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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 10, 2017)
W EDNESDAY , M AY 10, 2017 The • N O . 19 • 18 P AGES • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION Experts from around the world learn about restoration, collaboration on the Malheur Bob Hassmiller of the Forest Service elaborates on the interconnected natural systems on the Camp Creek restoration project while Tito Prabadi, center, and Erick Conde listen during a May 4 tour. By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle red tailed hawk screeches at the gathered mass of people below. It’s nest is nearby and the group of roughly two dozen is making it nervous. To Sialisi Rasalato, it sounds much like the Fiji goshawk he is familiar with. Rasalato is an environment manager at Ahura Resorts in Fiji and is visiting the Malheur National Forest along with land management experts from 10 other countries including Nepal, Kenya and Morocco. For the third consecutive year, the Malheur hosted the In- ternational Seminar on Forest Landscape Restoration, a pro- gram by U.S. Forest Service International Programs and the A Eagle photos Rylan Boggs See EXPERTS, Page A18 What is the collaborative? The history, organization, process, funding, expenses and results By Sean Hart Blue Mountain Eagle Blue Mountains Forest Partners, the local collaborative group, has been in existence for more than a decade, but people still have questions about the or- ganization. In response to records requests and questions from the Eagle, Executive Director Mark Webb clarifi ed what the Malheur National Forest Su- pervisor Steve Beverlin said the Forest Service uses a variety of nonexclusive methods to en- gage with the public. He said the agency simultaneously uses collaboration, coordination and cooperation, and anyone can submit public comments on projects. Each process is based on legal defi nitions and frame- works. Collaboration is when a group of stakeholders meet to develop solutions to problems on which they can all agree. The Forest Service is required to work with these groups but is not bound by any collaborative agreements. Coordination requires the Forest Service to work with re- questing offi cial agencies, such as the Grant County Court, to address discrepancies between federal and local planning doc- uments, such as cultural or nat- ural resource plans. The Forest Service must respond to the discrepancies but is not bound to follow the local plans. Cooperation is a status afford- ed to offi cial agencies, such as the Grant County Court. As a cooperating agency, the entity is entitled to review documents during the planning process before they are released to the public. The Forest Service is required to solicit public comments on proposed projects. During the comment period, anyone can submit comments, all of which are read and considered. Sub- stantive comments — those that provide “relevant and new information with suffi cient de- tail and rationale” — can be used to inform the fi nal plans. People who submit substantive comments can object to the fi - nal plans during an objection period. Mark Webb See COLLABORATIVE, Page A18 John Day buying 53-acre Oregon Pine property T See PROPERTY, Page A5 Valley View Drive Existing city property N.E. Seventh St. Road he city of John Day is purchasing a 53- acre property from DR Johnson Lumber to improve city connectivity, create a new wastewater treatment facility and open the doors for a number of possible improvement projects. The $519,000 purchase of the Oregon Pine property was expected to be fi nalized past press time during Tuesday’s John Day City Council meeting. John Day City Manager Nick Green said the property was competitively priced and “a scream- ing good deal.” While the real market value of the property is $383,720, the city is paying 23 cents per square foot for the property, compared to 37 cents per square foot for the Industrial Park, Green said. The 53 acres is adjacent to the 30-acre plot housing the city’s current wastewater treatment plant and extends west to Patterson Bridge Road and across the river to Highway 26. N.W. Seventh Street extension John Da y River New trail J O H N D AY W. Main Street N Third Ave. N.W. 26 500 feet New property John Day Innovation Gateway 26 The city of John Day is purchasing 50 acres of property to open a trail along the river and to integrate community, technology, education and commerce in a single complex. Source: City of John Day S. Canyon Blvd. By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle Patterson Bridge $519,000 investment opens new options for the city N.W. Bridge Street Page A9 treat people with respect in addressing disagreements. Before the collaborative, environ- mental lawsuits slowed the pace of timber harvest and forest restoration. Webb said the collaborative provided a way to address concerns before court orders stopped projects, which worked, as no recent litigation has been fi led. In the decade before the collaborative, the average timber harvest was 32.7 million board feet, according to Forest Service data. Last year, the harvest was 60 mil- lion, and this year, it is projected to be 75 million. How to interact I NNOVATION G ATEWAY Inside Grant Union sweeps Elgin collaborative is, what it does, how it’s funded and how it spends money. Formally organized in 2006, the col- laborative is comprised of a “diverse group” of people, including members of the timber industry and environmen- talists, who work together to develop “zones of agreement” about forest proj- ects based on science, Webb said. Anyone is welcome to join the group as well, he said, provided they meet minimum participation requirements and sign a declaration of commitment to the mission — “to create and implement a shared vision to improve the resilience and well-being of forests and communi- ties in the Blue Mountains” — and to Bob Hassmiller of the Forest Service tells land management experts from 11 different countries about the importance of beavers in Oregon. Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group The Eagle/Rylan Boggs The view of the John Day River from the Bridge Street bridge. The city of John Day is purchasing the roughly 50-acre Oregon Pine property (see map above for location), which will allow a mile-long trail to be opened on the north side of the river to Patterson Bridge Road, as well as the extension of Seventh Street and a site for a new wastewater treatment facility out of the flood plain.