KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
THURSDAy, MAy 26, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Timber
accord the
best deal
industry
could get
O
regon Gov. Kate Brown has
signed legislation that makes
the Private Forest Accord —
a deal reached between the timber
industry and environmental groups
— the law in the Beaver State.
We understand why many segments
of the timber industry have embraced
the forest management framework
spelled out in the accord. Only time
will tell whether it will provide the
regulatory certainty that it promises.
Representatives of timber and envi-
ronmental groups struck the deal last
year after a year of talks mediated by
the Governor’s Office. Brown convened
the panel in 2020 to avoid competing
ballot measures on forestry regulations.
The legislation codifying the accord
expands no-harvest buffers around
streams, implements stricter require-
ments for road-building, prioritizes
non-lethal control of beavers and creates
a new modeling system to avoid and
mitigate the effects of landslides.
The legislation is expected to set the
stage for a federal Habitat Conservation
Plan for the state’s private forests, which
would shield landowners from liabil-
ity under the Endangered Species Act
when harvesting trees. That would be a
huge benefit to private timber owners.
Support for the deal is not unani-
mous in the timber industry — crit-
ics argue that it complicates forest
management, excludes excessive
amounts of land from logging and was
developed without sufficient transpar-
ency and public input. Some owners
of smaller timber parcels could lose
logging on up to half their land.
But several forest product compa-
nies and the Oregon Small Woodlands
Association signed onto the Private
Forest Accord with the understand-
ing it would provide more regulatory
certainty and reduce the likelihood of
disruptive lawsuits and ballot initiatives.
“There are no certainties in life,
but we have a negotiated agree-
ment that’s supported by all sides,”
said Eric Geyer, strategic business
development director for Roseburg
Forest Products. “I’m confident we
will have regulatory certainty for the
elements that were negotiated.”
Detractors in the timber indus-
try view “regulatory certainty”
as unrealistically optimistic.
They might be right.
Certainly, the timber industry will
be held to the letter of the law and
the rules that are developed. We are
willing to accept the environmental
groups that are parties to the accord
will make a good-faith effort to live
up to the spirit of the deal, but they
are under no legal obligation to be
satisfied with the new framework.
And what of non-signatories to
the accord who might try to get
more restrictions on the ballot,
or the next legislature that wants
to further tighten the rules?
As Eric Geyer said, there are no
certainties. The accord probably was the
best deal the industry was going to get.
We hope that it lasts.
Memorial Day: A penny isn’t much
TAMMY
MALGESINI
INSIDE MY SHOES
I
recently read a string of responses
on a community Facebook page
where a newcomer to Eastern
Oregon asked what people do in the
area over Memorial Day weekend.
Out of the 20-plus responses, only
one person mentioned Memorial Day
observances that are planned specif-
ically to honor our fallen heroes.
That disturbed me. Sure, I enjoy
an opportunity to have a long week-
end. And with the weather getting
nicer, it’s a perfect opportunity to
go camping or enjoy outdoor recre-
ational activities. And of course, retail
outlets capitalize on the holiday week-
end by holding Memorial Day sales.
However, those aren’t the reasons
the holiday was established. Origi-
nally it was known as Decoration Day
because of the tradition of decorat-
ing gravesites with flowers, wreaths
and American flags. A federal holi-
day, it was created to set aside time
to honor the men and women who
have died in service to our country.
Over the years, I have attended a
number of Memorial Day ceremonies. In
addition, I take time to wander the local
cemetery and leave a penny on the head-
stones of anywhere from 50-80 veterans.
It’s not much — it’s less than a dollar
and it doesn’t even take an hour of my
time. But, for me, it’s a way to commem-
Tammy Malgesini/East Oregonian
At the Hermiston Cemetery, numerous
coins grace the headstone of Lance Cpl.
James B. Huston Jr., on May 29, 2017. The
22-year-old died in 2004 while serving
with the U.S. Marine Corps in Iraq. Accord-
ing to tradition, coins on the headstone
signifies visitors to the veteran’s grave.
orate Memorial Day. An extremely
small gesture, it doesn’t even compare
to the sacrifices made by those who
have served in our nation’s military.
I became aware of the tradition of
leaving coins on headstones more than
a dozen years ago. Since then, each
Memorial Day weekend, I grab a bag
of pennies and head to the cemetery.
According to tradition, it is a way of
paying respects. As the coins increase in
value, so does the level of connection the
person leaving it has with the deceased:
• A penny means a person visited the
grave of the veteran that is buried there.
• A nickel means the person
trained or was at boot camp
with the deceased veteran.
• A dime represents military
personnel who served together.
• A quarter indicates the person was
present when the deceased was killed.
Standing at the gravesite, I read
the inscribed information. I then
say the veteran’s name and thank
them for their service while plac-
ing a penny on the headstone.
Sometimes people ask what I’m
doing. Such was the case a handful of
years ago when an Air Force veteran
and his wife noticed the “U.S. Air Force
Academy” T-shirt I was wearing.
They said they had come across a
pair of headstones — a man and wife
who both served in the Air Force.
Dismayed that there were no flowers or
flags, they returned with a pair of small
bouquets. I thought that was pretty cool.
Typically, I only know rela-
tives of a small number of the graves
I visit. And for me, that makes it
even more significant. Those veter-
ans didn’t know me, yet they served
our country so that I may reap the
benefits of the freedoms we have.
I encourage people to at least pause a
moment sometime during the weekend
and remember to thank our veterans.
———
Tammy Malgesini, the East Oregonian
community writer, enjoys spending time
with her husband and two German shep-
herds, as well as entertaining herself with
random musings.
YOUR VIEWS
Maybe Navalny
could be Russia’s
George Washington
I know it may sound awful, but Pres-
ident Vladimir Putin may have done
the Russian people a great service.
Begin with a gigantic blunder of a
military operation into Ukraine. Add an
incredibly stupid assassination attempt
against opposition political leader
Alexei Navalny. What you create is the
perfect opportunity for the people of
Russia to rise up and remove the polit-
ical cancer that now exists in Russia.
It would be very difficult to do but
this same government that lead the
then Soviet Union and failed miser-
ably was cut far back into one single
nation in the 1980s (President Ronald
Reagan’s greatest achievement).
Maybe now is the time for the
remnants of that failed system to be
surgically removed from that one
remaining nation, by the Russian people
themselves. Maybe Navalny could
be Russia’s George Washington.
William Laffen
Umatilla
Grateful for
Sen. Ron Wyden
Sen. Ron Wyden is an outstanding
advocate for the people of Oregon. I
once had a problem, which may have
seemed trivial in the light of all the trou-
bles in the world, but it was a serious
concern for me and others who live in
this area. I sent him an email about it.
Within a few days I received a call
from his Eastern Oregon office in
La Grande. His representative there
asked me more about the issue, and
not knowing the answer, contacted
their office in Washington, D.C. That
same day I got a call from one of his
aides in Washington. She researched
the issue, informed Wyden, and took
specific action to try to resolve it.
Wyden cares about Oregon, about
Eastern Oregon (he actually has an
office here) and about individual
constituents. And although I am not
a person of renown nor influence, he
cares about me. I am grateful to have
such a person serving as my senator.
Shelley Wilson
Hermiston
EDITORIALS
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the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East
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