A8
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Forest goals and desired conditions nearly complete
we’ll get there. We need to
let the process play out a lit-
tle bit.”
Owens said the list of
desired conditions is a “work
in progress.”
Carl Scheeler, manager of
the Wildlife Program for the
Confederated Tribes of Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation, told
the group this is the fi rst time
that access would be a desired
condition. According to the
meeting notes, the group
stated in the document that it
would not be recommending
additional set-asides.
According to the notes,
the group reiterated that the
forest plan does not desig-
nate motorized usage on for-
est roads. Instead, those pro-
visions come from the travel
management plan, and that
other parts of the document
would be better for those
concerns.
Blues Intergovernmental
Council working on basis
for new forest plans
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Blues Intergovern-
mental Council has nearly
completed goals and desired
conditions for the landscape at
the three national forests.
This information will be
used to draft new forest plans
for the Malheur, Umatilla and
Wallowa-Whitman national
forests. While the plans would
not make any project-level
decisions, they will establish
broader guidelines for live-
stock grazing, timber harvest,
wilderness and roads.
One
notable
change
expected is that the U.S. For-
est Service will make deci-
sions at the supervisor level as
it updates the plans, using the
2012 planning rules instead
of the 1982 rules it has been
using.
Craig Trulock, the super-
visor of the Malheur National
Forest, said each supervisor
of the three national forests in
Eastern Oregon and southeast
Washington would sign their
forest plan.
Trulock said there would
likely be one analysis that
would cover the three forests.
Trulock said, with deci-
sions being made on the local
level, objections would go to
the regional forester in Port-
land, rather than Washington,
D.C.
“There is going to be a
much higher level of under-
standing of what the issues
are and what the communities
need,” Trulock said.
Trulock said changing
Forest health
EO Media Group/Ben Lonergan
Cattle graze on the forested land along Dixie Ranch Road outside Ukiah on Sept. 18.
from the 1982 planning
rules to the more stream-
lined 2012 rules emphasizes
guidelines instead of stan-
dards. He told the Eagle that
the Forest Service could not
violate a standard on a proj-
ect without doing a proj-
ect-specifi c amendment to
the forest plan. With guide-
lines, he said if there is a spe-
cifi c need to do something on
a project, they would not have
to amend the forest plan.
“It gives us just a lot more
fl exibility when we’re driven
by guidelines rather than stan-
dards,” he said.
Trulock said, while work-
ing under the 2012 planning
“THERE IS GOING TO BE A
MUCH HIGHER LEVEL OF
UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT THE
ISSUES ARE AND WHAT THE
COMMUNITIES NEED.”
—Craig Trulock, Malheur National Forest supervisor
rule is signifi cant, the Forest
Service will still go through
the National Environmental
Policy Act process in writing
the forest plan revision.
Access, wilderness,
habitat, and set-asides
subcommittee
According to meeting
notes, the access subcommit-
tee could not agree on a list of
revisions from Harney County
at its April 30 meeting and
decided to bring them before
the June 4 meeting of the full
Shawna Clark, DNP, FNP
council.
The subcommittee will
meet one more time before
the full meeting and hopes to
have a completed draft ahead
of time.
Rep.
Mark
Owens,
R-Crane, said the group has
about 70-80% of what they
need to present to the full
council.
“We’re trying to create
something from whole cloth
and trying to bring a diverse
set of stakeholders along,”
Owens told the Eagle. “I think
541-575-1263
Grant County Commis-
sioner Sam Palmer, a mem-
ber of the forest health sub-
committee, presented the
group’s fi nal draft version of
its desired conditions at the
council meeting on April 30.
The group’s desired con-
ditions touched on using
timber removal, where
appropriate, as a resource
management tool in areas
deemed not suitable for tim-
ber production. According to
the notes, removing timber
should be a “byproduct of res-
toration actions.”
The group also suggested
timber salvage in areas of cat-
astrophic wildfi re and that
timely post-fi re treatments
could mitigate hazards, along
with prescribed fi res, fuel
reduction treatments such as
mechanical treatments and
other fuel reduction methods.
Howard Teasley of the Nez
Perce Tribe made comments
on the document, according to
the meeting notes. Overall, the
notes read, the conditions fi t
within the general parameters
of the tribe. However, Teasley
told the group he would need
to get the document approved
by tribal leadership. Accord-
ing to the notes, the general
BIC meeting’s purpose is to
identify “red fl ags.”
Socioeconomic
subcommittee
The committee is tracking
data and reviewing how forest
plans impact economic con-
ditions. The group hopes to
have a fi nalized data table to
present to a general meeting
of the BIC by the end of June.
What is next?
Trulock said the Forest
Service would begin putting
together a team to synthesize
the science with the desired
conditions.
“That will be working
simultaneously as we move
the NEPA process forward,”
he said.
Owens said the group
could spend time in the fi eld
looking at projects, according
to the notes.
The BIC Steering Commit-
tee will develop what the next
steps should be.
Continuing to build
relationships
Scheeler said it is essential
that the BIC continue build-
ing the relationships between
federal and local governments
and those between the tribes’
counties as the plan develops.
Scheeler said his biggest
takeaway so far in working
with the BIC is the common
ground the group has found.
“When you put people
with diff ering views in the
same room and allow them
to talk to one another that
you can come to some com-
mon agreements,” he said.
“It’s easier to vilify diff erent
issues, ideas and individuals
when you don’t know them
and haven’t sat down and spo-
ken with them directly.”
TOM CHRISTENSEN
CHRISTENSEN
TOM
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