A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
New forest plan a
work in progress
he U.S. Forest Service
is taking comment
from individuals and
groups with legal standing
to file objections on its final
draft of the much-anticipated
Blue Mountains Forest Plan
Revision.
The plans, which were
last updated in 1990, will
guide land management
activities — including timber
harvest, livestock grazing
and recreation — over 5.5
million acres in the Umatilla,
Wallowa-Whitman and
Malheur national forests in
Eastern Oregon for the next 10-
15 years.
The Forest Service has been
working to replace the 1990
management plan since 2003.
Four years ago it released a
draft Environmental Impact
Statement for a proposed
replacement. Near universal
backlash from timber, grazing,
recreation and environmental
interests prompted three years
of “re-engagement” with the
public.
The Forest Service says its
preferred revision calls for more
active management to improve
forest health and reduce the
risk of the large and dangerous
wildfires plaguing the West.
To that end, the plan calls
for doubling the annual timber
harvest across all three forests
from a recent average of
101 million board-feet to
205 million board-feet. It
could also add as many as
51,600 animal unit months,
or AUMs, associated with
vacant allotments for livestock
grazing across the three
forests.
Stakeholder responses to
the revisions have been tepid
at best.
Doubling the timber harvest
would be a boon to loggers and
the economies of communities
that once depended on the
T
paychecks from lumber mills.
But timber interests say
the proposed revision doesn’t
offer any guarantees the
Forest Service will be able to
meet those targets each year.
It’s impossible to maintain
mills and other industry
infrastructure without that
certainty.
Livestock producers would
like to be able to graze more
cattle and sheep in the forests.
There have been many
changes to the management of
the forests in the last 28 years
that have caused the active
number of AUMs to decline
from what was provided in the
1990 plan.
The 1990 plan called for
524,000 AUMs for grazing,
but only 242,800 are currently
available. The revised plan
calls for up to 294,400.
Ranchers are skeptical
they’ll actually get to graze on
those additional AUMs.
Environmental groups, on
the other hand, say the plan
places too much emphasis on
resource extraction, and does
not do enough to protect old-
growth trees and wildlife.
We think more logging and
more grazing is a good idea.
The fuel load in the forests
needs to be reduced. Rural
communities in Eastern Oregon
could use the 1,200 extra jobs
and additional $60 million in
income the plan could generate.
Those with standing have
until the end of the month to
comment. The Forest Service
then has 90 days to make
further revisions.
Whatever plan is eventually
adopted, the operational
details will be as much a
product of litigation as careful
consideration.
Because in the end, it’s the
federal judiciary, not the Forest
Service, that writes the working
forest management plan.
O THER VIEWS
With free speech comes responsibility
The recent controversy about
whether conspiracy theorist Alex
Jones’ absurdities should be re-
moved from media platforms has
been shaped by his supporters as
both a First Amendment and cen-
sorship issue.
It is neither.
It is an integrity issue. The
actions of the managers at Face-
book, YouTube and Apple in re-
moving his incendiary content are
unsurprising. And certainly, they
are very easy to justify.
Free speech isn’t free — it
comes with consequences. The
First Amendment guarantees only
that the government isn’t going to
arrest you for what you say, with
limited exceptions.
It doesn’t shield you from crit-
icism or consequences. It doesn’t
protect you from being fired for
what you say in the workplace. It
doesn’t mean that anyone has to
listen to you. People can boycott
you, cancel your television show
or ban you from their internet
communities.
If you express extreme and
reprehensible views, in person or
online, you may be ostracized by
society.
Unworthy martyr
Jones is a Texas-based media
pundit whose InfoWars website
is a hotbed of bizarre theories
detached from any semblance
of reality. The only downside
we can see of booting him from
Facebook, YouTube and Apple is
creating a martyr in the eyes of
the radical fringe.
Some of his musings:
• The 9/11 terrorist attacks and
the 1995 Oklahoma City bomb-
ing were perpetrated by the U.S.
government.
• The 2012 Sandy Hook shoot-
ings, in which 20 children and
six adults in Connecticut were
slaughtered by a young gunman,
were an invention.
• David Hogg and other elo-
quent survivors of the Parkland,
“
Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the government for a redress
of grievances.”
— First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted Dec. 15, 1791
Florida, school shootings in
February are paid actors, hired
to advance a gun-control agen-
da. (This is popularly known as
“Second Amendment fan fic-
tion.”)
He has also been censured for
promoting “Pizzagate,” a bizarre
story about human trafficking
whose publication led to death
threats at a Washington, D.C.,
restaurant, and a false story about
an Idaho food processor import-
ing migrant rapists — both fic-
tions for which Jones has had to
apologize.
The problem isn’t that Jones
holds these views, or tries to dis-
seminate them. The issue is that
all too often his pronouncements
lead others to threaten, vandalize
and harass the subjects of his false
stories.
Facebook pages which car-
ried Jones’ statements have been
removed after evidence that he
disseminated hate speech against
Robert Mueller, the special coun-
sel who is investigating President
Donald Trump and his close asso-
ciates; so, too, has his YouTube
channel, and so has Apple, which
hosted his podcasts on its iTunes
platform. Mueller’s probe report-
edly examined whether InfoWars
had anything to do with Russian
interference in the 2016 presiden-
tial elections.
In all cases, these private pub-
lishing companies have said the
outrageous claims fail to meet
their standards and may incite il-
legal actions.
The most important words
And as for the First Amend-
ment, that’s all about the govern-
ment improperly trying to set pa-
rameters for publications.
It doesn’t factor into the Jones
case.
Back in 1791, the most im-
portant words ever set to paper in
the English language were craft-
ed by the founders of this nation.
James Madison originally wrote,
“The people shall not be de-
prived or abridged of their right
to speak, to write, or to publish
their sentiments; and the freedom
of the press, as one of the great
bulwarks of liberty, shall be in-
violable.”
That
wording
morphed
through a careful editing process
into those precious words we hold
inviolable. “Congress shall make
no law . . . abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press.”
With that freedom comes re-
sponsibility.
Just as it is not responsible to
yell “fire!” in a crowded theater, it
is certainly not responsible com-
ment to inflame or incite by post-
ing obvious falsehoods that cause
others to act inappropriately or
even illegally.
Sophisticated and communi-
ty-minded publishers know that
— and choose what they print ac-
cordingly.
—The Daily Astorian
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
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97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
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creek.com.
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97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
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governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
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oregonlegislature.gov.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Slow drivers and
not stopping are
dangerous
To the Editor:
I’ve noticed that the police log
in our local paper never seems to
have anyone listed for failure to
stop at a traffic control device. I
see a lot of people drive through
the stop signs and light frequent-
ly — I mean almost like a plague!
There’s never anyone for driving
too slow, and that seems like a nor-
mal everyday occurrence. Instead,
the fines and tickets seem reserved
for mainly speeders. Slow drivers
and not stopping are still danger-
ous!
Henry Lasiter
John Day
‘I felt humiliated’
To the Editor:
Regarding an incident at the
pool, I gave (an employee) my
money, and she counted my money
and said, “You’re short 5 cents.”
Then (another) came up and
counted my money again and said,
“You need 5 cents.” Then he told
me, “Go scavenge the parking lot
for a nickel.”
I went and looked for a nickel,
but I didn’t find one. So my friend
called her dad, and he came in and
gave me 5 cents. Then I gave it to
(the employee) and she said thank
you.
I felt humiliated when I had to
go look for a nickel in a parking lot
and ask my friend to call her dad to
give me money.
I didn’t do anything to deserve to
be treated like that. (The employee)
knows me.
Majik Leigh
Mt. Vernon
L
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