KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
THURSDAy, APRIL 14, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Poaching
wolves
only makes
matters
worse
I
f anyone wanted to help out the
animal rights crowd in its efforts
to reinstate federal Endangered
Species Act protection to all wolves, all
he would have to do is randomly kill the
predators.
Since wolves were reintroduced into
parts of the West, animal rights activists
have been hollering that, unless wolves
are fully protected under the ESA, they
could be indiscriminately killed.
In a few parts of Eastern Oregon, that
appears to be happening. In the past two
years, eight wolves were poisoned and
seven were shot and killed.
This was not someone protecting
himself or his livestock. This was some-
one poaching and breaking the law.
Animal rights and environmental
groups are pushing right now trying
to convince the federal government to
reinstate ESA protections for wolves in
the Northern Rockies. Just last week, we
published a column by two members of
the U.S. Senate making the case for state
management of wolves in Idaho and
Montana.
The senators are 100% correct. Idaho,
Montana and other states where wolves
have been imposed on ranchers and
others have done their best. Reinstating
federal protections would take manage-
ment decisions out of the states’ hands.
If you think there are problems with
wolves now, wait until management
decisions are returned to the hands of
federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
No one has been more vociferous than
the East Oregonian’s sister paper, Capi-
tal Press, in criticizing how the reintro-
duction of wolves has been managed.
Time and again, we have stood up and
pointed out the shortcomings of federal
wildlife managers and the unfairness
their actions have inflicted on ranchers,
whose livelihoods depend on their abil-
ity to raise cattle and sheep.
The basis of those criticisms was that
wolves have been allowed to run rough-
shod through portions of the rural West,
attacking cattle, sheep, wildlife and
other animals such as working dogs.
Capital Press argued that ranchers also
were the victims but were willing to
follow the law.
Ranchers have worked hard to use
non-lethal means of separating wolves
from cattle and sheep.
But all of that is for naught when irre-
sponsible parties take the law into their
own hands. It accomplishes nothing —
except to put law-abiding ranchers on
the defensive.
We are unimpressed by how federal
wildlife managers have done their jobs
managing wolves. From the beginning,
they needed to do more to keep wolves
away from livestock.
But we are 100% opposed to illegally
poaching wolves.
Doing that only gives the animal
rights activists more ammunition in the
court of law — and the court of public
opinion — to criticize ranchers.
Stop the poaching. It only makes
matters worse.
Protecting large trees key to slowing climate change
DAVID
MILDREXLER
OTHER VIEWS
P
roposed forest management of
the Mount Emily Recreation
Area has raised important ques-
tions about large trees. I’m an ecologist
who studies forest ecosystems and the
significant values they provide. I’d like
to share a few findings specific to the
largest trees in the forest that under-
score their outsized benefits to both the
forest and local community.
Large trees are crucial in ecosystem
water and energy cycles. Large deeply
rooted trees tap groundwater resources
not available to shallow-rooted plants.
During drier months roots lift deep
soil water up to shallow, drier portions
of soil and release it, sharing water to
the ecosystem, including neighboring
plants of different species.
A study in old growth ponderosa
pine found that during July and August
this process accounted for approxi-
mately 35% of total daily water usage
from the upper soil, adding weeks of
water during drought. This allows the
ecosystem to continue photosynthesis,
storing more carbon and cooling the
forest canopy as water evaporates from
foliage. Forest canopies can register
summer surface temperatures more
than 30 degrees cooler than adjacent
non-forest cover types, and large trees
are the engine of this work.
The water released to the atmo-
sphere contributes to downwind mois-
ture content and rainfall. Intact forests
with large trees are positively associ-
ated with cool summer temperatures,
increased late-summer streamflow and
clean surface drinking water.
Among the more remarkable recent
discoveries is that massive root systems
of large trees link below-ground
ecosystems via mycorrhizal fungal
networks and myriad soil microor-
ganisms, forming an interconnected
resource sharing and communication
network. Large trees function as focal
centers of this underground system,
revolutionizing our understanding of
the complexity and interconnectedness
of forest ecosystems.
Globally, a 2018 study found that the
largest-diameter 1% of trees hold half
of all the aboveground carbon stored
in the world’s forests. In a recently
published analysis of carbon stor-
age in six national forests in Eastern
Oregon, my coauthors and I found that
big trees, with trunks more than 21
inches in diameter (DBH) comprise
just 3% of these forests but store 42%
of the aboveground carbon. The domi-
nant tree species at MERA, Douglas
fir and ponderosa pine, both had the
same proportion of stems greater than
or equal to 21 in DBH (about 3.7%),
yet these stems held 37.5% and 45.8%
of total species above-ground carbon,
respectively.
As trees grow larger, small increases
in diameter add a relatively large
amount of volume — the overall effect
being that carbon stores increase
rapidly with tree diameter. For instance,
doubling tree diameter from 10 inches
to 20 inches led to a 5.3- to 6.2-fold
increase in carbon, whereas tripling
diameter led to a 13.8- to 18.2-fold
increase. The very large trees (greater
than or equal to 30 in DBH) are excep-
tionally rare in Eastern Oregon — less
than 1% of the total stems in the forest.
But these giants held an even greater
proportion of carbon relative to their
small numbers, demonstrating the
importance of letting large trees grow
larger and accumulate more carbon for
climate mitigation now and into the
near future.
From its beginning, logging
removed the easily accessible low-el-
evation, large, old-growth ponderosa
pine, Douglas fir and western larch
trees. Today, all remaining old trees
are incredibly valuable. Even certain
diseases disparaged from a timber
production point of view add to the
complexity of these inherited treasures
from an ecological perspective. Small
trees pose the greatest fire risk and are
most vulnerable during drought relative
to mature trees that have reached full
root, bark and canopy development and
respond to climate variability better.
Large trees are the safe vault to store
carbon.
It’s only through large live trees that
large-diameter snags come into exis-
tence and provide crucial habitat for a
diversity of wildlife species in Eastern
Oregon’s forests. Snags and fallen trees
also contribute to complex long-term
carbon and nutrient cycling, serve as
substrate for the next generation of
seedlings, and contribute legacies that
link forest generations.
On the ground they act like sponges,
absorbing and retaining water and
slowly releasing it during the summer to
the soil and atmosphere. A 2020 study
found that across Pacific Northwest
forests there continues to be a long-term
deficit in large live trees and snags from
20th century logging.
Large trees are cornerstones of diver-
sity and resilience for the entire forest
community, and they provide many
services important to society. We would
do well to protect large trees where we
can, and a sufficient supply of those that
will soon reach large diameter.
———
David Mildrexler is a systems ecolo-
gist with Eastern Oregon Legacy Lands
where he focuses on terrestrial systems
science, large landscape conserva-
tion and the educational programs at
Wallowology Natural History Discovery
Center. He holds an M.S. in forest science
from the University of Montana and a
Ph.D. in forest ecosystems and society
from Oregon State University.
other issues and she has been respon-
sive with informed answers that are
detailed and have made sense. Morrow
County has had rapid growth in the
north end for quite some time and
keeping things on track in every-
one’s best interest is not an easy job.
We think it is important to reelect a
commissioner that is already up to
speed and has a proven record to do
the right thing for the whole county.
Melissa has proven she will spend
the time and go to the numerous other
agency meetings that it takes to get the
job done.
Please vote for Melissa, she will
continue to do what is right for our
communities and county.
Gary and Casey Frederickson
Boardman
YOUR VIEWS
Join us in voting to reelect
Melissa Lindsay
Please join us in voting to reelect
Melissa Lindsay for county commis-
sioner. Melissa has worked tirelessly
the last four years to make Morrow
County a better place to live.
We have contacted Melissa numer-
ous times on road, planning and
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