EASTERN OREGON
Thursday, May 5, 2022
East Oregonian
A7
MERA forest management first stage reaches conclusion
they decided not to select because
of cost.”
After being purchased by Union
County in 2008, MERA has seen
countless hours of volunteer work
and locally funded trail projects.
Barlow voiced displeasure on behalf
of the many MERA trail advocates
who have spent time and money on
the trail system.
“They need to restore the trails
in a timely manner, because the
county did not pay any money for
those trails,” Barlow said. “They
were built by donations from people
in the community and volunteer
hours. To be fair, they need to fix
all that.”
Barlow noted that some MERA
residents and users are reluctant to
volunteer efforts to clean up a mess
the county made.
“I know at least 30 people that
won’t lift a shovel to help. They feel
like the county slapped us in the
face with this, so let them fix the
trails,” Barlow said. “My take was,
let’s collaborate and get the trails
back and running. Let’s do a walk-
over to talk about the good and the
bad and we can just move on.”
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The first stage
of a highly debated forest manage-
ment project has reached comple-
tion at the Mount Emily Recreation
Area outside La Grande.
The Red Apple Forest Manage-
ment project at MERA was intro-
duced by Union County for
improving forest health and reduc-
ing wildfire risk as well as conduct-
ing logging for profit, with the
proceeds going back into the recre-
ation area.
The plan was the subject of a
back-and-forth debate for months,
with numerous residents concerned
for the safety and condition of
MERA’s trails, landscape and wild-
life. With this year’s section of forest
management work in the books,
the county is set to gather public
input on the project at the upcom-
ing MERA Advisory Committee
meeting on Tuesday, May 3.
“We’re through about 50 acres of
300, so not much of a start, but it’s a
start,” Union County Parks Coordi-
nator Sean Chambers said. “I think
it’s a lot of work to get done, but I’m
excited to keep it going.”
ReedCo Forestry, of Union,
agreed to take the bid on Jan. 5 and
began work on the recreation area
in early February — the timber
organization finished the first stage
of the two-year project in roughly
one month. Chambers noted the
contract period states two years of
work to be performed by ReedCo
but that no guarantees can be made
for when the project will be fully
completed.
The project aims to limit wild-
life danger across the 300-acre Red
Apple area in the southeast section
of the recreation area. The work
includes thinning, mastication
and removal of fuels. According to
Chambers, the final revenue from
the logging portion of the project
will not be fully determined until
the project concludes.
The bulk of the first phase of the
work took place off of the Igo Lane
entrance to the recreation area.
Primary thinning and logging was
done in the area near the Lower
Hotshot, Skills and Bridleway
trails. The affected area will have
no future work, except for the burn-
ing of large slash piles that will take
Rehabilitation
Davis Carbaugh/The Observer
Chopped trees line a section surrounding Lower Hotshot Trail at the Mount Emily Recreation Area on April
22, 2022, following the completion of the first stage of the Red Apple Forest Management project outside La
Grande. Union County Parks Coordinator Sean Chambers said this winter’s batch of work saw 50 acres treated
out of the 300-acre region of designated forest management.
place early next winter.
“Part of the contract is the
cleanup, so the burning will be
on the contractor. We’ll follow up
with some vegetation management
that’s not on the contractor,” Cham-
bers said. “That will be something
the county coordinates with other
contractors or does ourselves.”
The timing of the project, which
was pushed back slightly to allow
for more public feedback, was
dependent on frozen conditions to
reduce the impact on the land and
trails.
Several trails saw damage as
part of the work, primarily with
ruts from machinery on the Bridle-
way and Lower Hotshot trails. Logs
and limbs from the northern section
of the work area were moved to the
lower Bridleway area. The soil
damage has drawn criticism from
a number of residents, a topic that
will be discussed at the upcoming
MERA Advisory Committee meet-
ing.
“Those things do happen and it
will come back,” Chambers said.
“From all the professionals and
feedback I’ve talked to, everyone
is pleased with the outcome and
what’s been achieved.”
Local concerns
Not everyone is pleased,
however.
Bart Barlow, a member of the
advisory committee and resident of
MERA, reached out to the county
to assist in organizing local hikers,
mountain bikers and other members
of the community to repair damage
to trails and mitigate watershed soil
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and erosion impacts.
“If the county really cared about
MERA and the community, they
would schedule a walkover right
now with the public to explain
what was done and to learn what
was good and what was bad about
it so that we don’t make this mistake
again,” he said.
Barlow, who worked with
Boise Cascade when the company
owned and logged the area, stated
his disagreement with the logging
methods used in the Igo Lane area.
He said disturbed soils, displaced
ground, compaction and runoff
could have been avoided.
“The deeper the snow cover, the
less likely those soils are to freeze,”
he said. “These are things that could
have been prevented with an appro-
priate method of logging, which
With MERA’s most high-traffic
visitation months on the horizon,
Chambers noted the unpredictabil-
ity of spring weather plays a role in
the cleanup process, and he empha-
sized it will take time to get MERA
back to the way it was before the
forest management project.
“One day of good weather
doesn’t make for good work
construction conditions,” he said.
“If we can string together a few
nice days, it really does dry out the
soil to where we can make some
improvements. By and large, that
hillside is still very wet.”
According to Chambers, that
process will include grass seeding
monitored by the county, reseeding
landings after controlled burns of
slash piles, weed control and letting
certain areas heal naturally.
“We’re working with the seasons
and the timeliness of it all,” Cham-
bers said. “Two years from now,
someone who knew no better would
probably walk through there and not
be able to tell anything happened.
That’s the hopeful outcome, but it’s
going to take a couple years to get
back to that phase.”