OFF PAGE ONE
Saturday, December 18, 2021
East Oregonian
A7
Sams:
Continued from Page A1
East Oregonian, File
Vern Nelson works on a sign on the newly constructed Pendleton Grain Growers headquarters
in early 1951 in Pendleton.
PGG:
Continued from Page A1
La Grande-based Hines
Meat Co. acquired the former
PGG Energy building, The
MacGregor Co. took on the
McKennon Station and East-
ern Oregon Rentals, in an
auction, bought the old PGG
headquarters.
Hawkins said it’s been a
long road from the dissolu-
tion vote until now, but he
feels good about PGG’s posi-
tion. The co-op avoided bank-
ruptcy, paid off all of its debt
and has now sold most of its
properties. Hawkins said
he expects PGG to dissolve
completely in mid-2022 after
it finishes selling its final three
properties and resolves some
patronages it has with other
companies that should lead to
more payments to members.
If PGG sticks to its antic-
East Oregonian, File
A two-page spread announces the opening of the new Pendle-
ton Grain Growers headquarters in the March 1, 1951, issue of
the East Oregonian.
ipated timeline, it will go out
of existence eight years shy of
its 100th anniversary.
For Hawkins, having the
end in sight is a bittersweet
experience. His father was
once on the PGG board, and
Hawkins never liked the idea
of PGG closing for good. But
he said the board worked hard
to match the properties it sold
with strong organizations,
and PGG is ending its life by
putting money back into the
pockets of farmers.
“It makes you feel like what
you did the last six to seven
years was worth it,” he said.
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Branding for Pendleton Grain Growers faintly remains on McKennon Station on Thursday,
Dec. 16, 2021, in Pendleton. The agriculture cooperative that once was a major force in Eastern
Oregon is in the final stages of winding down.
“He’s got a huge task,”
she said. “But I hope, even-
tually, that he’ll be able to
help us tell our story about
our traditions and our
culture within the national
parks area.”
Sams has a 25-year back-
ground in tribal administra-
tion and nonprofit natural
resource and conservation
management. That work has
included facilitating land
transfers and donations to
the park service, in addition
to working on park system
lands with volunteers on
conservation and inva-
sive species management,
among other related roles
in public lands and conser-
vation.
Sams will take over a
park service that hasn’t had
a permanent director since
2017.
Before he was confirmed
in late November, a Senate
committee tasked with
vetting Sams questioned
him about his priorities
and how he would address
some of the more pressing
needs of the agency and the
85 million acres it manages.
Those priorities, he said,
include tackling the agen-
cy’s $12 billion maintenance
backlog. In 2020, Congress
passed a $6.5 billion bill that
aimed to address that back-
log after years of underin-
vestment.
But for David
Lamfrom, one of the most
immediate issues is the
mood among park service
employees. La m f rom
is the vice president of
Regional Programs for
the National Park Conser-
vation Association and
work s on com mu n i-
ty-building and reaching
more diverse constituents.
He’d like to see a more
diverse park service work-
force. But first, he said,
the workplace culture and
concerns about harassment
and gender discrimination
have to be addressed, which
Sams has recognized as a
priority.
“I think building back
that trust and morale
within the agency is going
to be a really top priority,”
Lamfrom said.
The morale concerns and
other staffing issues come
amid surging popularity for
the park service, with many
national parks — such as
Zion and Glacier national
parks — having experi-
enced record attendance
numbers in recent years.
“There’s a lot of other
National Park Service/Contributed Photo
Chuck Sams, the new director of the National Park Service
and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation, shakes hands in this undat-
ed photo with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
Sams is the service’s first permanent director in five years.
issues that he’s gonna have
to deal with, like the fact is
that during the pandemic,
America fell in love all over
again with our national
parks,” Lamfrom said.
In addition to ensuring
people can access the parks
while making sure they’re
adequately protected in the
face of heavy attendance,
he said he’d like to see the
agency engage with groups
who aren’t flocking to park
service units and make them
more welcoming for all.
“The demographics
tell us that that flocking is
not consistent across all
communities,” Lamfrom
added. “So there’s atten-
tion and care that needs to
be put into ensuring that
communities who have felt
disengaged from the parks,
or have never felt engaged
with the parks, can connect
and feel welcome.”
Regardless, he said,
Sams is “absolutely up for
this” and is taking over at
an important and poten-
tially “transformational”
moment.
In the press release,
Sams said he is honored to
serve and “incredibly proud
to work with the dedicated
employees of the National
Park Service.”
“I have no doubt that
together, we’ll be able
to expand access to the
outdoors, protect America’s
public lands, and upgrade
our nation’s infrastructure
system,” he said.
Organizations such as
the National Congress of
American Indians and other
tribal leaders have been
pressuring the park service
to improve tribal consul-
tation, improve access
to historic and culturally
significant sites or better
protect them and include
Indigenous history and
culture as part of each park’s
experience.
Brigham, who has years
of experience working
with Sams from his time
as an administrator with
the tribes, said he has the
knowledge and experience
to do just that.
“Chuck knows why the
land is important to the
tribe; we have been taught
the need to take care of the
land, so the land can take
care of us … he knows
the importance of family
connecting to the land,
traditionally, culturally,
and in taking care of the
land,” she said. “Those are
things we don’t have to
educate him on, as we have
had to try and educate other
people.”
For his part, Sams has
said engaging with Indian
Country is a top goal,
whether that’s through
improved consultation with
tribal nations or incorpo-
rating traditional Indige-
nous ecological knowledge
into agency management
decisions or incorporat-
ing Indigenous history and
culture into park experi-
ences.
“As the Park Service’s
f i r st Nat ive A me r i-
can director, Chuck is
well-positioned to balance
recreational uses and stew-
ardship with our tribal
nations’ needs to maintain
our traditional and ances-
tral ties to these lands,”
NCAI President Fawn
Sharp said after Sams was
nominated in August.
At the same time,
Brigham said she and other
tribal leaders are eager to
help if he asks for it.
“We’re willing to help,
because it is going to be
a huge task,” she said.
“We know it’s not gonna
happen overnight.”
Express:
Continued from Page A1
The program usually costs
$15,000-$18,000, he said, and
has received $14,776.44 in
donations.
Volunteers used to be
“historically limited to the
police department,” Edmis-
ton said, but other groups
joined in recent years. Nowa-
days, the effort to collect and
pack goods is city-wide, with
government officials, fire-
fighters and family members
all helping.
Umatilla County fire-
fighters are grateful to have
been included in the Christ-
mas Express, said Nickolas
Oatley, Umatilla County Fire
District No. 1 recruitment
and retention coordinator.
On behalf of the district, he
expressed appreciation to the
local community, the police
department and the city of
Hermiston.
Oatley was careful not
to make too much out of the
fire district’s involvement. He
said Hermiston police remain
the leaders of the effort; fire-
fighters played a support-
ing role. Jim Forquer, the
fire district’s deputy chief of
administration, teamed with
Tim Miears, police training
officer, to involve firefighters.
Ten member of the fire
district plus their family
members helped at the Dec.
15 packing party, and it
donated a large box of toys
from community member
donations, according to
Oatley.
“We hope to be a part
of this event in the coming
years,” he said.
Nickolas L. Oatley/Umatilla County Fire District No. 1
Food donations sit ready for packing into boxes Wednesday,
Dec. 15, 2021, at the Hermiston Community Center.
Hermiston City Manager
Byron Smith was at the
Her miston Community
Center as well and packed
food boxes. He said in addi-
tion to police, firefighters and
other community members,
the large group of volunteers
included other city employ-
ees.
“The Christmas Express
is a longtime tradition that
started with the police
department, and a number
of years ago we expanded as
an opportunity for the whole
city staff and their families to
participate in a great commu-
nity project,” he said.
There were two things
that he especially liked about
Christmas Express, Smith
said. For one, he said he likes
to help the community. For
another, he said he likes to
see city staff come together.
“It gives me a chance to
know people from depart-
ments that I don’t see on a
daily basis,” he said. “We work
side-by-side, and I get to meet
them and their families.”
In past years, Smith said,
all the food boxes have been
filled in 40 minutes. This
year, volunteers were not
nearly as fast, he said, laugh-
ing.
“I think we were a bit slow
this year,” he said.
Still, they got all the work
done in a single night, just
like Santa Claus. And Smith
said their hard work shows
there are people in this
community who care and are
trying to help.
Even with all of the other
volunteers, Edmiston said
Christmas Express remains
special to the Hermiston
Police.
“Everyone at the police
department inevitably has
something to do with the
program each year,” he said.
“Myself, Cpl. Tim Miears,
chaplain Terry Cummings
and com mu n icat ions
manager Amanda Hartsteen
start the planning each year
in September.”
Edmiston said Agape
House also is a major partner,
Nickolas L. Oatley/Umatilla County Fire District No. 1
Hermiston City Councilor Phillip Spicerkuhn packs food boxes Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, at
the Hermiston Community Center as part of the annual Christmas Express.
as that organization hands
out the boxes and presents to
people from Dec. 17 to Dec.
20. Leftover presents are
saved for the following year.
And Agape House uses any
remaining food.
Mark Gomolski, Agape
House executive director,
said while volunteers were
busy at the community
center, he also was busy,
working with 30 mission-
aries who were getting the
food distribution center
ready.
He said there was a lot of
work to do, which included
setting up tables, retrieving
stored gifts from last year
and making room for food
boxes. He added he was look-
ing forward to the distribu-
tion, which would benefit
many people.