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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2017)
News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, February 22, 2017 A7 New timeline for revised Blue Mountains Forest Plan By George Plaven EO Media Group It may be 12 years overdue, but the U.S. Forest Service is inching closer to revising the outdated Blue Mountains For- est Plan. A final environmental im- pact statement, or EIS, may be ready by the end of June, according to Victoria Anne, revision team leader. The final EIS was expected before the end of 2016, though staff turn- over has further delayed what has already been a lengthy process. In addition, the Forest Ser- vice has crafted two new plan alternatives based on a year’s worth of feedback from local communities and stakehold- ers. When completed, the Blue Mountains Forest Plan will Eagle file photo The Strawberry Mountains from Keeney Fork Road on the Malheur National Forest in Grant County. A final environmental impact statement may be ready by the end of June for the Blue Mountains Forest Plan revision. form the backbone for land management on the Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman and Mal- heur national forests. But there is still plenty of work left to do, even after the agency’s environmental analy- sis is finished. Tom Montoya, Wal- E. Oregon job growth expected to trail behind state through 2024 By Claire Withycombe Capital Bureau Job growth in Oregon’s ru- ral areas — particularly south- eastern Oregon — is projected to trail behind the rest of the fast-growing state until 2024, according to the Oregon Em- ployment Department. Oregon’s jobs are expected to grow 14 percent between 2014 and 2024, more than double the national expected rate for that period. But in Harney and Malheur counties, the number of jobs is expected to increase mere- ly 3 percent until 2024. That’s compared to 6 and 7 percent in neighboring counties to the north and west, which is a rate on par with expected job growth nationally. Counties near the cen- tral Columbia River Gorge, meanwhile, are expected to see 11 percent job growth un- til 2024. The outlook comes in the broader context of the slow post-recession jobs recovery in rural areas of the state. While Oregon as a whole has made up the jobs it lost during the Great Recession, that’s not the case for many of the state’s rural areas — such as Gilliam and Wheeler coun- ties. But the future may be brighter for them: Both are projected to exceed the coun- try’s jobs growth rate until 2024. Construction, health care and professional and business services jobs are expected to grow the fastest, according to a presentation employment department officials made to lawmakers on the state’s work- force committee Thursday. The high-tech sector is also expected to continue grow- ing — a recent dip in jobs can be attributed to layoffs in the semiconductor industry, but the overall trend is upward, said Nick Beleiciks, a state employment economist with the Oregon Employment De- partment. Filling those new jobs may be a challenge in rural Oregon, too, though. lowa-Whitman National Forest supervisor, said there will be a 90-day objection period after the final EIS is issued, and it could take six months or more to work through objections. Certainly, the plan has prov- en a lightning rod for controver- sy since a draft environmental analysis was released in 2014. While not a decision-making document in and of itself, it does set desired conditions for everything in the woods from fire protection and logging to wilderness and road access. The proposal drew so much fire that the Forest Service de- cided to take a step back in 2015 and re-engage through a series of public meetings. Through that process, Montoya said officials heard from locals who wanted to see them pick up the pace and scale of resto- ration to make the forests more healthy, while also protecting old growth trees. That’s what the two new al- ternatives will seek to address in different ways, Montoya said. “We continue to have that dialogue,” he said. The Forest Service was on track to have the final EIS out last fall, but the timeline has since been stretched out to later this year. Part of the delay, Montoya said, was the departure of former team lead- er Sabrina Stadler, who left in August. Stadler died on Sept. 7, 2016, due to complications with pancreatitis. Michael Hampton, a retired Forest Ser- vice employee, filled the role of team leader on an interim basis until Anne arrived on the job in mid-December. The team also recently brought on a new fisheries bi- ologist to lead consultation with the National Marine Fish- eries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on complying with the federal Endangered Species Act — primarily for PLAN Continued from Page A1 second-poorest connectivity in Ore- gon with average download speeds less than 10 megabits per second and upload speeds of less than one megabit per sec- ond. John Day Mayor Ron Lundbom said he supported Green’s development plan and thought improving internet access is key to attracting new residents. “I think that’s the way he wants to grow our tax base, by giving amenities and services that we don’t already have, by trying to attract people who are go- ing to bring their expertise and entrepre- neurship,” Lundbom said. An internet task force has been set up to address the problem. Consisting of six members, including Green and Grant County Judge Scott Myers, the task force is working towards establish- ing fast and reliable internet for resi- dents and local businesses. The task force recently had its first meeting and is working to help John Day join the rest of the world in terms of broadband access, Myers said. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden addressed concerns from the community about the quality and cost of internet in the county holding back local communities during a town hall meeting on Feb. 9. He said he recently met with Federal Commu- nications Commission Chairman Ajit The Eagle/Rylan Boggs A water tank above John Day. Varadaraj Pai, who wants to expand broadband access in unserved and un- der-served areas. “We need to get service to every cor- ner of America, especially our rural ar- eas,” Walden said. Green also wants to raise awareness of what the area has to offer new res- idents through a digital marketing and branding campaign, and he wants to move forward on recreation projects like a proposed Seventh Street Park Complex bike track. If these methods attract people to the city, a wider range of housing options across a broad price range will be need- ed. Fifty percent of homes built in the city were built prior to 1960, and less than 1 percent rentals are vacant, Green said. One resource the city may be able to use to attract development is its wa- ter supply. Water sales are the largest revenue source for John Day, bringing in roughly $600,000 a year, Green said, Snake River salmon, steelhead and bull trout. “We’ve been trying our best to temporarily fill some of those gaps,” Montoya said. Though the Blue Mountains Forest Plan is being studied under one umbrella, each of the three forests will have its own individual plan. The final decision will come down to Re- gional Forester Jim Peña in the Forest Service’s Portland head- quarters. Montoya said the two new alternatives could more than double the pace of restoration being done on the forests. The question is how and where that restoration will be addressed. “We’re trying to make sure we’re being responsive as much as possible, meeting with folks who want to help us with this,” Montoya said. and the city has the infrastructure in place to provide more than 10 times the average daily demand. Although state law requires water revenues to be deposited into a dedi- cated water fund that can only be spent on the water system, Green said the city may have options to promote economic development with the resource. He said, if the city waived water fees for certain sectors, such as government agencies, and instead charged them an economic development fee, those funds could be used for projects not related to the water system. Green said the city could also pro- vide water rate incentives to attract “thirsty” industries or amenities, such as a botanical garden and recreational re- sort similar to the 80-acre Oregon Gar- den in Silverton. “Beyond the cost of operations and maintenance, the highest and best use of the city’s residual water revenue would be to increase the population of the ser- vice area in order to maximize taxpayers return on investment,” Green wrote in memo to the city council. Green has also proposed a creative plan for a new wastewater treatment plant incorporating a hydroponic gar- den. The plant would use reclaimed wa- ter to grow cash crops to offset the cost of building and operating the plant. A feasibility study is planned for 2017 to determine if the hydroponic plant is the best option for the city.
