VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, August 14, 2021
East Oregonian
A5
J. D.
SMITH
FROM THE HEADWATERS
OF DRY CREEK
Family snapshots
may help clear
some things up
I
became an orphan at the age of 78.
Three first cousins and my two kids are
the only other living pieces of either
side of my family. But memories survive.
Here are a few of them recently retrieved
from the maxed-out flash drive that is
wedged between my ears.
One: My Uncle Darius (pronounced
Dare-us) and I are watching a Roy Rogers
movie on early television. He is half-cow-
poke, half-electrician and wears a 38-inch
inseam on button-fly Levis. I am maybe 11.
Darius has a five-horse pack string and has
twice taken me into the high Rockies on
fishing expeditions.
On the little roundish black and white
screen, Roy and Dale and Trigger and
Bullet have exposed and nabbed the
black-hatted banker who was trying to
cheat an older couple out of a chunk of land
where oil has been found. Somehow, a half
a dozen average ranch workers turn out to
be expert musicians, so everyone is gath-
ered around in celebration of the triumph.
Roy fires up his guitar, the others chime
in, and he and Dale break into the opening
stanzas of “Happy Trails to You.”
Darius stands, then ambles over and
turns off the television, saying, “You
know, J.D., I don’t know what I would do
if anyone ever came up to me and actually
sang right in my face.”
Two: My mom and dad and I are
headed up the canyon between Loveland
and Estes Park, Colorado, in a 1946 Ford
sedan. I am in the back seat, engrossed
in a stack of comic books and oblivious
to the splendor of roadside nature despite
my mom’s constant “Looky there. Isn’t
that beautiful?” We are coming around a
long left-hand corner when my mom yells
“Stop, Red, stop.” My dad, who’s real
name was Kenneth but I never heard him
called anything but Red, complies with her
request. She hops out and scurries back
about twenty yards, then comes running
back to the car holding a wrapped and
ribboned package, saying “Go, Red, go.”
She rips off the ribbon and begins
tearing at the plaid wrapping paper, then
plunges her hand into the box, where some
prankster has carefully packaged a couple
of pounds of chicken guts. This did not
deter her from always hoping for the best.
My mom was a lifelong optimist. She had
Lotto tickets for a drawing held the day
after she died at the age of 101.
Three: I am a recent high school grad-
uate waiting with my folks in Alliance,
Nebraska, for a train that is to carry me to
a very snooty college in the Boston area.
Both of them had worked hard to be able
to send me, as the first person in either
side of the family, to an institute of higher
education. For my part, I had been a good
student, or at least had been given good
grades for minimal effort, and in those days
East Coast universities were searching for
geographic distribution in their student
body, hoping that some of us from the abso-
lute boonies would get rich, and increase
their endowments. I had a good scholarship
and a work-study opportunity.
My mom worked as a secretary for a
rural electrification district and my dad as
a railroad fireman. They both had survived
the depression of the 1930s in Nebraska.
As the train approaches to carry me into
the future we all hug. The parting advice
from my mom is, “We don’t care if you
end up digging ditches for a living as long
as you are happy.” My dad grins at me and
says, “You are probably going to be eating
with some folks with different manners
than ours. Remember, don’t pick your nose
with your fork.”
Four: I am 6 feet down in a ditch with a
shovel, working behind a trackhoe, laying
10-inch blue brute sewer pipe through a
church camp in Idaho. It is rocky moun-
tain soil. The hoe has been walked back
to its carry truck for a tooth replacement.
Above me appears a woman with a Friar
Tuck haircut, long woolen skirt and brown
granny shoes and I hear her say, “Before
you dig any further, I would like you to see
my mayonnaise jar.”
It is difficult to express the fear that this
statement generated. What icky stuff was
this person hoarding in a mayonnaise jar?
Would it be out-of-range rude of me to
decline the offer? What if I had stumbled
onto some strange cult where people kept
their waste in jars? Should I run?
At the upper limits of my fantasies
the woman appears again at the lip of the
trench, this time accompanied by a fellow
with the same haircut and a guy version
of her outfit. She says, “This is Father
Damian, my manager.”
Five: My dad and I are sitting in the
bleachers at a rodeo in Council, Idaho, west
one main drainage from where I am living
in a teepee and cooking in an Airstream
while tending 700 head of light steers. It is
a warm high country afternoon. We have
hot dog mustard on our fingers. My dad
bumps my shoulder with his and says, “You
know, I am really happy that you didn’t
turn out to be that stuffed shirt sumbitchin’
lawyer I always wanted you to be.”
———
J.D. Smith is an accomplished writer and
jack-of-all-trades. He lives in Athena.
Securing a thriving future for the Columbia Basin
GOV. KATE
BROWN
OTHER VIEWS
O
ver the many years I have engaged
with stakeholders and tribal part-
ners about a path forward in the
Columbia Basin, one thing is clear: The
status quo isn’t working. Iconic salmon
and steelhead stocks continue to decline,
with several now on the brink of extinc-
tion. As we know, extinction is irreversible.
However, there is still time for a collabo-
rative solution that will benefit all in the
region.
The Columbia and Snake rivers are
economic drivers that we have developed
for local and regional prosperity. Salmon
and steelhead are keystone species critical
to the region’s ecosystem and the economy,
as well as subsistence and cultural health
for tribal peoples who have fished the rivers
since time immemorial.
I know that abundant salmon and steel-
head populations can coexist with a robust,
growing regional economy that includes
affordable and renewable power, water
for agriculture, and affordable transporta-
tion of goods to regional and international
markets, while being respectful of Tribal
culture, history and treaty rights. But, if
action does not come swiftly, the losses will
be substantial and irreversible.
Decades of development, including
the mainstem dams and reservoirs placed
between critical alpine nursery areas and
ocean feeding grounds, have had devastat-
ing impacts on wild salmon and steelhead.
For nearly 30 years, these species have
remained listed under the federal Endan-
gered Species Act. Now, the climate crisis
is compounding those impacts through
warmer waters, lower river flows and dete-
riorating ocean conditions.
Through it all, the federal agencies
responsible for operating dams on the
Columbia and Snake rivers have continu-
ously failed to meet the minimum needs of
the fish required by the ESA.
This is not a time for entrenched think-
ing or political ideology. I was one of the
first lawmakers to offer my support when
Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson
proposed $33 billion in economic invest-
ment to help ensure a healthy future for
the Columbia Basin while respecting the
history, culture and rights of the region’s
Tribal people.
Simpson’s proposal reflects the clear
science: Removal of the Snake River dams
must be part of a comprehensive solution
for salmon and steelhead in the face of
climate change. His proposal also recog-
nizes that the dams cannot be removed
without first replacing the essential services
they provide, investing most of the $33
billion in the energy, agriculture and
commodity transport sectors, and calls for
a moratorium on litigation.
In addition, just over a year ago, I
partnered with the governors of Idaho,
Washington and Montana to launch the
Columbia Basin Collaborative, aimed at
working toward robust goals for salmon
and steelhead while also ensuring regional
prosperity. We hope to have the Collabora-
tive chartered and funded this year so it can
begin its work in earnest in 2022.
If it were up to me, none of this would
have to be decided in court. Unfortunately,
that was not a view shared by the Trump
administration or the federal agencies in
charge of dam operations. Oregon, along
with other plaintiffs, is in litigation over
Trump-era rules that are unlawful, as well
as the federal plan for dam operations that
is inadequate to protect salmon and steel-
head.
Before we took this step, while the
federal government completed its plan,
Oregon helped negotiate the interim period
of litigation-free dam operations and good
faith, providing constructive input through-
out the process, all in hopes that federal
agencies would bring forward a legal plan.
They did not.
This federal failure left us with no
recourse but to ask the courts to intervene
to remove the Trump-era rules and inad-
equate federal plan, and help the region
pivot toward a comprehensive solution.
Absent comprehensive federal legislation
and funding, or a timely and collaborative
regional solution, legal action is currently
the only avenue available to help address
these issues.
It is my fervent hope that the Biden-Har-
ris administration will take steps to reverse
the Trump-era rollbacks to environmental
stewardship, including this latest federal
plan for dam operations, so that we can get
all parties back to the table to develop a
lasting solution.
While this litigation plays out, Oregon
will continue to seek and pursue all oppor-
tunities for collaboration. One possi-
ble path would be for Congress to fully
fund Simpson’s proposal and provide the
Tribes, Northwest states and key regional
stakeholders with time to work with their
congressional delegations to develop
legislation to implement it. This is not the
time for hesitancy. I respectfully ask my
fellow leaders in the region: If not Simp-
son’s proposal, then what? If not now, then
when?
My priority is to ensure we have robust,
harvestable salmon and steelhead popula-
tions throughout the Columbia Basin for
generations to come. We can do so in a
manner that combats climate change with
growth in clean and renewable energy,
ensures a cost-effective irrigation system
for farmers and ranchers, invests in safe
and economical transport of goods and
secures vibrant recreation opportunities
in and throughout the Columbia Basin.
It won’t be easy. But it’s the only way to
ensure a vibrant future for the region.
I’m ready to sit down with anyone will-
ing to work with me to make that future a
reality. Let’s get it done.
———
Kate Brown is governor of Oregon.
Taking care of our trees and shrubs during drought
JEFF BLACKWOOOD
DAVE POWELL
UNDERSTANDING OUR CHANGING CLIMATE
y trees are turning brown.
I have been watering them,
but they still look poorly.
What is going on?” These comments are
often heard, especially following our tough
start to summer. So, what is happening to
some of our favorite trees and shrubs?
For several years, climate scientists
have warned that climate change will make
itself known through weather extremes.
Two weather extremes are expected more
than others: heat waves and heavy rainfall.
We have seen examples of these extremes
throughout the country in recent years.
Hotter, drier summers, accompanied by
longer wildfire seasons, are becoming our
new normal.
In 2014, we had temperature extremes
in November that went from 60 degrees to
10 degrees in half a day. Over the next two
years, the consequences of this extreme
frost event were clearly evident on trees
and shrubs throughout our area, with many
plants damaged and others killed. In April
of 2019, we had the McKay Creek flood,
followed by severe flooding in the Umatilla
River early in 2020. Last fall, Labor Day
fires west of the Cascades set new records
for property damage, while burning more
than a million acres in Oregon.
We recently survived an unusual heat
wave in late June that climate scientists
“M
said would not have been possible if not
for human-caused climate change. When
Pendleton reached 117 degrees F on June
29, scientists deemed this event to be a
one-in-a-thousand-year heat wave. But if
we continue emitting greenhouse gases at
current rates, then by the 2040s, scientists
expect a heat wave of this same magnitude
to occur every five to 10 years.
All these events impact our vegetation,
fish and wildlife, our economy, our food
supply and our health. This year, dryland
wheat crops were affected by heat stress,
which caused protein levels to rise and the
crop’s economic value to fall. The June
heat wave decimated mid-summer crops of
Walla Walla sweet onions. Soft fruits were
hit especially hard by drought and heat.
When it comes to our trees and shrubs,
the combination of low soil moisture,
high temperatures for an extended period
and sunscald on needles and leaves have
stressed plants to a point where much of our
urban landscape could look substantially
different over the next few years, just like it
did after the 2014 frost event.
In a recent presentation, Erica Fleish-
man, director of Oregon’s Climate Change
Research Institute and professor at Oregon
State University, said our current drought
has been several years in the making.
Soil moisture is lower than we have seen
in recorded history. She stated we have
experienced drought for 14 of the last 20
years, with six of those years in moderate
to severe drought. Currently, almost 90%
of the West is in some level of drought, with
25% being assigned to what is called excep-
tional drought.
So, how can you help your stressed trees
and shrubs? Experts suggest to deep water
through the summer and early fall. Resist
the temptation to trim off dead or dying
leaves and limbs until fall. Pruning now
can stimulate new, tender growth, which
is vulnerable to continued stress through-
out the rest of summer. Make sure there
is adequate mulch to retain moisture and
protect roots from heat. As we approach
winter, make sure there is good soil mois-
ture around your favorite plants.
If your favorite tree or shrub does not
survive and you want to replace it, the big
question is this: Which species will survive
for another 30 or 40 years, given the chal-
lenges we are seeing today with a changing
climate? Look to the future and think about
the climate we expect over the next 20 or
30 years. Try to pick a species that has a
better chance of dealing with warmer, drier
summers and unusual frosts.
Advice on what might successfully
survive our changing climate may be found
in many places, including Choosing the
Right Tree resources from the Arbor Day
Foundation website. And, you can review a
“Right Tree Right Place” resource devel-
oped specifically for Pendleton on the
Pendleton Parks and Recreation website.
Our trees and shrubs bring much beauty
into our lives, and they nurture our mental
well-being by providing an ever-important
connection to the natural world. Climate
conditions this year dealt us a bad hand. We
must accept that we no longer live in the
world we once knew.
Climate touches all aspects of our lives,
so going forward, we must adapt to a new
reality, to a new world.
———
Jeff Blackwood and Dave Powell each
retired from a career with the U.S. Forest
Service. Both are members of Eastern
Oregon Climate Change Coalition.