News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Land and water recreation growing
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
A9
FOREST
Continued from Page A1
Rager Ranger
Station closure
discussed
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
File photo/Kevin Sperl
Stacy Forson is the supervisor of the Ochoco National
Forest and Crooked River National Grassland.
Commissioner
Boyd
Britton emphasized that he
had “strong concerns” about
the Western Rivers Conser-
vancy acquiring this private
land. He said he had a “per-
sonal vendetta” against the
group and was happy to see
the federal government take
it from them.
Teitzel also reported on
several improvement proj-
ects, including the water-
line extension to the BLM’s
Dayville fire guard station,
rehabilitation of Mallo-
ry Creek Road to improve
water quality and protect
spawning steelhead in the
North Fork of the John Day
River, reconstruction of 30
miles of fencing burned in
the 2014 South Fork Com-
plex Fire and reseeding
of up to 3,000 acres in the
Murderers Creek drainage
to improve ecological con-
ditions and wildlife habitat.
The Eastern Oregon
Trails Alliance has also ap-
proached the BLM about
developing a trail system
on Little Canyon Mountain,
Teitzel said. This follows a
trend of increasing recre-
ational use on the district.
Several groups have ex-
pressed interest in the Rager
Ranger Station near Pauli-
na, Ochoco National Forest
and Crooked River National
Grassland Supervisor Stac-
ey Forson said. The Forest
Service closed the station
in 2012, citing a $4 million
maintenance backlog, and
announced plans to decom-
mission 33 structures at the
site, leaving three historic
buildings built by the Ci-
vilian Conservation Corps.
The groups hope to main-
tain the facilities for public
use.
“Can’t they be put up for
sale?” Britton asked. “It’d
be a shame to spend money
to keep them up and then
tear them down.”
Forson noted that sell-
ing the facilities to a pri-
vate party would create an
inholding in the national
forest.
She said the Forest Ser-
vice planned to enlist a vol-
unteer site steward to watch
over the facility as it did
this past summer.
A TTENTION G RANT
C OUNTY
V ETERANS :
The first installment of the 2017-18
property tax is due Wednesday,
November 15th, 2017 by 5:00 p.m.
Payments may be made at the Tax Collector’s Office at
the Grant County Courthouse in Canyon City, or the
payment may be mailed and postmarked no later than
November 15th, 2017. Please remember that delinquent
taxes accrue interest at the rate of 16% per year. If you
have any questions, please call the tax office at
575-0107 or 575-0189.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden speaks during a Hermiston Rotary
luncheon in September in Hermiston.
bill as a way to maximize the
interests of logging companies
while severely undermining en-
vironmental review laws. Andy
Kerr, former conservation di-
rector for Oregon Wild, has
written the bill would essen-
tially gut the National Environ-
mental Policy Act, Endangered
Species Act and Equal Access
to Justice Act to advance the
interests of logging.
Walden said the proposal
now heads to the Senate with
a strong bipartisan vote out
of the House. Unlike the pre-
vious four years, he said the
administration in Washington,
D.C., seems more receptive to
advancing the bill to the Presi-
dent’s desk.
“I think we have a good
opportunity this time,” he
said. “This time, we’re not
fighting the head winds of an
administration that wasn’t
supportive. That changes the
dynamics.”
W E T HA N K O U R V E T E R A N S O F
T H E PA ST , P R E S E N T
A N D F UT U R E F O R
T H E I R S E RV I C E .
21226
Land management, wild-
fires and new recreational
uses were major topics in
the annual Ochoco National
Forest and Bureau of Land
Management updates pre-
sented at the Oct. 25 Grant
County Court meeting.
BLM Prineville District
Manager Dennis Teitzel,
who became the district
manager this past June, re-
ported that nearly 6,500
boaters entered the John
Day River this year, with the
BLM selling 1,137 permits.
That included 447 launched
from Clarno or Thirtymile
and 295 from Muleshoe or
Service Creek.
“The BLM collected just
over $21,000 in fees that
will continue to be put back
onto the John Day River for
maintenance and patrols,”
he said.
County Judge Scott My-
ers noted that ODFW lifted
the limits on smallmouth
bass fishing in the John
Day River this year, which
should generate even more
boating interest.
The BLM is considering
acquiring up to 11,500 acres
of private land adjacent
to the John Day River and
Thirtymile Creek, Teitzel
said.
The acquisition would
provide public access to the
John Day Wild and Scenic
River, the Armstrong Can-
yon Area of Environmental
Critical Concern, the Lower
John Day Special Recre-
ation Management Area and
the Thirtymile and North
Pole Ridge Wilderness
Study Areas.
administered by the Feder-
al Emergency Management
Agency — to cover firefight-
ing costs.
“That way, work can contin-
ue on the ground that’s so nec-
essary,” Walden said.
The federal government
spent a record $2.5 billion
fighting wildfires in 2017, in-
cluding 678,000 acres burned
in Oregon. By eliminating fire
borrowing, Walden said more
work can be done to lower the
size and intensity of fires mov-
ing forward.
The bill itself features sev-
eral provisions to increase the
pace and scale of forest resto-
ration, Walden said. For exam-
ple, thinning projects as large as
10,000 acres could qualify for a
categorical exclusion, fast-track-
ing environmental review. That
limit increases to 30,000 acres
if the project is developed by a
collaborative group.
The bill also requires the
Secretary of Agriculture to
create a pilot program for re-
solving lawsuits against forest
management projects through
arbitration, as opposed to going
to court. Plaintiffs would not be
able to recover their attorney
fees in such cases under the
Equal Access to Justice Act.
Finally in Eastern Oregon,
the bill lifts the prohibition
on logging trees more than 21
inches in diameter, a rule that
county officials argue “has no
basis in science.”
Opponents of the Resilient
Federal Forests Act criticize the
MICHAEL RUSHTON, DPM
PODIATRIC PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
2830 10TH ST., BAKER CITY, OR
541-524-0122
PO Box 185
Canyon City, OR 97820
Did you know a service-connected
disabled veteran is entitled to
FREE use of Oregon State Parks?
See your Grant County Veteran Services
Officer today for more information,
Katee
located at Grant County Courthouse. Hoffman
Call 541-620-8057 for an appointment
18301
Let our family of Pharmacists
Remembering those
who have served
and paid for our
freedom this
Veterans Day
serve you!
Give us a call today
541-676-9158 - Heppner
541-384-2801 - Condon
We welcome the opportunity to visit with
you about our services!
400 Patterson Bridge Road
John Day, OR 97845
541-575-0161
www.otecc.com
Heppner & & Condon
Heppner
Condon
Jeanette Hueckman, Agent
101 W. Main St., John Day
541-575-2073
541-523-6377
541-963-6577
541-573-6377
541-576-2160
18304