their writing and some of their
knowledge, they made no maps. Perhaps
it is better that way, as I collect my own
places to wander each spring.
I encourage others to the same while
the spring flowers are blooming, the sun
is shining and the birds are singing. It’s
a fine time to enjoy our public lands.
———
Bill Aney is a forester and wildlife biol-
ogist living in Pendleton and loving the
Blue Mountains.
system, an increase of 358%. The last
dam was completed on the Snake River
in 1975. Proof positive that fish and
dams can, and do, co-exist.
Simpson and his minions need to
prove their scheme to breach our dams
and destroy our economy, at such a great
cost, will result in the return of even one
more fish to our rivers. The burden of
proof is on them alone, nobody else. If
they cannot prove their case, they need
to shut up and go home.
Dick Sherwin
Lewiston, Idaho
Grants cannot provide enough support
for lower-income Oregon students to
attend college.
I have been teaching in Oregon high
schools, colleges and universities for
more than 20 years and have seen the
value of these Opportunity Grants first
hand. Thanks to these programs, more
of Oregon’s student’s are able to attend
college and serve their communities
across the state. My classes at Oregon
State University and the University of
Oregon are definitely more engaging
places for learning when I have students
from across the state from different
economic backgrounds and with diverse
political opinions.
By supporting the Oregon Oppor-
tunity Grant you can make my job as a
writing teacher even better by sending
more of Eastern Oregon’s amazing high
school graduates to college.
Stephen Rust
Eugene
YOUR VIEWS
Simpson should put up or
shut up
Why does U.S. Rep. Mike Simp-
son, R-Idaho, expect others to present
alternatives to his $33 billion plan to gut
the economy of the Pacific Northwest?
He claims, “We need to have honest
conversations.”
So, let’s be honest.
The science has already been proven
and recorded as fact; fish and dams
can successfully co-exist. As a matter
of fact, the highest numbers of both
salmon and steelhead ever recorded
returning to our rivers came during a
10-year period that began 25 years after
the last dam was completed.
From 1938-1947, approximately 1.9
million anadromous fish returned over
Bonneville Dam, the only dam in the
river system at that time. From 2000–
09, approximately 6.8 million salmon
and steelhead returned to our river
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
Diverse student population
makes for better teaching
I encourage all Eastern Oregon
voters to contact your Oregon state
legislators and ask them to support the
Oregon Opportunity Grant for college
students. Federal student loans and Pell
citizens. Letters must be signed
by the author and include the city
of residence and a daytime phone
number. The phone number will
not be published. Unsigned letters
will not be published.
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.
SEND LETTERS TO:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to editor Phil Wright,
211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR
97801