A14
Wallowa County Chieftain
OFF PAGE ONE
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Lostine: ‘It’s going to look like a park’
Continued from Page A1
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa Memorial Hospital’s new ambulance shows off its
lights on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. It may look like any other
ambulance on the road, but its four-wheel drive, high-tech
capabilities and its ability to navigate roads in bad weather
elevate it above the rest.
Ambulance: A smooth
ride like the ‘family van’
Continued from Page A1
to meet the needs of Crit-
ical Care Transport. It
gives caregivers complete
access to the patient critical
care including IV therapy,
mechanical ventilation and
blood work.
The new blue-and-
white vehicle has the chas-
sis, drive train and engine
of a Chevrolet K4500 4x4.
But that’s where the resem-
blance to an ordinary truck
ends.
This ambulance has
a
computer-controlled
hydraulic
suspension
called a “liquid spring.” It
levels out bumps, adjusts
vehicle height automati-
cally for road conditions,
and can be raised and low-
ered with a manual control
as well.
“The
crews
keep
remarking on the smooth
ride and ease of driving
— some say it drives like
the ‘family van,’ but it’s
truly been an important
upgrade to patient care as
well as safety for everyone
onboard,” Peck said.
There’s a built-in elec-
tric generator that pro-
vides ample electric-sys-
tem support, including a
standalone heating/cool-
ing system with UVC light
that helps kill airborne
viruses, which is especially
important now, Peck said.
The compartment confi g-
uration was designed to
meet the needs of Criti-
cal Care Transport, with
added safety features for
patient and crew members.
For example, the seat belts
and shoulder harnesses for
the EMT’s allow them to
stretch forward and move
to treat the patient while
remaining safely seat
belted.
The new ambulance’s
cost was covered by local
fundraising efforts, led by
the Wallowa Valley Health
Care Foundation, includ-
ing the Healthy Futures
Dinner Auction in 2019
and a $20,000 grant from
the Lewis and Clark Valley
Health Care Foundation,
that raised over $152,000
with a matching grant from
the Murdock Charitable
Trust for $152,000. The
ambulance itself, including
the major equipment, cost
just over $300,000.
Although the hospital
has two other 4x4 ambu-
lances, this one greatly
enhances our transfer capa-
bility in extreme weather,
Peck said.
“We feel very fortunate
to serve in a community
that supports our mission
with equipment that pro-
vides safety for the patient
and crew, as well as allows
the crews to provide the
highest levels of prehospi-
tal care possible,” he said.
“Without community sup-
port, our mission would
struggle.”
Pro Thinning Inc., oper-
ated by Zacharias’ sons Tom
and Seth Zacharias, has
been contracted to do the
harvesting.
“This number is a ‘total,’
and lumber is only one of
numerous forest products
that may be produced out of
this total,” Moeller said.
The smaller logs are
going to Schmidt’s IBR mill
in Wallowa, while larger
“saw logs” will be sold on
the open market. Schmidt
said some are going to Jim
Zacharias’ Jay Zee Lumber
in Joseph, some to the Boi-
se-Cascade mill in Elgin,
some to Woodgrain in La
Grande and some to Idaho
Forest in Lewiston, Idaho.
Nils D. Christoffersen,
executive director of Wal-
lowa Resources, said the
project has been sought for
more than 15 years.
“When I chaired the
county’s fi rst community
wildfi re protection plan pro-
cesses back in 2005-06, this
area was one of four areas
that emerged as the highest
priorities based on the risk of
fi re, and the potential conse-
quence that a wildfi re would
have on people’s lives, our
community and a wide
range of environmental val-
ues at risk,” Christoffersen
wrote in an email. “That risk
assessment, and the poten-
tial consequences in the
Lostine Corridor, have not
changed — if anything they
have risen. If a fi re broke out
in the corridor last summer,
when the parking lots were
fi lled beyond capacity (from
recreationists) and hun-
dreds of additional cars were
parked along the side of the
road, it could have been cat-
astrophic. Evacuation routes
would have been clogged,
and access by fi refi ghting
crews blocked.”
Howard, of the ODF,
agreed. Earlier he noted that
it’s not “if” wildfi re comes to
the area, but “when.”
“We’re a fi re-dependent
ecosystem; we have wild-
land fi res in this county
every year. The Lostine Cor-
ridor is not free from that,”
he said, noting that “fi re-de-
pendent” means fi re helps
maintain forest health.
“As long as summer
thunderstorms keep rolling
through, we’re going to have
fi res, and fi re’s a normal part
of the ecosystem,” he said.
“When we say ‘fi re-depen-
dent,’ we mean our forests
depend on that as part of
their normal cycle.”
But neither recreationists
nor landowners want to see
a wildfi re get out of control.
In a Chieftain story from
February 2020, Michael
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
“It’s going to look like a park,” said Jim Zacharias, after viewing a section of the Lostine Corridor
Public Safety Project, that had been cleared of dense timber and underbrush Thursday, Feb.
25, 2021.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
A forwarder unloads logs to the roadside Thursday, Feb. 25,
2021, to await loading onto log trucks in Lostine Canyon. The
forwarder brings the cut logs from where they were felled to
the roadside.
Eng, of the Lostine Firewise
Community, said approxi-
mately 110 properties with
120 structures make up
about 15 square miles, or
9,600 acres, south of Los-
tine. About 45 landown-
ers are participants in that
Firewise Community.
“Fire is good for the eco-
system but when you put
‘catastrophic’ in front of it,
that’s a whole new formula,”
Howard said.
But the project hasn’t been
without controversy. Earlier
in the process, two environ-
mental groups — Oregon
Wild and the Greater Hells
Canyon Council — went to
court to stop it because they
said they objected to some of
the aspects of the then-pro-
posed project and to some
procedural concerns.
Rob Klavins, Northeast
Oregon fi eld coordinator for
Oregon Wild out of Enter-
prise, said the environmental
groups — and some area res-
idents who opposed the proj-
ect — were in favor of the
aspects involving removing
hazard trees, adding natural
fi rebreaks, the helipad and
thinning around structures.
But portions appeared to be
going too far.
“Concerned about a
majority who seemed more
about getting logs to mills
than
safety
concerns,”
Klavins said last week.
He said the procedural
concerns involved includ-
ing “really important stake-
holders, ourselves included,”
in the decision-making pro-
cess that he believed were
overlooked.
As a result, the groups
took their objections to
court, ultimately seeing an
unfavorable decision in the
9th U.S. Court of Appeals.
Klavins called the project
“a dramatic overreach from
their stated purpose.”
He also said his group only
went to court reluctantly.
“If they had done this
properly, there were lots of
portions of the project we
could’ve supported,” he said.
Klavins said after they
took it to court, the Forest
Service scaled back the proj-
ect. He said he plans to go up
there this week to see what
changes were made.
Still, the project remains
multifaceted.
“Everything we’re doing
here on the federal side, it fi ts
to a ‘T’ into our community
wildfi re protection plan …
the common pieces are fi t-
ting together,” Moeller said.
“The primary goal of this
project is public safety. Pre-
venting catastrophic wildfi re
is a piece of that, but that’s
not the sole purpose of this
project.”
Schmidt agreed that the
hazard trees remain the most
constant danger. He and his
family often recreate in the
area and told of a time last
summer when high winds
added to the danger.
“It was scary as hell; trees
were falling all around us,”
he said, adding that a woman
packing stuff out on her
horse was four hours behind
because she had to cut trees
that fell across the trail.
Jim Zacharias, in his
capacity with Wallowa
Resources, spoke highly of
how the project fi ts into that
group’s mission.
“Wallowa Resources is
really community oriented.
We really support what this
is designed to do,” he said.
“Plus, it’s supporting the
local economy in creating
jobs. Wallowa Resources is
about the human resource,
too. With Pro Thinning,
there are fi ve people directly
on their crew, plus a half-
dozen truck drivers who are
hauling the logs and David
(Schmidt)’s operation that
has 30-something employ-
ees. Then there’s a trickle
effect: They’re all eating
at M.Crow store and buy-
ing Copenhagen at the Little
Store.”
Zacharias was pleased
with the results he saw
in areas that had been
completed.
“It’s going to look like a
park,” he said.
March is National Problem Gambling
Awareness Month
If you or someone you know has a problem, support is available.
Visit OPGR.org for support including a 24/7 helpline staffed with
professionals to answer questions and guide you to resources.
#ReflectResourceRenew
Signs That Gambling May Be a Problem
* Spending more and more time gambling
* Increasing gambling time and places
* Increasing bet sizes
* Creating special occasions for gambling (canceling other plans)
* Increasing Intensity of interest in gambling
(constant high tension/excitement)
* Gambling to escape problems or when there is a crises
* “Chasing” losses with more gambling
* Boasting about winning and evasive about losing
* Exaggerated display of money and possessions
* Decreasing desire to engage in other activities and interests
* Frequent absences from school, work and home
* Withdrawal from family and friends
* Diversion of funds earmarked for
other purposes
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