Wednesday, June 29, 2022
A4
OPINION
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
A tip of
the hat to
the area’s
graduates
W
e salute the host of col-
lege and high school grad-
uates who strolled across
the stage this month, clutching their
diplomas.
While graduation is certainly a rec-
ognized rite of passage, it is also a
time of reflection and hope. Now,
more than ever, we need every area
graduate.
Lofty goals and sentiments are
often legion during graduation — as
they should be — but the basic fact
remains that the nation, the state and
the local community needs every one
of those graduates to step out into
the adult world with a goal to make a
difference.
It may appear easy to dismiss the
notion that a single person can make
an impact, but the truth is each young
man and woman who walks off the
graduation stage this month can make
a difference.
And we need those who want and
can make a difference.
At a time when the nation is rife
with division, where discord is con-
sumed like an energy drink, America,
Oregon, Union and Wallowa counties
need young people who still retain
the determination of their youth. Peo-
ple who are ready and eager to step
up and seek change.
Our greatest resource as a nation is
our youth.
Our prospects, our opportuni-
ties for success as a county, state and
nation rest on the hopes and desires
of our young people.
Our young are the agents of our
future, and the potential they repre-
sent is as valuable as any new policy,
law or idea.
Granted, we remain the greatest
nation on Earth in terms of goals and
values, and at no time in our shared
history have chances of a happy life
for our youths been more acute than
now.
Yet challenges, risks, also remain
for our youths. There is no way to
deny that the obstacles the nation and
the state face are significant. The per-
ceived problems stack up easily, and
solutions often are fleeting.
That is why the views, the ambi-
tions, of those who have just gradu-
ated are so important to our collective
prosperity. We need every one of the
new graduates to feel they can make
a difference, that they can help their
community, their state and even their
nation.
We salute every single graduate
from Eastern Oregon University and
all of our area high schools. We hope
that they will be able to move ahead
in life with a calm but steady resolve
to give back to their community and
spark change for the good of all.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
The issue with
collaboratives
Chieftain readers may be puzzled
by Mark Webb’s harsh rebuttal of Rob
Klavins’ essay on Forest Collaboratives,
seeing that The Chieftain didn’t print
Klavin’s piece. But Webb certainly proves
one of Klavins’ points: the collaboratives
are quick to crush any dissent.
I was a member of the Wallowa-Whit-
man Collaborative (now the Northern
Blues Forest Collaborative) but left after
realizing decisions were biased towards
extraction rather than responsible forest
management.
I attended a Wallowa-Whitman briefing
on the proposed Morgan-Nesbit project
and viewed proposed cuts. This is nomi-
nally a restoration project, but the exam-
ples I was shown included aggressive log-
ging of big old trees in previously uncut
backcountry forests.
The 21-inch screens no longer pro-
tect big trees, contrary to what Webb
says, because the rule was weakened
and changed from a standard to an unen-
forceable guideline. Furthermore, log-
ging projects of 16,000 acres (recently in
the Fremont-Winema National Forest) are
happening as categorical exclusions that
sidestep environmental impact statements
and significant environmental review.
Labeling big trees as hazards has
become a consistent tactic in justifying a
return to logging big timber. Huge ponder-
osa, hundreds of years old, were cut along
the Imnaha River under this rubric and
others. Go count the rings.
This tactic was used on the Big Mos-
quito project where big trees near the lift
cable route and landing were cut down
after being labeled hazardous. Cable lifts
are planned elsewhere in the Big Mos-
quito cut. If they don’t try to stop it, the
collaboratives are complicit.
I believe there is a public consensus
that big old trees be conserved, for envi-
ronmental and ethical reasons. The forest
service skirts this consensus by disingen-
uous labeling and collaborative support.
Perhaps in Big Mosquito saving big trees
should have priority over extraction. If the
logging can’t be done without cutting old
growth, those units should be dropped.
Forest collaboratives are enabling the
Forest Service to log old-growth timber.
Wally Sykes
Joseph
Wolves
In response to Connie Dunham’s opin-
ion article (June 1, Chieftain), I feel her
anxiety. Ever since our mother read us
“Little Red Riding Hood” we seldom go
far from the house.
Canadian wolves were not aware of
state or country boundaries, they traveled
EDITORIALS: Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Wallowa County Chieftain
editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the
opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the Wallowa County Chieftain.
LETTERS: The Wallowa County Chieftain welcomes original letters of 400 words
or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and
on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address
concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the
rights of private citizens. Letters must be signed by the author and include the
city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be
published. Unsigned letters will not be published.
• Longer community comment columns, such as Other Views, must be no more
than 700 words. Writers must provide a recent headshot and a one-sentence
biography. Like letters to the editor, columns must refrain from complaints against
businesses or personal attacks against private individuals. Submissions must carry
the author’s name, address and phone number.
• Submission does not guarantee publication, which is at the discretion of the editor.
SEND LETTERS TO: editor@wallowa.com, or via mail to Wallowa County Chieftain,
209 NW 1st St. Enterprise, OR 97828
Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884
Member Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association
VOLUME 134
USPS No. 665-100
P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828
Office: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore.
Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921
Contents copyright © 2022. All rights reserved.
Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
General Manager, Karrine Brogoitti, kbrogoitti@eomediagroup.com
Editor, editor@wallowa.com
Reporter, Bill Bradshaw, bbradshaw@wallowa.com
News Assistant, Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com
Classifieds/Inside Sales, Julie Ferdig, jferdig@bakercityherald.com
Advertising Assistant, Devi Mathson, dmathson@lagrandeobserver.com
• • •
To submit news tips and press releases, call 541-426-4567
or email editor@wallowa.com
at will. If Canadian wolves are so fear-
some I puzzle that any livestock ranches
survive in Canada.
So according to Google and other
studies by Western Wildlife Outreach,
“wolves are extremely wary of humans,
not aggressive toward them by nature”,
“wolf attacks are the rarest of all large
predator attacks.” Google Facts: “In
North America there have been only 41
nonfatal wolf attacks ever recorded.”
However, dog related fatalities 1982-2010
number 324!
So ... Yellowstone biologists tell us
face to face, and in numerous written arti-
cles, that wolves in the park have thinned
the herd, made it healthier while trees and
brush that now shade creeks and rivers
help cool the waters for better fish habitat.
It’s hunters looking for trophies that are
responsible for harming the gene pool by
harvesting the biggest and best animals.
The overall picture here is that pow-
erful rancher lobbyists have aided ranch-
ers for over a hundred years, allowing
them cheap forage on public land and
providing a U.S. Fish & Game Deptment
to hunt and kill wildlife predators by the
thousands, protecting livestock at public
expense.
I sincerely urge reading “Welfare
Ranching, The Subsidized Destruction of
the American West.”
Boyd McAvoy
Joseph
Published every Wednesday by: EO Media Group
Periodical Postage Paid at Enterprise and additional mailing offices
Subscription rates (includes online access)
Annually
Monthly (autopay)
Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery
See the Wallowa County
Chieftain on the Internet
Wallowa.com
facebook.com/Wallowa
twitter.com/wcchieftain
1 Year
$51.00
$4.25
POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to
Wallowa County Chieftain
P.O. Box 338
Enterprise, OR 97828