TEN - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 23, 2015
IF
YOU
HAVE--
been on a trip
spotted Santa
celebrated a birthday
married your secretary
caught a big fish
moved
had a baby
sold your cows
had an operation
bought a sleigh
painted your house
fed a hummingbird
been married
cut a new tooth
died
sold out
been robbed
been shot
Or done anything
Telephone or drop a
postcard, or come in, or
in any convenient way
inform the
Heppner
Gazette-Times
188 W Willow
Heppner OR
541-676-9228
F: 541-676-9211
david@rapidserve.ne t
Now all they need are the
cookies…
Forest Service
publishes region’s
travel analysis reports
Agency says analyses will
guide national forests toward
sustainable road system
The Sew Fantastic 4-H Club members are almost ready for Santa after sewing Christmas
stockings at a fun Dec. 20 meeting. Now all they need are some cookies to encourage Santa's
generous spirit. Pictured (L-R) are Harley Anderson, Aubri Rodriguez, Kylie Boor, Madison
Orem, Serenity Rodriguez and Hannah Palmer. –Contributed photo
Final EIS for Boardman Naval
facility available for public review
S I LV E R D A L E ,
Wash.—The U.S. Navy,
in cooperation with the
National Guard Bureau,
the Oregon National Guard,
and the Federal Aviation
Administration, has pre-
pared the Naval Weapons
Systems Training Facility
(NWSTF) Boardman Fi-
nal Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS), which is
available for public review
from December 18, 2015,
to January 19, 2016.
The completion of the
final EIS follows several
years of research, analysis
and public involvement.
The Navy held two public
scoping meetings in Oc-
tober 2010 and two pub-
lic meetings in September
2012 to provide informa-
tion on the project and
receive public comments
on the draft EIS.
In the final EIS, the
Navy and Oregon National
Guard evaluated the poten-
tial environmental effects
related to ongoing and pro-
posed military readiness
activities associated with
NWSTF Boardman.
Regulations provide for
a 30-day public review and
wait period after the inal
EIS is published before the
Navy and Oregon National
Guard may make a deci-
sion and take action on the
proposal. During this time,
the public has the opportu-
nity to review the inal EIS
online or in various loca-
tions to see how the Navy
and Oregon National Guard
have adjusted the document
from the draft EIS. Com-
ments may be submitted by
U.S. postal mail by January
19, 2016, to: Naval Facili-
ties Engineering Command
Northwest, Attn: NWSTF
Boardman EIS Project
Manager, 1101 Tautog Cir-
cle, Suite 203, Silverdale,
WA 98315-1101.
The Final EIS is avail-
able online at www.NW-
STFBoardmanEIS.com and
regionally at Oregon Trail
Library District, Heppner
Branch, Oregon Trail Li-
brary District, Boardman
Branch, and Stafford Han-
sell Government Center,
Hermiston.
The inal EIS includes
public comments received
during the 90-day draft EIS
review period and Navy and
Oregon National Guard re-
sponses to those comments.
The final EIS is also
being reviewed by National
Guard and Navy leader-
ship, including the Assistant
Secretary of the Navy for
Energy, Installations and
Environment, who will be
the decision maker to de-
cide which alternative will
be selected to accomplish
the Proposed Action.
Proposed Action
NWSTF Boardman and
its associated airspace cur-
rently play a vital part in
the execution of readiness
mandates for the Navy and
Oregon National Guard. It
serves as a regional train-
ing range for a variety of
military units located in
the northwest for a variety
of training activities. These
include naval aviation units
stationed at Naval Air Sta-
tion (NAS) Whidbey Island
and Oregon National Guard
units located throughout the
state of Oregon.
The Navy and Oregon
National Guard propose to
increase the types of train-
ing and testing activities,
increase the number of
training events conducted,
accommodate force struc-
ture changes, and provide
enhancements to training
facilities and operations
at NWSTF Boardman and
its associated special use
airspace.
The purpose of the Pro-
posed Action is to achieve
and maintain military readi-
ness by using a training and
testing facility within ac-
ceptable travel distance for
Navy and Oregon National
Guard personnel that has
appropriate air to ground
ranges, land range impact
areas, and special use air-
space to support current,
emerging, and future mili-
tary readiness activities,
while enhancing training
resources through invest-
ments and development of
necessary infrastructure on
the range.
Visit www.NWSTF-
BoardmanEIS.com to view
the inal EIS and learn more.
For other information about
the Navy in the Northwest,
visit www.cnic.navy.mil/
regions/cnrnw.
Portland, Ore—The
U.S. Forest Service Paciic
Northwest Region released
17 travel analysis reports
last week that outline ex-
isting road systems and
identify opportunities to
achieve “a more sustainable
system of roads” for each
national forest in the Paciic
Northwest. These travel
analysis reports are part
of nationwide requirement
involving national forests
across the country.
These reports are not
decision documents—in-
stead, they provide an anal-
ysis of where the existing
road system is today. The
Forest Service says all fu-
ture proposed actions and
decisions will involve fur-
ther opportunities for public
input and engagement at the
project level under national
environmental policy act
processes, according to
guidance issued by Re-
gional Forester Jim Peña to
all national forests.
“The release of these
travel analysis reports is a
critical step to ensure our
future road system invest-
ments promote the greatest
good for the great num-
ber in the long run,” said
Peña. “Given the long-term
funding expectations, these
reports will help the For-
est Service strike the right
balance between meeting
a diversity of access needs
while ensuring the health of
your forests and streams.”
The reports will inform
future decisions on where
and how to invest limited
resources on building new
roads, managing current
roads, or decommissioning
old roads. Travel analy-
sis reports identify roads
“likely needed” and “likely
not needed” in the future,
as well as opportunities to
change road operation and
maintenance strategies,
decommission, convert to
other use, or add to the
system.
As part of a national
travel management pro-
cess, the Forest Service is
working to achieve a “i-
nancially and ecologically
sustainable road system”
that meets access needs,
minimizes adverse environ-
mental impacts, and relects
long-term funding expecta-
tions.
The Forest Service
manages approximately
90,000 miles of roads in
Oregon and Washington
that must be maintained
to provide safe public and
administrative access for a
variety of uses, including
recreation, fire suppres-
sion, commercial activi-
ties, forest restoration, and
other management pur-
poses. Many roads, built
between 1950 and 1990,
have exceeded their de-
signed lifespan and require
costly repairs. Backlog
maintenance projects top
$1.2 billion, and the Forest
Service says funds avail-
able for road maintenance
each year are only about 15
percent of what is needed to
fully maintain the current
road system.
Of the 90,000 miles
of Forest Service roads
in Oregon and Washing-
ton, about two-thirds of
those are currently open
and maintained for both
public and administrative
purposes. The other third
of the current road system
is managed for specific
project uses. These roads
are opened during proj-
ect activities, and closed
and put in storage between
uses. The travel analysis
reports indicate that about
12 percent of the overall
road system is “likely not
needed” for resource man-
agement purposes in the
future. However, the major-
ity of roads in this category
are part of the closed and
stored road system. Only
about 20 percent (approxi-
mately 2,000 miles) of the
roads shown as “likely
not needed” in the travel
analysis reports come from
the group of roads that are
currently open to the public.
Travel analysis reports
for individual national for-
ests in Oregon and Wash-
ington can be found at
http://www.fs.usda.gov/
detail/r6/landmanagement/
under the Travel Manage-
ment link.
To learn more about
the U.S. Forest Service in
the Paciic Northwest, visit
www.fs.usda.gov/r6.
PRINT
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Bridal Table Registry
!
Chelsea Britt &
Michael McCabe
December 31st
217 North Main St., Heppner
Phone 676-9158 • Floral 676-9426
Serving Morrow, Wheeler & Gilliam counties Since 1959
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TTERHEAD
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OCHURES
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PUBLIC NOTICE
LEXINGTON PUBLIC
MEETING
THE LEXINGTON TOWN
COUNCIL will hold a
public hearing on Tuesday,
January 12, 2016, at 7:00
p.m at the Lexington Town
Hall in Lexington, Oregon.
Development Code
Amendment: to implement
text changes incorporating
use zone criteria for the
Public Use Zone. Criteria
for approval include
Lexington Development
Code Article 8.
Opportunity to voice
support or opposition
to the above action or
to ask questions will be
provided. Failure to raise
an issue in person or by
letter or failure to provide
sufficient specificity to
afford the decision maker
an opportunity to respond to
the issue precludes appeal
to the Land Use Board of
Appeals based on those
issues.
Copies of the staff report
and all relevant documents
will be available after
January 5, 2016. For more
information, please contact
the Lexington Town Hall at
541-989-8515.
DATED this 23rd day of
December, 2015
TOWN OF LEXINGTON
Published: December 23,
2015
Afidavit
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Heppner Gazette-Times
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