Baker City Herald Daily Paper 09-16-15

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Serving Baker County since1870 • bakercityherald.com

September 16, 2015

>N >H>saD>i'>oN: Local • Business @AgLife • Go! magazine s< QUICIC HITS

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GO! Magazine Your guide to events happening around the region

Rep.GregWaldenTalKsFires, Preventionllurino BaKerCityVisit

Good Day Wish To A Subscriber A special good day to Herald subscriber Irene Mead of Baker City.

BRIEFING

Cascade Natural Gas tocutrates

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Cascade Natural Gas customers, including those in Baker City, will pay less for the fuel starting Nov. 1. The company has filed a request with the Oregon Public Utility Commission to reduce its rates by about 7.1 percent. That would save the average residential customers about $3.56 per month.

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Minimum wage staying at $9.25 SALEM — Despite rising housing, child care and other household costs, Oregon's minimum wage will remain $9.25 in 2016, Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian announced today.

Soroptimist Club offers cash awards The Soroptimist Live your Dream: Education andTraining Awards for Women is a cash award given to assist women who provide the primary source of financial support for their families by giving them the resources they need to improve their education, skills and employment prospects. The award amount is $1,000. The application deadline is Nov. 15, 2015. The Violet Richardson Award is for young women between the ages of14to17 who exhibit leadership qualities as a volunteer in their community or school. The program offers a $150 award to the recipient and $250 to the organization for which they volunteer. The application deadline is Dec. 1. The Soroptimist Ruby Award honors women who are working to improve the lives of women and girls through their personal or volunteer efforts, or through professional avenues. The award recipient receives a $200 donation to the charitable organization of her choice. The application deadline is Dec. 1, 2015. Women interested in applying for any of these awards should send an email to jmacy@otecc.com.

WEATHER

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Joshua Dilleu /Baker City Herald

U.S. Rep. GregVValden, R-Ore., left, talks with Baker County Commission Chairman Bill Harvey onTuesday morning near where Stices Gulch Road branches off Highway 245 about 12 miles south of Baker City.

By Joshua Dillen ldillen©bakercityherald.com

The blackened remains of a ponderosapine forestloomed over two frustratedpoliticiansTuesday morning. At an early morning meeting where Stices Gulch Road meets Highway 245, Rep. Greg Walden, ROre., and Baker County Commission Chairman Bill Harvey discussed the aftermath of the recent wildfires. Both agreed that the salvage loggingshould be expedited beforethe timber becomes worthless as lumber. Harvey criticized the bureaucraticprocessinvolved in getting the burned trees harvested. "I'm pushing as hard as I can," he said."I'm meeting with the feds and they say'we got this rule and we got that rule.'This is pathetic ... I'm fed up with this. Everybody is fed up with this. If we don't do it right they say they are going to sue us. For God's sake, stop the lawsuits." Walden said bipartisan legislation — The Resilient Forests Act of

"I'm fed up with this. Everybody isfed up with this.fwe I don't do it right they are going to sue us. For God's sake, stop the lawsuits." — Bill Harvey, chairman, Baker County Board of Commissioners

ON PAGE 2A: Forest Service, BLM officials talk about post-fire projects

Walden said. The legislation that has stalled isn't the only tactic Walden has taken to speed restoration of ailing forests. He also talked Tuesday about the Healthy Forests Restorations Act iHFRAl, which, unlike the Resilient Forests Act, has become law. Walden said the law gives counties the power to have a community wildfire planning process. "It really shortened up the NEPA iNational Environmental Policy Actl 2015 iRFAl — that he helped to pass process iwhich requires agencies to write environmental studies). It has lastspring addressed many ofthose worked where it has been used," he issues. He explained to Harvey that he is working with Senate leaders to sard. getthem topassthebill. Walden said the law streamlines "The Senate has to step up and the environmental study process and help. No forestry bill has gotten to can help agencies such as the Forest the floor,s Walden said."It also starts Service and BLM avoid lawsuits that locally." stallforestprojects. He told Harvey that the Senate is "Is iHFRAl enough? No — not for not on board. everything. That's where we come to "I'm sick and tired of it too," itheResilient ForestsActof2015l.s

Rain aids crews fighting Dry Gulch fire Rain showers and much cooler temperatures the past two days helped fire crews make major progress in slowing the Dry Gulch fire in eastern Baker County. The blaze, which started north of New Bridge Saturday afternoon when a vehicle crashed and caught fire, has burned 18,272 acres and is 55 percent contained. On Tuesday the Baker County Sheriff's Office reduced evacuation levels in the area. SeeDry Gulch/Fbge6A

Walden said. He said the bill would require peopleorgroups that appeal logging proposals to put up a financial bond. 'They say'you can't uncut a tree.' I say you can't unburn a tree,"Walden sald. The Resilient Forests Act would make it easier to salvage logs after wildfires, and it would pay to replant and reseed up to 75 percent of burned areas. SeeWalden/Fbge 6A

OnPrivatelandBurnedln TheCornet/Windy RidgeFire

ava e o >n >n u sw>n By Jayson Jacoby jacoby©bakercityherald.com

Even as embers continue to cool in Baker County's biggest-ever wildfire, loggers are cutting down the scorched trees and trucks are hauling the black-barked lengths to sawmills. The Cornet/Windy Ridge fire, sparked by lightning on Aug. 10, burned about 104,000 acres, including

about47,000 acresofprivate land. Out of the private land, about 10,000 acres are forested, said Logan McCrae, stewardshipforester atthe Oregon Department of Forestry's Baker City office. McCrae, who administers the Oregon Forest Practices Act, which governs logging on private land, said loggers are salvagingtimber on several

worth less than green trees. And the value plummets start soon. over time as the burned Most of the loggingis hap- timber deteriorates. In many pening on the north end of cases, treesthataren'tcut thefi re,ranging fi 'om Denny within a year won't be worth Creek southwest of Baker enough to justify the logging City, to Alder Creek southeast expenses, McCrae said. He expects 3,000 to 4,000 of town. 'They're getting after itacresofburned private forest they know they don't have will be logged over the next much time," McCrae said. year or so. Burned timber is already See Salvage/Bge 6A

The DryGulch fire near Ha5vay has prompted Cycle Oregon officials to make major changes to the route for the 2,200 bicyclists who started the week-long event Sunday morningin Baker City. The original schedule called for riders to spend Tuesday night in Haifway, then ride north on the Wallowa Mountain Loop Road on Wednesday to Wallowa Lake for a twonight stay there. But with the fire bringing almost 300 firefighters to Ha5vay, and smoke hanging thick at times in the Pine Valley, Cyde Oregon organizersdecided Monday to cancel those plans. Instead,ridersstayed both Monday and Tuesday nights in Cambridge, Idaho. Today the cyclists will pedal fiom Cambridge to Farewell Bend State Park — reversing the route they rode on Monday. On Thursday riders will return to Baker City, where they11 spend the night. Debi Bainter, director of the Baker County Chamber of Commerce, said volunteers in both Baker City and Huntington responded to handle the unanticipated change in the schedule. SeeCyctelPage 3A

School board appoints director By Chris Collins ccollins©bakercityherald.com

A 1993 Baker High School graduate who's the mother of two and a physician assistant at St. Alphonsus Medical Center has been appointed to the Baker School Board. Autumn Swiger-Harrell, 41, was one of two applicants who volunteeredtofi ll the unexpired Swig e r-

properti es,with severalm ore

term of Rich

loggingjobs scheduled to

McKim. McKim resignedlastmonth to accept a job with the Veterans Administration in Roseburg. Will Benson, manager of Baker County Parole and Probation, was the other applicant for McKim's unexpired term, which runs through June 30, 2017.

H atrell

SeeSchoolslPage 2A

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Issue 56, 30 pages

Business... ........1B & 2B Comics.......................3B DearAbby..... ............SB News of Record... .....2A Senior Menus...........2A Calendar....................2A C o m m u nity News ....3A Hor o scope................. 6B O b i t uaries..................2A Sp o r ts ........................5A Classified............. 4B-7B C r o ssword................. 6B L o t t ery Results.......... 2A O p i n ion......................4A We a t her ..................... SB

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