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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 25, 2017)
News Blue Mountain Eagle TRUST Continued from Page A1 public’s engagement with the Forest Service, she said. “The whole purpose of to- night’s meeting is to improve relationships,” Blue Mountain District Ranger Dave Halemei- er said. “I need to hear people, and you need to know I’m lis- tening, but there is a process I need to follow.” Halemeier said it was hard to change the “paradigm,” but at the same time people needed to agree on terminology – such as the meaning of cooperation and collaboration. “It would take another day to go through all the topics raised tonight,” he said. One word that came up several times at the meeting was “coordination.” One man noted that the word was miss- ing from Ediger’s PowerPoint presentation, and he claimed that many government agen- cies in the past had “refused to coordinate.” A woman said she wanted “coordination” put on Ediger’s list because the public doesn’t understand it. “I’ve been hearing a lot re- cently about coordination,” Edi- ger said, adding that it involved intergovernmental relationships, such as between the Forest Service and Grant County, and there wasn’t enough time to go into that topic that night. The NEPA process One man said that he tried to obtain information through the federal Freedom of Informa- tion Act but was told he would have to pay Forest Service staff to collect the information. The public had a right to know, and he shouldn’t have to pay for that, he said. Sasha Fertig, a forest plan- ner with the Malheur National Forest, explained that deci- sion-making for agency proj- ects followed a formal process under the federal National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. Decisions are made based on public and agency in- put using credible science and other factors, she said. Members of the public could comment on proposed projects during the scoping and comment periods, but under NEPA rules only those who commented during those peri- ods can file comments during the objection period, she said. It was also important for comments not to be general- ized. It was better to offer spe- cific recommendations or to request specific information, Fertig said. A comment that simply said “Don’t close any roads” would be difficult to Wednesday, October 25, 2017 interpret by agency staff, she said. “All comments are accept- ed, but some are hard to inter- pret without detail,” Halemeier said. “More specificity gives a comment more standing.” Working with the agency Wade Tait, a panelist from the Eastern Oregon Trails Al- liance, described the four-year process his group underwent to get Forest Service approval for a network of mountain bike trails in the Magone Lake area. Starting in 2014, a “loose group” of mountain bikers so- licited feedback from local and regional bikers and began to verify Forest Service claims that mountain bike trails al- ready existed in the Malheur National Forest, Tait said. The trails that had been identified as mountain bike trails were cov- ered with fallen trees and were WATER Continued from Page A1 The city has three mu- nicipal wells, but the No. 1 well is old and available for emergency use, Camarena said. The city uses nearly 400 gallons per minute in summer and nearly 200 in winter. The No. 1 well can produce 50 gpm but only for about six hours before it “collapses,” according to Councilor Geor- gia Patterson. The No. 2 well was rated at 150 gpm, but over time that fell to less than 100 gpm. The well casing was re-perforated in 2008 to improve performance, but production fell to about 70 gpm, and the city looked into the matter, Camarena said. Sand and aggregate in the No. 2 well damaged the pump’s impeller, and hard water depos- its had clogged holes in the well casing, Mayor Jim Hamsher said. The city was getting ready to address the two issues when the lightning strike occurred. The upgrading work was BENTZ Continued from Page A1 legislation was finalized. One of the reasons it was success- ful – and was not referred to voters for approval on the ballot – was because people were consulted and apprised beforehand, he said. Having the time to do so was critical, he said, to edu- cate voters and work through issues. After broad discussions, the final version of the bill in- cluded more funding for rural areas – a $5 million small cit- ies allotment and a $5 million large county, low population allotment – where fewer regis- tered vehicles and more miles of roads created funding dis- parities, Bentz said. The bill also contained The Eagle/Richard Hanners From left, Prairie City City Councilor Joe Phippen, Mayor Jim Hamsher, Councilor Carole Garrison and Councilor Dottie Miller discuss options during an Oct. 18 water workshop. delayed, and crews worked to get the No. 2 well back into service. By adjusting the pump depth and variable motor speed, the well was fine-tuned so it could stay in operation – but it was down to 50 gpm. Now that the reservoir is up to a safe water level, the city could consider getting the needed work done on the No. 2 well, which requires taking it out of operation. Well No. 3 was drilled in 2011 and can produce 150 gpm except in summer, when output drops to about 50 gpm. The city also obtains water from infiltra- tion galleries near Dixie Creek. The Dixie Creek water is treated in a $2 million slow- sand filtration system installed in 2008 – two 50-by-50 foot cells filled with special sand and aggregate. The system is shut down for maintenance in summer because of low water flows, Camarena said. Hamsher said when he was mayor in 2005, he wanted the modifications to the low car- bon fuel standard, which aimed to reduce the carbon content of fuel by 10 percent from 2015 to 2025. Bentz said he is opposed to the standard and worked to mandate disclosure of the costs of the program and to provide “consumer protec- tions,” which would extend the deadline in response to certain situations to prevent economic problems such as fuel shortag- es and resulting price spikes. The bill, which also in- creased funding to each city and county through increases to the gas tax and other fees, was largely hailed as a suc- cess for both Republicans and Democrats. Bentz said the first step to- ward a similar bipartisan ap- proach to the major issues of spending and tax reform was to select the right people for the committee. He said they would then have to agree on the definition of the problem. “You can’t solve a problem if you don’t agree on what it is,” he said. However, he admitted the transportation package was much easier because the prob- lem of crumbling roads and bridges was known and unan- imous support existed to come up with a solution. With issues such as taxes, health care, education and state employees and benefits, Bentz said agreeing on the problem would be difficult because per- spectives vary dramatically. He said, however, he believes the committee could help solve the problems, despite the difficulty. “You don’t do this job un- less there’s a big challenge out there,” he said. Law Office Of Robert Raschio 206 S. Humbolt St., Canyon City, OR 97820 541-575-5750 Have a Happy, Healthy & Safe Halloween! Here are some tips to keep your little goblins and ghouls out of harm’s way. KIDS • Walk with a group or trusted adult. • Walk from house to house, and look both ways before crossing the street. Don’t run, and use sidewalks and crosswalks when possible. • Put reflective tape on your costume or treat bag, or carry a flashlight with you. • Examine all of your treats to make sure they are safe and sealed before eating them. • Don’t approach dark houses when trick-or-treating, and never go inside a stranger’s house. • Don’t approach pets while wearing a Halloween costume. They may not recognize you. PARENTS • Provide healthier or non-edilbe options for trick-or-treaters. • Slow down and be on the lookout for trick-or-treaters when driving. • Accompany your child if they are under age 12, and make sure older children are with a group of trusted friends. • Go over the planned trick-or-treat route with your child, and be sure to set a curfew. • Keep your porch and walkway well-lit, and move any potential tripping hazards out of the path of trick-or-treaters. • Keep family pets away from trick-or-treaters, even if they are friendly. • Limit the amount of candy your kids eat each day, and encourage them to give away excess. city to invest in a new well at Fainman Springs rather than the slow-sand filtration system. The city holds water rights at the location but not access. The Fainman Springs well could produce up to 600 gpm – twice what the city needed, Hamsher said. The estimated $900,000 cost of a well at Fainman Springs would include two miles of pipe, a pressure-re- ducing valve, bringing in three- phase power and building an A7 “completely unrideable,” he said. This established a “need” for their proposal, he said. Tait’s group followed the NEPA process, working with the Forest Service’s recreation planners, holding meetings and soliciting comments. Suitable areas needed to be identified using input from silviculturists and botanists, Tait said. To be successful, a group needs to limit the scope of its proposed project and to de- velop the “capacity” to perse- vere through the many years required under the NEPA pro- cess, Tait said. Identifying and dealing with potential conflicts early in the process would be beneficial, he said. “Collaboration is key,” he added. A final decision approving the Magone Lake mountain bike trail system was made on May 3, Tait said. Next up was raising the $750,000 needed to construct the trail system. A second panelist, Kath- erine Rose, helped organize a program under the North Fork Watershed Council that provid- ed jobs for youths performing restoration work on Forest Ser- vice and other lands. She had managed to obtain funding and work for about 50 youths and their crew leaders, but she said it was frustrating at times. She cited long wait times and having to show up in per- son at Forest Service offices to get things done. Rose said she’s already started organizing next year’s program, but with the turnover at the Forest Service, she’ll need to start over again. The past summer’s turnover created a “perfect storm,” she said. “It’s always a puzzle,” she said. “My current goal is to start the process now.” access road. Hamsher suggest- ed cost savings for that project could include using a propane generator rather than running power lines and using the city’s equipment to build an access road. Prairie City resident Mel- anie DeJong spoke to the council about selling a piece of land with a residential well capable of producing about 50 gpm. The DeJongs spent about $55,907 in 2008 on the proper- ty and would offer the city fi- nancing, she said. “I just want to see the city have a more reliable water sys- tem,” she said. The city is also working on a new master plan for its water system with a two-year dead- line. The city has applied for a $20,000 grant to pay half of the engineering costs for the plan, Hamsher said. Finding funds for all this work could be difficult. The city used low-interest U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture Rural De- velopment loans to pay for the slow-sand filtration system and the No. 3 well, and the USDA said it would not refinance the city’s outstanding loans, Ham- sher said. Also weighing on the city’s finances is a $1.8 million sewer project that will go to bid in a few months, Hamsher said. Although the city’s well wa- ter can smell or taste “funny” at times, Prairie City’s water is safe to drink, Hamsher empha- sized at the meeting. “There is nothing wrong safety-wise,” he said. “I’ve been drinking city water for years. If I thought Prairie City water was not safe, I’d be using bottled water, which I’m not.” The council directed Ca- marena to bring some cost es- timates for the various options to their next meeting on Nov. 8. He noted that preliminary en- gineering for a new well could take until January, but planning could be accelerated by using the same engineering firm that handled the No. 3 well. “We can’t expect our cit- izens to go through another summer like this one,” Patter- son said. “If we need a new well, then we need to start drill- ing.” J OIN US ON F ACEBOOK facebook.com/MyEagleNews
