OPINION
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
A5
End logging for best forest management
ON LIBERTY
Devin Patton
‘Blessings of
Liberty’ takes
eff ort to enjoy
I
t’s February, the time of year when 80%
of people give up on their New Year’s
resolutions. This is a sad thought. I
imagine the new businesses that won’t be
started this year, the investments that won’t
be made, and the lives that won’t be trans-
formed because of the resistance to change
that resides deep within each of us. Admit-
tedly, it is much easier to write about per-
sonal responsibility, courage and freedom
than it is to live out those tenets, just as it is
easier to write down our resolutions with-
out making the adjustments required to real-
ize them.
Change is hard. It requires the courage to
face our inadequacies and accept the risks
and discomfort of doing things diff erently.
Unfortunately, change often will not occur
until the cost of not changing becomes too
great — “better the devil you know than the
one you don’t.” The “devil we don’t know”
keeps us stagnant, paralyzed and ineff ec-
tive. It’s the devil I call “fear of loss,” a
cognitive bias known as “loss aversion.” It
explains why the pain of losing is psycho-
logically twice as powerful as the pleasure
of gaining, and unfortunately this bias can
signifi cantly impact our decision-making
abilities.
Fear of loss is easy to notice when you
look for it. Most of us seek to secure the
things in life that are important to us: mate-
rial comforts, land, money, career suc-
cess, social standing, relationships, beauty,
independence, you name it. For me, fear
of loss manifests as a fear of rejection by
my peers and people I care about. I’m also
daunted by the idea of developing the disci-
pline needed for many good endeavors. Just
recently, I was sorting through some of my
old report cards from grades 1-6 and was
struck by the teachers’ comments: “A joy
to have in class,” they read, but “I haven’t
seen his best eff ort yet.”
Michael Jordan credited his success in
life with his willingness to risk failure: “I’ve
failed over and over in life, and that is why
I succeed.” We can only imagine the person
and basketball player Michael Jordan would
have been had he not accepted the risks and
developed the discipline required to be one
of the greatest basketball players of all-time.
Where would we be without the Teslas and
the Edisons of the world? Where would we
be without the 150,000 men who stormed
the beaches at Normandy or the Found-
ing Fathers who pledged to each other their
lives, fortunes and sacred honor? Where
will the world be without Devin Patton
accepting the risk that is his to take in order
to valiantly answer the call on his life? Put
your own name in there.
Maybe you are someone who lives life
to the max, unhindered by the fear of loss.
You have evaluated your life and identifi ed
the changes you’d like to make. You dili-
gently pursue this ideal version of yourself,
unencumbered by fear, and you encourage
others to do the same. You are one of the
few, and I commend you.
Each month I struggle to write this col-
umn, not because I don’t believe in the
ideas I share, but because writing is some-
thing I’m not naturally gifted at, and it
requires intentional eff ort on my part to sift
my thoughts down into something coherent.
I could be watching TV, after all, which is
much more entertaining and enjoyable than
having my work scrutinized by my wife/
editor in order that I might deliver some-
thing intelligible to the readers of this paper.
My daughter, who’s memorizing the pre-
amble to the Constitution by way of song,
walks around the house declaring, “We the
People of the United States, in Order to
form a more perfect Union, establish Jus-
tice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide
for the common defense, promote the gen-
eral Welfare, and secure the Blessings of
Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the
United States of America.” It caught my ear
one day that it doesn’t say “secure Liberty,”
but rather, “secure the Blessings of Liberty”
to ourselves and our posterity. What are
the blessings of liberty? I propose that the
blessings of liberty are not the moments we
spend zoned out in front of the TV, or the
time spent avoiding a diffi cult conversation
that needs to happen. Men and women have
not fought and bled to secure the “blessings
of liberty” in order that we might live inhib-
ited lives. The blessings of liberty are those
blessings that allow for true freedom: free-
dom of expression and conscience, freedom
to pursue good endeavors, to fail in those
pursuits. The freedom to try again. These
are the blessings of liberty secured by a
Constitution that places vast limits on gov-
ernment’s authority in our lives.
We need to apply similar restrictions to
the “devil we don’t know” and reject the
tyrannical voice of fear if we are ever to
personally enjoy the blessings of liberty.
———
Devin Patton is a fi fth-generation Wal-
lowa County native whose pastimes include
the study of ag economics, history and free
thought.
OTHER VIEWS
George Wuerthner
O
ne of the arguments alleged by pro-
ponents of thinning or logging for-
ests is that it would preclude wild-
fi res and reduce carbon emissions from
wildfi re. Proponents argue that more trees
survive a fi re if there has been “active for-
est management.”
The problem with such ebullient pro-
nouncements is that they fail to provide a
full accounting of the carbon losses and
emissions.
A number of studies that reviewed car-
bon emissions conclude that logging and
wood processing emits far more carbon
than a fi re.
For instance, one study estimates that
logging in the United States releases fi ve
times the carbon as wildfi re, bark beetles,
wind thrown, land use conservations and
drought combined.
Another Oregon study calculates that
35% of the carbon emissions in the state
results from the wood products sector,
while wildfi res average approximately 4%.
Making matters worse is that logging
advocates fail to consider that in thinning
the forest, you are killing trees. The prob-
lem is that where and when a fi re will
occur is unpredictable. The majority of all
thinned acres never encounter a fi re. Some
estimates suggest less than 1-2% of all
thinned acres experience a fi re when they
might potentially infl uence fi re behavior
and tree mortality.
As one group of researchers concluded:
“Thinning forests to reduce potential car-
bon losses due to wildfi re is in direct con-
fl ict with carbon sequestration goals.”
They go on to conclude “the amount of
carbon removed to change fi re behavior is
often far larger than that saved by chang-
ing fi re behavior, and more area has to be
harvested than will ultimately burn over
the period of eff ectiveness of the thinning
treatment.”
In fact, one estimate suggests it may
take 100 years to replace the carbon loss
resulting from forest management.
Thinning larger areas to decrease the
probability of high-severity fi re ensures
decreased carbon stock and net carbon bal-
ance over the treated area.
Let us say 50% of the trees are removed
in a thinning project, that is 50% of the
stored carbon. So even if a thinned stand
burns at lower severity and most trees sur-
vive a fi re, the net result is still a signif-
icant loss of carbon due to tree removal
because of the logging.
Plus, in logging the trees (killing them),
you reduce the future carbon storage that
would have otherwise occurred had the
trees remained in the forest.
So, we get a guaranteed removal of car-
bon and carbon emissions with logging/
thinning that contributes to climate warm-
ing, which is, in turn, contributing to more
fi res.
Even if a forest stand burns in a high
severity fi re where the majority of trees are
killed, most of the carbon remains on the
site as snags, branches, charcoal, and roots
in the soil.
A further problem is an assumption
that logging the forest will preclude large
high severity blazes (where most trees are
killed). However, there is abundant scien-
tifi c and anecdotal evidence that logging
does little to prevent large wildfi res.
The best management for our forests
and climate is to stop logging our public
forests.
———
George Wuerthner is an ecologist who
specializes in fi re ecology and livestock
issues.
OTHER VIEWS
Matt McElligott
We’re still
waiting to
see the maps
S
Keep your credit score
high after retirement
LAYIN’ IT ON
THE LINE
Steve Kerby
here’s a long checklist when prepar-
ing for the time when you no lon-
ger get a paycheck. People within
7-10 years of retirement have a lot on their
minds. They may be dealing with potential
cash shortfalls, health care concerns, aging
parents or tax issues, among other things.
Because of these distractions, preretirees
often don’t give their credit scores enough
attention. However, if you want a less
stressful, more prosperous retirement, you
need to do everything possible to get (and
keep) your credit score at 750 or above.
Even if you don’t plan to purchase
much when you retire or decide to stay
away from debt entirely, a strong credit
score still matters for several reasons.
Credit scores can continue to impact
many areas of your life, even when you’re
retired. For example, if you still have a
mortgage when you retire and rates drop,
you may want to refi nance. Or, you could
decide to downsize and purchase a new
home. An excellent credit score ensures
you get the most favorable loans in both
instances.
The act of retiring itself doesn’t show
up on your credit report. Still, you don’t
want to take your credit for granted. It is
critical to keep your score intact, even if
you are no longer working. You might
want or need to purchase a new car or RV,
switch credit card companies or rent an
apartment. Even your car and homeown-
er’s insurance premiums might be nega-
tively aff ected if your score drops. With
these things in mind, here are some things
you can do to improve and maintain your
excellent FICO score.
• Monitor your credit reports regularly.
Some experts recommend using a cred-
it-monitoring service or setting up a cal-
endar to check your credit every week.
Many credit card issuers off er essen-
tial monitoring for their cardholders at
no charge. Also, the law entitles you to a
complimentary full credit report once a
year. You can check three credit reports
per year at www.annualcreditreport.com.
Contact the reporting agency immedi-
ately if you fi nd any wrong or incomplete
T
information or see inquiries you do not
recognize.
• Don’t close accounts. It’s tempting
to want to close unused or paid-off credit
card accounts. However, doing so may
increase your debt-to-limit ratio, which
is the relationship between a card bal-
ance and its credit limit. Closing a card
can cause your utilization ratio to go up,
aff ecting your score.
• Avoid cosigning loans. You want
to help a loved one or friend qualify for
a loan, establish credit or get an apart-
ment, so you agree to be a cosigner. How-
ever, taking on the role of a cosigner can
backfi re in a hurry. Many people do not
realize that cosigning for a debt makes
you equally liable for that debt, put-
ting your credit on the line should some-
thing go wrong. Instead of cosigning, you
could potentially add your friend or fam-
ily member as an authorized user on one
of your existing credit cards to help them
build better credit.
• Aim for 100% on-time payments.
Never be late, even if you experience cash
fl ow issues and only pay the minimum
amounts due. Payment history makes
up 35% or more of your FICO score
calculation.
• Never “max out” your lines of credit.
Creditors don’t like it when you are at,
near, or over your maximum available
credit. For example, if you have a card
with a $2,500 limit and you have a $2,450
balance, the credit card company may cat-
egorize you as irresponsible and lower
your score.
A rule of thumb is only to use around
10% of your credit limit. Your utilization
percentage makes up nearly 30% of your
FICO score.
These are just a few tips that could dra-
matically improve your credit score now
and when you retire if you do them con-
sistently. Remember, just because you
no longer work doesn’t mean you can’t
save thousands of dollars by using credit
responsibly. Maintaining good credit will
greatly improve your odds of having a less
stressful, more enjoyable life after you
stop working.
———
As an avid outdoorsman, Joseph and
the Wallowa area have been a big part of
Steve Kerby’s life since 1964. Steve is a
Syndicated Columnists member, a national
organization committed to a transpar-
ent approach to money management. Visit
stevekerby.retirevillage.com or call 503-
936-3535 for more.
ome things from 2021 are still linger-
ing in 2022, like the River Democ-
racy Act that Sens. Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley are pushing. They are trying
to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of
1968.
For several months I’ve been following
this issue, and still there are no answers to
many revolving questions. Like, why are
some of the designated streams not streams
at all, but dry washes? Why are the stream
buff ers increased from a quarter-mile to a
half-mile? The act has pages of coordinates
of the streams, rivers and dry gulches to be
protected, but not one map.
In May 2021, the Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association asked for the maps, and then
they asked again in November. As of this
writing, we still don’t have the maps from
Wyden’s offi ce.
I know of two counties in Eastern Ore-
gon that have, at their own expense, hired
an engineering fi rm to map the coordinates
in the act in order to have a visual map of
the aff ected streams. These visual maps
give the counties a picture of how this act
will impact them.
It is unconscionable that any county
government should have to spend money
from its general fund to map these streams
when information should be available upon
request from Wyden or Merkley. Yet, they
continue to ignore the requests. How will
this aff ect livestock grazing and other natu-
ral resource users?
This act talks a lot about fi re resiliency
but supplies no details as to how locking
up 3.1 million acres of federal land will
reduce threat of fi re to land, lumber and
lives. What long-term economic eff ect will
this bill have on rural Oregon? Wyden and
his team expound on the great benefi ts of
tourism and the dollars spent on recreation.
“Money will fl ow like manna from the gods
to rural Oregon.”
That’s the well-polished sales pitch and
talking points pounded into their heads at
staff meetings. When hikers, bikers and
ATVers visit rural Oregon most of them
bring their own tents, campers or RVs. They
fi ll their coolers and gas tanks at home and
don’t spend much in the small towns they
drive through. Wyden’s bill has a $30 mil-
lion price tag. Not just for the fi rst year but
every year — forever. Only $5 million of
that is earmarked. What is the other $25
million for? They haven’t answered that
one, either.
The original intent of the Wild and Sce-
nic Rivers Act was to preserve certain riv-
ers with “outstanding, natural, cultural and
recreational values in a free-fl owing con-
dition.” The River Democracy Act as pre-
sented is a vast departure from the origi-
nal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. If this act
passes into law, it will set grave precedent
that will enable lawmakers to circumvent
protocol and procedures. Our senators were
elected to represent all Oregonians, not a
select demographic.
Please take the time to look up SB 192.
If you don’t like what you see, if you don’t
want another 4,700 miles of streams and 3.1
million acres of Oregon locked up, reach
out to Oregon’s senators and let them know.
———
Matt McElligott is the Oregon Cattle-
men’s Association president-elect and public
lands council committee chair.