ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
PHIL WRIGHT
News Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Questions
linger over
Wyden bill
S
en. Ron Wyden should get kudos
for sponsoring a virtual town hall
session in August regarding his
River Democracy Act, and the esteemed
lawmaker did a good job of answering
questions and trying to alleviate fears.
But his legislation still carries more ques-
tions than answers.
The River Democracy Act will add
more than 4,000 miles of wild and
scenic rivers across the state, but the
idea sparked some opposition from rural
county elected officials and concerns it
will impact grazing, potential timber
harvests and affect recreational access.
For the most part, the bill seems to be
a good-faith attempt in conservation and
carries with it several interesting and
valid protections.
Yet, there is a bit of an unease with
a piece of legislation that carves out so
much acreage based on what is essen-
tially a crowd-sourcing attempt where
15,000 Oregonians delivered their
personal choices for what should be
protected under the proposed legislation.
Wyden has done a good job of answer-
ing questions and has assured the public
the bill will have no impact on private
land or existing property, grazing or
water rights.
Wyden has stated the bill will apply
only to federal lands. The bill also
contains provisions that will require the
U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of
Land Management to review wildfire
risks in wild and scenic river corridors.
Each agency then has up to six years to
develop a mitigation plan. The bill also
would create a $30 million fund to restore
riparian areas that are scorched by wild-
fires.
Both are excellent measures that are,
in fact, long overdue. And yet, Wyden’s
ambitious plan leaves a sense of disquiet.
For one, there doesn’t seem to be as
much interaction with local officials on
the broad strokes of the blueprint as one
would expect. Some county commission-
ers in some portions of Eastern Oregon
have said they were never consulted
about the bill, a piece of legislation that
will impact their areas of responsibility.
Secondly, the bills such as these have a
bad habit of creating unintended conse-
quences. What appears right and proper
now, may evolve into a problem down the
road. Not for the senator, nor for environ-
mentalists who want the legislation, but
for people who live in the areas where the
bill will make its biggest impact.
We laude Wyden for his effort, and we
want to get behind this bill. But to do so
the sense of unease needs to be quelled.
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
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of 400 words or less on public issues and public
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to withhold letters that address concerns about
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The phone number will not be published.
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
Improving quality of life should be priority
“ T
he overriding challenge of the
decade is quality — quality of
life in Oregon,” that was true
when Gov. Tom McCall first voiced
those words in 1967, as well as when he
repeated the phrase in 1971, and it rings
true today.
Quality-of-life concerns are top of
mind for Oregonians. A full 51% of
Oregonians identified homelessness as
the single most important topic for the
state to address, according to a recent
Oregon Values and Beliefs Center
survey.
Similarly, Oregonians identified
affordable housing as a priority — 49%
percent of respondents listed it as one of
the top three issues they’d like leaders to
take on. Finally, another 10% of Orego-
nians listed other quality of life issues as
the most important issue: traffic conges-
tion (3 %), vandalism and graffiti (3 %)
and litter (1 %).
“Quality of life” isn’t an easy concept
to define, but people know it when
they experience it, and, perhaps even
more so, know when it’s on the decline.
McCall broadly referred to quality of life
as “the sum total of the fairness of our
tax structure; the caliber of our homes;
the cleanliness of our air and water; and
the provision of affirmative assistance to
those who cannot assist themselves.”
Sensing a potential decline in the
1970s, McCall acknowledged a “war
against the despoilment of nature.”
His response was a list of more than 30
measures to protect the state’s air, water
and lands. He also advocated for sustain-
able economic growth, going as far as
to ask Oregonians to “extend [a warm]
welcome to Hollywood producers” to
bring more motion picture production
to the state; an economic sector that
KEVIN
FRAZIER
OTHER VIEWS
had grown as more filmmakers tried to
capture Oregon’s “scenic wonders.”
Finally, he convened corporate exec-
utives and local officials in these efforts
— leaning on them to spot waste in state
government and solutions for making
Oregon an even better place to call
home.
Contemporary Oregonians can and
should learn from McCall’s actions to
restore and maintain Oregon’s quality
of life. The same “love for ... traditions
and beauty of our home” that allowed
for progress in the era of McCall exists
today. That love, once tapped into, can
unite Oregonians around meaningful
efforts to ensure housing security for
every resident of the state.
The first step to preserving quality
of life in Oregon is making it a priority.
McCall could have chosen to let myriad
cultural and political issues distract his
administration from focusing on the
state’s “social, economic and environ-
mental climate,” which he listed as the
core aspects of quality of life.
Instead, McCall specified to the
Legislature and the people of Oregon that
he was not capable of solving every prob-
lem; he admitted the Legislature could
not solve every problem in one session.
That sort of honesty and humility is
too frequently missing in politics today,
but it can be restored.
Once Oregon’s leaders embrace the
people’s desire for substantial action on
homelessness and housing affordability,
they’ll be better able to earn the people’s
trust in making big decisions.
Oregonians are ready for major
action to solve these major problems.
For instance, we’re ready for a regional
approach to housing affordability —
no one community can build enough
housing to lower rents across the state.
We’re also ready for more collaborative
and consolidated government action —
having every city and county develop
their own strategies is duplicative and
wasteful. Finally, we’re ready for actions
that prioritize individuals, not institu-
tions. McCall frequently cited the strong
individualistic streak in Oregonians
— he didn’t see it as a fault, but rather
as a strength to embrace and invest in.
Today’s leaders should do the same by
listening to what individuals need rather
than what special interests demand from
the state.
Oregonians want to do more than just
get by. As McCall made clear, we want
to “earn ... a living (and) have living that
is worthwhile.” The OVBC survey didn’t
report surprising information — for
decades Oregonians have signaled that
quality of life concerns are their prior-
ity. It’s long past time the state’s leaders
listened and followed McCall’s playback
for providing a better social, economic
and environmental climate by taking
immediate and drastic action to put
roofs over heads and drive rents below
paychecks.
———
Kevin Frazier formerly led Passport
Oregon, which helped young Oregonians
explore the state’s outdoors. He currently
operates No One Left Offline, which has
distributed nearly 100 Wi-Fi hot spots
throughout Oregon, especially Central
Oregon.
YOUR VIEWS
Is the city courting disaster
from Mother Nature?
The most recent destruction left in the
wake of Hurricane Ida in Louisiana and
New York was a real wakeup call to resi-
dents in the Northeast. Could that happen
to Pendleton?
If you’re a longtime resident, the
Columbus Day Storm in 1964 should
ring a bell, both hurricane force winds and
rain. Fortunately, most of the damages
— other than uprooted trees and downed
power lines — were lost shingles, a few
fences and small sheds.
Times have changed. Trees are a
lot larger and more abundant. Miles of
overhead fiber-optic cables are going up
daily. So, what’s being done to prepare
for another Columbus Day Storm? The
answer is pretty simple, nothing.
Several years ago, I mentioned to our
city management that, as more over-
head cables were installed, our skyline
was beginning to resemble that of a third
world nation, hoping that a program
would materialize to relocate overhead
utilities underground in the older parts
of town, especially in areas designated as
the Urban Renewal District where funds
were available.
Suggestions fell on deaf ears. Street
trees and dog parks received a higher
priority. Besides, public works felt that
the structural integrity of our power poles
had reached design limits and more over-
head lines would not be permitted, but
there they are.
Our city management team, not being
native residents of Pendleton, seem to be
unaware of our historical relationship with
Mother Nature. They were astounded at
recent flooding, oblivious to the possibil-
ity that it could even happen locally. They
were cavalier in their attitude that because
millions were spent on the aquifer recov-
ery system, that our city was drought resis-
tant, so no additional water conservation
measures were needed, despite the alarm-
ing drop in the water table over the years.
In his enthusiastic effort to get city
council approval for a new fire station,
a former fire chief stressed that the old
station was not earthquake proof. At the
same briefing, the chief building inspec-
tor stressed that history clearly showed
wind damage was the primary concern
in our area.
Will the failure to properly upgrade our
city’s infrastructure make us more or less
vulnerable to the wrath of Mother Nature
in the future, or are we going to rely on
new dog parks and infant daycare centers
to combat future disasters?
Rick Rohde
Pendleton
Vote now for additions
to Wild & Scenic Rivers
The wild rivers and streams east of
the Cascades are lifelines — giving us
the gift of cold, clean water to drink,
late season flows for farms, havens
for fish and wildlife, and places to
fish, boat, camp, and rejuvenate our
souls.
When I moved from Eugene to
Prairie City back in the early 1980s,
I fell in love with the John Day River
— one of Oregon’s 70-plus designated
Wild & Scenic Rivers (just 2% of the
state’s river miles). I also explored the
not-yet-designated forks and tributar-
ies — once finding a massive bull elk
skeleton in a forested stream bottom
off trail.
Decades later, I’m grateful to Sen.
Ron Wyden for the opportunity to
nominate favorite streams and rivers to
be considered for additions to congres-
sionally designated Wild & Scenic
Rivers. His leadership and belief in
the grassroots to rise up and shape
history are a heartening way to begin
2020. Please send in your river and
stream entries through January 20th to:
rivers@wyden.senate.gov.
Marina Richie
Bend