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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 2018)
A8 From A1 wallowa.com LOSTINE Continued from Page A1 a severe fire went through the area 100-120 years ago, trees of that size are scarce anyway. For that reason, he stands by the statement that the USFS will prioritize logging the most fire resistant trees over smaller trees. Klavins also questioned John- ston’s knowledge of the area and the type of forest in general. “I am thankful for Dr. Johnston’s interest in our work and recognize his expertise in the dry forests of the Mal- heur, but those forests are very differ- ent from this forest,” he said. “A lot of people, researchers and scientists who have visited these forest more than once, have looked at our FAQs and stand behind them.” Responses to the FAQs also included mention of spotted owls, which Klavins said do not even live in the canyon. There was also disagree- ment over dry forests. “The Lostine is not a dry Ponder- osa Pine forest,” he said. “The Forest Service never said that, and I would be surprised that James (Johnston) would say that either. You don’t turn a dry forest into a wet forest. That doesn’t happen.” Klavins said that nature created the area and that its condition is a result of decades of mismanagement and overharvest. “The idea that the only way we can solve that is by building roads and logging doesn’t make sense,” he said. “We’ve long supported res- LAND Continued from Page A1 including the acquisition of hundreds of acres belonging to the Ronald C. Yanke Trust. The land will be actively man- aged as working timberland. The plan was unveiled at an open house at Hurricane Creek Grange Feb. 21. Around three dozen people attended. The mission of the trust is to preserve the rural nature of the county’s land through conser- vation easements. Eric Greenwell, the group’s conservation program manager, said the plan was part of being strategic about the decisions the trust is making. The plan was two years in the making. “It’s a way for us to intersect toration-based thinning, we support taking measures to protect homes and property and make them fire-safe, but logging 10 miles up the Lostine to protect homes isn’t going to make people safer.” He added that the groups have not protested the removal of firewood or the cutting of hazardous trees “First they say its about safety,” he said. “Then they tell us its about forest health. Then they tell some- one else it’s always been about safety. They haven’t ever gotten their story straight. If this was just about safety, we wouldn’t be opposed to it.” Warnock was particularly dis- turbed by the USFS refusal to include either group in the collaborative pro- cess. She also said that the National Environmental Policy Act provides a framework for the public to engage with the project, which she says the USFS has circumvented, with a cate- gorical exclusion. That has resulted in a decision made without transparency or accountability, she claims. “In order to sidestep environ- mental analysis, the project needs to be developed collaboratively by diverse stakeholders, and this didn’t occur,” she said. “Without environ- mental review, without being part of the planning process, how are we to know what the impacts of the project are? I think if that had occurred, we’d have seen a very different decision.” The public dialogue indicates that her group is against management, which she says is inaccurate. “We’re not against active manage- ment; we’re for smart management, with the community,” added executive director Kathleen Ackley said. “We needed to make sure that the work we’re doing is important to the com- munity. We want to be a com- munity organization, and we can’t be that unless we know what our community wants.” The bulk of the input was garnered through an online sur- vey, meetings with the commu- nity and one-on-one interviews. Nearly 200 participated. The trust distilled the input of Wallowa County citizens into four conservation priori- ties: Conserve Working Lands, Conserve Ecological and geo- logical integrity, Preserve Com- munity Values and Promote Spatial Integrity. The trust’s priorities lie in lands that have high economic February 28, 2018 for science-based management,” she said.” She added that logging several million board feet off a 425-acre par- cel constitutes aggressive logging. This logging did not include the haz- ard trees. Warnock compared the project to the Lower Joseph Creek Project that will remove 7.5 million board-feet from 17,000 acres. “In an area that’s basically 40 times bigger than the 450-acre Los- tine, they’re going to remove less than double the amount of trees,” she said. The FAQs also address the con- cern a half-million endangered Coho salmon released into the Lostine river downstream from the project may return from the sea to disturbed habitat. Nez Perce tribe has not joined the lawsuit. “In working with them, they often don’t challenge projects even if they don’t like them,” Warnock said. “That’s not how they address con- cerns, I guess.” Her other concern with the project was where the 450 acres is situated in the corridor. She noted that the USFS had already sent out a notice they had made an accidental incursion into the Eagle Cap Wilderness and caused some damage. “I think for me, in plain and sim- ple terms, there wasn’t enough envi- ronmental analysis done to make a sound decision here.” Warnock said. “It’s important to get right. This is the Lostine Canyon.” value and provide important conservation benefits. These include working farm, ranch and timber lands in the Wal- lowa River Corridor from Joseph to Minam Canyon. The trust works to support community values by preserv- ing lands with scenic views and historical significance, all the while maintaining access to recreational areas. Part of the plan is to keep the county’s towns distinct from one another with open space and working lands between. They also plan to work with the native tribes to protect their sacred lands. In promoting spatial integ- rity, the trust hopes to prioritize land adjoining existing conser- vation areas as well as restored areas for future conservation. These can include lands adja- BARGAINS MONTH ® BARGAINS OF OF THE THE MONTH While supplies last. While supplies last. YOUR CHOICE 9.99 20 lb. Black Oil Sunflower Bird Seed L 106 363 1 14 lb. Songbird Seed L 180 677 1 Wallowa County Chieftain Submitted graphic Lostine Corridor Public Safety Project lies south of the city of Lostine be- tween two camping areas. cent to wild and scenic rivers, collaboration with tribes, gov- ernment agencies and other community organizations. Also included are landscape-scale conservation efforts across multiple owners. “A big part of the conserva- tion plan is transparency about what we’re doing,” Greenwell said. “The plan communicates our work to the public.” Both Ackley and Greenwell spoke to misconceptions in the community about the trust’s mission. “I’d like to hammer home that everything we do is volun- tary,” Ackley said. “We work with willing landowners. We’re trying to find solutions, options and opportunities. I think when we’ve talked to people and they get that, their attitudes change.” She’s also found that many people are under the assump- tion that the trust doesn’t pay property taxes for the land donated to it. “We do pay property taxes,” she said. “We don’t have to. We can easily apply for exemp- tion as a nonprofit. We’re not removing land from the tax base.” She added that the trust actually prefers working with private landowners and have the land continue to be pri- vately owned. It rarely receives outright land donations. Ackley also said the trust does not take farmland out of production. “In many cases, the land continues to be in active pro- duction,” she said. “We’re looking at ways to help farmers and ranchers continue to stay on their land and pass it on to the next generation.” Greenwell says residents may not understand the ease- ment process. “A lot of people think that once you put an easement in, the land’s locked up forever, and that’s just not the case,” he said. All agreements are nego- tiated between the trust and the land owner before being signed. Greenwell added that the agreement is hard to amend after that point. “It can be flexible enough to run a business, and flexible enough to do restoration work,” he said. At the moment, and for the near future, the trust is working hard to obtain several moraine easements while also getting the word of its mission out to the public. “We have this mission, so how does it speak to the values of the community,” Greenwell said. “What’s the confluence of our community’s values and the mission? I think there’s a lot of work that our mission speaks to that the community finds valuable.” A copy of the document is available at wallowalandtrust. org or call the office to have a copy sent. Copies are also at the office 116 S. River St. in Enterprise. The trust is planning an additional open house on March 7 in Lostine at the South Fork Grange. 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Vesta Jacobs Wallowa County Ace Hardware Wallowa County AniPro Wallowa County Fair Board Wallowa County Grain Growers Wallowa FFA Wayne and Gordon Wolfe- Partnership Wendy Simmons Wallowa Memorial Hospital is an equal opportunity provider and employer I’m for protecting our rural lifestyle and I will fight for our grandkids future. My family line is six generations deep. Like those family members before me, I’ve worked the land and let me tell you the land has worked me. I understand the challenges ranchers, farmers, and foresters face and that’s why I’ll support our natural resource producers, help ensure access to our pubic lands, and protect our water. We would also like to thank everyone who attended and those who may have been inadvertently left off the above list. Paid for by the Committee to Elect Diane Daggett