LOCAL CANDIDATES STAKE OUT POSITIONS | A8
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Enterprise, Oregon
Wallowa.com
Issue No. 25
October 10, 2018
$1
Oregon seeks to become mass timber hub
south of Roseburg.
Every piece of cross-laminated timber —
or CLT for short — is prefabricated, designed
for a specific part of the building, said Locke,
director of forest products at the Oregon For-
est Resources Institute. That means buildings
go up faster with fewer workers.
Wood is also environmentally superior
to steel and concrete, Locke said, because
it sequesters carbon and takes less energy
to produce.
“There are so many benefits, it doesn’t
matter which one you choose to start with,”
Locke said.
First developed in Europe, mass timber
is now catching on in the U.S., and Oregon
is working to position itself as the indus-
try hub, kick-starting rural economies such
as Wallowa County’s that have traditionally
relied on forest products. On Aug. 1, Ore-
gon became the first state to approve lan-
guage in its building codes allowing for
Wallowa County could
benefit from new uses
of Oregon timber,
including construction
of high-rise buildings
By George Plaven
For the Chieftain
George Plaven/Capital Press
Tyler Freres, co-owner and vice president of sales at Freres
Lumber, said the new mass plywood facility will help to grow
business and sustain the company’s 470 current employees.
Timm Locke relishes a chance to drive
around Portland and showcase the latest
commercial buildings made with mass
timber, a construction material that uses
wood beams and panels instead of con-
crete and steel.
First stop: Albina Yard, a four-story
office building that opened in 2016 fea-
turing cross-laminated timber panels
from D.R. Johnson, a lumber company
KNUTE BUEHLER
wood-framed buildings up to 18 stories tall.
Locke, who was hired by OFRI in 2015
to help develop markets and supply chain
for mass timber, said he believes momen-
tum will only increase as the projects gain
wider recognition.
“People like wood. It’s a nice material,”
Locke said. “It has a great environmental
story, and a great aesthetic.”
Timber Innovation Act
Mass timber refers to several con-
struction materials made of wood, includ-
ing CLT, glue laminated beams, laminated
veneer and mass plywood.
CLT, a prominent example, has been
described as “plywood on steroids.” It is
made by gluing planks of wood in perpen-
dicular layers, creating thick panels that can
be used for walls and floors.
See TIMBER, Page A11
KATE BROWN
OREGON
GOVERNOR
Rejects
‘partisan labels’
Sees herself as
consensus builder
education system from bottom five among
the states to the top five in five years.
By PARIS ACHEN
Oregon Capital Bureau
D
espite running for governor on the
Republican ticket, state Rep. Knute
Buehler has increasingly used the
word “independent” to describe himself.
Buehler says he rejects the “narrow parti-
san labels” that have increasingly polarized
the nation.
“Oregon is hungry for an indepen-
dent-minded leader who is able to close
a lot of these divides ... and is a governor
for everyone no matter who you are, where
you live, who you love or even how you are
registered to vote,” Buehler said during a
recent editorial board meeting of the Pam-
plin Media Group.
Since his election to the Oregon House
of Representatives in 2014, Buehler has
voted both with and against his party.
This is the second time he has chal-
lenged Democratic incumbent Kate Brown
for state office. That last time they faced off
was for Oregon secretary of state in 2012, a
race won by Brown.
Here are the specifics on where he
stands on the issues:
Education
Buehler released an ambitious outline
earlier this year to boost the state’s public
Health care
Buehler has pledged to protect Ore-
gonians from federal cuts to the Medic-
aid program, which provides health care
subsidies for low-income residents, and
to advance the state’s innovative coordi-
nated care organizations. He said he wants
to integrate mental health care into the Ore-
gon Health Plan — the state’s version of
Medicaid — and in health care delivered
by those CCOs. He says he supports a
woman’s right to choose but has been crit-
icized for voting against the state’s Repro-
ductive Health Equity Act, which bans a
co-payment for reproductive health care
and also requires the Oregon Health Plan
to provide that care to undocumented resi-
dents, without charge.
Housing and homelessness
Buehler has proposed creating 4,000
emergency shelter beds statewide to get
homeless residents off the streets, partly
with state funding and partly with federal
and philanthropic contributions. He sup-
ports measures to fast-track housing devel-
opment and offer property tax abatement
See BUEHLER, Page A12
By PARIS ACHEN
Oregon Capital Bureau
D
emocratic Gov. Kate Brown — the
nation’s first openly bisexual gov-
ernor and the face of progressive
policies such as no co-payments for repro-
ductive health care — is seeking a final
term as Oregon governor. On Nov. 6, she
is up against a moderate Republican, Ore-
gon Rep. Knute Buehler of Bend, who she
defeated in a 2012 race for secretary of state.
As a Democrat, Brown enters the race
with an advantage among the state’s lib-
eral-leaning electorate. Her campaign has
focused on her wealth of political experi-
ence beginning in 1991 and has sought to
discredit Buehler’s claim to support pro-
choice policies.
In response to Buehler’s outreach to
Independents, nonaffiliated voters and even
Democrats, Brown has highlighted the
times when she brought conservatives and
liberals together to address shared problems.
Last year, for instance, she negotiated with
Republicans to secure their votes for a $5.3
billion transportation package.
“I’m the only one in the race that has
a track record of bringing Oregonians
together to tackle difficult issues facing Ore-
gon,” Brown said during an editorial board
meeting at Pamplin Media Group on Sept.
19. “I’m a consensus builder and a collabo-
rator. And that’s the same kind of strategies
I’ll use if Oregonians give me the oppor-
tunity to serve as governor for four more
years.”
Here are the specifics on where she
stands on the issues:
Education
One of her top priorities for another term
is to improve the state’s four-year high school
graduation rate. Only 74.8 percent of high
school seniors earned a diploma in 2016,
making Oregon’s the third worst on-time
graduation rate in the nation. The first part of
her strategy is to follow the statute that voters
approved with Measure 98 in 2018.
Brown says she will seek to nearly dou-
ble the investment in high school career
and technical education to $300 million
in the next biennium. Secondly, she wants
to expand access to prekindergarten pro-
grams to an additional 10,000 students.
She wants to expand the school year to 180
days. Finally, she wants to look for ways
to improve teachers’ access to professional
development and mentoring.
Health care
Another of her priorities is to increase
See BROWN, Page A12
Porking out at the Pig-nic
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
At Slow Food Wallowas’ Pig-nic last Satur-
day at Emily and Rob Klavins’ “Barking Mad
Farm,” participants got nose-to-snout with their
food.
Not only was there live music, great food,
interaction with friendly (and small) Kunekune
pigs for children and parents, but the butcher
demonstration put on by Nicky Briggs of C’est
Bon Farms was a crowd pleaser.
Briggs made it look easy as the crowd
packed in three deep around his table.
“You can turn a pig into a million things —
it’s a miracle animal,” Briggs said.
Shortly thereafter, the assemblage enjoyed
servings of five different pork-related foods pre-
pared by local chefs.
The event was supported by 15 different
businesses or organizations and ended with the
award of a $1,000 grant.
Nathan Slinker of Alder Slope Gardens took
home the prize, but judges were so impressed
by the top four Wallowa County applicants that
board member Erika Polmar of Joseph and Port-
land, owner of “Plate and Pitchfork Dinners,”
contributed an additional $1,500 toward future
awards.
The other top three applicants inspiring the
gift were Jacqueline Vali’s “The Inspirational
Garden,” Mike and Sara Miller’s “Bunchgrass
Beef,” and Lindsey and Nicky Briggs’ “C’est
Bon.”
Slinker plans to use his grant to put in a low
tunnel system to protect hardy greens, root veg-
etables, broccoli and cauliflower for an extended
season. Slinker sells his produce to local stores,
restaurants and markets.
“We began with a vision of doing something
sustainable,” Slinker said. “It’s something I feel
wholeheartedly is important.”
See PIG-NIC, Page A9
Ellen Bishop/Chieftain
Meat-cutter Nicky Briggs brings his Louisiana experience to
Wallowa County as he demonstrates how to cut tenderloin,
ribs, bacon, and other meat cuts from a Kunekune pig to a
cold but receptive audience.