REGION
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
A7
Wyden, Merkley introduce Owyhee wilderness bill
Area in
detail
Proposed for
designation as
wilderness
BAKER
Bully
Ore.
84
30
26
C r eek Vale
95
Ontario
52
84
30
Nyssa
20
201
Sn a
ke
R.
95
MALHEUR
Ow y h e e
78
78
Jordan
Valley
R ive
r
Burns
Junction
Idaho
Ore.
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley, both D-Oregon,
on Nov. 7 introduced legislation
that would designate more than
1.1 million acres of the Owyhee
River Canyonlands in Malheur
County as wilderness.
The area is important to
the local economy because
it includes significant graz-
ing land, recreation destina-
tions and other assets. Recent
research there has focused on
preserving sage grouse and
other wildlife habitat, and native
grasses.
The Malheur County Com-
munity Empowerment for the
Owyhee Act — largely a result
of collaboration among ranch-
ers, conservation groups, uni-
versity researchers and others
— aims to maintain and improve
rangeland, preserve grazing, and
protect areas important to wild-
life and recreation.
The legislation supports sci-
ence-based
adaptive
man-
agement of federal lands “to
make efficient ranching a con-
tinued conservation tool and
ensure real-time management
responses to threats on the eco-
logical integrity of the lands,”
the senators said in a joint
statement.
Adaptive management aims
to encourage flexibility by
allowing for adjustments based
on current or recent results. To
help ensure management actions
produce ecological improve-
ments, the legislation calls for
creating a monitoring network
of ranchers, businesses, envi-
ronmental groups and land
managers.
Grazing would be allowed
to continue, including in newly
designated wilderness areas. The
legislation would provide fund-
ing for research, active-man-
agement activities and monitor-
ing as well as enforcement of
anticipated uses. It would main-
tain existing roads, and establish
“loop roads” to encourage tour-
ism while improving access for
firefighting.
The legislation would not cre-
ate a national monument, amend
the Taylor Grazing Act, impede
current projects, impact water
Ore.
Idaho
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
20 miles
95
Ore. Idaho
Nev.
Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
rights or irrigation districts, or
affect management of Owyhee
Reservoir.
It would give wilderness pro-
tection to parts of the Trout Creek
Mountains, Castle Rock, Les-
lie Gulch, Honeycombs, Three
Forks and Jordan Craters. Wild
and Scenic River management
would be used on 14.7 miles of
the Owyhee River below Owyhee
Reservoir.
The legislation “ensures
the
safeguarded
protec-
tions of desert wildlife habi-
tat, native and rare plants, and
vast wild places for future gen-
erations to enjoy” while also
making sure ecological health
drives management, Friends of
the Owyhee said in an online
newsletter.
The Owyhee Basin Steward-
ship Coalition, which includes
ranchers and business owners,
for more than three years has
played a key role in discussions
that led to the legislation.
OBSC Chairman Steve Rus-
sell said in the senators’ joint
statement that the coalition
hoped for resolution of land des-
ignations and “a unique BLM
(U.S. Bureau of Land Manage-
ment) model that protects graz-
ing and other traditional land
uses while providing for local
guidance. We also hoped to cre-
ate economic opportunities for
Malheur County. The final result
accomplishes what we set out
to do, and we sincerely appre-
ciate the dedication of everyone
involved.”
BLM Vale District Manager
Don Gonzalez said the agency
does not comment on pending
legislation. BLM has been work-
ing on amending a plan for man-
aging about 4.6 million acres
in southeastern Oregon; a final
environmental impact state-
ment is expected early next
year.
“Conservation is good for
everyone, and protecting the
Owyhee will only strengthen
this important and resilient rural
economy,” Wyden said in the
statement.
Merkley said the legislation
“is the result of ranchers, con-
servationists and leaders com-
ing together with a shared mis-
sion to protect this incredible
land, and working to preserve
the beauty and vitality of Mal-
heur County for generations to
come.”
Voters could be asked to decide future of Oregon’s forestry practices
By Sam Stites
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — A politi-
cal fight over how Ore-
gon manages its forests
and timber activity could
be resolved by voters next
fall.
Two separate sets of bal-
lot initiatives with contrary
views of forestry in Oregon
have been filed with the
state Elections Division.
One side seeks to insu-
late current practices from
change and the other aims
to create new regulations
that prohibit certain tech-
niques they feel are harm-
ful to the environment and
Oregonians.
This week, Jim James
and his fellow chief
petitioners filed initia-
tives they’re calling the
“Health Forests and Wild-
fire Reduction Plan.” They
would keep the regulation
of forest and timber prac-
tices on all state and pri-
vately owned lands in the
hands of professional for-
esters, scientists and the
Oregon Board of Forestry.
The plan would require
the state Forestry Depart-
ment to report new forestry
regulations to the state
board for review.
The measures would add
four members to the board
representing scientific for-
estry fields and timber
interests. The package also
would amend Oregon’s
constitution to the state to
compensate landowner if
state actions reduce prop-
erty values.
James is a professional
forester based out of Foster
and the executive director
of the Oregon Small Wood-
lands Association, a lobby-
ing group that advocates
for private forest owners.
The initiatives he’s
promoting
were
filed
in response to a set of
prospective
measures
called the “Oregon For-
est Waters Protection”
package.
“I believe that our for-
ests are at a huge risk from
the ballot measures pro-
posed by radical, anti-for-
estry activists. We need
these petitions to be suc-
cessful in continuing to
protect our management of
forests,” he said.
The opposing initiatives
were refiled at the begin-
ning of October by Kate
Crump, a resident of Rock-
away Beach, and two other
Oregon wants to reunite veterans
with their missing medals
petitioners after their orig-
inal package was rejected
for violating the initiative
process.
One goal of Crump’s
initiative package is to pro-
hibit aerial spraying of pes-
ticides on a forest clear
cut within 500 feet of for-
est rivers and streams,
especially those that feed
watersheds used for pota-
ble water. It would also
greatly reduce the logging
operations in proximity to
water bodies.
Crump said the Oregon
Forest Practices Act has
been enforced for too long
with little change, espe-
cially relating to water-
sheds that supply pota-
ble water systems. She
believes the ballot is the
best way to achieve her
goal because people are
concerned about protecting
their drinking water.
“We’ve had a ton of sup-
port, and I think people are
really concerned,” she said.
“This is something that’s
been on the minds of many
coastal residents and Ore-
gonians across the state.”
Each campaign submit-
ted three proposed ballot
measures to the state. Once
the language is approved,
they will have to get 1,000
voter signatures to receive
a ballot title from the state
Attorney General and
receive public comment.
If there are no challenges
to the ballot title, they will
launch a full-blown signa-
ture gathering to put the
measures on the November
2020 ballot.
The signature this cycle
is 112,020 for statutory
laws and 149,360 for con-
stitutional amendments.
James is motivated in
part by the explosion of
major wildfires that Ore-
gon and other western
states have seen in recent
years. He believes active
forest management —
including harvesting, stand
improvement and thinning
— are crucial to mitigating
wildfires.
“Everyone knows that
unmanaged forests are
more prone to catastrophic
wildfires. The last thing
Oregonians need are more
wildfires on our land-
scape,” he said. “It impacts
the entire citizenship of our
state, and I believe these
petitions will help the abil-
ity to manage forests in a
way that prevents forest
fire.”
REPORTER
By Kate Davidson
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The Blue Mountain Eagle, a family-owned weekly newspaper in a stunningly
beautiful Oregon community, seeks an energetic, dedicated reporter.
SALEM — An Oregon
agency wants to reunite vet-
erans or their heirs with mil-
itary medals now in state
custody.
The Oregon Department
of State Lands is the guard-
ian of a lot of unclaimed
property — about $600 mil-
lion worth.
“Could be money,” said
Claudia Ciobanu, Oregon’s
unclaimed property admin-
istrator. “Could be gift cer-
tificates that were not used.
Could be stocks and bonds.
Could be safe deposit
boxes.”
Could be military medals.
Ciobanu said institutions,
such as hospitals, banks, law
firms and retirement homes,
send in about 1,000 aban-
doned safe deposit boxes
every year. The owners may
have died or stopped paying
rent. Those boxes sometimes
contain military medals.
“We have several World
War II campaign medals.
We have a Vietnam War
campaign medal, and then a
good conduct medal. There’s
a Purple Heart in there, and
The Eagle is located in John Day, where seeing deer in front yards is normal
and traffic is unheard of, just three hours from Bend and Pendleton.
Surrounded by scenic forests and dissected by mountain streams, the
location offers year-round recreational opportunities, including fishing,
hunting, backpacking, camping, snowmobiling and horseback riding.
Despite the picturesque environment, the community is at the center of an
evolving natural resource restoration economy, which gains statewide and
even national attention.
Photo courtesy of the Oregon Department of State Lands
The military medals in state custody include ones from World
War II, the Vietnam War, and a Purple Heart.
then several other pins, rib-
bons, and other insignia,”
she said.
In honor of Veterans Day,
the state is reminding peo-
ple that they can see these
medals online and possibly
claim them. You might even
spot your relative’s name,
as the department lists the
owners of the orphaned safe
deposit boxes.
A new Oregon law
ensures the Department of
State Lands won’t sell or
destroy military medals. If
the department can’t find the
service member who earned
a medal, or their heir, the law
allows it to entrust military
medals to a custodian, such
as a veterans’ organization.
Other unclaimed tangible
property in Oregon even-
tually gets auctioned off or
destroyed if no owner or heir
can be found.
Administrator Claudia
Ciobanu said unclaimed
property speaks to her heart.
That’s not only because
the state holds hundreds of
millions of dollars worth
of financial assets in perpe-
tuity until an owner or heir
appears. It’s because those
assets are held in trust in
the Common School Fund,
so the money they earn gets
distributed to K-12 schools.
Two unions see decline in state workers
paying dues, but claim they’re bouncing back
By Claire Withycombe
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s larg-
est public employee unions
have seen double-digit declines
in the number of state workers
paying dues, state data show.
Together, SEIU 503 and
AFSCME Council 75 rep-
resent about 29,000 workers
employed by state agencies.
A shrinking share of those
workers have chosen to be
members, though, according
to data maintained by the state
Department of Administrative
Services and provided to the
Oregon Capital Bureau through
a public records request.
Until last year, unions rep-
resenting workers in the pub-
lic sector divided workers into
two groups: members and “fair
share” dues-payers.
Workers who wanted to pay
full membership dues could
do so, and could vote and run
for leadership positions in the
union.
Workers who didn’t want
to support the ideological
stances or political work of
the union had another option.
They could pay “fair share”
dues instead. That arrange-
ment changed in June 2018,
when the U.S. Supreme Court
decided in Janus vs. AFSCME
that government workers
couldn’t be required to pay
any fee to a union representing
them, including “fair share”
assessments.
The Supreme Court’s deci-
sion means that the unions rep-
resenting public sector workers
no longer receive “fair share”
payments.
Separately from that, the
number of state workers
who are full union members
declined since mid-2018, the
data from the state show.
Despite the small-town charm, the residents are engaged and politically
active in local and national debates, and hard-hitting stories are never hard to
find. Ongoing topics include state and federal policies, forest health, logging,
public lands grazing, water supply, wildlife habitat improvements and wildfire
resilience, in addition to coverage of small-town life and local government.
The position offers a wealth of breaking news and enterprise opportunities.
Serving the community for more than 150 years, the Eagle is the oldest
weekly newspaper in Oregon and is part of EO Media Group, an award-
winning and innovative news organization with an active family of owners.
This position offers excellent advancement opportunities in a company that
prefers to hire from within. EO Media Group owns 14 newspapers and
journals that provide accurate, fair and timely reporting about the people and
issues impacting the communities we serve in the Pacific Northwest,
reflecting the responsibility and spirit of a free press.
We seek a journalist who is passionate about local news and excited about
the opportunity to publish in print, online and through social media.
Candidates must be able to develop story ideas, take photographs, develop
sources, prepare website and social media updates and work in a
cooperative team environment. Journalistic integrity is a must.
Journalism education or experience is required for this full-time position
offering insurances, a 401(k)/401(k) Roth retirement plan and paid time off
(PTO). Send resume, letter of interest and up to five clips to EO Media Group,
P.O. Box 2048, Salem, OR 97308-2048; by fax to (503) 371-2935
or by email to hr@eomediagroup.com.
195 N. Canyon Blvd.
John Day, Oregon
S152140-1
135210