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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
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BARGAINS OF
OF THE
THE MONTH
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YOUR CHOICE
9.99
20 lb. Black Oil
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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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Sale Ends 3/31/18
Wallowa County Agricultural Resource Foundation & Wallowa County Stockgrowers Association
Thank you to everyone who helped
make the 10th Annual Scholarship Dinner Auction a success!
1917 Lumber Company
9 Mile Ranch
Alan and Daarla Klages
Ashley and Jacob Spaur
Belle Salon
Brenda Micka
Bret Witty and Family
Carolyn Schmidt
Casey Tippett
Charlie and Debi Warnock
Chief Joseph Days
Community Bank
Congressman Greg Walden
Craig Yaw Farrier Service
Cynthia Warnock
Don and Debbie Wentz
Double Arrow Vet Clinic
Dwayne and Carol Voss
Ellen Nesbitt
Elsa Steen
Embers Brewhouse
Enterprise Animal Hospital
Gay Fregulia
Glen and Patty Engelking
Grande Ronde Lodge
Greg and Angie Seufer
Hanley and Sadie Kennedy
Heavenlys
Howard Resource Management LLC
Janie Tippett
Jean Hafer
John and Eileen Williams
Joseph FFA
Joseph Hardware
Kathy Schmidt
Kent and Sondra Lozier
Larry and Debbie Johnson
Layton Forest Products
Mad Mary’s
Margie Hudson
Mike Hale and Sara Miller
Myranda McFetridge
Nails by Anita
Rawley Bigsby
Red Horse Coffee Roasters
Richard and Jeanne Hagenah
Rocking M Ranch
Saralynn Johnson
Simply Sandy’s
Sports Corral
The Blonde Strawberry
The Book Loft
Thompson Auto Supply
Tippett Ranch Inc.
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
