A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Saving the
forests from
wildfi re
A
fter another devastating
year of wildfi res in
Oregon and across the
West, the national forest health
bill approved by the House
Wednesday is a breath of fresh
air.
The Resilient Federal Forest
Act of 2017, H.R. 2936, would
make signifi cant strides toward
preventing the clouds of smoke
choking our communities
every summer as we watch our
homes, wildlife habitat and
economic livelihood burn with
our forests.
In the last decade, wildfi res
have consumed more than
36,000 structures. From the
homes lost locally in 2015’s
Canyon Creek Complex to this
year’s Eagle Creek Fire in the
Columbia Gorge, more people
are realizing just how dire the
situation is on many of our
national forests. With hotter
and drier conditions expected
in the future, it will only get
worse.
Despite bipartisan agreement
on the severity of the problem,
little has been accomplished in
Washington, D.C., to address
it. Oregon Rep. Greg Walden
said, with support from the
Trump administration, the bill
this year actually has a “good
opportunity.”
Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden
and Jeff Merkley, both
Democrats, have championed
a major component of this bill
— ending “fi re borrowing,”
where funds intended for fi re
prevention through active
forest management are re-
appropriated to cover the
ever-increasing cost of fi ghting
fi res. We hope they will work
through any other issues they
may have to support this bill.
Critics of the bill claim it
would promote clearcutting,
wiping out vast swaths of trees
to appease logging interests,
but that assertion is misguided.
The bill mandates that all forest
management activities “shall
be conducted in a manner
consistent with the forest plan,”
which is developed to meet the
Forest Service’s multiple-use
mandate to balance competing
interests, including logging and
recreation. In short, the forests
will not be clearcut.
What the bill actually does
is streamline the environmental
review process for certain
high-priority projects, such as
reducing the risk of wildfi re,
addressing insect and disease
infestations and protecting
wildlife habitat and municipal
water sources. Even then,
those projects are limited
to a maximum of 10,000
acres — unless developed by
a collaborative group when
the maximum is increased to
30,000 acres. For perspective,
the Malheur National Forest
alone comprises 1.7 million
acres.
And the streamlined process
— providing categorical
exclusions to address high-
risk situations — still
requires soliciting public
feedback through the scoping
process and reviewing for
extraordinary circumstances,
such as endangered species,
wetlands and watersheds.
The process, according to the
Government Accountability
Offi ce, still takes six months
on average — far better
than the stymieing 4.5-year
average for environmental
impact statements, but far
from a rubber stamp ignoring
environmental issues.
The bill would provide other
benefi ts as well, especially
in Eastern Oregon. The rule
preventing the harvest of
trees greater than 21 inches in
diameter — which local forest
offi cials have said sometimes
results in unhealthy forest areas
— would fi nally be rescinded.
The bill would also require
the Forest Service to consult
with the county government
before decommissioning
a road within a designated
highly fi re-prone area and to
solicit possible alternatives to
closing the road. Compared
to a national road density goal
issued from D.C. without
regard for the conditions on
the ground, this would allow
greater fl exibility to maintain
access to be able to fi ght the
catastrophic fi res devastating
our communities.
Congressman Walden
succinctly summed up the
current situation: “Fires burn
dramatically, catastrophically
and very destructively. They
don’t go through any analysis.
They don’t get permission fi rst.
They just go.”
Without action, they
will continue to do so —
taking homes and habitat
indiscriminately.
We urge Sens. Wyden
and Merkley to consider the
inevitable consequences of
inaction and to support this
bill to save our forests and our
communities.
G UEST C OMMENT
A common cadence to serve
and honor Oregon’s veterans
By Cameron Smith
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Nov. 11 originally marked the
armistice between the Allied na-
tions and Germany in World War
I. Today, Veterans Day honors the
service and sacrifice of all Amer-
icans who have raised their right
hand, worn the uniform, defended
our freedom and stood guard over
our peace.
After the guns fell silent on the
11th hour of the 11th day of the
11th month in 1918, WWI service
members did not come home to a
robust veterans’ health and benefit
system. They banded together in
service organizations and fought
to advocate for the system of sup-
port we have today.
They helped found the Oregon
Department of Veterans’ Affairs
in 1945 and our team is proud to
continue their advocacy.
The common cadence across
our over 70-year history is our
timeless mission to serve and hon-
or Oregon veterans.
At the same time, we know
that the success of our efforts
depends on the leadership of Or-
egon’s veterans and communi-
ty partners across the state. To-
gether, we continue to make a
difference.
Over the past two years, the
veteran community and partners
have tirelessly ad-
vocated for addi-
tional resources to
support
veterans
and their families.
Citizens across the
state added their
Cameron
voice in November
Smith
2016 when they
approved, by a re-
sounding 84 percent, to amend the
state’s Constitution to dedicate
1.5 percent of net lottery revenues
to better serve Oregon’s veterans.
Through the bipartisan lead-
ership of the governor and leg-
islature this year, Oregon has
approved a historic investment
in veteran services — funds that
will go to ensure the health, ed-
ucation and economic oppor-
tunity of our veterans and their
families.
The resulting budget invests
significantly in veteran services at
the local level as well as in efforts
to support nonprofit and commu-
nity partners.
There is a particular focus to
mobilize partnerships to better
support student veterans on cam-
pus, ensure all veterans have ac-
cess to mental health resources
and prevent veterans from becom-
ing homeless.
As we build a system to better
serve all veterans, we also have
targeted outreach to underserved
veteran populations. This includes
Vietnam veterans, the largest seg-
ment of our veterans’ community
and a group that was not wel-
comed home in their own time and
has unique issues as they age.
We also have been proud to bet-
ter connect to Oregon’s LGBTQ
and women veterans.
Women veterans are the fast-
est rising demographic in our
veterans’ community, and we
must continue to do better to
help them access benefits and
resources. We proudly stand as
an advocate for all veterans and
service members who served with
honor.
Ultimately, the diversity of our
veterans’ community does not di-
vide us, but unites us. There is a
shared bond across all veterans no
matter where we live or when we
served.
As four generations of veterans
across five major wars, we stand
on the shoulders of all those who
have come before us. And togeth-
er as advocates, we will continue
to charge the hill for our veterans
and their families.
Thank you for your continued
dedication, advocacy and support!
Cameron Smith served three
tours in Iraq as a U.S. Marine
and is the director of the Or-
egon Department of Veterans’
Affairs.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Local dispatchers
know area, people
To the Editor:
I am not a resident of Grant
County. However, I am a veteran
of 53 years of public safety ser-
vice including 15 years as a chief
of police, six years as a fire/EMS
chief and 8 1/2 years as director of
Baker County’s 911 dispatch cen-
ter. For Grant County to suffer the
loss of its dispatch center would
be a disservice to every person
who resides in the county.
No outside dispatch center
would know the people of the
county and the first responders
like your current 911 dispatch
staff does.
If you want to see just how dif-
ficult it is to dispatch those whom
you do not know to places you
have never been, to help people
you have never met, just listen to
the Oregon State Police dispatch
center.
It is located on the west side of
the state, and while their staff are
good people, they have not a clue
about a county they have never
even visited.
The proposed tax is minimal
and short term. Its passage may
save lives in Grant County and is
well worth you voting in favor of
it.
Jerry Boyd
Baker City
House Resolution
2936 sells out Oregon
To the Editor:
Wildfi res are a problem for Ore-
gonians and selling out our natural
resources, endangered species and
public process is not the answer,
and that is why I oppose HR 2936.
Wildfi res affect Oregonians in a
profound way. The threat to hous-
ing, loss of grazing land for cattle,
the high cost of replacing fencing
– not to mention the veterinary
supplies and medications needed to
sustain the herd after such a trage-
dy – is a great strain on the farmers
and ranchers. Add to this the dev-
astation of the land that we all hold
dear, and the impact of wildfi res is
almost unimaginable.
House Resolution 2936 would
gut protections already in place and
promote clearcutting forests that we
have set aside for our future gener-
ations. It is important to both create
sustainable new growth for the tim-
ber industry and to protect forests
that provide habitat for wildlife and
threatened species.
We will not solve the problem by
selling out our natural resources or
by silencing public input.
What we need is sustainable
forestry management. By giving
appropriate funding to the Unit-
ed States Forest Service they will
be able to remove the underbrush,
allowing young trees to grow and
create their own sustainable eco-
system which will limit devastating
wildfi res. This sensible approach
will create jobs and help contain
wildfi res that endanger families and
livestock, and allow wildfi res to
burn where they are contributing to
the overall health of forests.
If HR 2936 becomes law, Ore-
gon will suffer a devastating loss in
natural resources and family farms
that have already been hit hard by
wildfi re.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner
Congressional District 2
Democratic candidate
L
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