Wallowa County Chieftain
News
wallowa.com
July 29, 2015
A7
COLUMN: Writer says Joseph gives him hope for small towns
Continued from Page A1
edge of the Wallowa River.”
And in Joseph, at the new-
³:KHQ,¿UVWWRRNDORRN ish Josephy Center for Arts
the people of Joseph and the and Culture, “ranchers whose
surrounding area were at great-great-grandparents may
war with one another,” Egan have stolen land once vital
writes. “The white ranchers to the Nez Percé sit side by
and loggers who long had side with Indians at brisk dis-
control over the place were cussions of the past,” writes
losing ground to global eco- Egan.
nomic forces, and changes in
The Chieftain contacted
how the federal government a handful of prominent Wal-
managed the big swath of lowa County citizens for their
public land in the area.”
reactions to Egan’s written
There were also tense rela- piece.
tions with local environmen-
Joseph Mayor Dennis
talists.
Sands had mixed feelings
The columnist viewed a about the column. “After
changed Wallowa County UHDGLQJ LW WKH ¿UVW WLPH ,
during his recent visit, though, thought, ‘Oh, there’s some
just before Tamkaliks.
good publicity, some good
“The (EHS) Savages are words about Joseph.’ But I
now the Outlaws, per a vote read it again later, and I didn’t
of the students. And the Nez feel quite as optimistic about
Perce have returned as a cul- it, although it’s still a good ar-
tural and economic force, af- ticle,” the mayor said.
ter working with whites in the
Sands said he thought
area to purchase land at the Egan dredged up too many
negative ghosts from the past.
“I really think it would have
been better to concentrate on
the present and the future. I
did share it on my Facebook
because I thought it wasn’t
a bad article, but some peo-
ple might take offense at it,”
Sands said.
The mayor concluded that
overall the article would have
a positive effect on the way
people perceive the communi-
ty. “What’s the saying: ‘Any
publicity is good publicity?’”
Rancher Joe McCormack,
one of the very few Nez Percé
who have settled in Wallowa
County, saw the column as
somewhat misguided. “I read
the article and thought it was
just full of general statements
and kind of convoluted as
far as substance. It had some
inaccuracies that maybe if
you’re not from the county
you won’t pick up,” McCor-
mack said.
Tamkaliks is owned by
a 501c3 called the Wallowa
Band Nez Perce Trail Inter-
pretive Center, not the tribe,
McCormack pointed out.
He added that about half the
board of WBNPTIC is made
up of county residents and
about half Native Americans,
including himself. In fact,
McCormack said that only
about “three or four” enrolled
tribal members actually live
in the county. “It’s not like we
came back here in big num-
bers,” he said.
McCormack also disputed
the idealized version of events
Egan described in the renam-
ing of the Enterprise High
School sports teams from
“Savages” to “Outlaws.”
“The column is really just
a glimpse of what’s happened
from 17 years ago to today.
Nothing changed, really. We
still have our battles. One
thing that he (Egan) missed
that is very important is that
we have established our own
SUHVHQFHLQWHUPVRIRXU¿VK-
eries department. I guess I
don’t see anything real wrong
with the article, but I don’t
see anything good about it ei-
ther,” McCormack said.
Liza Jane McAlister, own-
er of the 6 Ranch near Enter-
prise, e-mailed this response:
“Interesting perspective
from someone who spent
a couple weekends here 17
years apart. This place is ex-
ceptional to all people who
have made their home here.
A passion for place can fuel a
strong spirit. What Mr. Egan
experienced was a small piece
of a big county and a town
that is doing what it needs
to survive. He chose to use
words that invoke strong
emotions, but for me those
are only a cover for his lack of
experience and knowledge of
this place. I would invite Mr.
Egan to dig wider and deeper
before forming and sharing
his opinion.”
And rural Joseph rancher
Cynthia Warnock offered this,
also via e-mail:
“Small towns are strug-
gling, but people still live in
small towns because they like
the small town atmosphere,
they like the close community
spirit. I don’t think this arti-
cle does Joseph justice. The
writer has a way of conde-
scending folks in a small town
like stating ‘those not clever
enough to leave’ or the ‘loser
down the street.’ Most small
towns are dying because of
the constraints that have been
put on ag and timber by those
that live in the cities and think
they should save the environ-
ment by having no impact on
it (grazing or logging). The
heritage of the Native Amer-
icans is not the only heritage
that has been lost.”
GRAZING: NRAC chair says science needs updating
Continued from Page A1
“The numbers are off.”
Rancher and NRAC mem-
ber Rod Childers second-
ed Warnock’s observations,
“Cynthia hit it on the head,”
he said. “I’ve been managing
allotments for 36 years. In this
district the communications
between the range people and
permittees has been excellent.
We’ve done it right.”
It was a statement that
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readily agreed with. Tom
Montoya, Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest supervisor,
acknowledged the exceptional
working relationship enjoyed
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permittees.
And yet, many permittees
said, the documents gave
them no recognition for up-
ward trends. The plan propos-
es a desired future condition in
the forest and a rating system
for land recovery standards
that would deem progress on
allotments “unsatisfactory”
despite steady progress.
This rating did not take
into consideration years or
even decades of work to re-es-
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allotment that Forest Service
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might not reach optimum lev-
els within their lifetime.
Sabrina Stabler, team lead-
er for the Blue Mountains
Forest Plan Revision, assured
permittees that the language
of the document with regard
to satisfactory and unsatis-
factory results represented
“goals.”
“These goals are aspi-
rational,” she said. “I think
there’s an understanding in
the plan that recognizes there
are areas of land that might
not see improvement in our
lifetime.”
That understanding was
not made clear, permittees
agreed.
“I think you need to make
that clear in the plan,” advised
Childers.
Warnock agreed. “That
(sort of understanding) be-
comes really subjective in a
court,” she warned.
Range Program Manager
for the Wallowa-Whitman
and Umatilla Zone Maura
Laverty assured the permit-
tees that there “would be
some wordsmithing,” on the
document to make the dis-
tinction between aspiration-
al goals and standards that
would trigger severe graz-
ing limitations or closures.
“We’re committed to making
a plan that works,” she said.
As for the out-of-date
science relied upon to make
determinations in the plan,
NRAC chairman John Wil-
liams did not mince words.
“There’s a lot better sci-
ence than what has been
used to create this plan,”
he said. “The standards are
based on papers written in
1999. The plan doesn’t rec-
ognize that there could be
successful grazing. This
plan doesn’t recognize what
has happened since we put
in the type of grazing we’ve
had since the early 1980s.
This plan needs to recognize
that there can be successful
grazing.”
Science from 17 years
ago no doubt contributed to
the tone taken that appeared
to deem grazing “bad.”
Permittees and Forest
Service officials alike agreed
that grazing practices and
overall management have
drastically improved over
the years. In the Wallowa
District in particular, Mon-
toya said, the partnership of
agencies and permittees had
been mutually supportive.
Ranchers pointed out ex-
amples of how they have not
only worked hard to restore
grazing allotments to health,
but to protect riparian zones,
water flow and fish health,
and protect the forests from
wildfire.
“We’re out there to keep
that resource for the next gen-
eration,” Childers reminded
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forest health was not recog-
nized in the document at all,
according to permittees. In
fact, said citizen activist Raid-
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reports used to create the plan
seemed not to recognize that
the forest was to be managed
as a multiple-use resource.
“Multiple-use
requires
partners to achieve results,”
Heck said.
Permittees reminded the
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al times that permittees were
essential partners, particular-
ly in minimizing the stock of
fuels that would lead to cata-
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By demonizing grazing,
setting standards that were
beyond achievement within
a lifetime, and failing to thin
timber, particularly the “jack
straw” that has chocked ripar-
ian zones, the Forest Service
was failing in management,
permittees said.
The plan designers could
do a lot better, permittees said,
if they worked with the part-
ners they had who were best
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research data — the ranchers
who were actually working
“on the ground.”
“There is more knowledge
in this room than in any num-
ber of degrees,” said Heck. “I
don’t think the Forest Service
is starting at a neutral position
that recognizes both on-the-
land knowledge and special-
ized knowledge.”
“The truth is on the
ground,” said rancher Tom
Birkmaier. “The truth is al-
ways on the ground.”
Childers
immediately
agreed. “Bringing regulato-
ry people right here on the
ground is the right thing. This
needs to be done right.”
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agreed and arrangements
were made to begin the pro-
cess of rewriting some of the
language of the plan, updating
information in light of more
recent studies.
NRAC Chair John Wil-
liams agreed to be the contact
person who would assist in
the rewrite of the plan but in-
sisted that the process be col-
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that would be the case.
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also agreed to look into other
points of discussion including
over-encroachment by young
timber across the forest and
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erosion with slow-starting na-
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ments were being made to
bring regulatory agents to
Wallowa County.
“We’ve got some new
regulatory agency members
we’re working with and Sa-
brina Stabler, team leader for
the Blue Mountains Forest
Plan Revision, will be taking
the lead on that. I believe she
is committed to getting them
out there to look at several is-
sues,” Laverty said. She also
FRQ¿UPHG WKDW 15$& &KDLU-
man John Williams had sent
a list of more recent grazing
studies. “I’ll be looking at
that, you bet,” she said.
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tive grasses.
Ranchers offered to take
regulatory people on tours so
that they might actually see
the situation on the ground.
This idea had precedence and
all in attendance agreed that
this was a good idea.
“I thought it was a pretty
good meeting,” said Childers,
after the event. “I appreciate
the permittees coming in and
I felt the Forest Service lis-
tened.”
Warnock agreed. “I don’t
think it was pretense that they
cared,” she said. “I think they
meant it. Now we’ll see what
the actions are.”
In a telephone interview
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