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A4 Opinion wallowa.com November 4, 2015 Wallowa County Chieftain Support available for dealing with anxiety GUEST COLUMN T here are many faces to anxiety. You might hear people with anxiety say Stephen Kilewer something like: “My QLJKWPDUHVDQGÀDVK backs interfere with my family life,” or, “Suddenly my heart pounds and I feel like I am going to die.” Another person might say: “I worry about everything all WKHWLPH,IHHOVRQHUYRXVDURXQGSHRSOHLWLVGLI¿FXOWWR speak. ... There are just times when I cannot even go into Safeway.” Anxiety is the most common form of mental illness, affecting around 19 percent of the population. It comes in many forms, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), panic attacks, generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety. Anxiety is a normal human emotion that everyone experiences at times. Many people feel anxious or nervous when faced with a problem at work, before taking a test, or when making an important decision. Anxiety disorders, however, are different. Those disorders cause such distress that it interferes with a person’s ability to lead a normal life. For people with anxiety disorders, worry and fear are constant and overwhelming and can be crippling. The symptoms of anxiety vary. General symptoms include: feelings of panic, fear and uneasiness; irritability and anger; problems sleeping; cold or sweaty hands and/or feet; shortness of breath; heart palpitations; an inability to be still and calm; nausea; muscle tension; and dizziness. $Q[LHW\FDQPDNHLWGLI¿FXOWWREXLOGHIIHFWLYH relationships and damage existing relationships. It can hinder one’s ability to work. It can impact even basic, daily tasks. In its more severe forms it can narrow a person’s life down to almost nothing, as the person retreats from life as a way to manage his or her anxiety. People with anxiety often use alcohol and other drugs to help manage their anxious feelings. Studies have shown that the odds of alcohol dependence being diagnosed are two to three times greater among patients with an anxiety disorder (http://tinyurl.com/pvky6dp). The good news is that anxiety is highly treatable. A variety of approaches can help make this debilitating illness manageable, lessening the impact on a person’s life. Most anxiety can be treated with psychotherapy, which is a process in which trained mental health professionals help people understand and deal with their disorder. One form of psychotherapy is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): This is a particular type of therapy in which the person learns to recognize and change thought patterns and behaviors that lead to troublesome feelings, as well as HQJDJHLQVSHFL¿FEHKDYLRUVVXFKDVGHHSEUHDWKLQJDQG relaxation techniques, that address anxiety and panic. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a technique used for trauma-based, severe anxiety. For many people, short episodes of treatment (six to nine sessions) can change their lives. For some people, medications also can be used to help them deal with their anxiety. If you think you may be struggling with anxiety, please call Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness at 541-426- 4524 or come in to 207 SW First Street, Enterprise. If you are having a mental health crisis, please call 541-398-1175. There is no reason to live a life that is less than it can be. 7Kis FoOXPn is pDrt oI D series on EDsiF IorPs oI PentDO iOOness sXEPitteG E\ :DOOoZD 9DOOe\ &enter Ior :eOOness. 6tepKen .OieZer, 06, /P&, is GireFtor, ePeritXs, oI :DOOoZD 9DOOe\ &enter Ior :eOOness. USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 OI¿Fe 29 1: )irst 6t., Enterprise, Ore. PKone 27 • )Dx 2392 :DOOoZD &oXnt\¶s 1eZspDper 6inFe 88 Enterprise, Oregon M EMBER O REGON N EWSPAPER P UBLISHERS A SSOCIATION P UBLISHER E DITOR R EPORTER R EPORTER N EWSROOM ASSISTANT A D S ALES CONSULTANT G RAPHIC D ESIGNER O FFICE MANAGER Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com Scot Heisel, editor@wallowa.com Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com Kathleen Ellyn, kellyn@wallowa.com editor@wallowa.com Jennifer Powell, jpowell@wallowa.com Robby Day, rday@wallowa.com Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com P UBLISHED EVERY W EDNESDAY BY : EO Media Group 3HULRGLFDO3RVWDJH3DLGDW(QWHUSULVHDQGDGGLWLRQDOPDLOLQJRI¿FHV Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County 1 Year $40.00 $57.00 6XEsFriptions PXst Ee pDiG prior to GeOiYer\ See the Wallowa County Chieftain on the Internet www.wallowa.com facebook.com/Wallowa | twitter.com/wcchieftain POSTMASTER — Send address changes to Wallowa County Chieftain P.O. Box 338 Enterprise, OR 97828 Contents copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Volume 133 It’s time to delist the wolves :KHQ,ORRNDW*RRJOH(DUWKP\¿UVW reaction is to zoom in and out for per- spective. Greater perspective helps us gain a better view of wolves in Oregon, and how removing them from the state’s threatened and endangered list will allow them to be managed as a species that has been successfully recovered. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service re- port from April 2009 states that there were already between 60,000 and 70,000 wolves in North America at that time — including an estimated 12,000 in Alber- ta and British Columbia — and at least 1,645 in the northern Rocky Mountains recovery area, which is recognized as a southern extension of the robust Ca- nadian population. Zooming in tighter to Idaho, which was a node for Rocky Mountain recovery with 15 wolves rein- troduced in 1995 and another 20 in 1996, we see that Idaho’s wolf numbers tripled in just two years to 115 and reached 192 by 2000. As of late 2014, there existed a minimum pack count of 104 (with an- other 23 state border packs) and an es- timated population of 770 wolves. This all follows six years of regulated hunting and trapping of wolves. Idaho has been the source popula- tion, through dispersal, for wolf re-es- WDEOLVKPHQWLQ2UHJRQ7KH¿UVW2UHJRQ SDFN WR EH FRQ¿UPHG ZDV WKH :HQDKD Pack, documented in 2008. Our state an- ticipated an inevitable wolf movement from Idaho, and by 2005 had produced and adopted a Wolf Management Plan. This three-phased approach called for evaluating an option for delisting once the criteria were met for Phase II. The criteria called for four breeding packs to successfully rear two or more pups for three successive years. By 2014, these criteria had been met and exceeded, as ing central Idaho elk numbers, but with a high wolf pack density in the Middle Fork Zone, it is the dominating factor, ac- cording to the Idaho Department of Fish Jim Akenson and Game. Contrary to claims made by animal there were nine known successful breed- protectionist groups, delisting does not ing pairs of wolves in Oregon, includ- remove all protections for wolves in Ore- ing eight packs in northeast Oregon and gon. Wolves will remain a protected spe- one in the southern Cascade Mountains. cies, and they are still federally listed in In recent weeks, there have been three all but the eastern-most sliver of Oregon. ZROIDFWLYLW\DUHDVLGHQWL¿HGLQVRXWKHUQ Delisting will, however, start the journey Oregon. The minimum population is es- down the road to Phase III and allow the timated at 81, not counting this year’s Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife pups (13 of the 16 documented pairs had more options for applying management practices. litters this year). Following through on the promises Now, zoom out to include the en- tire northern Rocky Mountain region, made to Oregon’s agricultural commu- and it becomes obvious that Oregon’s nity also will foster better tolerance of wolves are well connected and thriving, wolves and maintain the credibility of and it’s equally clear they are ready to Oregon’s Wolf Plan. We need to look more broadly on the be removed from Oregon’s endangered issue of wolves and expand our focus to species list. We also need to look at how wolves be able to see beyond state lines. Wolves have affected neighboring states to gain have demonstrated the ability to look be- a clearer picture of what we can expect yond state borders, and we should, too. in the coming years. In Idaho’s Unit 26, Oregon developed a very effective man- within the Middle Fork Zone of cen- agement plan with detailed criteria to tral Idaho, wolves were reintroduced in recover wolves in this state, while also the mid-1990s. The elk population was protecting other wildlife species and ag- 1,270 and hunter harvest in 2006 was riculture. It is vital that we carefully fol- 89 bull elk. By 2011, counts for Unit low the direction of the wolf plan, which 26 were just 366 total elk and hunter was developed with buy-in from many harvest was a meager 24 bulls. Hunter diverse stakeholders. We must stick with numbers for the three units comprising the plan and delist wolves in Oregon. -iP $Nenson, FonserYDtion GireFtor the Middle Fork Zone dropped in half, going from 1,678 in 2006 to 821 in Ior tKe Oregon +Xnters $ssoFiDtion, 2011. The pattern of decline continued KoOGs D PDster¶s Gegree DnG D EDFKeOor¶s with only 757 elk hunters going to those Gegree in nDtXrDO resoXrFes. +e KDG Oong tenXres ZorNing Ior tKe 8niYersit\ oI ,GD wilderness units in 2012. The pattern here is crippling for local Ko DnG O'):. ,n ,GDKo, Ke PDnDgeG D rural economies, where hunters start their rePote ¿eOG stDtion DnG FonGXFteG stXG journeys to the backcountry. Wolf preda- ies on FoXgDr DnG ZoOI preGDtion eIIeFts WLRQPLJKWQRWEHWKHRQO\IDFWRULQÀXHQF- on Eig gDPe popXODtions. GUEST EDITORIAL Low-water rafting can be a pain You ever wake up thinking the perfect breakfast might be a large bowl of ibupro- fen? Ever just lie there tolerating the alarm beeping because rolling over to hit snooze sounds like a lot of work for a body that feels like a sack of bruises? Let me tell you about river rafting in low water. I’ve taken heavy rafts down the Grande Ronde River with not much water and a whole lot RIJHDUIRUVWHHOKHDG¿VKLQJWULSVDQXP- ber of times now over a number of years. I thought I knew all about it. It turns out I was perhaps a tad cocky about getting a big boat through skinny water. My buddy Todd Kruger and I just got back from an expedition with water slightly lower than I’ve done before and the little difference turned out to be big. My earlobes are the only portion of my body that doesn’t ache. Wait, I just checked and they hurt, too. Low-water boating can be fun. Sort of. ,W GH¿QLWHO\ LVQ¶W ERULQJ $SSURDFKLQJ D real shallow stretch requires staring and studying hard, looking for a way through by divining where the most water is with the fewest obstacles. Pretty soon you’re in LW DQG WKHUH¶V D ÀXUU\ RI TXLFN GHFLVLRQV and evasive maneuvers to keep your boat going in precious few inches of river. You develop an eye for rocks you can barely VOLGHRYHU5DIWÀRRUVPDNHDVRXQGOLNH “errrr,” when slipping over rocks. If you AND FURTHERMORE Jon Rombach run out of that much water, you can try scratching furiously with your oar blades to get enough speed to carry your boat over spots that are too low by just barely. Those sound like, “ERRrrrrr-r-r.” Deeper water doesn’t mean you can relax. “Hippo rocks,” or “lurkers,” just under the surface can be tough to spot un- til you’re just about to collide into or onto them. Getting stuck on a lurker makes a solid “ERRRCH” noise, followed by the thud of your spirits dropping because now there’s water all around you, too deep to get out and stand in to push your boat off. If you’re living right, Todd or anoth- er boat will be coming along right behind you with enough steam to bump into your raft and get you moving again. Or you can try using an oar as a pole to push yourself off. Or bounce around trying to shift your weight. Or pray for rain to raise the river. Or something. Getting stuck can teach you a lot. I’ve learned many new words and phrases following a raft grounding on the rocks. It’s good for creativity. When best ef- forts to get boats through trouble spots don’t work out, you think up alternatives. Todd wondered on this trip about getting a backhoe attachment for his raft. Hy- draulic jacks to drop over the side. We discussed converting our boats into hov- ercrafts. Other plans I’ve heard include ¿OOLQJWKHUDIWWXEHVZLWKKHOLXPLQVWHDG of air. Calling in a helicopter. Putting a knife in the tubes and walking away. In the end you get out and push and shove and yank and cajole and sweat and swear and toil and curse and, eventually, the ERDWLVÀRDWLQJDJDLQ<RXFUDZOEDFNLQ scramble to your seat, get your oars ready and sometimes that’s when you get stuck again. Repeat. I almost forgot to mention that it’s downright beautiful on the Grande Ronde this time of year. I highly recommend it. Well worth the trip. There’s good num- bers of steelhead in the river and once you get past the impassable, things start looking up. I recommend going light. Or, better yet, get somebody to haul your stuff for you. I’m busy, though, until the river comes up. -on RoPEDFK is D OoFDO FoOXPnist Ior tKe &KieItDin. Where’s the support for education? To the editor: Just wondering if it was as blatantly clear to anyone else how the NRA was able to raise $114,000 in one night while it takes the Enterprise Education Foun- dation an entire year to raise an average of $40,000. I am not trying to dismiss the right of any law abiding citizen to own a gun or even multiple guns as I do, but do the numbers above make anyone think that perhaps we put more value on our Second Amendment rights than our own children’s education? Jeff Irish Enterprise LETTERS to the EDITOR Where to write Letters to the Editor are subject to editing and should be limited to 275 words. Writers should also include a phone number with their signature so we can call to verify identity. You can submit a letter to the Wal- lowa County Chieftain in person; by mail to P.O. Box 338, Enterprise, OR 97828; by email to editor@wallowa. com; or via the submission form at the newspaper’s website at wallowa.com. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart 6HQDWH2I¿FH%XLOGLQJ:DVKLQJWRQ'& 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. E-mail: wayne_kinney@wyden.senate.gov Web site: http://wyden.senate.gov Fax: 202- 228-2717. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart 6HQDWH2I¿FH%XLOGLQJ:DVKLQJWRQ'& 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. E-mail: senator@merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202- 228-3997. Washington, D.C.