A4
Opinion
wallowa.com
August 10, 2016
Wallowa County Chieftain
Shortfalls
crippling
rural
counties
A
cross the West, rural counties, school districts and
local governments that once depended on natural
resources such as timber have been slowly sinking
into a sea of red ink.
The problem: State
and federal land managers
have unilaterally changed
From the East Oregonian
the rules of how natural
resources are managed.
The result has been less economic activity such as
logging, leading to ever-tighter local budgets. Those local
governments and school districts once shared the revenue
from timber cut on public lands. Now they receive only a
small fraction of what they previously received.
Those who defend the change in resource management
say those counties and school districts should just pass
special tax levies to cover the shortfalls. Such statements
relect their ignorance about the economy of the rural
West. If logging is the primary economic activity and it is
curtailed, then a tax levy will not cover the shortfall. People
collecting unemployment insurance cannot afford higher tax
bills.
This argument is playing out in a courtroom in Albany
where Linn County oficials are suing the state for $1.4
billion they and 14 other counties have been shorted since
1998.
According to Linn County’s lawyers, that’s the year the
state changed the way it manages Forest Trust Lands. The
counties gave those timber lands to the state to manage on
their behalf.
Under the change, instead of managing the timber to
produce revenue, the state decided to manage it for other
objectives — without the counties’ consent.
During a hearing in July, the state’s lawyers essentially
tried to duck the question of whether the state owes the
counties any money. They talked about “greatest permanent
value” and that the statute doesn’t require “revenue
maximization.”
What they didn’t argue is whether the state has a moral
and ethical obligation to manage those lands in a way that
doesn’t leave the counties and school districts broke.
It should be noted that across the West, the federal
government has also done its best to squeeze natural
resource companies out of business. In many rural areas,
where once a thriving timber industry existed, there remains
only abandoned mills or a mill operating at a fraction of its
capacity. The only mills that remain proitable are those that
own timber and don’t depend entirely on government timber
sales.
This is a direct result of federal managers — Uncle Sam
owns most of the land in the West — deciding to shut down
or vastly reduce logging in many areas.
With the state of Oregon managing timber land for
“greatest permanent value” and the federal managers
tightening the timber supply, rural counties and school
districts have suffered inancially.
Instead of ducking this lawsuit, we’d like to see the
state’s lawyers argue in open court that precious few
bigwigs in state government care one bit about rural
communities. We want them to argue that the trees — a
renewable resource — are more precious than rural
economies. We want them to tell the judge that it’s more
important to the state of Oregon to protect as many trees
as its managers see it, no matter the impact on rural
Oregonians.
Of course, they won’t say that outright, but that’s what
they mean.
EDITORIAL
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It’s rodeo time in the PNW
Another Chief Joseph Days Rodeo is in
the bag and a good one it was. The stands
were full every night and I think the Fri-
day and Saturday performances were sold
out.
Like a lot of people in the county, I had
friends staying with me for the occasion
— kids of friends from California. The
four of them were entered in the team rop-
ing and got out of here with about $2,000
apiece. Not surprising since two of them,
the Hirdes boys, were the grandsons of
Les Hirdes, a former world champion, and
the sons of a several time NFR qualiier,
Ed Hirdes. They arrived Wednesday from
a rodeo in Utah and roped in slack and
the perf and were on their way Thursday
morning to a rodeo in eastern Idaho. So far
the trip had gone well. That is not always
the case.
Have you ever noticed that the fuel
gauge on your truck doesn’t move off of
full until you have burned a quarter tank
and doesn’t reach three-fourths full until
you are really down to half full?.
About 25 years ago I left Oakdale, Ca-
lif., with three other cowboys headed for
the Caldwell Night rodeo. I was with Leo
and Jerold Camarillo — both world cham-
pions multiple times — and Jim Wheatley,
who has qualiied for the NFR on several
occasions, and there wasn’t room for my
ego in the cab of the pickup. It was plumb
full. The three were full of opinions and
though they might not always be right,
they were never in doubt.
We arrived at Fernly, Nev., around 11
a.m. and fueled up. After lunch at Orma-
chias in Winnemucca, it was on to Cald-
well. The next day the Camarillos were on
to another rodeo with someone else and
OPEN RANGE
Barrie Qualle
Jim and I were headed back to Oakdale.
Before we left Jerold took the pick-
up and fueled it up for us. Right after we
passed through Winnemucca I took a nap
and when I woke I looked at the fuel gauge
and told Jim we better fuel up in Lovelock.
Lovelock was half an hour ago, he re-
plied.
He thought that since we made it from
Fernley to Caldwell on a full tank we
should be able to make the return trip on
a tank. Pretty soon the warning light came
on and about 35 miles short of Fernley the
diesel ran out.
Jim is useless in these kind of situa-
tions. I lagged down a van that some guy
with a wheelchair was driving and had
him drop me off in Fernley at a truck stop.
I thanked him and he smiled and said that
we all need to help others sometimes. I
smiled and promised to stop parking in the
handicapped zones. I bought a 5 gallon jug
and illed it with diesel and wondered how
long it would take me to get a ride back.
I was just about to start walking back
to I-80 when I spotted a familiar face. A
woman who drove a cattle truck and had
hauled for a ranch I worked for was head-
ing toward her rig. I even remembered
her name and asked her where she was
headed. She had loaded out that morning
in Sierraville and was headed for Col-
orado. For you who are geographically
challenged, that was the right direction. I
jumped in with her and 35 miles later we
arrived at the scene of the fuel deprivation.
Cindy said she would wait to see that we
got going before she left.
Jim was reading the “Rodeo Sports
News” instead of the Dodge manual chap-
ter on how to restart a diesel when you run
it out of fuel. We put the ive gallons in the
tank and it wouldn’t start. Before Jim ran
the battery completely down I stopped him
and read the manual. It said that there was
a primer pump that needed to be pumped
25 times and then to try the starter.
Now, Jim and I both would rather be
dipped in cow crap than get a drop of oil
or grease on us. Not very mechanical.
We igured out how to open the hood and
started to follow fuel lines to ind the prim-
er pump. We were not successful. About
then Cindy got tired of waiting and came
across the median to see what was taking
so long. We told her we had traced the fuel
lines but were unsuccessful in inding the
primer. Cindy took a look and identiied
the fuel lines we had been tracing as air
conditioning lines. In about half a min-
ute she located the primer and started
the pumping. Jim hit the starter and we
hugged Cindy and away we all went.
Jim couldn’t igure out why we
couldn’t make the return trip with two
fewer horses when we made it on one tank
the other way. Knowing Jerold I am pretty
sure he kept his eye on the gauge as he was
illing up in Caldwell and as soon as it read
full, which would be about three-quarters
full, he quit pumping. You have to watch
those rodeo cowboys, especially the ones
from that era.
Columnist Barrie Qualle is a working
cowboy in Wallowa County.
A way forward for Oregon, U.S.
As I listen to people during meetings
throughout our state (I recently held my
51st town hall since the beginning of last
year), Oregonians too often voice the same
concerns: an overreaching federal govern-
ment that ignores our pleas, overregulates
our lives and depresses job growth in our
communities.
That’s why I put forward legislation
that positively addresses the problems we
face. Seven of my proposals have passed
the U.S. House so far this term — most
with unanimous support — including my
bills to help bring commercial air service
back to Klamath Falls, provide need-
ed funding for bridges in the Columbia
Gorge, and to improve rural internet ser-
vice for consumers.
Within the past year, Congress has giv-
en law enforcement and drug prevention
advocates new tools to help ight addiction
in our communities. We’ve passed plans
to help veterans get better health care in
the communities where they live. Seniors
no longer face a planned drastic spike in
Medicare premiums or a cut for Social
Security disability recipients. A long-term
transportation funding plan and a major
education reform proposal have also be-
GUEST
COLUMN
Rep. Greg Walden
come law.
While I’m proud of these success-
es, there is still much to be done to push
back against an overreaching federal gov-
ernment. That’s why House Republicans
have proposed a new agenda — called “A
Better Way” — to offer solutions to some
of the biggest challenges we face in Ore-
gon and America. Some highlights of our
plan include:
Growing jobs and the economy: Too
many small businesses, farmers and
ranchers in Oregon face overbearing fed-
eral regulations that are often written by
agencies far away in Washington, D.C.
Last year alone, federal regulations cost
the national economy about $1.89 trillion
in lost growth and productivity. Our plan
makes sure the regulatory regime works
for us — not against us. For instance, we’d
require that the Congress, accountable to
the people, approve all major regulations.
Our plan also would help boost affordable,
reliable energy and preserve internet inno-
vation so that jobs can lourish.
Combating poverty: 50 years ago,
the U.S. government launched the “War
on Poverty.” American taxpayers have
invested $22 trillion since then, yet you
are just as likely to stay poor if you were
born poor today as you were then. And
according to a state report last year, Ore-
gon’s poverty rate is higher than the na-
tional average (and the rate is even higher
in many rural counties). The current sys-
tem too often replaces work, instead of
encouraging it. There’s a better way to
help the over 46 million Americans who
are trapped in a cycle of poverty. Our
plan offers solutions to expand opportu-
nity and reward work.
Implementing real health reform: The
new health care law, known as Obamacare,
is driving up insurance costs and reducing
choices for too many Oregonians. The
state wasted hundreds of millions of tax-
payer dollars on Cover Oregon and now is
mired in costly litigation.
See WALDEN, Page A5
Don’t downplay ag’s role in county
Katie Jo Morgan’s Aug. 3 letter to the
editor should have rebuttal letters pour-
ing in; not concerning Wallowa County’s
housing issues, but to question and cor-
rect her claim that tourism is the area’s
top industry, followed at a distance by the
arts and entertainment.”
Not even an honorable mention for
the true top industry, agriculture.
Agriculture — or the Natural Re-
source Sector, which includes timber re-
ceipts — is by far the largest the overall
contributor to Wallowa County’s econ-
omy. In 2014 the county’s agriculture
revenue was $60 million. A little over
half that amount was generated by cattle
sales, with timber, hay and grain earnings
LETTERS to the EDITOR
rounding out the balance.
This information was obtained via a
personal communication with Wallowa
County’s Oregon State University Exten-
sion agent. The Natural Resource Sector
report for 2015 is not fully compiled yet,
but we may safely assume the revenue
igures will continue to keep agricul-
ture exactly where it has always been;
the highest earning industry in Wallowa
County.
If we accept Ms. Morgan’s statement
that Wallowa County was the recipient
of $27.6 million of tourists’ money, we
would have to believe that $75,616 per
day, 365 days per year, was generated
by tourism. In a county where a gener-
ous tourist season runs from Memorial
Day through October’s hunting seasons,
approximately 150 days, the number
would balloon into the neighborhood
of $184,000 per day. The county motel/
hotel tax revenue does not support either
igure.
While tourism money does igure into
Wallowa County income, it is important
to accurately recognize Wallowa Coun-
ty’s top earning power: agriculture.
Kerry Tienhaara
Joseph