A4
OPINION
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Forest
management
must be
top priority
C
ome with us on a virtual
road trip. We’ll start in
the Cascade Range near
the Willamette Valley of Oregon
and head south on Interstate 5.
We’ll stop in towns with names
like Detroit, Gates, Blue River,
Vida, Phoenix and Talent.
Or at least they used to be
towns.
They — and the people who
lived there — were victims of
the ferocious wildfires that blew
through parts of Washington
and Oregon on Labor Day.
In Oregon, Washington and
California, wildfires destroyed
14,689 homes this year, and 6.3
million acres of forests were
burned.
Surveying the damage, we
shake our head and ask a simple
question: Why couldn’t forest
managers do a better job?
That’s a simple question, but
it has complex answers.
It’s not just a matter of cut-
ting trees to create fire breaks.
In the 21st century, forest man-
agers are hogtied by politics,
poorly written laws and envi-
ronmental groups that use those
laws to stop thinning and other
types of projects.
Left out of the mix are tax-
payers. They — we — are the
victims of a triple whammy.
First, we get to run for our
lives when our homes are
threatened or destroyed by fires.
Then we get to pay for fire-
fighters. This year fire suppres-
sion costs topped $3.2 billion
that came straight out of taxpay-
ers’ pockets.
Then taxpayers pay to
indemnify those who suffered
losses. In California alone this
year, those losses topped $2
billion.
Throw in the deaths, losses
of livestock, outbuildings and
other property and wildlife hab-
itat and the whole system can
best be described as a shambles.
That’s why it’s critically
important that forest managers
be allowed to do their jobs.
It’s not easy. Our sister paper,
the Capital Press, recently fol-
lowed a single forest treatment
plan from beginning to end.
In the case of the Five Buttes
Project in Oregon’s Cascade
Range, the plan took four years
to complete. The environmen-
tal impact statement alone was
459 pages.
Instead of massive clear-
cuts, the plan designated 60
areas totaling 7,800 acres that,
when treated, would help pre-
vent massive fires and pro-
tect Northern spotted owl habi-
tat. The total size of the project
was 160,000 acres, so only
about 4.9% of the area would be
directly impacted.
But then the lawyers got
involved and everything ground
to a halt. Hired by environmen-
tal groups and armed with laws
such as the Endangered Species
Act, the National Forest Man-
agement Act and the National
Environmental Policy Act, they
stopped the Five Buttes Project
a year after it was approved.
A judge went along with
their arguments. Only after
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals saw through the legal
chatter and gave its approve was
work on the project allowed to
proceed.
By the time the work was
finished, 12 years had passed.
That, in a nutshell, is a major
reason foresters cannot keep up
with the need to properly man-
age the 67.3 million acres of
federal forests in Oregon, Wash-
ington, California and Idaho.
That’s an area about the size of
Colorado.
Other reasons for delays
include a lack of money —
though it would surely be less
costly than spending billions of
dollars a year fighting monster
blazes — and a lack of political
will on the part of elected offi-
cials, many of whom still seem
to believe the best forest is an
unmanaged one.
Back to our road trip. As we
drive through blackened forests
it’s easy to reach the conclusion
that the system is out of balance.
One lawsuit can shut down a
treatment project for years, but
the good it would do — and the
money it would save taxpayers
— gets short shrift.
That’s not right, and Con-
gress owes it to the American
public to fix it. We can man-
age the forests now, or pay more
later to clean up the mess.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Support your fellow business
W
e’ve talked in previous
articles about ways to
improve sales during this
wild roller coaster ride we’re on.
Here are more ideas that may not
only benefit your bottom line but
help give another business a boost.
It begins by thinking outside
the box. Perhaps instead of see-
ing another business as a competi-
tor, think of them as another poten-
tial customer and be creative about
working together. Consider the
following:
• Initiate an after-hours Zoom
call inviting a variety of differ-
ent business owners. Brainstorm on
ways you can cross-promote and
directly support each other. Much of
what you can do won’t cost a penny.
• Write a positive review or testi-
monial on social media. Talk about
a great item they carry or a specialty
service they offer and post a picture
preneur a competitive edge. It’s
helping ensure that as many busi-
nesses in your community survive
as possible.
Finally, most people are more
committed than ever to shopping
locally. Vibrant businesses work-
ing together have a better chance
of anchoring customers. Also, by
showing your own support both as
a business owner and private indi-
vidual, you’ll garner goodwill and
help ensure the business community
— which includes your own com-
pany — will have a brighter holiday
and future.
Greg Smith is the director of the
Eastern Oregon University Small
Business Development Center
located at 1607 Gekeler Lane, Room
148 in La Grande. For free, confi-
dential business advising, call 541-
962-1532 or email eousbdc@gmail.
com.
on your Facebook
page (personal
and business). Ask
them to the same.
• Go live on
Facebook. Share
the name of your
Greg Smith
favorite restaurant
and suggest a spe-
cial menu item. Maybe send a gift
card from your business to a stand-
out server.
• Consider a mini “shop-hop” in
which customers are entered to win
a gift basket featuring items from
each establishment.
• Cross-market gift items. Per-
haps your killer gourmet marinades
and sauces are offered at a specialty
meat market across town.
Obviously, the goal is to generate
more revenue for your business, but
do not be afraid to work together.
It’s not about giving a fellow entre-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Check out youth activists
‘Children deserve
‘A holiday present
on earthguardians.org. Escort
Big Oil from museums and off
the right to an
to parents and
education’
friends interested in campus.
Demand that cultural and
educational institutions stop
climate change’
To the Editor:
taking money from coal, oil
We have seen this year how
challenging and stressful dis-
tance learning can be, as well as
how much children need to be sur-
rounded by their peers. In the
upcoming Oregon state legislative
session in January, a bill will be
introduced that will remove chil-
dren from the school system and
force them into distance learn-
ing or homeschooling. The time is
now to say enough is enough. Par-
ents should be allowed to give their
child the educational options that
best fit their family.
Please call or write to your Ore-
gon state representative and senator
and tell them you oppose LC 1701
and that it should not be brought to
any committees as a bill during this
or any future legislative session.
Visit oregonlegislature.gov/find-
yourlegislator/leg-search.html to
find the name and contact informa-
tion of your legislators.
All of Oregon’s children deserve
the right to an education as their
families see fit.
Claire Young
Medford
To the Editor:
Think about giving this book
as a holiday present to parents
and friends interested in cli-
mate change and doing something
about it: “The Parents’ Guide to
Climate Revolution – 100 ways
to build a fossil-free future, raise
empowered kids, and still get
a good night’s sleep” by Mary
DeMocker, New World Library,
2018.
Mary deMocker has written an
inspiring book jammed packed
with over 100 ways to empower
your children to learn about cli-
mate change and do something
about it.
The ideas are not only a prac-
tical guide for helping kids but
a practical guide for living. It’s
about working with others in the
community to get things done.
There are so many good ideas
and suggestions on how to take
action to demand a fossil fuel
free future only a few are noted
here. Become politically active.
Get facts from web sites like fact-
check.org and opensecrets.org.
and gas companies and remove
industry representatives from
their boards.
Ask friends, colleges,
churches and insurance compa-
nies to divest from fossil fuel
stocks.
Read Pope Francis’ 2015
encyclical addressed to every
person living on the planet that
calls for bold climate action to
treat global warming as a moral
issue.
See laudatosi.org. Other reli-
gious leaders have joined the
chorus. Make polluters pay with
carbon pricing.
Join Citizens Climate Lobby
to put a fee on carbon at citizens-
climatelobby.org.
Identify top polluters at car-
bonmajors.org. At the end she
calls on us to jump in to build a
bridge to a future in which chil-
dren thrive.
A future that is healthy and
equitable. For more information,
visit marydemocker.com.
Marjorie Thelen
Burns
L
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