TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
LOCAL & STATE
Wyden defends River Democracy Act in virtual town hall
If passed, the River Democ-
racy Act would roughly triple the
HERMISTON — Legislation number of wild and scenic rivers
in Oregon. The National Wild
that would add nearly 4,700
and Scenic Rivers System was
miles of wild and scenic rivers
established in 1968 to preserve
across Oregon would have no
rivers with outstanding
impact on private land
natural, cultural and
or existing property
recreational values.
rights, according to the
The bill also widens
bill’s chief architect,
protective buffers from
Sen. Ron Wyden.
a quarter mile to a half
Wyden, an Oregon
mile on both sides of
Democrat, introduced
designated streams, add-
the River Democracy
ing up to 3 million acres
Act in February based
Wyden
of protected land.
on more than 15,000
Earlier this year, the Ameri-
public nominations from all
can Forest Resource Council, a
corners of the state.
On Tuesday, Aug. 31, Wyden regional timber trade associa-
defended the bill during an hour- tion, conducted its own analysis
long virtual town hall. The legis- of waterways nominated for
lation has faced opposition from inclusion in the bill. The group
found that just 15% were actu-
rural counties over whether it
ally labeled as “rivers,” with
would add new restrictions on
most being identifi ed as streams,
grazing, timber harvest and
gulches, draws or unnamed
recreational access.
Speaking from Hermiston in tributaries.
The AFRC and other op-
Northeastern Oregon, Wyden
ponents have argued this is a
pledged the bill would not go
misuse of the Wild and Scenic
forward without “loophole-free,
airtight” protections for private Rivers System — though Wyden
countered that intermittent
property.
Rather, he said it applies only streams are not only valid for
to federal lands and was written protection under the law, but
specifi cally not to interfere with necessary for watersheds.
“I’ve come to think that
existing property, grazing and
there’s almost a transportation
water rights.
analogy here that’s appropriate,”
“Protecting existing rights
was part of our effort to strike a Wyden said. “You don’t manage
traffi c just by building highways.
balance,” Wyden said.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
STORM
You need connecting streets,
alleyways and sidewalks. The
same, in fact, applies to most
river systems.”
Approximately 2 million
Oregonians, or nearly half the
state’s total population, de-
pend on intermittent streams
for clean drinking water,
Wyden added.
The bill also requires the
U.S. Forest Service and Bureau
of Land Management to assess
wildfi re risks in each wild
and scenic river corridor. The
agencies would then have up to
six years to develop mitigation
plans, working with local, state
and tribal governments.
The bill would create a $30
million per year fund to re-
store and rehabilitate riparian
areas that do burn in a wildfi re,
Wyden said.
“What I see the River
Democracy Act doing is creat-
ing a multiple-use toolbox so
we have this array of tools and
we can build on existing law,”
Wyden said.
Supporters of the bill did
speak during the virtual town
hall, including representatives
of the Nez Perce Tribe and Con-
federated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation.
Kat Brigham, CTUIR chair,
said she is pleased with the
River Democracy Act, and that it
reinforces stream restoration al-
ready undertaken by the tribes.
“It moves us closer to
what we are working toward
— building, protecting and
enhancing cold, clean water, not
only for our fi rst foods, but for
ourselves,” Brigham said.
Others, however, say their
questions remain unanswered.
In a memo released shortly
after the meeting, the AFRC
pushed back against the bill, ar-
guing wild and scenic designa-
tions would impose restrictions
on forest management and
actually increase wildfi re risk in
the protected stream corridors.
The bill would also “dra-
matically increase management
costs and complexity on-the-
ground, create confl icts between
user groups, and distract and
overload federal agencies
already overwhelmed by cata-
strophic wildfi re management
and response,” the memo states.
Prior to the town hall, the
Eastern Oregon Counties As-
sociation sent a letter to Wyden
outlining similar concerns
related to public access, fi re
prevention and property rights.
Going forward, Wyden said
that while people may have
differences of opinion, he hopes
to keep the lines of communica-
tion open to answer questions
and provide feedback.
“I’m committed to getting
this right,” he said.
LOCAL BRIEFING
Rally planned Thursday, Sept. 16 in
Baker City to address vaccine mandate
An “Eastern Oregon Liberty Rally” sup-
porting health care workers, teachers and
other employees subject to Oregon Gov. Kate
Brown’s mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations
is set for Thursday, Sept. 16 in Baker City.
Vehicles will gather at 5:45 p.m. at Wind-
mill Lane east of Interstate 84 and travel
west on Campbell Street, south on Main
Street, west on Broadway Street, north on
10th Street, then east on Campbell Street to
Geiser-Pollman Park.
At the Powder River Pavilion in the park,
constitutional speaker Scott Stuart will
address the audience, as will Baker City
Mayor Kerry McQuisten, who is seeking
the Republican nomination in the Oregon
gubernatorial race.
Food and beverages will be provided.
Long, heavy load will delay traffi c on
Highway 86 later this week
Drivers on Highway 86 east of Baker City
should expect delays of up to 20 minutes
starting at 10 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 15,
through 5 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 16 as a
trailer hauls a large electrical transformer.
The trailer is 16 feet wide and 185 feet
long, and its load weighs almost 422,000
pounds, according to the Oregon Department
of Transportation.
The trailer will travel at between 25 and
50 mph. Motorists should expect pilot cars,
fl aggers and traffi c control crews while the
load is on the highway.
To evenly distribute the unusually heavy
load, the trailer will be in the center of the
highway at times, depending on the road
width, according to ODOT.
due to thick mud on the
street. Fisk said some driv-
ers were going through the
mud and splashing resi-
dents’ yards.
On Saturday, work-
ers used backhoes to push
debris into piles so it could
be hauled away. Fisk said
the city hauled at least 60
cubic yards of material. The
city will need to periodically
sweep the streets through-
out this fall to try to remove
as much debris as possible,
he said.
Both intersections are
prone to fl ooding after down-
pours, Fisk said.
He said city crews will be
working this week to clear
many clogged catch basins.
Owen said the situation
would have been worse had
the storm happened later
in the year, when leaves are
falling from trees.
the property owner,” Owen
said. “This is costing us time
and money.”
Sharon Oliver said on
Monday morning that the
storm was “terrible.”
“Most of it washed down
to the other neighbors,”
Oliver said. “It’s sad but you
can’t do nothing about it.”
She said they cleaned the
catch basin at the base of
the hill but it wasn’t able to
capture all the debris.
“It’s a mess,” Oliver said.
“It was pretty bad up here.
I opened the door there and
man, the wind was just so
strong, it just blew right in
just about and rain at the
same time. It was pretty
bad, really.”
Owen said the city had to
pay overtime to workers Fri-
day and over the weekend to
scrape debris from streets.
Fisk said the city dis-
patched a pair of two-person
crews Friday evening to
clear debris from catch
basins and help the water
drain more quickly.
He said crews closed
Birch Street between Court
and Washington avenues
Outside the city
Baker County Road-
master Noodle Perkins said
Monday morning that he
hadn’t received any reports
of county roads sustaining
Flooded intersections
signifi cant damage.
Although the storm’s
County crews did re-
biggest and messiest effects
move some fallen treees in
were on the east side, the
heavy rain also overwhelmed the Sumpter Valley area,
storm drains in several other he said.
spots in town, including the
intersections of Fourth and
Samantha O’Conner
Broadway streets, and Main
of the Baker City Herald
and Campbell streets.
contributed to this story.
wolf pack is to remove the
adult breeding pair that
are teaching the negative
Continued from A1
learned behavior of targeting
cattle to their offspring.”
In a letter sent Monday,
The most recent con-
Sept. 13 to ODFW Director
fi rmed wolf attack happened
Curt Melcher, Ash wrote
that the nonlethal measures last week, when ODFW
several ranchers have taken, employees found a dead
600-pound calf the morning
including fi ring guns to try
to frighten wolves away from of Sept. 9 on a 2,800-acre
pasture that includes private
cattle, are failing.
and public land.
“The fi nancial burden,
Biologists who examined
physical strain and exhaus-
the carcass estimated the
tion they are going through
calf died the night of Sept.
in what has become a
7. The carcass was partially
fruitless effort to keep the
consumed but most of the
Lookout Mountain Pack
from killing their animals is hide was intact, according
to an ODFW investigation
extreme,” Ash wrote. “I be-
lieve the most humane way report.
Biologists skinned the
of dealing with this problem
carcass and found numerous
pre-morten tooth scrapes on
the calf’s rear right leg and
on both front legs, along with
tissue damage up to two
inches deep.
The location, size and
number of tooth scrapes,
and the severity of the tissue
damage, are both consistent
with wolf attacks on calves,
according to the report.
Melcher issued a per-
mit on July 31 that allows
ranchers who have lost cattle
to kill up to four subadult
wolves from the pack. The
permit also allows the ranch-
ers to designate someone else
to kill wolves, and ODFW
employees can also kill
wolves under the permit.
ODFW employees shot
and killed two wolf pups
from the lack on Aug. 1. No
other wolves have been killed
since, according to ODFW.
The permit was set to
expire Aug. 21, but Melcher
extended the permit through
Sept. 14 after wolves killed a
calf on Aug. 19. It’s not clear
whether Melcher will again
extend the permit, or change
the parameters to allow
the killing of adult wolves,
including the breeding pair.
Ash included with his let-
ter a list of the wolf attacks
on livestock this summer.
The two most recent, a
calf killed in late August
and the calf killed last week,
both belonged to the Phillips
Ranch, according to Ash’s
letter.
Wolves have also killed
one calf belonging to the
Bloomer Ranch, and two
calves owned by Deward and
Kathy Thompson.
In his letter to Melcher,
Ash wrote that in his estima-
tion the balance between
grazing and predation is
skewed toward the latter in
the Lookout Mountain area.
“Wolves are pursuing
cattle as a food source rather
than hunting their natural
prey — elk and deer, which
are plentiful in the area,”
Ash wrote. “Wolves can
spend much less energy kill-
ing a cow than chasing an
elk or deer.”
Continued from A1
Owen said that although
the city’s current develop-
ment codes require that
property owners keep
stormwater from fl owing off
their properties, she’s not
sure what requirements,
if any, were in place when
the Olivers’ property was
developed.
“We’re looking at what
options we may have,”
Owen said.
She said she’s willing to
talk with the Olivers about
a “partnership” that could
include seeding grass or
other vegetation, or possibly
terracing parts of the prop-
erty to make debris fl ows
less likely.
“It would be nice if we
had some cooperation with
WOLVES
Samantha O’Conner/Baker City Herald
A mixture of mud and livestock manure fl owed across
several streets in east Baker City on Friday evening,
Sept. 10. Here, a backhoe was used Saturday morning
to clear debris from streets.
• Lumber
• Plywood
• Building Materials
• Hardware
• Paint
• Plumbing
• Electrical
And much more!
3205 10th Street
Baker City
541-523-4422
Mon-Fri 7:30 am - 5:30 pm
Saturday 8 am - 5 pm
Closed Sun
COUNCIL
billing and more contactless former City Council member
payments so that people can
• Thomas Hughes
feel safer as they reach out
• Michael Meyer
Continued from A1
to the city and to pay their
• Boston Colton
utility bills,” Cannon said.
Also on the agenda for the
Cannon said he will
meeting is an update from
propose specifi c uses for the
Cannon about his discus-
money during the meeting. City Council vacancy
sions with attorneys regard-
Potential projects
Councilors will also
ing the city either fi ling, or
discuss the vacancy on the
include leasing a property
joining, a lawsuit against
seven-member Council
near Oregon Trail Electric
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
Cooperative that serves as a created by Lynette Perry’s
challenging her executive
resignation in August.
fi refi ghter training center.
Four people have applied orders requiring health care
The city could also up-
workers and school employ-
grade its fi nancial account- to serve the remainder of
Perry’s term, which contin- ees to be vaccinated, and re-
ing software.
ues through the end of 2022. quiring students and school
That “gives us the abil-
staff to wear face masks.
ity to do more contactless
• Randy Daugherty, a
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