NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Project
R. 33.5 E.
R. 34 E.
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Map 5 Alternative 2
Forest Restoration & Unique Habitat
Vegetation Proposed Treatment
eek
Proposed Treatment
Cliff Knox Boundary
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Commercial Thinning;Small Diameter
thin/Biomass Removal
Non-Commercial Thinning
Small Diameter Thinning/Biomass Removal
Malheur Wild and Scenic River corridor
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RHCA Mechanical Areas
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Commercial Thinning
Other Ownership
Malheur River Inventoried Roadless Area
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Ranger District Boundary
County Line
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This product is reproduced from information prepared by
the USDA, Forest Service or from other suppliers. The Forest
Service cannot assure the reliability or suitability of this
information for a particular purpose. The data and product accuracy
may vary due to compilation from various sources, including modeling
and interpretation, and may not meet National Map Accuracy Standards.
This information may be updated, corrected or otherwise modified
without notification. For more information contact:
Malheur National Forest Supervisors Office at 541-575-3000.
23
21 is an equal opportunity 22
The USDA
provider and employer.
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Hog
Flat
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Emigrant Creek Ranger District
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Some councilors called for
a four-way stop, but there were
also some concerns about requir-
ing uphill traffic to come to a
complete halt in icy conditions.
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Continued from Page A1
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Black Canyo n
9
Paving
Cliff Knox Project
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Continued from Page A1
be this year’s Black Butte Fire on the
Malheur.
Firefi ghters were able to battle the
blaze in the eastern part of the for-
est and catch it at 23,000 acres, he
said, in large part because crews had
previously treated areas around the
Wild and Scenic Malheur River cor-
ridor. Had that part of the forest been
untreated and overgrown with fuels,
the fi re could have been 10 times as
big, Trulock said.
Cueno told the Grant County
Court that the project area is dense
with diseased, thick and dry trees and
other fuels, making the area extremely
vulnerable to wildfi res.
The Cliff Knox Project, accord-
ing to Cueno, will use the Eastside
Screens amendment to the Forest Ser-
vice’s regional management plan. Up
until this year, the Eastside Screens
prohibited the cutting of trees more
than 21 inches in diameter in several
Eastern Oregon national forests.
Under the new amendment, the
recruitment of old and large trees is
emphasized. Trees older than 150
years are prioritized for protection.
In areas that don’t have a suffi cient
number of old trees, the priority shifts
to large trees, defi ned as at least 30
inches in diameter for grand fi r and
white fi r and at least 21 inches for any
other species.
The Forest Service made the
change to the rule in the name of
wildfi re preparedness. Shane Jef-
fries, Ochoco National Forest super-
visor, told the Eagle in January that
the 21-inch rule made it diffi cult to
remove fi re-prone species like grand
and white fi r without a lengthy reg-
ulatory process. He said the idea is
to create landscapes that can better
withstand dry conditions and recover
more quickly after wildfi res and
other disturbances.
Cueno said loggers can cut trees
up to 30 inches. In respect to the
Cliff Knox Project, Cueno said, the
Eastside Screens amendment will
R. 35 E.
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Wednesday, October 6, 2021
1450
A10
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24
action at this point.
She said Alternative 3 was
included for consideration because of
comments that the agency received
during the scoping period of the proj-
ect. She said there were groups that
wanted to see the Forest Service cre-
ate additional elk security in the area.
Trulock told the Eagle last week
that the idea is to create an area where
the animals are not disturbed and keep
them off private land. He said when
the elk wander onto private property,
they can cause problems that range
from broken fences and loss of live-
stock forage to the spread of disease
to cattle.
The issue has impacted local land-
owners. The Grant County Farm
Bureau reported in a September press
release that this year’s historic drought
compounded the elk issue as grass
levels dwindled due to rain shortages.
The Farm Bureau called on the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and Wildlife
to open up its hunting program on pri-
vate land in the county.
Date: 5/20/2021
What happens next?
Alternative No. 2, shown here, is the Malheur National Forest’s proposed action.
Some people have pushed back
against the project, saying the use
of prescribed burns across the land-
scape would be counterintuitive to
the idea of protecting the forest.
At the Sept. 22 Grant County
Court session, county resident Mar-
cia Christenson said using fi res
to remove fuels chars the land-
scape, ruins trees by inviting dis-
ease-spreading insects and lowers air
quality in the region.
Prairie City District Ranger Ed
Munoz, who retired two days after
the meeting, said the lack of mod-
erate- to low-intensity fi re, which
land managers try to reproduce in
prescribed burns, is what is caus-
ing much of the current forest health
issues.
He said the Forest Service has
been suppressing fi re for more than
a century, resulting in overgrown
forests.
The concept behind the Cliff Knox
Project is to mechanically thin the
forest initially to open up tree stands,
then come back into the woods with
prescribed burns to re-establish a
regular fi re interval in what were for-
merly fi re-adapted forests.
Christenson asked Munoz to
explain the burnt trees on the Middle
Fork of the John Day River.
Munoz said he could not speak to
that area because it was not his dis-
trict and he had not seen those trees.
He said he did not want to dismiss
her concerns, but he told Christenson
that 2- to 4-foot scorch heights were
considered acceptable in prescribed
burns. Regular use of prescribed
burns, he said, produces a diversity
of forage on the forest fl oor.
“We need that fi re,” Munoz said.
“It’s a cleansing and a healthy por-
Alternatives 2 and 3 both include
inventoried roadless areas. Under
a 2001 rule, 58 million acres of
National Forest lands without exist-
ing roads were placed under a des-
ignation that generally discourages
road building.
Alternative 3 would close 37
miles of roads with the intention of
improving conditions for elk on pub-
lic land, according to Cueno. She
noted the road closures are not in the
Malheur National Forest’s proposed
As forest supervisor, Trulock said,
he will make the decision on which
alternative the project will use after
reviewing recommendations from
an interdisciplinary team. He antic-
ipates a split of opinion among dif-
ferent groups. For example, the tim-
ber industry likely would prefer a
version which serves their interests,
while environmental groups will back
the alternatives that line up with their
members’ values. He said elements of
the diff erent alternatives can be mixed
and matched.
The next step will be to put out a
draft decision, Trulock said. At that
point, an objection period will be
opened, and anybody who has pro-
vided comments on the project can
fi le an objection before a fi nal deci-
sion is made.
“And then we negotiate,” Tru-
lock said. “And we can either negoti-
ate individually, or we can have open
negotiations where multiple parties
are in the room and we try to fi nd a
solution.”
“My thinking on a four-way
stop is it’s going to be hard for
people to get restarted on Bridge
Street when they’re coming up
the hill,” Councilor David Hol-
land said. “I think a three-way
stop is very necessary.”
Rookstool and others sug-
gested bringing in radar-equipped
electronic signs that would tell
motorists how fast they’re going
and flash in warning when driv-
ers exceed the speed limit.
“I would be happy to get
the flashing signs because I do
think they’re effective,” Green
said.
By the end of the meeting, a
consensus had developed around
the idea of putting in a three-way
stop at the intersection and bring-
ing in one or two flashing radar
speed signs.
Green told the Eagle later it
appeared that the project could
open to through traffic some-
time this week, possibly on
Wednesday, Oct. 6.
Work on the project began in
July, with Tidewater Contractors
LLC as the primary contractor.
The total cost of the project
was approximately $270,000,
Green said, with $100,000 in grant
funding provided by the Oregon
Department of Transportation.
not change much of what the for-
est service would be doing on the
landscape.
Concerns about prescribed
burns
tion of the ecosystems, and we as
humans don’t have that relationship
with fi re that the wildlife and the for-
est does.”
“It is not without risk,” Trulock
said. “Fire will happen one way
or another, and it’s better if we can
have it on our terms, when we want
— you know, when the time is right
and when we will have the best
outcome.”
Alternative 3 and elk security
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