FAMILY FUN DAY RETURNS| PAGE A3
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
153nd Year • No. 25 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
The Eagle/Sean Hart
The South Fork John Day River south of Dayville.
River Democracy Act
facing headwinds in
Grant County
Contributed photo/Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
The fi re lookout on the summit of Mount Ireland, 8,346 feet, is staff ed each summer. The lookout has a view that extends over parts of three
national forests — Wallowa-Whitman, Umatilla and Malheur. The metal building replaced a wooden structure in 1957.
High-level position
Forest Service offi cials had to scramble to fi nd fi re
lookout to work this summer on Mount Ireland
By Jayson Jacoby
EO Media Group
oel McCraw needed to fi nd someone
willing to spend the summer atop a
mountain that has a three-state view
but is far out of sight of any coff ee
shop or grocery store.
His task wasn’t as daunting as it might
sound, thanks in part to Facebook.
The job is fi re lookout on Mount Ireland.
The 8,346-foot peak is the apex of a granitic
shoulder that extends several miles west from
the spine of the Elkhorn Mountains and forms
the divide between the Powder River and
North Fork John Day River basins as well
as the boundary between Baker and Grant
counties.
Mount Ireland is one of more than a dozen
prominences in Northeastern Oregon where
the traditional method of fi nding wildfi res —
a person working inside a tiny building on a
high point, looking for the telltale tendril of
smoke — persists.
Several decades ago there were more than
50 lookouts in the region that were staff ed
each summer.
But over time, with surveillance by airplane
more feasible, and a proliferation of roads
J
Locals express concerns about
proposal to designate more Oregon
rivers as wild or scenic
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
A bill in the U.S. Senate mandating more local
streams become designated as wild, scenic or recre-
ational has been met with skepticism and outright
opposition by some.
The River Democracy Act of 2021, written and
co-sponsored by Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff
Merkley, would add 4,700 miles of rivers and streams
in Oregon to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers sys-
tem, bringing the total
“WE ARE
length of protected riv-
ers in Oregon to almost
CONCERNED
6,900 miles, or 6.2%
of the state’s 110,994 THAT ADDING
miles of streams.
Many
concerns DESIGNATIONS
were raised and ques- OF THIS SORT
tions were asked during
TO STREAMS,
a meeting of the Grant
Soil and Water Conser-
RIVERS OR
vation District June 3.
In a letter from the
LAND IN
South Fork John Day
GENERAL
Watershed Council to
the Eastern Oregon
WILL ADD
Association of Coun-
ties, Joanne Keerins, RESTRICTIONS
the council chair, wrote
FOR
that the bill leaves out
who would create the
MANAGING
management plan.
ENTITIES,
Wyden spokesman
Hank Stern said either
the Bureau of Land PRIVATE LANDS
Management or the For-
INCLUDED.”
est Service would and
—Amy Stiner, South Fork
that it would depend on John Day Watershed Council
which agency manages
coordinator
the segment.
He said the bill establishes a “fl exible” time frame
to determine wildfi re risks. Additionally, he said, the
bill requires the land manager to assess the risk of fi re
and implement a plan to reduce risks.
Contributed photo/Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
See Lookout, Page A16
The lookout at Mount Ireland might see as many mountain goats as human visitors.
See Act, Page A16
State Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, faces potential recall
Findley voted against gun
legislation, but petition
says he should have
walked out
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
State Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale,
faces a potential recall eff ort.
Chief petitioner Patrick A. Kop-
ke-Hales of Mt. Vernon fi led a prospec-
tive recall petition with the Oregon Sec-
retary of State’s Offi ce on June 14.
Kopke-Hales wrote in his justifi ca-
tion that Findley had acted “against the
values and principles of the constitu-
ents he represents” for supporting Sen-
ate Bill 865, and for not walking out to
prevent the passage of Senate Bill 554
on gun control legislation.
Findley — who represents Senate
District 30 covering
all of Baker, Grant,
Harney,
Jeff erson,
Malheur and Wheeler
counties and parts
of Deschutes, Lake
and Wasco counties
Sen. Lynn
— told the Eagle he
Findley,
was in the fi nal days
R-Vale
of the legislative ses-
sion and that there is too much going on
right now to be “distracted” by “some-
thing else.” Kopke-Hales declined to
comment.
Kopke-Hales wrote in the prospec-
tive petition that Findley betrayed the
“will of the people” by introducing Sen-
ate Bill 865. The proposed legislation
would have prevented elected offi cials
at the state level — including governor,
secretary of state, state treasurer, labor
commissioner, state lawmaker, supreme
court judge or appeals court judge —
from serving as an elected offi cer on
the state central committee of a politi-
cal party.
Senate Republicans have since
pulled back on the bill.
Senate Bill 554 sets storage require-
ments for fi rearms and bans holders of
concealed handgun licenses from bring-
ing them into the Oregon Capitol and
Portland International Airport passen-
ger terminal.
Kopke-Hales wrote that Findley
“facilitated the passing” of SB 554 by
not walking out of the session to prevent
Democrats from having the required
quorum to approve the bill in the Sen-
ate, where it passed 16-7. Findley voted
against it. It was signed two weeks ago
by Gov. Kate Brown.
Findley said SB 865 was a bill con-
stituents requested he introduce that has
since been withdrawn.
Findley said he had been questioned
on SB 554 and that he chose to stay in
session and fi ght the bill’s passage.
“I chose to stand and fi ght and put
stuff on the record,” he said, “and by
staying in the session, I was able to
work hard for the constituents. And
that’s what I’m supposed to do.”
Aaron Fiedler, press secretary with
the Oregon Secretary of State’s Offi ce,
said Kopke-Hales must collect and sub-
mit at least 8,289 valid signatures from
active electors in Senate District 30 no
later than 5 p.m. Sept. 13. He said the
recall becomes void if there are not
enough signatures submitted by the
deadline.
If at least 8,289 signatures are sub-
mitted, the Elections Division will have
10 days to complete the signature verifi -
cation process.
Fiedler said the petition is not
approved to circulate yet. The Elections
Division is waiting on Kopke-Hales to
submit printed examples of cover and
signature sheets and create a petition
committee.