KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
THURSdAy, AUgUST 18, 2022
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Develop
better plan
for managing
public forests
T
he folks at the Oregon Department
of Forestry have retracted their new
multi-million-dollar map identify-
ing 80,000 privately owned parcels of land
that are at high risk of burning up during a
wildfire. The map was dropped in the laps
of landowners with little or no consulta-
tion about what it may mean in the way of
higher insurance rates and other impacts.
The map apparently skipped over the
fact that the primary threat to privately
owned forests and other land in Oregon is
poorly managed publicly owned forests. The
state and federal governments own some
64% of forestland in Oregon. It’s on them
to make sure those areas are managed in a
way that minimizes the threat of wildfire.
Many wildfires start on public forests and
grasslands, which have been allowed to build
up fuel for decades. When lightning strikes,
or a campfire gets out of control, these tinder
boxes take off. If wind is present — and it
often is — the fires are driven onto private
forests and other properties, even farmland.
Poorly designed and maintained
power lines are particularly suscep-
tible to wind. When those lines slap
together, even more fires can be started.
Even the best-managed private prop-
erty can be burned if the state and federal
government and the power companies
aren’t doing an adequate job of main-
taining their land and facilities.
Ask the folks who were burned
out of house and home in the Santiam
Canyon or the many other areas wild-
fires have torched in recent years.
Most private land is well-managed. It has
to be, because the owners depend on it for
their livelihoods and lifestyles. They care.
It’s the publicly owned land that has been
the problem for decades. It was unmanaged,
or poorly managed, on the theory that it was
in some way sacrosanct and that logging
was bad and doing nothing was good.
Only now — after some of the worst
wildfire disasters in state history — are
managers getting the message they they
have to step up and do a better job.
Though “treating” and prescriptive burn-
ing of forests is a start, an overall game plan
that would plot defensive areas and strat-
egies that help firefighters stop or control
wildfires is also desperately needed.
The state and federal governments need
to come up with another map and iden-
tify the public forest land most in need of
thinning, treatment, prescriptive burning,
fire breaks or logging and get to work.
And yes, they need to protect those
precious birds and other critters listed
under the Endangered Species Act. But
they also have to recognize that leav-
ing vast swaths of habitat unmanaged and
vulnerable to massive wildfires leaves
those species in danger of incineration.
Ironically, some environmental
groups are also to blame for blocking
or delaying treatment and logging proj-
ects by running to court. They believe
they are doing the protected species
and the forests a favor by backseat driv-
ing forest and wildlife management.
A word about climate change. The East
Oregonian and EO Media Group have been
reporting on climate change for nearly two
decades. This is not something that just
happened when politicians discovered it
among their talking points. It is happening
and scientists continue to study it to gain
a better understanding of it. It also should
be noted the climate always has changed,
only the pace of change is different.
Politicians at the state and federal level
seem to get hung up on long-term solu-
tions that will slow climate change over
decades or longer. In the meantime, they
have to deal with the here and now of
climate change by better managing public
forests and grasslands to make sure they
do not burn — and take private prop-
erty, forests and grasslands with them.
How does the NWS define a heat wave?
COLE
EVANS
EYE TO THE SKY
T
he heat wave from July 25
through Aug. 1 provided yet
another round of record-break-
ing temperatures for Eastern Oregon,
with Pendleton and Hermiston seeing
multiple days of new daily record high
temperatures set.
In fact, Hermiston matched its record
for warmest temperature ever recorded
for the month of July, when they reached
112 degrees on July 29. While this
heat wave wasn’t quite as severe as the
historical one during June of last year,
such events are a sobering reminder of
what a future climate may hold for East-
ern Oregon. Both NOAA and the Inter-
governmental Panel on Climate Change
anticipate that heat waves will become
more frequent and severe with a warm-
ing climate.
But what exactly is a heat wave? The
criteria for determining a heat wave
changes depending on the context, but
is generally considered to be a period of
excessive heat that lasts multiple days.
Here at the National Weather Service,
we’re interested in advising the public
about the heat when we anticipate
adverse impacts to health due to abnor-
mally high temperatures.
At what point that exactly is will
depend heavily on the geographic region
of interest. In the eastern United States,
humidity plays a large role in the heat,
and the Heat Index is often utilized
when defining a heat wave. The Heat
Index factors in humidity’s effect on
temperatures and human health, but out
here in the West, where the air is much
drier, the Heat Index is often similar to
or even less than the actual temperature.
As a result, the NWS offices of the
western United States use a proto-
type product called HeatRisk (bit.
ly/3A4oajV), which is designed to put a
period of hot temperatures into a clima-
tological context. The main advantage
of HeatRisk is that it takes a multitude of
factors into consideration, outside of just
how hot temperatures may reach during
the peak of expected heat.
Factors such as the overnight low
temperatures, time of year, duration
of the heat and thresholds of health-re-
lated impacts from the heat based on
CDC data are all utilized in tandem with
the forecasted high temperature. All
of these serve as inputs into the Heat-
Risk calculation, which determines a
category score from 0 to 4, similar to
the UV Index or the Air Quality Index.
A 0 category denotes no heat impacts
expected and 4 suggests the entire popu-
lation is likely at risk for heat-related
impacts, not just the more heat-sensi-
tive members of the public such as the
elderly.
The National Weather Service may
issue either a Heat Advisory or an
Excessive Heat Warning based on the
HeatRisk. In simple terms, a warning is
more severe than an advisory both when
it comes to the magnitude and duration
of the extreme heat, with temperature
records more often at risk under a Warn-
ing. But HeatRisk is just one of many
tools NWS forecasters utilize when
advising the public about the potential
of a heat wave.
Out here, east of the Cascade moun-
tains, where the public is a bit better
equipped to handle long spells of heat
than our neighbors on the west side, the
character of the heat and the time of year
is also assessed. This is done in part to
be sure heat events are assessed on a
case-by-case basis and to ensure more
severe events are addressed thoroughly.
For metro areas such as Portland and
Seattle, however, where many homes
lack air conditioning, even marginal
events may require an elevated notice in
order to better advise the public, at-risk
populations, and emergency responders
on the potential for a heat wave.
Regardless, HeatRisk offers the
National Weather Service and its core
partners a simplified tool to communi-
cate the potential impacts a heat wave
may pose on the public.
———
Cole Evans is a meteorologist at the
National Weather Service in Pendleton.
Evans joined the weather service in 2020
and serves as a focal point in aviation
weather and performance assessment in
the office.
YOUR VIEWS
Commissioner
Doherty is to thank
for nitrate regulation
Morrow County Commis-
sioner Jim Doherty in
attempting to make polit-
ical hay over the nitrate
issues related to the Port of
Morrow, and the declara-
tion of a county emergency
over a more than 50-year
nitrate issue has awakened
state regulators and now the
Environmental Protection
Agency. Today this may seem
only about a specific aquifer
that everyone will attempt
to regulate, but no doubt
all Oregon aquifers will
need equal attention soon.
Keep in mind the Port of
Morrow is not that much of
a contributor to the overall
nitrate issue. No doubt the
port will make the invest-
ment to remove nitrates and
move on. That will leave
agriculture holding the bag.
Most of the nitrates detected
in the aquifer come from
actions taken more than 50
years ago. Farming practices
that have ended and would
be unacceptable today by
those of us in agriculture.
What a gift commis-
sioner Doherty has given
the environmental groups
and regulators. It must have
been exciting for the 23 state
of Oregon agencies that met
with Doherty to realize that
a rural conservative agri-
cultural county was ready
to have it private landown-
ers property regulated.
Those of us in agriculture
will someday be able to name
Commissioner Doherty, the
self proclaimed environ-
mental justice warrior, as the
person that opened the door
to the regulation of nitrates
on our private property.
I encourage every-
one in farming and ranch-
ing in Oregon to thank
Commissioner Doherty the
next time you see him.
Jerry Rietmann
Ione
Transparency
is not a priority
When Pendleton’s city
managers are faced with a
critical decision, the “exec-
utive session,” “economic
development secrecy require-
ments” and banning public
discussion on agenda items
during city council meet-
ings have all become useful
tools to shield itself from
public interference in their
decision making process.
The disposition of the
old fire station, recent large
gifts to private individuals
for motel renovations and
providing vehicles to the taxi
company under the pretense
of some huge economic
development benefit that in
reality creates mostly mini-
mum wage jobs without bene-
fits are just a few examples.
The recent firing of the
airport manager, with-
out explanation, is just the
most recent example of
city management’s total
lack of transparency and
raises the question: What
are they trying to hide?
Rick Rohde
Pendleton
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial
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the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East
Oregonian.
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LETTERS
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public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and
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SEND LETTERS TO:
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211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton, OR 97801