A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Shouting match
won’t solve the
forest’s problems
Lightning may have sparked
the Canyon Creek Complex
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see a larger culprit in the
hands-off management of the
national forests over the past
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They decry the erosion of
traditional forest activities, the
environmental challenges that
shut down commercial activity
and local economies, and the
result: vast tree stands clogged
with tinder-dry underbrush and
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Throw in climate change
and Smokey Bear’s admonition
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natural cleansing ones, over
the past 50 years, and the
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the Canyon Creek Complex
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To the families ousted by the
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as an opportunity to draw wider
attention to the state of the
forests and the need for active
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state, and even the nation, are
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Americans are watching as
their treasured forests and wild
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The harshest critics castigate
federal land managers for
inaction, but we don’t see it
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on the very forest that’s at the
center of attention nationally
for its unusual efforts to break
the stalemate in the woods and
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In industry and political
circles, the spotlight is on the
region’s accelerated restoration
program and the Malheur
National Forest’s 10-year
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rollout of large forest rehab
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tools, which arose out of nine
hard years of labor by broad-
based collaborative groups,
haven’t yet had a chance to
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and breadth of work to be done
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a year, or two, or even three —
and in the meantime, there will
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A pendulum-like shift in
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not fast enough to prevent this
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process is worthless, only that
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The question for this deeply
saddened community: Do
we focus on the next steps
toward large-scale change in
our forests, or do we rail at the
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those who disagree with us?
Do we contribute our voices
to the collaborative efforts, or
do we throw potshots from the
sidelines?
We believe a shouting
match won’t solve the
forest’s problems or salve our
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there is no better choice than
to get involved, to be part of a
sincere quest for change — to
be part of the solution for the
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Budget meter is running
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By Hillary Borrud
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon has yet to
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despite ongoing catastrophic wild-
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In what now appears to have
been a prudent decision, lawmakers
and a committee of forest landown-
ers agreed earlier this year to more
than double the amount of money
budgeted for the Oregon Depart-
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“I’m pleased we did it,” said
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member of the budget-writing Ways
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with the kind of moisture that was
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The size of the Canyon Creek
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ern Oregon “are well over 120,000
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I think we’ve probably got another
several weeks or so at least until we
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HERE TO WRITE
As of Tuesday, the Canyon
Salem
)D[ (PDLO FLW\MG# Creek Complex near John Day had
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/RQJ&UHHN²32%R[/RQJ zly Bear Complex had burned more
)D[ :HEVLWH &UHHN 3KRQH than 68,000 acres in the Umatilla
ZZZJRYHUQRUVWDWHRUXVJRYHUQRU )D[(PDLOLQIR#FLW\- National Forest and private land in
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Grant County
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To the Editor:
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In the past 20-plus years, the
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ULH&LW\3KRQH Bureau of Land Management and
'D\YLOOH²32%R['D\YLOOH )D[(PDLOSFKDOO#RUWHOFR 86 )RUHVW 6HUYLFH KDYH EHHQ UH-
ducing cattle grazing and logging
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6HQHFD ² 32 %R[ 6HQH- on federal lands to “protect” vari-
net
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-RKQ'D\²(0DLQ6W-RKQ (PDLO FLW\VHQHFD#FHQWXU\WHO cies (spotted owl, bull trout, sage
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How many of these “endan-
gered” species managed to live
through this current inferno? We
Blue Mountain
have seen photos of deer burned
alive and reports of herds of elk
and wild horses that didn’t manage
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The article in the Blue Moun-
195 N. Canyon Blvd. • John Day, OR 97845
tain Eagle, “Forest Service defends
541-575-0710 • Fax 541-575-1244
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USPS 226-340 26), provides more questions than
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Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
The Canyon Creek Complex
John Day, Oregon
was originally two separate fires,
miles apart, and separated by High-
MEMBER OREGON NEWSPAPER PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION
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P UBLISHER Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com
The newspaper account lumps
E DITOR editor@bmeagle.com
both the Berry Creek and Mason
A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT Kristina Kreger, kristina@bmeagle.com
Spring fire together and lists all of
E DITORIAL A SSISTANT Cheryl Hoefler, cheryl@bmeagle.com
the heavy equipment, air tankers
C OMMUNITY N EWS Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
deployed, as if they were not two
S PORTS Angel Carpenter, angel@bmeagle.com
M ARKETING R EP Kim Kell, ads@bmeagle.com
VHSDUDWHILUHV1RPHQWLRQZDVJLY-
C USTOMER S ERVICE R EP Lindsay Bullock office@bmeagle.com
en of the exact timeline for initial
attack on each separate fire, even
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY BY:
though they remained individual
EO Media Group
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The Berry Creek fire reportedly
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was ignited first by lightning in the
SUBSCRIPTION RATES (including online access)
1 year
Strawberry Wilderness area in the
Grant County
$40.00
HDUO\ PRUQLQJ KRXUV RQ $XJ
Elsewhere in Oregon
$51.00
What equipment and/or tankers,
Continental U.S., Outside Oregon
$55.00
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Outside Continental U.S.
$60.00
the Berry Creek fire in the Straw-
Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery
berry Wilderness and when?
The article also supplies us with
See the Blue Mountain Eagle on the Internet
the info that “Beverlin signed off
www.MyEagleNews.com
on an order granting special per-
POSTMASTER — send address changes to
mission to use chainsaws for fire
Blue Mountain Eagle
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195 N. Canyon Blvd.
Just when was this order signed?
John Day, OR 97845-1187
After the fire was already out of
Copyright © 2015 Blue Mountain Eagle
control or when it was merged with
All rights reserved. No part of this publication covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced
the Mason Spring fire?
or copied in any form or by any means — graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
The Mason Spring fire was re-
taping or information storage and retrieval systems — without written permission of the publisher.
portedly contained by Wednesday
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tinued to burn in other areas of the
state, according to an interagency
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Oregon relies on a unique sys-
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Property owners with land classi-
fied as forest pay a state assessment
to help cover firefighting costs in
addition to money the Legislature
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The state has also purchased an
insurance policy most years since
1973 to help cover firefighting
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however, the state’s insurance de-
ductible more than doubled from
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lawmakers and forest landowners
decided to purchase the policy ear-
lier this year, they had to prepare to
spend up to $50 million before they
could tap into the $25 million insur-
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Rod Nichols, a spokesman for the
Oregon Department of Forestry, said
this week that the agency estimated
its net spending this year at $26 mil-
lion, when expected reimbursements
from the Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency and other sources
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far expect to receive approximately
$15 million in reimbursement from
FEMA and $22 million from other
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“The main thing everyone is fo-
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The state has to pay contractors
in a timely manner, for example, to
ensure they remain in business and
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Oregon Department of Forestry had
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The state also had access to 188
private contract hand crews, inmate
hand crews from state prisons, three
incident management teams and Na-
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Oregon has since pulled in
resources including additional
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agers from other states and Ca-
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“Basically, the cupboard is bare,
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winding down and resources are
starting to return from them,” Nich-
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L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
EAGLE
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water tenders there when the Ma-
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ment lines? Why was this fire only
contained and not put out?
The Eagle reported last week
that, during the informational
meetings, there were “whispers”
blaming the homeowners for their
loss because they didn’t maintain
a “defensible space” around their
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tional Forest had been managed
to maintain a defensible space be-
tween the forest boundary and pri-
vate land?
I do know, in my small commu-
nity, we have at least 39 HOMES
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memories and are left with rebuild-
ing their lives — because of mis-
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These homeowners and the commu-
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Elaine Smith
Prairie City
who came to help, especially Lynn
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Cole and crew, Brian Hueckman,
Leroy Titus, Sam Workman, Tra-
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:HFDQQRWWKDQNDOOWKH¿UH¿JKWHUV
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est Service, Oregon Department of
Forestry, structure protection agen-
cies and landowners led to the quick
and successful suppression of this
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the actions of the Oregon State Po-
lice troopers in converging on the
vehicle I was traveling in, grabbing
the wheel to steer us off the road
and physically preventing us from
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Meanwhile, the troopers allowed
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danger along the Dixie Creek route,
we were forced to detour around
the troopers’ barricade of patrol
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How many owls?
on Ricco Ranch Lane, eventually
To the Editor:
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How many spotted owls are de- URDGEORFN 9DOXDEOH WLPH ZDV ORVW
ceased during the current raging for- during which my parents desperate-
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ly needed assistance to move cattle
Maybe the remaining live ones WRVDIHW\SXWRXWVSRW¿UHVDQGSUR-
should be shipped to Pennsylvania, vide crews with directions around
along with a few forest service tech- WKHDUHD
The next morning, an Oregon
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:7RRS State Police sergeant informed me
Canyon City that the order to keep landowners
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with the undersheriff, I learned that
County cannot
the order was to close Dixie Creek
afford mistakes
but not to restrict landowners’ ac-
To the Editor:
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On behalf of Ricco Ranch, I cation or lack of training, but with
would like to thank all the crews, UHVRXUFHV VWUHWFKHG WKLQ DQG ¿UHV
equipment operators and air support EXUQLQJRXWRIFRQWURO*UDQW&RXQ-
for their quick response and hard W\FDQQRWDIIRUGWKHVHPLVWDNHV
The next time OSP’s assistance
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Special thanks to Yazzie Voi- LV VRXJKW LQ ¿UH¿JKWLQJ HIIRUWV ,
gt, John Sanowski, Jared Lemcke hope the troopers will follow direc-
and his crew for going above and tions and work in cooperation with
beyond and working tirelessly to ORFDODJHQFLHVDQGODQGRZQHUV
Riccola Voigt
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Prairie City
extremely grateful for everyone
