TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2021
Baker City, Oregon
A4
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OUR VIEW
Protecting
rivers that
go dry?
It was a bit surprising to discover that some of the
rivers proposed for Wild and Scenic designation were
dried up or creeks, streams or gulches — not really
rivers at all.
Missteps like that go to the heart of criticisms of
sweeping legislation that paints a broad brush, but
fails to look at the fi ner details.
A Senate bill that would designate nearly 4,700
miles as part of The National Wild and Scenic Rivers
System in Oregon is being criticized for including
hundreds of small creeks, streams and gulches that
were found to be completely dry, according to the
Capital Press and its reporter, George Plaven.
The American Forest Resources Council, a trade
group representing the timber industry, did an
analysis of the proposal, arguing that certain non-
river segments under consideration “do not meet the
intent or defi nition of the Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act.”
Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both
Democrats, introduced the River Democracy Act on
Feb. 3. A year prior to that, there was a well-attended
open house here in Bend, where many submitted
comments on which rivers should be protected from
development along their banks. The legislation came
out of more than 15,000 nominations submitted by
the public.
But according to the forest group, just 15% of the
waterways are actually labeled as “rivers.” Out of
886 segments, 752 are identifi ed as “streams,” rather
than rivers. Another 33 are identifi ed as “gulches,”
one “draw” and 17 were “unnamed tributaries.”
The bill would roughly triple the number of wild
and scenic rivers across Oregon to protect fi sh and
wildlife, water quality and outdoor recreation values.
It also increases wild and scenic river corridors from
a quarter-mile to a half-mile on both sides, which
adds up to approximately 3 million acres of protected
land — an area approximately the size of Connecti-
cut.
Cutting timber along streambanks is a well-known
cause of sediment in rivers and a degradation of fi sh
and wildlife habitat. But, the forest council’s presi-
dent, Travis Joseph, makes a good point that restrict-
ing the ability to harvest trees when the state is in a
grip of catastrophic wildfi res and where thinning of
trees can reduce the wildfi re risk is detrimental to
the bill’s intent.
Sen. Wyden says those claims are addressed in
the bill, calling for coordination between state and
federal agencies to allow for forest thinning.
But there needs to be some balance here. We can
see the Willamette, Deschutes and Santiam rivers
gaining some protection against development as they
are truly wild and scenic rivers. Even the headwa-
ters of these rivers deserve attention. But intermit-
tent streams are not really rivers and should not be
considered as such. We encourage some clarity on
the issues, especially how state and federal agencies
would be held accountable for working together. And
perhaps removing some of the nonfl owing streams
from the list of this important designation would go
a long way to boosting its credibility as a new piece of
legislation.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Baker City Herald.
Columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions
of the authors and not necessarily that of the Baker City Herald.
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We need to be bold idealists
By David L. Nevins
Tuesday night, July 22, as I listened
to Jeff Bezos speak of his vision for
space, I was moved by the vastness
of his vision; his vision of space as a
production center to lessen the environ-
mental dangers of industrial production
to our planet.
His vision seems so far-fetched
today, just as I am sure a vision of a
vast commercial aviation business
that fl ies millions of people around the
world daily would have seemed only a
distant dream after Wilbur and Orville
Wright’s fi rst fl ight of 12 seconds and
120 feet in 1903.
I was inspired by Bezos’ vision as it
applies to the work I have been doing
for over a decade to repair the broken
democracy that currently exists in our
nation. As the founder and chairman of
the board of the Bridge Alliance, a coali-
tion of 90-plus organizations working
together to strengthen our democracy
and heal the divides that separate us
as a society, I sometimes feel that my
efforts and those of my colleagues are
merely an idealistic dream given that
the toxic polarization and dysfunction
seem to be getting worse, not better.
And so Bezos’ words inspired me. His
statement that big things start small
reminds me that the task of democracy
reformers will not be easy. As things
seem to be getting worse, I realize that
now is the time to take bold steps.
While polls show most Americans be-
lieve our democracy is highly dysfunc-
tional, many say to me the chances of
change are small given the enormity of
the task at hand. I fully understand the
challenges that lie ahead, but like the
exploration of space, taking small steps
now will build into giant leaps in the
future. Just as Bezos realizes his dream
will not be realized in his lifetime, I re-
alize the same may be true for the work
democracy reformers are doing.
As with most innovations, big chang-
es are never the work of one person.
Innovation comes from the combined
energy and brilliance of a community
of people all working toward the same
goal. Like the transcontinental railroad
or the great interstate highway system
that has brought our citizens closer
together in terms of proximity, we are
building a similar infrastructure, an
infrastructure for democracy.
The visionary leaders of the orga-
nizations within the Bridge Alliance
recognize that democracy must be
founded on discourse and discussion,
and that these discussions must be
replete with differing perspectives and
opinions. This visionary group of men
and women, with whom I work daily,
understand that embracing our ideo-
logical differences will ultimately lead
to inquiry, and this inquiry to truth.
Civil discourse and critical thought are
essential if the grand experiment that
is American democracy is to succeed.
This week, Bezos decided not only
to invest in space, but in the infra-
structure of democracy as well. Two
“Courage and Civility” awards valued
at $100 million apiece went to José
Andres, whose World Central Kitchen
helps feed masses of people following
natural disasters, and Van Jones, who
has founded several efforts to bridge the
divide that separates us.
In announcing the awards, Bezos
said: “We need unifi ers and not vilifi ers.
... We need people who argue hard and
act hard for what they believe. But they
do that always with civility and never
ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately,
we live in a world where this is too
often not the case. But we do have role
models.”
Now is the time to realize that bold
changes are needed. The recipes of the
past simply do not work. As idealistic
as it seems today, fl ight exploration
is going to change the very nature of
commerce, so the work of the Bridge Al-
liance and our members seems equally
as preposterous.
Let us be bold idealists, with big
dreams:
A democracy where elected represen-
tatives are direct and honest in their
public statements, putting ethical com-
mitments above partisan and career
objectives, surely seems impossible in
today’s environment.
A democracy where elected repre-
sentatives who engage constructively,
and do not dehumanize each other and
refuse to debate the issues of our time
in good faith, seems so far away if not
impossible.
A democracy that represents the
diversity that is America, a democracy
that represents the voice of young
people, people of all ethnic and racial
backgrounds, rural and urban dwell-
ers, conservatives and progressives, is
within our grasp if We the People invest
today in this dream for a better future.
We need to be bold and now is the
time!
Fox host Sean Hannity, Senate Republi-
can Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
and House GOP Whip Steve Scalise of
Louisiana offered their loudest, most un-
ambiguous endorsements of getting vac-
cinated yet. With the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention reporting that
more than 97% of COVID-19 hospitaliza-
tions nationwide are occurring among the
unvaccinated, the value of vaccinations
has never been clearer. The stunning drop
in U.S. life expectancy in 2020, announced
on Wednesday, July 21 only adds to the
case. “If there is anybody out there willing
to listen: Get vaccinated,” McConnell said.
“This is not complicated.”
Goaded on by Fox News’ Tucker
Carlson and social media disinformation
merchants, many supporters of Donald
Trump have depicted their refusal to get
vaccines as an affirmation of both their
individual freedom and their contempt for
the mainstream media and public health
officials. They have done so even though
Trump himself was vaccinated long ago,
and new reporting has suggested that
aggressive, innovative medical treatment
saved him from death last October when
he contracted COVID-19 after a manic
half-year of defying mask edicts at the
White House and during rallies.
Local statistics — with 98.7% of new
infections and 99.7% of hospitalizations
among those who are not fully vaccinated
— offer even greater reassurances. But
there remains trepidation and debate
about how to reopen schools amid Cali-
fornia’s indoor mask mandate for K-12
campuses. Local superintendents have
criticized it and the CDC shares the view
that fully vaccinated students shouldn’t
have mask requirements.
Nationally renowned scientist Eric
Topol told the San Diego News Fix
podcast that he is wearing a mask again
indoors because of the delta variant surge.
He called wearing a mask, especially
when inside for a protracted period of
time, “the best thing you can do indoors.”
Mask-wearing shouldn’t be mandated,
Topol said, to avoid rebellions. But com-
mon sense dictates wearing one — “just
out of intelligence and the science that
backs it up.”
The decision on whether to reopen the
U.S.-Mexico land border is more complex.
Citing the delta variant surge, U.S. of-
ficials announced Wednesday the federal
government will keep restrictions on non-
essential travel across the border through
at least Aug. 21. Given reports showing
Baja California and San Diego County
have similar, relatively high vaccination
rates, the Biden administration should set
specific benchmarks for when restrictions
can be eased. Complete pandemic safety
is not possible. Considerable safety is.
With COVID-19 deaths a fraction of what
they used to be, pandemic policies must
be calibrated to reduce the collateral dam-
age they create, in schools, on the border,
everywhere.
David L. Nevins is co-publisher of The
Fulcrum and co-founder and board
chairman of the Bridge Alliance
Education Fund.
OTHER VIEWS
Editorial from The San Diego Union-
Tribune:
While still well below their winter
peaks, the latest spikes in new CO-
VID-19 cases and hospitalizations are
raising concerns among health officials
and among many Americans — just not
among enough, given how many people
still remain unvaccinated.
New coronavirus cases have more than
doubled in the past month in San Diego
County and in California, fueled by the
highly infectious delta variant that now
makes up 83% of new U.S. cases. The
surge is even stronger in Los Angeles
County, leading authorities to reimpose
indoor mask mandates.
Even now, 16 months into this public
health crisis, there remains much we
don’t know about the novel coronavirus
and COVID-19, the disease it causes. But
it’s very clear that the vaccines work very
well and that more Americans should
have shots by now and more should get
them as soon as possible.
As Michelle Goldberg noted in her
column in The New York Times last week,
the irony is that the social distancing
required to control COVID-19 “nurtured
pathologies that are now prolonging it,”
and isolated people “turned to movements
that turned them against vaccines.”
Thankfully, some pundits and Repub-
lican politicians whose forceful advocacy
might have helped prevent a new surge
are joining the fight this week.