KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
ThurSday, June 2, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Our next
governor
needs a
plan for
education
O
regon does not have a detailed
plan of how the state will
improve K-12 education.
Let’s repeat that.
Oregon does not have a detailed plan
of how the state will improve K-12 educa-
tion.
Plenty of goals, plans, programs and
initiatives are out there. Almost every
legislative session something new and
different gets passed. State employees
and school district officials then go off to
add the latest churn on top of the churn.
Having a broad, statewide plan is no
guarantee of success. But Oregon does
need a long-term approach to education
goals. It needs measurements. It needs
reporting requirements. It needs specifics
about how funding gets us to goals and
how new initiatives fit in.
Much of that exists. What is missing is
how it all fits together in a detailed road
map for the future. Any state plan should
be heavy on goals and providing perfor-
mance data and easy on district flexibility
to reach goals. There also needs to be a
mechanism for accountability.
What are our candidates for governor
going to do? They can reflect parental
dissatisfaction easily enough. What are
their plans for statewide improvement?
Do they believe Oregon needs a statewide
education road map?
Oregon’s public education is far from a
mess in every classroom in every school
district. It succeeds for many students.
And not every education problem is
directly related to bad teachers, bad
curriculum or poor education invest-
ments.
But Oregon’s public education system
does have problems. Here are some facts
from a new state audit of public educa-
tion:
• Less than 25% of Oregon students meet
proficiency standards in math in 11th
grade.
• Oregon’s graduation rate may be improv-
ing. It still has been near the bottom in
the nation.
• A statewide review in 2020 found only a
third of Oregon children eligible for early
intervention special education programs
had access to them.
• And many of the students that are
performing poorly in the system are
minorities or low income.
Oregon is getting its level of perfor-
mance with more recent investment
in education. Measure 98 was passed
in 2016 to increase graduation rates
and career readiness. It was essentially
another $800 per high school student per
year. Oregon also established a corporate
activity tax in 2019 to bring in what was
hoped to be an extra $1 billion a year to
improve education in early childhood and
K-12.
We are going to have that new gover-
nor in not so very many months. It looks
like Oregonians will have three major
candidates to choose from: Democrat
Tina Kotek, independent Betsy Johnson
and Republican Christine Drazan. Which
one would be the most likely to deliver a
plan for improving K-12 education and
pull it off? We don’t see anything like that
on their campaign websites. Should it be?
Spring in the Blue Mountains
BILL
ANEY
THIS LAND IS OUR LAND
S
pringtime in the Blue Mountains;
I am starting to think this is my
favorite time of year.
One of my goals for this spring was
to see a white-headed woodpecker, the
only Oregon woodpecker not on my life
list. After going public with my quest
for a white-headed woodpecker sight-
ing, a couple of folks gave me a good
lead. So, one day in March I headed
over to Cove, in Union County, where
a resident had assured me she had this
species of woodpecker at her feeders
year-round.
Russ Morgan, a retired Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife biol-
ogist and another birder, joined me in
La Grande and we headed out with our
binoculars and bird books.
The open forest of large diame-
ter ponderosa pine felt like the right
habitat, and I was optimistic about our
chances. We wandered the property for
45 minutes or so in a light snow shower,
spotting nuthatches, chickadees and
even a hairy woodpecker. Eventually
two larger black and white birds showed
up at one of the seed feeders, each
grabbing a sunflower seed and flying
to a nearby perch to crack and eat the
morsel.
White-headed woodpecker, check.
On a different birding mission last
spring, my wife and I found and photo-
graphed nesting great grey owls and
watched as the young owlets made some
of their first explorations away from
their nest site. This winter, we visited a
nighttime roost site for several hundred
grey-crowned rosy finches. I love these
kinds of expeditions.
Bird watching is usually a benign
activity, but I must admit I also enjoy
more consumptive outdoor spring
pursuits. Morel season is upon us by
now and people have been finding them
along the Umatilla River and on the
Umatilla National Forest. I so much
enjoy the smell of morels sauteing in
butter ready for my morning egg scram-
ble. There’s just something primal about
that odor.
I also enjoy turkey hunting and use
my meanderings during the spring
gobbler season to monitor the timing of
the mushroom crop. I understand that
soil temperature is an important driver
of mushroom fruiting, but one can also
gauge the season by more right-brained
cues like blooming wildflowers and
singing birds.
The early blooming plants, such as
grass widow and avalanche lily, may be
a bit too soon for morels, but I noticed
the other day that fairy slippers had
started to bloom in the same places I
was finding the morels. I have also been
hearing and seeing chipping sparrows
and mountain bluebirds but no warblers
yet.
The other day we came across fresh
wolf sign in our turkey hunting area.
I suspect that wolves may be hard on
turkey populations, as are coyotes,
skunks, raccoons and other preda-
tors. However, I don’t begrudge these
animals the meal provided by a turkey
or their eggs. These predators are native
and belong here; the turkeys do not.
If it comes down to a wild predator or
me getting a turkey, the wild predator
should have it.
Obviously, my opinion isn’t shared
by everyone. East of us, some people
took it upon themselves to poison an
entire pack of wolves in Union County
and shoot several others in Baker and
Union counties. The reward for infor-
mation leading to the arrest of these
miscreants is substantial, perhaps
enough to buy someone a new pickup,
and I am hopeful that a tip will help
bring those responsible to justice. By
the way, the Turn In Poachers hotline
number is 800-452-7888.
Simply put, killing wildlife out
of season without a permit is poach-
ing, and putting poison bait out in the
field for any animal to find is incredi-
bly irresponsible. The same for shoot-
ing wolves everywhere and every time
they are seen. Wolves are currently
on the federal threatened and endan-
gered species list, which puts the federal
government in the drivers’ seat.
If the wolf population was healthy
enough to be removed from this list,
management would revert to the state of
Oregon, a better situation for all of us.
Poisoning an entire pack or indiscrim-
inately killing wolves on sight in the
back country only delays the recovery
of wolves and keeps the federal govern-
ment in control. Again: the TIP hotline
is 800-452-7888.
I agree that we need to remove those
that develop a taste for domestic live-
stock; let’s call these the bad wolves.
By the same token we need to allow
the good wolves, those that stay out of
trouble, to survive, reproduce and pass
on their genes and good habits to future
generations of wolves.
How did I get here? I didn’t intend
this column to end with a lecture about
wolf management. Instead, I encourage
everyone to take a walk in the woods.
Get out there — whether in search of
morels, turkeys, woodpeckers or owls,
or just to revive your soul, take advan-
tage of these bright sunny spring days in
our loved Blue Mountains.
This land is our land — enjoy it.
———
Bill Aney is a forester and wildlife biol-
ogist living in Pendleton and loving the
Blue Mountains.
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
GOVERNOR
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande office: 541-962-7691
Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton office: 541-278-1129
REPRESENTATIVES
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Cliff Bentz
2185 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford office: 541-776-4646
SENATOR
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-415
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us