NATIONAL AG DAY: THE PAST AND THE FUTURE A7-9
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
151st Year • No. 12 • 18 Pages • $1.00
FOREST PLAN
BLUES
BlueMountainEagle.com
Architects present
Innovation
Gateway concepts
Commercial
greenhouse
business faces
hurdles
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
Forest Service withdraws Blue
Mountains Forest Plan Revision
By George Plaven
EO Media Group
A
fter 15 years of planning, studies and
which were released in June 2018 along with a joint
negotiating with Eastern Oregon com-
Environmental Impact Statement. The current forest
munities, the U.S. Forest Service is
plans, which were last updated in 1990, will remain
scrap-
in effect for now.
p i n g
“Many
factors
three revised land
compounded to pro-
management plans
duce revised plans
for the Malheur,
that would be diffi -
Umatilla and Wal-
cult to implement,”
lowa-Whitman
French told Casa-
national forests.
massa in a statement.
Collectively
“While my review
known as the Blue
did not identify any
Mountains
Forest
specifi c
violations
Plan Revision, the
of law, regulation or
documents contain
policy,
signifi cant
guidelines for every-
changes
occurred
The Eagle/ Richard Hanners over the 15-year time
thing from grazing
and timber harvest Chris French, brown plaid shirt, a Forest Service reviewing period of the planning
to wilderness pro- offi cer, speaks at a Forest Plan objectors meeting at the process.”
tections. While the Trowbridge Pavilion at the Grant County Fairgrounds on Nov. 27.
Forest plans are
plans did not autho-
expected to be revised
rize any specifi c projects, they did set goals and
every 10-15 years to account for changes in the
desired conditions for the forests — making them
landscape and to keep up with the latest science.
a lightning rod for controversy among industry and
The Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision has gone
environmentalists.
through multiple iterations and remains hotly con-
Chris French, acting deputy chief of the Forest
tested in the region.
Service, has instructed Regional Forester Glenn
See Forest, Page A18
Casamassa to withdraw the revised forest plans,
Although the Innovation
Gateway project in John
Day could become an attrac-
tion for visitors while ben-
efi ting local residents, the
business plan for the city’s
commercial
greenhouses
might require more work.
That was one of many
takeaways from a special
meeting of the John Day
City Council held at the
Grant County Regional Air-
port and streamed live on
March 12.
Destination
development
Ken Pirie and Michael
Zilis of the Walker Macy
landscape architect fi rm in
Portland presented several
conceptual designs for the
EO Media Group fi le photo
See Concepts, Page A18
Clear path
presented for new
treatment plant
Details presented
for possible river
restoration project
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Blue Mountains Forest Plan
Revision has been withdrawn.
83-acre city-owned river-
front project area, much of it
brownfi eld properties.
Project goals set from the
beginning include creating a
thriving destination, attract-
ing investment and jobs,
honoring John Day’s iden-
tity and character, promot-
ing a connected and healthy
community, creating oppor-
tunities for hiking and bik-
ing, providing public access
to the John Day River and
Canyon Creek, construct-
ing the Seventh Street exten-
sion as a parkway with
pocket parking, opening up
the north side of the city
for development and divert-
ing traffi c from the Bridge
Street river crossing to Pat-
terson Bridge Road.
A proposed main loop
trail along the river and
a network of other trails
would connect the Innova-
tion Gateway complex at
the former Oregon Pine mill
site to the Kam Wah Chung
State Heritage Site, the new
The design for John
Day’s new wastewater treat-
ment plant has been given
a green light, and there is
a clear path forward for
construction of a facility
that will produce Class A
reclaimed water, City Man-
ager Nick Green announced
March 12.
In some ways, the proj-
ect is the most critical to
the city and the linchpin
to other projects related to
developing 83 acres of city-
owned brownfi eld property
along the John Day River
— including even a possi-
ble restoration project aimed
at returning the river chan-
nel to a more natural condi-
tion while reducing fl ooding
concerns.
The design
for the waste-
water treat-
ment
plant
was approved
that
very
same day by
the Oregon
Nick
Department
Green
of Environ-
mental Quality, Green said
during a special meeting at
the Grant County Regional
Airport. The council unan-
imously approved a resolu-
tion adopting a 2019 waste-
water facilities plan update
supporting the new plant.
Green noted that the new
treatment plant will take up
1 acre versus the 30-plus
acres currently occupied by
three sewage lagoons and
a 70-year-old mechanical
treatment plant. The lagoons
are not the best use for riv-
erfront property, Green said.
The city will pursue $11
million in grants and loans
to pay for construction of
See Plant, Page A18
Is it the end of daylight saving time?
Bill would end
biannual clock change
By Mark Miller
Oregon Capital Bureau
Whether they’re for standard time
or daylight saving time, Oregonians
are tired of changing their clocks
twice every year. That’s the mes-
sage state senators considering a time
change in Oregon received last week.
More than 50 people submitted
written testimony or addressed the
Senate Business and General Govern-
ment Committee March 12 regard-
ing Senate Bill 320. Only one wit-
ness argued that Oregon should keep
switching between standard and day-
light time every March and Novem-
“I JUST THINK IT’S A SMART THING TO DO,
AND I THINK PEOPLE ARE JUST GRUMPY
AND TIRED OF CHANGING THE CLOCK.”
Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer
ber. The others said they want to get
rid of the biannual change.
The legislation would let voters
settle the matter in November 2020.
If voters approve the change, Oregon
would switch to daylight saving time
in March 2021 and stay there.
“I just think it’s a smart thing to
do, and I think people are just grumpy
and tired of changing the clock,” said
state Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, who is
sponsoring the bill along with state
Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, Rep.
John Lively, D-Springfi eld, and Rep.
Mike Nearman, R-Independence.
Public testimony backs up Post.
Aloha resident Jonas Acres said,
as a software engineer, changing
between times makes his job much
harder and can lead to errors. For
example, he noted, the change to
standard time in November means
that one hour in the early morning is
repeated every year. Most Oregonians
are asleep by then, but for businesses
and services that never sleep — Acres
used hospital emergency rooms as an
example — having two 1 a.m. hours
can be a nightmare when tracking
vital data.
Those timekeeping issues can be
very serious, even life-threatening, in
some fi elds, Acres said.
“We need to patch DST out of
the current society,” Acres said. “SB
320 will let clocks do their jobs, tick-
ing happily from one hour to the
next in the monotonic progression
ordained by heaven and the laws of
thermodynamics.”
Some submitting written testi-
mony urged lawmakers to abandon
daylight saving time and make stan-
dard time year-round instead.
“I am in the fourth generation of
a family affl icted by SAD (Seasonal
Affective Disorder), and it is already
See DST, Page A18