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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 2020)
A18 NEWS Blue Mountain Eagle Center Wednesday, August 26, 2020 “WE ALL CAN PLAN, MOVING FORWARD, WHERE WE NEED TO BE. OF COURSE, THERE’S A BIG DIFFERENCE OF OPINION OF WHERE WE NEED TO BE. ” Plan Continued from Page A1 Continued from Page A1 Kirk Borgerding from CB Construction Inc., a general con- tracting company based in La Grande, said the team hopes to officially start construction on Sept. 14 and finish the project by early May. COVID-19, the weather and materials are some factors that could impact the timeline, but the team has until September 2021 to get the project finished for the grant requirements. The federal Community Development Block Grant is the main source of funding for the project, awarding $1.5 mil- lion, said Heart of Grant County Board Member Rick Minster. “We’ve had to come up with some match money, but the majority of this project is going to be completed by those funds,” Minster said. Minster said it’s great to experience the groundbreaking after years of work getting to this point. The grant was awarded to Grant County, which sponsored the nonprofit application. Grant County Judge Scott Myers said he congratulates the Heart of Grant County for the ground- breaking and is happy for the new location of the trauma center. “The location it was in was not safe or secure necessar- ily, being right on the high- way,” Myers said. “This will be a much safer location, and it is a needed facility.” For the socioeconomic assessment subcommittee, Wallowa Resources Executive Director Nils Christoffer- son said BIC asked the Rural Engage- ment and Vitality Center, a joint venture between Eastern Oregon University and Wallowa Resources, to help implement a new tool to for socioeconomic assessment. “A useful approach to socioeco- nomic analysis leads to more informed decision making and helps find oppor- tunities for alignment between the leadership of the National Forest Sys- tem lands and the counties,” he said. Christofferson said he hopes the long-term goal with BIC charts a course for an effective Forest Service planning process. He said the Blue Mountains forests are operating on a very outdated forest plan from 1990. “It’s important that we have (a forest plan) that speaks to the cur- rent conditions and current science and allows us to respond to the needs today that are different from the 1990s when the plan was approved,” Christ- offerson said. Grant County Commissioner Jim Hamsher, who is on the socioeco- nomic subcommittee, said the meet- ings were going well until the corona- virus outbreak. Hamsher said it has taken over a year to get the different stakeholders to the table to define the issues. “Even though we’ve been work- ing on this now for about a year and a half, it’s kind of right now just in its infancy, and we’re really starting to get stuff done,” he said. Hamsher said he would like to see the health of the forest improved, the “WE’VE HAD TO economy stabilized and the mill ade- COME UP WITH quately supplied with wood. “All this stuff affects our commu- SOME MATCH nities, like the closure of the mills, or, you know, how many jobs were lost, MONEY, BUT THE how much our economy here is reliant MAJORITY OF THIS on natural resources, not just with the timber but also with grazing,” Ham- PROJECT IS GOING sher said. Harney County Commissioner TO BE COMPLETED Kristin Shelman, who is on the graz- BY THOSE FUNDS.” ing subcommittee, said the subcom- mittees tie into one another in various Rick Minster ways. Heart of Grant County Board Grazing, she said, is one area that Member relates to socioeconomics, especially if the forest plan does not consider grazing and seeks to limit it. We’re investing Shelman in Salem said Malheur National OREGON CAPITAL coverage Forest when other Supervisor Craig Trulock so far has are been thorough about the”stick- news organizations ing points” of the plan as it relates to grazing. Trulock said the BIC spent a lot of Get the inside scoop on Get the inside scoop on state government and politics! time on developing “operating prin- state government and politics ciples,” and they are doing a “deep dive” into the “significant issues” We’re investing that caused the last forest plan to be e’re in investing in Salem Salem abandoned. coverage coverage when when other “We’re trying to understand those news are issues and come up with potential news other organizations organizations solutions with all of the key play- are cutting back ers from the governmental side in the room,” he said. “I think there is going to be a level of transparency we hav- en’t seen before.” INSIDER —Rep. Mark Owens, Blues Intergovernmental Council access subcommittee member Start Continued from Page A1 Eagle file photo Malheur National Forest Supervisor Craig Trulock Eagle file photo Grant County Commissioner Jim Hamsher during a session of Grant County Court in March. Hamsher, who sits on the socioeconomic committee of the Blues Intergovernmental Council said the collective is just starting to ‘get stuff done.’ “IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE HAVE (A FOREST PLAN) THAT SPEAKS TO THE CURRENT CONDITIONS AND CURRENT SCIENCE AND ALLOWS US TO RESPOND TO THE NEEDS TODAY THAT ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE 1990S WHEN THE PLAN WAS APPROVED.” —Nils Christofferson, Wallowa Resources director The most valuable and respected source of local news, advertising and information for our communities. HELLO, JOHN DAY COMMUNITY www.eomediagroup.com FIRST COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION HAS ACQUIRED THE UMPQUA BANK BRANCH LOCATED IN JOHN DAY, OREGON. For all back t your o scho supplie ol s. The new name speaks directly to First Community’s focus to provide the people in our communities with solutions to help them succeed financially. Because where we live, community always comes first. S201534-1 7 7 150 W MAIN STREET | JOHN DAY | 833.920.1080 MYFIRSTCCU.ORG DP HOME ENTERTAINMENT S199536-1 137 E. Main Street, John Day 541.575.1637 he said. “We’ve tried to talk about desired conditions, and where we want to go. We all get positional rather quickly.” Forest Service Dep- uty Regional Forester Lisa Northrup said a “key focus” of the subcommittee is on how to provide access for “human needs and protect important habitat.” “To that end,” she said. “Our committee will be work- ing toward reaching zones of agreements that we will bring back to the full BIC as part of their full recommendations to (the Forest Service).” In the subcommittee meet- ing notes, Northrup said the group should find out what people want regarding access. The meeting notes state, “Travel management needs be separated from creat- ing a forest plan to guide management.” Owens said he understands certain areas have wilder- ness or wildlife designations restricting motorized vehicle access. But he wanted to learn what roads are open and what roads are closed and why they are closed. He said he wanted to see which roads were closed through the National Environ- mental Policy Act and which roads were closed by the For- est Service administratively. “If they’re closed through NEPA, we really can’t get it back open unless we go through NEPA, but if you’re closed administratively then those are open for a conver- sation to the subject,” he said. Owens said the Forest Ser- vice had not “teased out” why the roads were closed and by which process when the group viewed a map of closed and open roads. In the next monthly meet- ing, Owens said the group would pick one area of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest to get a basic under- standing of the access roads and how they were designated to be open or closed. “In order to figure out where we’re going, we have to figure out where we’re at,” he said. He said the group’s goal is to come to a com- mon understanding when it comes to access so that county commissioners, part- ners and other stakehold- ers can share that informa- tion with their respective communities. Association of Oregon Counties Solutions Direc- tor Greg Wolf, a subcom- mittee member, said access has a “long history of dis- agreement,” and it is essen- tial that the group starts from a shared base of information to understand the existing conditions better. “It is actually pretty com- plicated when you start try- ing to parse all that stuff out,” he said. Owens said, while he is for an “open-forest designa- tion,” he understands there will need to be compromises made as they move forward. “We all can plan, mov- ing forward, where we need to be. Of course, there’s a big difference of opinion of where we need to be,” he said. “Our general forest designa- tion would be an open-for- est designation, and we need the public to have access to it. But I am not bull-headed enough that there are sensi- tive spots in the area where we need to reroute a road or need to have seasonal clo- sure for some migration. I’m OK with that, but I need to understand the impact on the forest by knowing where we’re at today.”
