A8 OREGON East Oregonian Thursday, August 4, 2022 Property owners may bear brunt of new ore risk law Oregon9s new approach worries some rural property owners By JAYSON JACOBY Baker City Herald BAKER CITY 4 Wes Morgan is an enthusias- tic supporter of the efort to protect Oregon9s rural homes from wildore. His own, for instance. Morgan, who is chief of the Powder River Rural Fire Protection District, an all-volunteer agency with a station just outside Sumpter, has endeavored to reduce the risk of ore on his property among the ponderosa pines of Sumpter Valley. He maintains a lush green lawn as an efective ore break. He prunes the pines to deprive the trees of a ladder that names could climb into the combustible crowns. He stacks his orewood a safe distance from his home and makes sure needles and Wes Morgan/Contributed Photo, File Wes Morgan has strived to protect his Sumpter Valley home from wildfire by maintaining an expense of lush green lawn, pruning limbs from the ponderosa pines and taking other steps. other tinder don9t accumulate on his roof. Yet for all that, Morgan is troubled by the prospect of the state compelling prop- erty owners, possibly includ- ing some of his neighbors, to take similar precautions under penalty of law.