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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 19, 2015)
A4 Opinion Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, August 19, 2015 Now is the time to work together N ot for the ¿rst time, Grant County residents are grappling with an emergency that tests their resolve and their bootstraps The Canyon Creek Complex ¿res arose last week out of an unfortunately perfect storm of conditions: widespread lightning storms, intense heat, stiff winds and thin ¿re¿ghting ranks The cost to the community to date is heart- wrenching Some 26 homes burned beyond recognition, leaving so many families — our neighbors, relatives and friends — displaced with little or no possessions Amid the wreckage, we can take heart that this is a community noted for its caring and resilience It is proving that with an immediate and growing outpouring of goodwill Fund- raising efforts are multiplying online to help those left homeless Local businesses are collecting donations of goods and money The fairgrounds has set up “shop” to provide free goods for ¿re victims to help patch them through an unbearably tough time People not touched by the ¿re are looking at their homes and realizing they have much to share: clothing, furnishings, even school supplies for children facing a new school year amid bewildering loss Individuals are stepping up with everything from pop bottle collections to art auctions, and the credit union has established a plan for a fund that will be locally run and locally targeted to help all the ¿re victims, without the overhead that marks some large organizations¶ efforts Animals also are sharing the love: The veterinary clinic and area ranchers have offered hay and pasture for livestock, and animal advocates here and as far as Pendleton and Baker City have offered food and supplies to help displaced pets As we write this, the ¿re continues to Àare and spread in the hills outside Canyon City Across the county, signs are popping up to give thanks to the ¿re¿ghters risking their lives to battle the blaze Some of those ¿re¿ghters and contractors are our neighbors, relatives and friends; they labor even as their own homes and property may be at risk or lost As we acknowledge their contributions, there also have been voices of criticism, some of it quite vicious and personal, directed at the ¿re effort and the agencies facing this threat for us While frustration and even anger are not surprising responses to such a disaster, we urge people to hold their powder We can¶t undo this ¿re, no matter how much we wish it were so As with any ¿re, there will be a time for review, but we are still in the thick of this one And if we are to heal our community, it will not be through recrimination and blame but through our heart and our resilience Now is the time to work together and respond with positive contributions Let¶s all try to be Grant County strong W HERE TO WRITE Washington, D.C. The White House, 1600 Pennsyl- vania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500; Phone-comments: 202-456- 1111; Switchboard: 202-456-1414 US Sen Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart Senate Of¿ce Building, Washing- ton DC 20510 Phone: 202-224-5244 E-mail: wayneBkinney#wydensen- ategov Web site: http:wydensenate gov Fax: 202-22-21 US Sen Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart Senate Of¿ce Building, Wash- ington DC 20510? Phone: 202-224- 353 E-mail: senator#merkleysen- ategov Fax: 202-22-399 Oregon of¿ces include One World Trade Cen- ter, 121 SW Salmon St, Suite 1250, Portland, OR 9204; and 310 SE Second St, Suite 105, Pendleton, OR 901 Phone: 503-326-336; 541- 2-1129 Fax: 503-326-2990 US Rep Greg Walden, R — (Second District) 1404 Longworth Building, Washington DC 20515 Phone: 202-225-630 No direct e-mail because of spam Web site: wwwwaldenhousegov Fax: 202- 225-54 Medford of¿ce: 14 North Central, Suite 112, Medford, OR 9501 Phone: 541-6-4646 Fax: 541-9-0204 Blue Mountain EAGLE It’s time for Senate to act on wild¿re prevention bill By Greg Walden For the Capital Press A round Oregon and throughout the West, an- other ¿re season is well underway Overstocked, dis- eased, and bug-infested forests are at risk of the massive and catastrophic wild¿res that clog our air with smoke and threaten our streams All the while our mills are starving for a reliable supply of timber and people need Mobs It¶s clear the status quo isn¶t working for our forests, our com- munities, or our environment We can do better The US House has passed a bipartisan bill — the Resil- ient Federal Forests Act — that would help reduce the threat of catastrophic wild¿res and bring active management back to our federal forests Through active management, we can clean up our forests, prevent these unnaturally large ¿res, protect our air, and put people back to work in our forest- ed communities Our bill puts into place much needed reforms to federal forest policy For example, the bill re- peals the arbitrary and outdated prohibition on harvesting trees over 21 inches in diameter on na- tional forests in eastern Oregon “Temporarily” put in place in 199, this rule still hasn¶t been re- moved nearly 20 years later! This Àawed, one-size-¿ts-all rule il- lustrates Must how broken federal forest management has become The restriction greatly limits 541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-1244 USPS 226-340 John Day, Oregon MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION P UBLISHER E DITOR A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT E DITORIAL A SSISTANT C OMMUNITY N EWS S PORTS M ARKETING R EP C USTOMER S ERVICE R EP Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com editor@bmeagle.com Kristina Kreger, kristina@bmeagle.com Cheryl Hoefler, cheryl@bmeagle.com Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com Lindsay Bullock office@bmeagle.com PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY: EO Media Group PeriodiFals Postage Paid at John Day and additional Pailing oI¿Fes SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access) Grant County Elsewhere in Oregon Continental U.S., Outside Oregon Outside Continental U.S. local communities for a reliable supply of timber to fund essen- tial local services like schools, roads, and law enforcement The bill tells the BLM to go back to the drawing board, and propose new plans to actually provide sustainable timber production for Oregon¶s rural communities as required by law Finally, the endless cycle of “¿re borrowing” — forcing the federal government to use wild- ¿re prevention funds to pay for ¿ghting ¿re — is ended under this bill It ¿xes how we pay to ¿ght ¿re by allowing the Forest Service to apply for FEMA disas- ter funds to pay for ¿re¿ghting This treats wild¿re as the natural disasters they are, similar to hur- ricanes or tornadoes The Resilient Federal Forests Act will improve the health of our forests and our rural econo- mies During the last session of Congress, the House twice passed bipartisan legislation I worked on to reform federal forest policy The Senate failed to take up for- estry legislation However, with new leadership in that body I¶m hopeful that the Senate will take meaningful action on forestry legislation We cannot let this opportuni- ty pass us by again Our forested communities have already waited too long Now is the time to act U.S. Rep. Greg Walden rep- resents Oregon’s Second Con- gressional District, which covers 20 counties in southern, central, and eastern Oregon. L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR 195 N. Canyon Blvd. • John Day, OR 97845 Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper forest managers¶ ability to address site speci¿c needs of the forest on the ground and has only served to fur- ther tie up proMects Walden in endless appeals and litigation Our plan also gives the For- est Service greater Àexibility to move quickly on proMects to re- duce the threat of ¿re around our rural communities, streamlining proMects developed through lo- cal counties¶ community wild¿re protection plans Right now, after a ¿re, the For- est Service is able to reforest less than 3 percent of areas burned This plan would accelerate the removal of timber after a ¿re (to help pay for replanting), and re- quires a large percent of the area impacted be reforested within ¿ve years Just like we do after other natural disasters, we ought to clean up and rebuild after wild- ¿res As we saw earlier this summer on the Buckskin Fire in southern Oregon, failing to clean up only leads to future ¿res in old burn scars full of fallen trees and snag that prove dif¿cult and too dan- gerous for ¿re¿ghters This bill also cuts costs and streamlines rules for timber pro- duction on legislation pertaining to Oregon¶s unique OC Lands The Bureau of Land Management recently unveiled new manage- ment plans for these lands that would fall short of the needs of 1 year $40.00 $51.00 $55.00 $60.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery See the Blue Mountain Eagle on the Internet www.MyEagleNews.com POSTMASTER — send address changes to Blue Mountain Eagle 195 N. Canyon Blvd. John Day, OR 97845-1187 Copyright © 2015 Blue Mountain Eagle All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping or information storage and retrieval systems — without written permission of the publisher. Pave the path to the Rodeo Grounds To the Editor: Did anybody notice how bad the pathway is from the Barns and Pa- vilion to the Rodeo Grounds? For people pushing wheelchairs and us- ing walkers, it is almost impossible to navigate! Instead of raising mon- ey for a PA system, use that money AND apply for grants to get at least the pathway paved, if not the whole gravelly area I am also writing to the fair board and the county commissioners to do this Not Must consider, but do it Or try pushing a loaded wheelchair on that path, and see how hard it is! Rosalie Averett Austin We need Canyon Meadows dam To the Editor: In light of the recent ¿re activity, it has come to mind a public meeting L with the forest service several years ago regarding the Canyon Meadows dam Public input was overwhelmingly in favor of repairing or replacing the dam to restore the reservoir Advan- tages repeatedly cited were these: recreation, ¿sh habitat, tourism, ir- rigation, Àood control and a water source for ¿re suppression Unfortu- nately, the dam remains in disrepair, and the reservoir is gone We sorely need that water source now as the helicopters Ày farther a¿eld to ¿nd enough water to ¿ll their buckets It¶s long past time to do something about this! Robert Reed Judith Beaudet Reed Canyon City Thanks to Riverside residents To the Editor: I want to give a big thank you to all the residents of Riverside Home Park who came together, and so quickly, when they saw that a fire had started in a vacant lot With 911 called and the fire de- partment on their way, the neigh- boring residents grabbed shovels, picks, hoses and went to work The fire went in two directions to- ward homes, but due to their quick actions, as the fire was closing in on both units, they were able to stop the fire from burning the units even before the fire truck ar- rived This is not to say that the fire- fighters were slow, by any means They also need to be thanked as they were here in no time at all, with all the other things going on So, we say “thank you” to the offi- cers and firefighters for their quick response also We are very lucky to have the people and volunteers we do living around us who are willing to come together at a moment¶s notice Again, thank you and God bless all of you for your helping hearts Lisa Delano Riverside Home Park, John Day 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.