A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Use common sense
before water woes
swamp the West
T
he folks in Klamath Falls
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As they look at a sparse
snowpack in the mountains
and a forecast for another dry
summer, they maintain their
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They say they’ve seen it
before — in 2001, ’02 and
’03 — and despite the outlook
they remain optimistic that
somehow enough water will
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Like the rest of the West,
the Klamath region’s economy
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adequate water, the farms and
ranches, and the economy that
depends on them, face another
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But the sad irony is that
such hardships could have been
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Common sense dictates that
a region with periodic water
shortages should have more
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recharge, lake taps and any
other practical means of storing
water that is often plentiful
in the winter but scarce in the
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precious little has been done at
the federal, state or local levels
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The problem is not unique
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Pick a state in the West, and the
lack of adequate water storage
is the primary problem facing
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becoming a challenge that
crosses urban-rural lines,
affecting a broad range of water
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The debate over climate
change and its causes
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are clear: growing contention
over a valuable resource that’s
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that discussion should focus on
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When winter precipitation
comes in the form of rain
instead of mountain snows,
common sense dictates that
some of it should be stored, yet
only a few storage projects are
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In California, spurred by a
four-year drought, voters have
approved the construction
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state leaders haven’t even
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Elsewhere, a few small
reservoirs and aquifer recharge
projects are contemplated or are
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Such projects are desperately
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The federal Endangered
Species Act also plays a role
in our water crises, pitting
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Billions of dollars have been
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little has been spent in the past
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If farmers and ranchers
want a preview of where this
is headed, they don’t have to
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Oregon depended on the timber
industry for generations, yet
they have struggled to survive
after the northern spotted owl
was listed as threatened under
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But no matter what one’s
viewpoint is on the ESA or
climate change, all sides should
agree that more water storage is
desperately needed across the
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It’s a matter of common
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Blue Mountain
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L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Out of bounds
To the Editor:
Do you want your access to pub-
lic lands treated like a basketball
game, where you have to worry
about if you are “in bounds” or “out
of bounds” and have to live with the
penalties of not staying within the
boundaries set forth by the Forest
Service? That is exactly what your
life will be if the proposed designa-
tion of routes language and travel
management plan are put into place
RQRXUQDWLRQDOIRUHVW
Currently you are allowed to
openly and freely access the Wal-
lowa-Whitman and Malheur Na-
tional Forest via motorized means at
your discretion unless otherwise not-
ed by wilderness areas or areas spe-
FL¿FDOO\WDUJHWHGDVQRQPRWRUL]HG
Once roads areas are designated,
all motorized use off those roads will
be prohibited (within a given buffer
along the road), going from an open
forest system to a closed forest sys-
WHP
Much like the basketball court
where you are not allowed to leave
the court, motorized access will be
disallowed from roughly 95 percent
RI\RXUSXEOLFODQGV<RXPD\RQO\
play on the court the Forest Service
allows, which will be along their se-
lected roads, and if you play outside
those lines, you will be penalized up
WRDQGRURQH\HDULQMDLO
When did you turn over your
right of motorized access to the For-
est Service? Did any of you sign a
GRFXPHQW JLYLQJ 0U 0RQWR\D RU
0U 3HQD WKH DXWKRULW\ WR GHFLGH
when and where you traveled?
Offenses will get you penalized
if you go outside the designated area
IRU ¿UHZRRG FXWWLQJ UHWULHYLQJ ELJ
game, dispersed camping, accessing
historic berry and mushroom picking
areas, accessing historic hunting ar-
eas, or simply recreating in your fa-
YRULWHDUHDMXVWWRQDPHDIHZ
If you do not agree that our mo-
torized access should be restricted,
please let Secretary Tom Vilsack
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%RQQLH UREHUWERQQLH#XVGDJRY
know how their staff is failing our
FRPPXQLWLHVDQGIDPLOLHV
John George
Bates
hundreds of pages of indecipherable
jargon the average person cannot
wade through, including burn plans
HQFRPSDVVLQJ*DOHQDFHPHWHU\
When the Forest Service uses my
federal tax dollars to turn my public
forest into a police state, I want my
money back and that of my ancestors
IURPWLPHLPPHPRULDO
Discouraged from submitting
a newspaper commentary, I was
amused to see a member of the For-
est Service-fed Blue Mountain For-
est Partners (BMFP) given editorial
OLFHQVH WR VXSSRUW WKHLU IDUÀXQJ
IRUHVWPDQDJHPHQWHIIRUWV1RLQGL-
cation of credentials for BMFP orig-
inators wanting to “help wisely man-
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organization is composed of people
primarily from out of state or met-
ropolitan origin who provided input
IRUORFDO)RUHVW6HUYLFHGRFXPHQWV
They have “loggers, timber
company and service contract reps,
retired Forest Service employees,
ranchers and others” to lend them
FUHGHQFH 7KH ORFDO &LWL]HQV IRU
Public Access group is comprised of
a sizable representation of loggers,
retired Forest Service employees,
ranchers, and local long-established
citizenry fully capable of governing
WKHLURZQQDWLRQDOIRUHVW
It was stated that the BMFP was
formed 10 years ago to end the tim-
ber wars that were strangling the
ORFDOHFRQRP\7KHRQO\WKLQJVWUDQ-
gling the local economy was the For-
est Service’s stranglehold on timber
KDUYHVW7KHQWKH³K\SHWKDWZHDUH
EHLQJORFNHGRXWRIWKHIRUHVW´
+HUH¶V QHZV E\ )6 GH¿QLWLRQ
Level 1 roads are closed roads and
they constitute a major percent of all
URDGV LQ DOO SURMHFWV 7KHUH PD\ EH
trouble in paradise because report-
edly the BMFP cannot get full group
consensus on road reduction issues
for their draft vegetation recom-
mendation document resulting from
the fact that the Forest Service road
closures are sometimes lacking the
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UDWLRQDOHIRUFORVXUHV
Judy Kerr
Canyon City
the community where inappropriate
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example, I personally have over-
heard men at checkout counters in
John Day make sexual innuendos, or
make what they think are humorous
suggestive comments, or personal
remarks about a woman’s appear-
ance when they think others cannot
KHDU WKHP 8VXDOO\ WKH ZRPDQ MXVW
completes the transaction without
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“oh well, he is just that way,” or “he
is a local business owner so don’t
make an issue about it,” even if she
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How can we allow ourselves as
adults to be assaulted this way in the
marketplace, workplace, even vol-
unteer environments and then talk to
teens about how to treat each other
in personal relationships? How do
we teach our youth about respect for
themselves, others and boundaries
when we won’t demand it for our-
selves?
Leslie Barnett
Long Creek
Pot’s healing powers
To the Editor:
I can no longer be silent and al-
low more lies and deception to be
XWWHUHGDERXWPDULMXDQD2XUFRXQ-
try has been denied this wonderful
plant for almost a century and it is
SDVW WLPH IRU WKH WUXWK 7KH SURKL-
bition was started with a systematic
program of lies and deceit fueled by
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We are smarter than that now,
and the majority of the country now
knows the truth that the government
has been lying to us about marijua-
QD 7KH IHGHUDO JRYHUQPHQW WRRN D
patent on the healing medicine in
marijuana over 30 years ago!
Anyone can now go on their
computer and see literally thou-
sands of articles and testimonials
of the healing powers of this plant,
with virtually no harmful side af-
IHFWVXQOLNHSKDUPDFHXWLFDOV
It is time to come out of the dark
ages and end the bigotry and lies
DQG VWDUW WKH KHDOLQJ 6WRS GHPRQ-
izing the patients that desperately
QHHGWKLVPHGLFLQH6WRSLQFDUFHUDW-
Teach respect,
ing patients and anyone that choos-
boundaries
es to use this virtually harmless
To the Editor:
SODQW
A police state?
I appreciated the April 29 column,
The government has funded
To the Editor:
³*UDQW&RXQW\6KRXOG7DNH/HDG hundreds of studies in the past to
When the Forest Service uses my DQG 7DON$ERXW ,W´ E\ 0DWW ,SVRQ try and prove negative things about
tax dollars to publish environmen- I cannot add to his excellent com- marijuana, to no avail; they are
tal documents restricting access to ments except in one area: “We can now funding the miraculous heal-
public lands and, in a petty personal all play a role in modeling healthy ing properties and the truth is being
vendetta, marginalizes the important behaviors, promoting positive skills, UHYHDOHG (GXFDWH \RXUVHOYHV KHDO
\RXUVHOYHVJRLQSHDFH
role of a local law enforcement of- DQGFUHDWLQJVDIHHQYLURQPHQWV´
Rick McDonough
¿FHU WKHQ , ZDQW P\ GDPQ PRQH\
To apply this concept for teens
Monument
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L
etters policy: Letters to the Editor is a forum for Blue Mountain Eagle readers to express themselves on local, state, national or world issues. Brevity
is good, but longer letters will be asked to be contained to 350 words. No personal attacks; challenge the opinion, not the person. No thank-you letters.
Submissions to this page become property of the Eagle. The Eagle reserves the right to edit letters for length and for content. Letters must be original and
signed by the writer. Anonymous letters will not be printed. Writers should include a telephone number so they can be reached for questions. Deadline is 5
p.m. Friday. Send letters to editor@bmeagle.com, or Blue Mountain Eagle, 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845; or fax to 541-575-1244.
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