A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Income
surveys need
completed
E
asy money is hard to
come by, but for the John
Day and Canyon City
communities, it may simply
require filling out a simple
survey.
Portland State University
has sent income surveys
to 312 randomly selected
wastewater customers from
the communities to determine
if they would qualify for a
Community Development
Block Grant that could
potentially provide about
$2 million toward a new
wastewater treatment facility.
As of last week, only 72
surveys had been returned.
That’s only 23 percent. To
complete the study, 90 percent
must be returned.
If the required number is
returned, Portland State will use
the data to determine whether
the communities’ average
income would be eligible for
the federal grant funding.
The impact is substantial.
Mt. Vernon and Seneca were
recently awarded $2 million
and $2.5 million block grants
for major sewer projects.
Without these grants, these
projects would have been very
costly for the cities.
John Day and Canyon City
are in the same situation —
while knowing the permit
for the current wastewater
treatment facility expired in
2007 and will not be renewed.
A new facility must be
built. Using grant funding
from a program designed
to help communities
with improvements such
as infrastructure would
dramatically reduce the burden
on the residents.
To qualify, the surveys must
be returned.
If you are one of the 312
John Day and Canyon City
residents who received a
survey, please complete it and
return it as soon as possible. It’s
that easy.
T HE B ACKROADS
County should
be proud of
local athletes
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
With all of the great sports ac-
complishments recently, we’ve
been having a problem here at the
Eagle: finding enough space to get
it all in print.
But it’s a problem we’ll glad-
ly take, and we hope all our local
teams continue to compete, for
their dominance and for the inches
on our pages.
It’s been great to see so many
athletes do so well from such a
small community.
Grant Union’s Drew Lusco won
his first state wrestling title, and
he’s only a sophomore.
The boys and girls basketball
teams from Grant Union both fin-
ished the regular season atop the
2A Wapiti League, and both fin-
ished off strong by winning the
championship games at the district
tournaments. As they head into this
week’s state playoffs, the boys are
seeded eighth, and the girls are
seeded fourth.
In 1A action, the Prairie City
boys and girls basketball teams
both made it to the state level. The
boys won the district tournament
and are seeded seventh going into
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
the playoffs. The
girls placed third at
the district tourney,
keeping their season
alive.
Congratulations
to everyone, and
Sean Hart
keep up the good
work!
As in life, winning in sports re-
quires hard work and dedication.
And these young athletes will take
the lessons they’ve learned with
them as they venture from the high
school halls into the world.
Thanks to hours and hours of
commitment from coaches, offi-
cials, volunteers, administrators,
parents and families, we think
these lessons will serve them well.
And that goes for all the athletes
and teams, not just those continu-
ing on to the next round.
So to everyone who has helped
shape this future generation, thank
you. Your contributions do not go
unnoticed.
And to the athletes moving on,
good luck. Win or lose, you’ve al-
ready made Grant County proud.
Of course, we’d love to see you
on the front page again next week.
Sean Hart is the editor of the
Blue Mountain Eagle.
G UEST C OMMENT
Firefighting costs limit other work
By Steve Beverlin, Jeff Tomac
and Tom Montoya
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Across the nation, the 2017 wild-
fire season was unprecedented in
terms of dollars spent, acres burned
and the increased duration of wild-
fires. Even now, months later, we’re
still feeling the impacts from these
fires, especially financially.
As wildfires grow more severe
— and costly — the USDA Forest
Service is struggling to adequately
fund projects that are important to
our communities because of soaring
firefighting costs.
Each year, firefighting costs con-
sume more and more of the USDA
Forest Service’s budget. In 1995,
firefighting costs accounted for 15
percent of the Forest Service bud-
get. In 2017, it was 57 percent. At
the rate things are going, firefight-
ing will consume 67 percent of our
budget by 2021. This means less
money for other priority USDA
Forest Service programs and ser-
vices, including recreation, visitor
services and much-needed fire pre-
vention work that reduces the risk
of catastrophic wildfires in the first
place.
The Forest Service is the only
federal agency that is required to
fund its entire emergency manage-
ment program through its regular
appropriations. This includes wild-
fires that are truly natural disasters
— lightning starts rapidly driven by
wind that burn faster and more in-
tensely than firefighters can control.
In the Pacific Northwest, this
funding model means that proj-
ects designed to actually decrease
the severity of wildfire are being
delayed, deferred maintenance is
growing for recreation sites and
critical infrastructure and damaged
roads from fire or storms are going
unrepaired.
This means that trash at camp-
grounds goes unemptied, toilets un-
cleaned and we are forced to make
hard decisions on whether we can
safely keep roads and recreation
sites open. The funding challenges
directly impact our ability to pro-
vide excellent and safe visitor ex-
periences.
With an enhancement to the
way wildfire suppression efforts
are funded in the Blue Mountains,
the Malheur, Umatilla and Wal-
lowa-Whitman national forests
could focus funding on managing
the land toward more resilient con-
ditions by completing important
restoration and thinning projects,
such as implementation of some
of our recently completed projects
including the Malheur Ten Year
Stewardship Contract, the Ten Cent
Community Wildfire Protection
Project and the Lower Joseph Creek
Restoration Project. Additionally,
we could focus on opportunities to
increase the pace and scale of res-
toration in those watersheds that
have been identified as most at risk
to wildfires and insect and disease
outbreaks.
USDA is dedicated to fostering
the productive and sustainable use
of your national forests and grass-
lands. If you can’t use and enjoy
your public lands to the fullest,
that’s a problem.
While the Forest Service is
working more closely with partners
and volunteers to leverage resources
and accomplish more than we could
by ourselves, our current fiscal path
is simply unsustainable.
We deeply appreciate the ongo-
ing work of Congress to pass new
legislation to reform the way wild-
fire suppression is funded. A com-
monsense approach would let us
get back to the work we care about
most — meeting the many different
needs of the communities we serve,
for the benefit of generations to
come.
Steve Beverlin is the supervisor
for the Malheur National Forest,
Jeff Tomac is the acting supervisor
for the Umatilla National Forest
and Tom Montoya is the supervisor
for the Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest.
F ARMER ’ S F ATE
The procrastination tree
By Brianna Walker
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
The early bird may get the worm
— but it’s the second mouse that
gets the cheese. A motto I have of-
ten repeated to myself when I seem
to be getting behind — with life.
It was in November when I
looked up at the Christmas tree
that had tormented my psyche all
last year. Last January, it begged to
stay up a little longer. In February, it
joked that at least its ornaments and
ribbon were red. It made green St.
Paddy’s jokes in March and asked
for Easter ornaments in April.
Thankfully, by May, it was time
to be back in the seat of my tractor,
and I didn’t have to look at it any-
more. Occasionally during the sum-
mer, I would glance up in the loft
and see the Christmas tree branches
drooping farther and farther down.
Many times I thought, “Tomorrow,
I might have some extra time to
take it down.”
Funny thing about tomorrow,
though. Although it is a noun, it’s
really a mystical place where 99
percent of all human production,
motivation and achievement are
stored — and you need the correct
“open sesame” password to get in.
October arrived, and I am pretty
sure I could hear that Christmas tree
snort with laughter as I packed in
two pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns.
“Hey, these decorations are
different!” I shouted to the tree in
my head. Regrettably, the tree was
right. The pumpkins are still on my
porch — uncarved. “It’s just been a
busy year!” my inner dialogue justi-
fied to the accusing Christmas tree.
Every time I walked through the
kitchen, I could feel the procrasti-
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nation jokes falling
like needles from
the dead and brittle
Christmas tree.
“You say pro-
crastination, I say
ingenious avoid-
Brianna
ance. Either way,
Walker
you aren’t coming
down until later. I’m too busy,” I’d
retort to the tree in my imaginary
guilt exchange.
“It’s November,” the tree gloat-
ed. “You usually put up a tree the
day after Thanksgiving. What are
you going to do this year? Have a
changing of the guard, er, tree?”
“I’m taking care of my procras-
tination issues. Just you wait!” I’d
threaten back. And the tree would
only laugh — in my mind, in my
sleep, in my dreams. Have you
ever had so much to do you be-
came overwhelmed? I’ve learned,
at those moments, you can just lay
down on the floor — for a really
long time — and if anyone disturbs
you, call it meditating!
Suddenly, it was December. And
I still had last year’s tree up — ful-
ly decorated. Which wouldn’t have
been entirely bad — if it hadn’t
started as a live tree. Although in
all honesty, I don’t think it had been
alive for a really long time.
A fresh Christmas tree was cut
and stood up in the living room. I
packed the boxes of Christmas dec-
orations up from the basement and
felt a wave of guilt as I walked un-
der the loft where the dead tree still
sported his star.
“I’ll get to you next!” I thought.
“Right!” he chortled, “I’ve heard
that for nearly a year now, procras-
tinator!”
“I don’t procrastinate. I just put
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it off till the last second because
then I’ll be older and therefore wis-
er, and can do the job better!” I de-
fended myself senselessly against
the insults in my own mind attribut-
ed to the dead tree.
One morning, my husband and I
were planning our Christmas party.
One of the games we were playing
required the participants to decorate
a Christmas tree, despite the many
hurdles and challenges we were
planning to throw at them. Like los-
ing their Christmas tree. Only one
team, we had decided, would actu-
ally get a real tree to decorate, one
group would have a wooden pallet
tree, and another group would have a
DIY tree — a tall smooth log, a pile
of loose pine branches — and a drill.
But we were still one challenge short
— or we were until I glanced up into
the loft. Suddenly, my procrastina-
tion had found a purpose!
During the party, one of the la-
dies came up and complimented me
on such organization and planning.
I smiled and was just starting to
thank her, when she continued, “I
mean, to have the foresight to keep
last year’s Christmas tree? That is
real planning!”
I walked over to the dead tree,
now decorated in plastic Easter
eggs and paper ribbon, “Ya hear
that, killjoy? Foresight and plan-
ning!”
The tree made one last crack at
my procrastination, but with my
guilt gone, I barely could hear him.
I put the pro in procrastination.
I must say I no longer feel bad
about keeping my current tree up
through Valentine’s Day.
Brianna Walker occasionally
writes about the Farmer’s Fate for
the Blue Mountain Eagle.
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