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Wednesday, August 10, 2022
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Get serious about carbon and wildfire prevention
OTHER VIEWS
George Wuerthner
n early July, the largest wildfire in New
Mexico history, the 340,000-acre Her-
mit Peak blaze, came to a quiet end.
What stopped the fire? Was it firefight-
ing? Did the fire run into fuel breaks? Did
thinning halt its spread?
What happened is that the summer
monsoon rains began to fall in New Mex-
ico, and the Hermit Peak Fire was quickly
squelched.
It may seem counterintuitive, but the
entire “fuels are the problem” and “logging
is the solution” to wildfires are based on
flawed assumptions.
While some proponents of “active forest
management” admit that climate/weather
is one driving force in fires, they seem to
ignore or downplay the outsized influence
of extreme fire weather. For example, the
West is under the most severe drought in a
thousand years.
There is a direct correlation between
weather/climate and wildfire. Drought,
temperature, wind and humidity are the
I
main factors in the spread of fires.
Furthermore, we have evidence that log-
ging/thinning does not significantly influ-
ence wildfires around the West. The oppo-
site is true. Places with substantial logging,
including private timber lands, often burn
at the highest severity.
Examples of wildfires that burned
through areas with significant past “active
forest management” include the Dixie Fire
(California’s most significant fire in 2021),
the Bootleg Fire (Oregon’s most enormous
Fire in Idaho, among others, burned mainly
through chaparral or sagebrush shrub.
There are plenty of problems with log-
ging as a solution.
First, logging is the largest source of
greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon. Log-
ging, therefore, creates the very conditions
that exacerbate climate warming. Even
burnt forests store significant amounts of
carbon.
Second, no one can’t predict where a
fire will occur, so the majority of all log-
“THERE IS A DIRECT CORRELATION BETWEEN
WEATHER/CLIMATE AND WILDFIRE. DROUGHT,
TEMPERATURE, WIND AND HUMIDITY ARE THE
MAIN FACTORS IN THE SPREAD OF FIRES.”
fire in 2021), the Holiday Farm fire (which
charred massive clearcut lands on the west
slope of the Cascades in 2020), and the
Camp Fire, which burned down the town of
Paradise, California.
Many of the largest blazes do not even
occur in forested landscapes, so that log-
ging will have no influence. For example,
the 281,000-acre Thomas Fire near Santa
Barbara, the half-million-acre Long Draw
Fire in Oregon, and the 280,000-acre Soda
ging/thinning projects never experience a
blaze at the time when they “might” influ-
ence fire behavior.
Third, no forester with a paint gun
marking trees for removal can tell which
individual has genetic resistance to
drought, bark beetles, disease or wildfire.
Indeed, in many instances, logging reduces
the “resiliency” of forests and degrades for-
est health.
Other factors also influence fires. For
example, most human ignitions occur on or
near roads. Thus, the proliferation of log-
ging roads that come with thinning/logging
means more opportunities for unplanned
ignitions.
And logging roads, because they favor
the growth of flammable weeds, also
become natural corridors for fire spread.
While it may be difficult to accept, we
see the landscape “adapting” to drier condi-
tions across the West. Drought, insects and
wildfires are restoring evolutionary balance
to the landscape plant communities by nat-
urally selecting which vegetation can sur-
vive under the new climatic conditions.
If we wish to moderate or reverse this
climate warning trend, we must get seri-
ous about reducing greenhouse gas emis-
sions — including those from logging.
Setting aside all national forests lands as
“carbon storage” reserves would be a good
first step.
Beyond this long-term solution, we can
reduce human costs by controlling home
development in the Wildlands Urban inter-
face, hardening the home with fire-resis-
tant construction materials, and removing
flammable materials from the home site.
Planning for emergency evacuations is also
critical.
———
George Wuerthner is an ecologist who
has published numerous articles and sev-
eral books on wildfire issues.
The rising tide of inflation threatens to swamp Oregon’s public budgets
OTHER VIEWS
Tim Nesbitt
G
as prices and grocery bills have
headlined the immediate effects of
rising inflation on household bud-
gets. But inflation has downstream effects
that will swamp public budgets as well,
eroding the capacity of state and local reve-
nues to sustain support for vital services.
In Oregon and neighboring states, con-
sumer prices rose 8.8% year over year in
June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Gas prices increased a whopping
52%. The price of food at home rose 13%.
Those are the volatile components of the
consumer price index, which are prone to
ups and down over the course of a year.
The cost of other items, like medical care
and housing, are harder to reverse. Those
were up about 6%, embedding a new and
higher trend line of cost increases in sectors
of the economy that are heavily dependent
on public spending (health care) and public
policy interventions (homelessness).
Almost all of the political responses to
inflation have focused on short-term mitiga-
tions, such as gas tax holidays, or mid-term
strategies to repair the supply side of the
economy. A thoughtful compilation of the
best responses was recently posted by Gary
Conkling on the Oregon Way website.
But not enough attention has been paid
to the consequences for government bud-
gets and public services as we move from
a decade of steady growth, low inflation
and easy money to a period in which costs
rise faster than revenues, money tightens
and demands for government services and
responses increase.
This is not a problem unique to Oregon
by any means. But the structure of Oregon’s
government finances creates unique vulner-
abilities for our state.
First, we have constrained local prop-
erty tax revenues with a hard cap of 3% on
year-to-year increases, thanks to the com-
bined effects of Measure 5 (1990), Mea-
sure 47 (1996) and Measure 50 (1997). As
wages rise to keep up with the rising cost of
living in the labor-intensive operations of
schools, cities and counties, revenues will
fail to keep pace, and the purchasing power
of local budgets will shrink.
This effect was highlighted as a major
concern by the state’s Task Force on Com-
prehensive Revenue Restructuring in 2009.
It’s a problem that will first affect schools
and local governments in Oregon; but it
will also put more pressure on the state to
backfill school budgets and come to the aid
of cities and counties to maintain public
safety and health.
Second, both state and local govern-
ments will feel the inflationary effects of
higher borrowing costs, higher health care
costs and, most tellingly, the costs of the
still massively underfunded Public Employ-
ees Retirement System.
Legislation enacted in 2019 stemmed the
rise of PERS pension costs for government
workers in Oregon at an average of roughly
25% of payroll, paid in full by their public
employers. But this year’s inflation-induced
stock market declines have again deci-
mated the fund’s reserves to pay future ben-
efits. And if salaries rise above the system’s
assumed trend line of 3.5%, the cost of ben-
efits, which are keyed to salaries, will rise
in tandem. This is a double whammy that,
absent further corrections, will almost cer-
tainly force the system’s claims on public
budgets to 30% of payroll or more by 2025
and beyond.
Oregon has some advantages to deal
with the tsunami-like effects of inflation. Its
income tax system only partially offsets the
effects of inflation on its top brackets. So
as wages and incomes rise, even if they lag
inflation, state revenues will rise as well.
Also, there are record levels of reserves
in state coffers. But the state will need those
reserves to help schools maintain their staff-
ing levels, adjust to higher costs for Oregon
Health Plan providers, protect service levels
for public safety and maintain its own level
of services for Oregonians.
Inflation rarely raises boats; more often
it swamps the most vulnerable households
and stops dead in the water the forward
progress of government programs. That’s
the new challenge for our elected leaders,
especially the new generation of legislators
who came of age in the kinder fiscal climate
of the last dozen years.
An era of rising revenues and the expan-
sion of public services may be approaching
an end, and an era of retrenchment and bail-
ing out budgets may be just beginning.
———
Tim Nesbitt, a former union leader in Ore-
gon, served as an adviser to Govs. Ted Kulon-
goski and John Kitzhaber and later helped to
design Measure 98 in 2016, which provided
extra, targeted funding for Oregon’s high
schools. This column originally appeared on
the Oregon Capital Chronicle website.
Wellness stretches beyond
physical well-being
IT’S ABOUT
HEALTH AND
WELLNESS
Ann Bloom
he month of August is National
Wellness Month, a month devoted
to focusing on self-care and mak-
ing every day count toward a lifetime of
wellness, not just physical well-being, but
also mental health and spiritual well-be-
ing, too.
Wellness can include developing
healthy habits and routines and manag-
ing stress. Wellness has a way of promot-
ing happiness. Small changes can affect
your health in big ways. According to the
Kim Foundation, an organization devoted
to well-being and healthy living, it can
take 21 days for something to become a
habit and 90 days for it to become a life-
style change.
The foundation’s website (www.kim-
foundation.org) also lists being mind-
ful, practicing self-compassion, focusing
on proper nutrition, and trying something
new as ways to focus on wellness.
Starting small with things you enjoy
and working on making them a habit
results in wellness. For example, tak-
ing a yoga class, treating yourself to an
in-home spa treatment, such as a soak in
a tub of homemade bath salts, or learning
to meditate, are all ways to start on a path
to wellness.
Other things that lead to wellness
include increasing your water intake and
upping fruit and vegetable consumption.
Cutting back on added sugar is another
way to improve nutrition. The aver-
age American consumes 22 teaspoons of
added sugar a day; this includes sugar
in sodas, but also hidden sugar in salad
dressings, condiments and bread. Walk-
ing is a simple and effective tool for stress
management, as is gardening or any other
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form of physical activity, especially ones
that get you outside interacting with
nature.
Check your sleep habits — getting
enough sleep so you feel rested and alert
contributes to a sense of overall wellness
and mental clarity. Spending time with
family and friends also contributes to a
state of wellness.
Finding a hobby, especially one
not connected to your usual work, can
also help develop a sense of wellness.
For example, if your work is physi-
cal you might try a hobby that involves
using your hands such as painting or
woodworking.
Practicing the art of gratitude and
reflecting on what you do have and focus-
ing on the positive, rather than on the neg-
ative or what you don’t have can affect
one’s mood and attitude for the good,
which in turn will have a positive effect
on overall wellness.
Doing volunteer work such as working
at an animal shelter benefits both you and
the animals. It releases “feel good” endor-
phins in the brain and the animals bene-
fit from human companionship. And who
knows? You might just meet your new
best friend and a deserving pet will find
their forever home.
Too much screen time can not only be
bad for your eyes, but it can also be a real
wellness damper if you are focusing on
all the negativity on the news and social
media. If you find yourself doing this, try
limiting the time you spend watching TV
and on your computer with social media.
Nothing helps one’s wellness level
like a treat such as lunch with a friend to
catch up, a new book, a latte, a new hair-
style or a massage — special something
that makes you feel good. Strive for well-
ness not only in August, but every month
of the year.
———
Ann Bloom lives in Enterprise and has
worked for the OSU Extension Service for
15 years as a nutrition educator. She stud-
ied journalism and education at Washing-
ton State University.
Youth needed for Legion
posts to continue
KRUSE
POST 72
Maria D. Tye
he history of the three American
Legion posts in Wallowa County is
leading to a lot of historical infor-
mation. The posts started in 1919 were the
Chief Joseph Post in Enterprise and the
Kruse Post 72 in Wallowa.
The Chief Joseph Post building burned
down in the 1950s and the third post is
Wallowa Lake Post 157 in Joseph, which
was chartered in 1953. There is mention of
the Chief Joseph Post in the meeting min-
utes referring to it as the post in Enterprise.
I was speaking to Mike Teece, commander
of the Wallowa Post 157, and he will be
assisting me in obtaining information.
We lost a member of the Kruse Post 72
last year, Wayne Wolf, a veteran of World
War II. This last month we lost another
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member, Thorval Burrows, who served
during the Korean era. Both active posts
have been losing our most senior mem-
bers. We mourn their passing, but we
know they are looking down on us and
smiling. The American Legion posts
have endured much sorrow and much joy
because of our senior members who perse-
vered in the tasks of community involve-
ments and ensuring we instill our patriotic
beliefs.
The American Legion is dwindling in
membership, and we need to welcome our
younger generation of veterans to join in
keeping our posts alive, so perhaps starting
a Sons of the Legion (SOL) is a possibil-
ity. They will learn flag etiquette, the Con-
stitution and participate in many American
events. We can then ignite patriotism in
our younger generation.
To be eligible for the SOL you must be
a child or grandchild of a veteran. I’ll pro-
vide more in-depth information next time.
Please provide any information you think
pertinent to our column’s mission.
———
Maria D. Tye is the commander for
Kruse Post 72 in Wallowa.