KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
ThURSDAy, JULy 21, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Preserving
farmland
must be a
priority
M
ark Twain is credited with
telling readers to buy land
because, he warned, they
aren’t making more of it. Unfortu-
nately, farmland sold too often is put to
other uses and is lost forever.
A new report from the American
Farmland Trust warns that the Pacific
Northwest stands to lose more than
half a million acres of farmland to
urban sprawl by 2040 unless cities
make smarter development choices.
Between 2000 and 2016 alone,
roughly 11 million acres of farmland
has been lost or fragmented by devel-
opment.
Across the Northwest, as many as
527,185 acres of additional farmland
may be lost to urban and low-density
residential development by 2040 —
particularly in rapidly growing metro
areas around Puget Sound, Portland,
Spokane and Boise.
Washington would be the hardest-hit
state, losing 238,614 acres of farmland
under the worst-case scenario. That is
an area roughly 4½ times the size of
Seattle.
Oregon would lose up to 142,267
acres of farmland, while Idaho would
lose up to 146,304 acres.
Our own reporting has shown that
when urban development moves into
rural spaces more than farmland can
be lost. As areas fall to other uses, the
overall viability of the local ag infra-
structure comes into jeopardy.
As fields give way to housing devel-
opments, conflicts between home-
owners and farms increase. New
residents don’t like the dust and smells
associated with farm production, and
complain about farm machinery on the
roads and trucks during harvest time.
And, as developments break up the
landscape, farmers find it ever more
difficult to move equipment from field
to field.
We can’t fault farm families for
getting the highest value for their prop-
erty. Where there are buyers, there will
be sellers.
As an alternative to development,
we favor easement programs that allow
owners to sell their development rights
and realize the market value of their
land while preserving it for farming.
We encourage state legislatures to
fund those types of programs while
taking steps to rein in urban sprawl.
Preserving farmland must be a
priority.
When developers look at farm and
range land, they see “empty” spaces
with nothing on it. They see parcels
for subdivisions, apartment buildings,
shopping malls and restaurants.
Farmland is far from empty. It
provides the food that sustains us and
the fiber that clothes us. It is a vital
strategic resource. It is, as Thomas
Jefferson said, the wealth of the nation.
Farmland is more than just a patch
of ground with stuff planted on it.
Once paved over and developed, it
cannot be replaced.
Will Washington, Oregon have a fire season this year?
MARY
WISTER
EYE TO THE SKY
I
t doesn’t take the test of a magic
eight ball to answer this question. All
signs point to yes. We’re observing
a late season based on the cool and wet
conditions this past spring, but we still
have about two months of hot and dry
conditions. Southeast Oregon already
has seen a major wildfire. At the end
of June, the Willow Creek Fire burned
more than 42,000 acres near Vale.
What a difference a year makes.
In June 2021, the Pacific Northwest
suffered more than a week of brutally
hot temperatures and extremely dry
conditions. In June 2022, the Pacific
Northwest was cool and wet for most of
the month. Obviously, precipitation and
temperature extremes during the spring
play a role in the summer fire season.
Last year in early June, Oregon had
its first large wildfire of the season
(Joseph Canyon Fire) in Wallowa
County that required an incident
management team. It’s not uncommon
to have grass fires over Eastern Wash-
ington and Eastern Oregon in June, but a
large wildfire in the higher terrain where
fuels are often green is rare. Fires in this
area often show their ugly appearance in
July.
Monsoon season typically kicks off
in the desert southwest in early July,
and moisture is often transported north
that could contribute to thunderstorms
with lightning-caused fires over East-
ern Oregon and southeast Washington.
Unfortunately, human-caused fires add
to the wildfire statistics in July as well.
The Climate Prediction Center is
expecting the continued hot and dry
conditions in the Pacific Northwest
through September. Fine fuels such as
grass and shrubs respond quickly to
changes in the humidity and precipita-
tion. If you look around, you likely will
observe that cheat grass and foxtails are
thick and tall. Most have cured with very
little fuel moisture. Grass fires have been
the primary concern this month. As we
continue to experience more hot and dry
conditions, the larger fuels in the higher
terrain will show signs of curing and will
be monitored for large wildfire potential.
The Northwest Coordination Center
Predictive Service in Portland works
closely with other geographical area
coordination centers across the nation
to compile a fire season outlook. The
outlook is provided around the first
day of each month. From July through
August, the Cascade Range and the
southern half of Oregon have a greater
than average potential for large wildfires.
Most of this area remains under
a moderate to extreme drought. In
September, the focus for large wildfires
will be from the Cascades westward due
to the likelihood of easterly downslope
winds, and this area will remain under
above average potential for large fires.
No matter what the season has in
store, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Maintain your lawn and cut down tall
weeds and grass. Don’t allow vehicles
to idle along grassy areas. Campfires
should never be left unattended and
should be completely extinguished when
no longer in use. Trailer chains should be
properly secured around hitches and not
left dangling to the ground.
The fire season in Washington and
Oregon has been quiet so far; let’s do our
part to keep it that way.
———
Mary Wister is a meteorologist and
fire weather program manager at the
National Weather Service in Pendleton.
Wister serves as an incident meteorolo-
gist when large wildfires or other natural
hazards necessitate an incident manage-
ment team’s quick response to protect life
and property.
dignitary from the metro-area queried
one of our top city officials as to the
extent of our conservation efforts. The
answer was pretty simple, our water is
basically a revenue generator, so conser-
vation is not a priority.
Other cities in our area have spent
a fraction of what Pendleton has spent
with our state of the art purification and
aquifer replenishment systems while we
ignored the ancient leaking distribution
system. Our rate schedule prioritizes
revenue over conservation.
So who wins? Certainly not the
public.
Rick Rohde
Pendleton
customer ID is helpful and under-
standable, but apps that offer coupons
online are often unattainable for those
who are on fixed incomes and cannot
afford the newest tech. Older people,
who have lived many decades with-
out these devices sometimes struggle,
understandably, with their working.
Weekly, there are offers at stores
like Safeway, Albertsons and others
that are not accessible to seniors.
I have asked store managers
about this issue. They always say
that they will accommodate custom-
ers that do not have access or under-
standing of smart phone technology,
but in action, clerks always refuse
to give the discounts. At best, they
call for a confused supervisor and
seniors are embarrassed and disre-
spected. This is shameful.
In our high-tech society, it would be
easy for stores to have the same digital
coupons that are offered online at the
check-out line to convenience senior
citizens. Such discounts could also be
programmed into the modern point-of-
sale registers these chain stores use.
It is the least we could do for
those who have given us so much.
Joseph Brusberg
Hermiston
YOUR VIEWS
LIHWA, ever heard of it?
It stands for Low Income household
Water Assistance. It’s funded by the
federal government and administered
by the state of Oregon and supplements
a program already in place through
Community Action Program of Eastern
Central Oregon.
It covers all aspects of your water/
sewer bill, including reconnect and late
fees. It does not cover those miscella-
neous fees the city has tacked on, such as
the street utility and public service fees,
although the city does have programs
that also offer assistance to these.
The original $5 street utility fee
that city officials felt was easily afford-
able to all already has climbed to near
$10 because it’s linked to inflation. It’s
expected to climb dramatically with the
latest increases in the cost-of-living.
Evidently all levels of government, up
to and including the federal government,
are now concerned that water/sewer
rates in the city of Pendleton are too high
regardless of the claims made by the
mayor, city manager and public works
director that they are fair and equitable.
Conservation? As a matter of fact,
during a local major event, during a
severe drought in Portland, a visiting
Digital-only coupons
not accessible for all
Our modern smartphone society has
given us many benefits. Online vendors
such as Amazon are convenient and
expedient. Most consumers benefit.
Supermarkets track our buying habits
and offer us better deals on the prod-
ucts we buy. Apps allow us to down-
load coupons to our smartphones that
can provide significant discounts.
But, senior citizens are very often
denied this boon. having a preferred
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial
board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express
the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East
Oregonian.
letters that address concerns about individual services and products
or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Letters must be
signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime
phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned
letters will not be published.
LETTERS
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less
on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper
and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold
SEND LETTERS TO:
editor@eastoregonian.com,
or via mail to Andrew Cutler,
211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801