LOCAL/REGIONAL
Wallowa.com
Bentz voices opposition to RDA
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
WASHINGTON — Ore-
gon Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-On-
tario, denounced the River
Democracy Act on the
House fl oor Tuesday, Jan.
11, saying the legislation
that would label 4,700 miles
of waterways as “Wild and
Scenic” would instead leave
them “just waiting to be
burned and ruined.”
“The
overwhelming
majority of my 62 county
commissioners have serious
and unanswered concerns
about the dangers the act
presents,” Bentz, a freshman
congressman, said during
his fl oor speech. “Chief
among them is that this des-
ignation will prevent what
needs to be done to pro-
tect these watersheds, plac-
ing them in a bureaucratic
wasteland where it will take
years, if not decades, to initi-
ate and then complete plans
that may or may not allow
the treatment activities
needed right now.”
Bentz noted that with
a mile-wide corridor — a
half-mile on each side of the
designated areas — being
marked Wild and Scenic,
the area cordoned off , 4,700
square miles, would be about
the size of Connecticut.
Bentz said the bill would
allow just one method of
fi re prevention — pre-
scribed burning — which
he contended would actually
increase the threat of fi res.
“I cannot emphasize
enough how dangerous it is
to use prescribed burns in
overgrown, densely packed,
dry forests without thin-
ning the forest fi rst,” he said.
“Prescribed burning before
thinning puts at extreme risk
the very rivers and water-
sheds the designation is sup-
posed to protect. It is like
dropping a match in a tinder-
box. It is impossible to con-
tain these types of fi res once
they start.
“The River Democ-
racy Act, if passed, would
threaten watersheds, homes,
businesses, farms, ranches,
livestock and, most impor-
tantly, human lives.”
Bentz also denounced
the bill for not contain-
ing “explicit protections”
for uses of the land, includ-
ing, “sustainable timber har-
vests, hunting, grazing, fi sh-
ing and mining.”
“Regardless of legislative
intent, the applicable agen-
cies will have broad author-
ity to restrict these activi-
ties,” he said.
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Winter Fishtrap to
explore drought in West
Chieftain staff
Ellen Morris Bishop/Wallowa County Chieftain, File
The land around the Imnaha River in Northeastern Oregon would be aff ected if the waterway
is designated as Wild and Scenic under the proposed River Democracy Act. Rep. Cliff Bentz
spoke in opposition to the 2021 bill on the House fl oor Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022.
a lack of detailed maps outly-
ing the aff ected waterways.
“The maps your offi ce
provided were not clear
so the county went to the
expense of having maps
made that included half-
mile buff ers,” they wrote.
“These maps gave a visual
of the buff ers, aff ecting eco-
nomic viability for our tim-
ber and grazing economies,
public access and forest
management on an esti-
mated 240,000 acres of pub-
lic lands and 16,000 acres of
adjacent private land in Wal-
lowa County.”
Union County commis-
sioners voted in October
to send a letter to Wyden
asking him to remove the
roughly 135 miles of water-
ways in their county from
the act. Part of their issue
with the RDA, they said,
was that methods in place
for designating rivers as
Wild and Scenic were not
adhered to.
“This failure to follow
the guidelines that have
been in place since 1968
as a well-vetted system for
designation is resulting in
waterways that do not meet
the criteria, spirit, intent or
letter of the Wild and Scenic
Act,” according to the letter
sent to Wyden.
Grant County commis-
sioners have also sought to
opt out of the RDA.
“Prohibiting access to
minerals that are necessary
for creating green energy
runs counter to the princi-
ples of conservation,” they
wrote in a November let-
ter opposing the RDA. “In
this respect, Sen. Wyden’s
proposal is fundamentally
anti-environmental.”
The River Democracy
Act also came under criti-
cism in June for including
Local, regional
disapproval
The RDA, introduced last
year by Sen. Ron Wyden and
backed by Sen. Jeff Merkley,
both Oregon Democrats, has
been condemned by several
county commissioners in
Eastern Oregon.
Wallowa County com-
missioners have opposed
the RDA on multiple occa-
sions, and have said about
404 miles in their county
would fall under the new
designation.
They also wrote an Octo-
ber 2021 letter to Wyden
voicing their disapproval of
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waterways that were “com-
pletely dry upon inspec-
tion.” The American Forest
Resources Council, which
represents the timber indus-
try, said just 15% of the
waterways are designated as
rivers.
Senate Bill 192, which
was introduced Feb. 3, 2021,
has been before the Com-
mittee on Energy and Natu-
ral Resources Subcommittee
on National Parks, accord-
ing to congress.gov. It has
yet to receive a vote on the
House or Senate fl oor.
— Information previously
published by the Capital
Press, The Observer, Wal-
lowa County Chieftain and
Blue Mountain Eagle was
used in this report.
A7
ENTERPRISE — We
hear about drought in the
West all the time and now
it’s our turn to talk about it
as a community, said Fish-
trap Director Mike Midlo.
Fishtrap will host an online
conference Jan. 22 and 29,
according to a press release.
“Winter
Fishtrap:
Drought” will be held on
two consecutive Saturdays
at 10 a.m.
Registration costs $50,
or $45 for Fishtrappers.
Student registration is $20.
“As of August 2021,
99% of the United States
west of the Rockies was
in drought, as severe a
measurement as any in
the historical record,”
Midlo quoted from Sierra
Magazine.
But now, how did we get
here? And where do we go
from here?
Winter Fishtrap will
explore drought as it relates
to the environment, the
economy, socio-economic
justice, cultures and the
ultimate future of the Amer-
ican West. Guests include
rural land use and water
policy expert, Hannah Gos-
nel, director of the Oregon
Climate Change Research
Institute; Erica Fleishman,
of Oregon State Univer-
sity; research fellow Kyle
Hogrefe; Wallowa County
rancher Dan Probert; and
Katy Nesbitt, who will lead
a panel discussion from
local and regional experts.
On Jan. 22 there will be
an online discussion with
Fleishman on the causes
and consequences of aridi-
fi cation across the West and
some of the surprising ways
in which natural and agri-
cultural systems can adapt
to these trends.
On Jan. 29, the panel will
discuss agriculture, tim-
ber and tourism, as Nesbitt
moderates with rural land
use and water policy expert
Hannah Gosnel, Hogrefe
and Probert in addition to
local farmers, ranchers and
regional experts.
Winter Fishtrap: Drought
is sponsored by Alder Slope
Nursery, Avella Orchard,
The Bookloft, Diane Dag-
gett at Ruby Peak Realty,
Genuine Wallowa County,
The Gold Room, Greater
Hells Canyon Council,
Ground and Sky Health, Sei
Mee Tea, Terminal Gravity
Brewing Company, Wal-
lowa County Grain Grow-
ers and Wallowa Resources.
Learn more about Win-
ter Fishtrap: Drought and
register at Fishtrap.org.
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