>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

Unfortunately your June 28 article regarding forest roads didn't look at the big picture of roads on the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. An integral part of this discussion is the impact roads have on deer and especially elk populations. Wildlife biologists will tell you the number one threat to elk is disturbance from roads fragmenting their habitat. Also missing was mention of the damage that erosion from roads causes, and how this hurts fish runs.

In looking at the big picture: According to the Forest Service there are 9,291 miles of roads on the forest. I have a really hard time seeing how closing a few of those is going to cause access problems. That's enough road mileage to get to the East Coast, back to Oregon and then back to the East Coast again. The Forest Service has had severe budget cuts and simply can't afford to maintain a fraction of these roads. It's high time they take steps to address the over-roading of the national forest.

I would much prefer to see the roads people do use for access well maintained and some of the thousands of miles of obscure roads that are fragmenting elk habitat and damaging our streams closed.

I doubt the Forest Service will close anywhere near 3,000 miles of roads, but imagine if they did: that would still leave 6,000 miles of roads.

Is that not enough? That's more than enough to provide the public with plenty of access. Let's be reasonable and fiscally responsible in dealing with roads.

Erik Fernandez

Oregon Wild

Portland

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I can relate to what the ATV advocates want: They want to be able to drive their machines anywhere that they can possibly go. It's pretty fun. And if there were only a hundred people living in all of Northeastern Oregon, having that freedom might be practical. However, the real world is shrinking. Wildlife are steadily losing habitat and there are more people sharing the same amount of land.

ATVs have a very large aura. You can hear them for miles around — wildlife flee and use precious energy when they're flushed and the scars that a single ATV leaves on the ground take many years to recover assuming the ATV never returns.

ATVs have a disproportionate impact on the land that we all share. ATV users need to realize that their piece of the pie has historically been excessive and is now shrinking down to an appropriate size. They really have no reason to complain. When you look at a WWNF map, it's covered with maintained roads, all of them open to ATV users.

Roads and ATV "trails" are expensive to maintain, even to low standards.

Wildlife and other forest resources are damaged by heavy usage associated with such roads, not to mention the labor costs of national forest staff to monitor and mitigate such damages. There is already a pay-for-use system in place for non-motorized trails. ATV users would be in a better position to advocate their hobby if they paid their own way.

ATV recreation should have a user-fee system for their access to our national forests. They should stop whining about the closure of obsolete roads and start to realize that the world is changing. The days of the "free ride" and pioneer mentality are over.

Courtney Loomis

Cove

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Jack Lane responded on June 22 to my June 4 letter referencing evidence of vector control chemicals' negative effects on ecosystems, fetal development and subsequent human health. Lane's letter became a diatribe opposing abortion and supporting pesticides. Since no references were included, I assume he speaks from religious, societal and corporate indoctrination. Minds marinated in those juices are stunningly impervious to present and projected conditions or consequences.

His assumption that I don't support governmental intervention in reproduction choice is correct. Lane feels terminating a pregnancy is unnatural. Yet in nature, food shortages, stress and some chemicals cause decreased fertility, smaller litter sizes, abandonment, sickness, starvation and infanticide.

Man's fertility is declining worldwide. Access to contraception is helping reduce family size. Many children are neglected and abused. Humans in much of the world die prematurely of sickness and starvation. Abortion is early infanticide.

Humans interfered with natural population regulation by decreasing infant mortality and without simultaneously reducing birth rates. This has lead to resource depletion, wars, starvation and massive population dislocation.

The United States is doing a decidedly poor job of nurturing families. It refuses to provide health care, affordable education or sustaining employment. Jobs are outsourced and resources squandered. Wars are waged for outrageous profit and power to a small ruling class.

Ecosystem destruction and global warming indicates that we are determining the future for all life on earth by the choices we make each day. Mainstream political, economic and religious doctrine and policies must be examined. Those that are destructive to life must be challenged and changed.

Every Wednesday on Adams Avenue, dedicated local individuals are doing just that by standing up for peace in opposition to war. A meaningful right to life campaign would focus on providing peace, safety, nutritious food, clean water and a nurturing environment for those already born into this world.

Mary McCracken

La Grande

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I, as an 84-year-old Republican, never anticipated our constitutional Republic would fall into the control of bi-party neo-cons consisting of corrupt politicians, free-trade fanatics, unelected bureaucrats, internationalists, ad nauseum.

Our founding fathers intended a government consisting of a president and congress who listened and acted according to the wishes of their electors. Instead, we have an administration trashing our constitution and aiding and abetting the invasion of our weakened nation by millions of criminal, disease-ridden, dope smuggling, handout-hungry illegal aliens, ignorant of American laws, values and morality, sure only of our ineffective INS and easily-available welfare. Their unwillingness and inability to conform to American law will make consensus impossible, nullifying our form of self-government.

Still embroiled in the Iraqian fiasco, President Bush prepares to attack Iran, while Cheney demonstrates his contempt for American voters by publicly stating, "and you can't stop us!"

To defend our existence as a freedom-loving people from the burgeoning police state, we must act forthwith to halt its expansion. If we fail to do so, it will forever mean the loss of our self-government and personal freedoms.

This is not mere conjecture. It's occurring as we watch — too many not understanding the machinations of the elite internationalists toward world government.

But we are not helpless while we can yet support sound political candidates, air our causes through local media and pressure our representatives to brace our sovereign rights.

We can regain control of our failing government by enacting a national referendum within our individual states. This would force our government to listen and act according to American citizenry. We must act now to restore self-government or our American dream is indeed lost, as a handful of dust blown away in a stray breeze.

Jim Bovard

Union

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Take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. I am speaking of all of the animals.

We are having very high tempatures. Please make sure that your pets, livestock and other animals have some shade and water.

Also one thing that is grossly overlooked here in "pick-em-up" country are people who think their dogs need to go for a ride in the back of the truck. Bed liners can easily reach temperatures in excess of 140 degrees or higher. This will cause burns, dehydration and death.

Please, if you see this, suggest that the owner take the dog home or put the dog in the air conditioned cab with them (or sit in the back with the dog for even two minutes). Water is extremely important for all animals.

I hope the word gets out quickly; if someone does not get this newspaper, talk to them about this. If a neighbor is overwhelmed with daily chores offer to help with making sure the animals will have some reprieve from the heat.

Of course everyone could just let their pets in the house to sit in front of the air conditioning with the rest of us.

Matthew Babb

La Grande

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Another giant subsidy?

The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest staff has bent over backwards to accommodate those with a stake in the proposed transportation plan. This makes the claim of some sort of pro-environment, big-government conspiracy patently ridiculous. All the noise and bluster are, however, an effective smokescreen for those demanding a huge taxpayer handout.

There are 8,000 miles of road on the Wallowa-Whitman. That distance is enough to take you through the center of the earth to the other side. That's on one National Forest!

Does anyone sincerely believe that there's enough money in the world to keep all those roads open? The erosion; the damage to water resources, to fisheries, to wildlife; the lost timber and grazing land; the encroachment of introduced species — all of it hammers the environment and takes money directly from the taxpayers' pockets. None of it is sustainable.

Forest personnel should be congratulated for dealing with this expensive and destructive excess of open roads. They've made it clear that they will listen to all specific requests for areas that are important to recreation and to bend over backwards to keep them open if there is an established pattern of use. That's more than fair. Rather than attack them, we should say thank you.

Norm Cimon

La Grande

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Now that I have established the idea that it is always right to stop genocide and to put down murderous tyrants, allow me to voice my strong opposition to our current military tactics in Iraq.

I personally believe that the "surge" will fail, not because of the military or its leaders, but because of the nature of partisan politics today in America. The leadership of al-Qaida has watched us closely and are betting this nation now lacks the unity and resolve to finish. Simultaneously, we greatly underestimate our enemies' determination and willingness to outlast our "drive-through" mentality.

I am convinced that Americans are seeking to return from Iraq with 401Ks intact and an economy poised for more record gains. Many view the situation in Iraq as an opportunity for political gains in 2008 and cannot stop thinking who it will be — Obama or Hillary? Our enemy is resolved to wait, to broaden his base and to wage a war of attrition by IED or suicide bomber.

Because we have held the Iraqi people's hands for three years too many, I propose another option. I would suggest that ours is a mission to allow the Iraqi people to determine their own fate without major incursions from neighboring nations, such as Iran or Syria.

If this soldier were commander-in-chief for a day, I would remove our soldiers to remote locations on the Iranian and Syrian borders. I would not cut and run, and I would not continue to require my military to occupy an urban environment where determining friend or foe is impossible.

History will recount how America ignored the genocide and murder of 300,000 people in Darfur while attempting to create a western-style democracy where one was not desired.

Dean Varney

La Grande

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Have you noticed that the U.S. Forest Service is like a cell phone company? The cells don't compete on price — just the opposite of what is supposed to happen in the free market system. They compete by using advertising and confusion. They spend millions on ads and then confuse you with their vast array of plans, and you can't directly compare their prices to the prices of other companies' plans. Lo and behold — they are all high.

Well, the USFS is doing this with its Travel Management Plan. They've got their public relations campaign in high gear. You can get a CD of all the mapping of the road and trail closures. There are lots of meetings. They have websites and have extended the comment period. Lots of news articles. Really making you think there might be real compromise.

Have you seen the maps? Do you know the difference between an ML1 and a 2, 3 or 5 road? Do you know what a decommissioned road is and why and when it was "decommissioned"? What about the gray areas? Are any of these mysterious roads counted in the 5,000-mile total closure, or are these on top of that? If not, then the 5,000 out of 9,000 doesn't seem like such a compromise.

According to the recently completed TMP for the South Fork Burnt River Watershed, there was a net gain of 44 miles of ATV trails. A net closure of ML 1 roads for ATVs of 193 miles and a net change (in percent) in access for ATVs of -57 percent (just a sampling of their numbers). Uh-huh, right.

The bottom line is ATV access to the national forests is shrinking dramatically compared to other usage. If you care, call your U.S. congressmen and senators.

Can you hear me now?

Scott Schroeder

Union

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The proposed Wallowa-Whitman National Forest Travel Management Plan leaves far too much of our national forest land open for travel by motorized vehicles.

The biggest problem with the proposed plan is it appears to place no limits on snowmobile traffic, which is probably the most horrific traffic we have in our national forest.

I have frankly never lived in an area with so much public land so inundated with motorized traffic off paved roads and so little opportunity for travel on foot, horseback or cross country skis.

The most horrific part of the motor vehicle traffic is during the so-called big game season, which incredibly runs almost non-stop from August through December. During this period of the year, the roads and woods in this area are filled with pick-up trucks and off-road vehicles. In many areas, deer, elk and other wildlife can find almost no respite on public land as things presently stand. Enforcement of existing prohibitions against hunting with vehicles and harassment of wildlife is virtually non-existent.

About the only benefit to the current situation is that all those desiring to collect the deposit on empty beer cans and bottles can find inventory almost anywhere in this area.

We need to discourage all non-essential motor vehicle traffic on public lands and elsewhere, for the sake of our environment, our future and our wildlife. Local citizens should have the good sense to support the proposed Travel Management Rule and encourage the Forest Service to strengthen the plan to further limit proposed and future motor vehicle routes.

Mark Tipperman

La Grande

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I am writing in response to the story on the Catherine Creek Junior Rodeo cancellation and the pointing of fingers at stock contractor Art Hansen.

I personally have known Art since 2002, when I was a sophomore on the Baker High School rodeo team. He would bring bulls and bucking horses to practice every Sunday — no matter what the road conditions were — for not much more than gas money. On top of that he would climb in the arena to help fight bulls when we could not get anyone else to do it.

As someone who has been to and competed in rodeos locally since the age of 5, I find it hard to believe that no one in this county wouldn't donate a few calves and a couple of herd bulls to buck out for one weekend.

The committee's ill planning has led to the wrongful — and public — blaming of Art Hansen, someone who has continually helped the rodeo youth for years.

Shame on the CCJR planners.

Bert Kerr

La Grande

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Welcome to God's Country. This makes a statement about La Grande and Union County. This was our contribution for the encouragement and support that we received during our effort to make our business one to be proud of. We have received nothing but positive comments from our neighbors for changing the image of the business.

We were disappointed Tuesday morning when we received a call from the police department that graffiti had been painted on the wall surrounding our swimming pool. Some coward or cowards who profess to be anarchists decided to make a statement. Let us advise you of some facts.

1. Your spelling is atrocious. Goes to your intelligence.

2. Due to the cost of the painting, you have committed a felony. We are posting a $500 reward for your arrest and conviction. We hope that you think that your crime was worth your effort.

3. You do not know the symbolism for anarchy. Again goes to your intelligence.

4. By 8 the morning after you made your mark, there were at least a dozen passersby who stopped and expressed their opinion of your handiwork. Trust us, you do not want to hear the comments about your cowardly deed. One of the passersby matched our reward for your arrest and conviction.

5. We know that being a professed anarchist, you do not believe in any form of authority, whether it be God's law or Man's law. Fortunately, you are in a minority. You have violated our rights to free speech by your act of vandalism and by trespassing on our property in committing this act.

If you are caught and convicted, we are sure that this is a deed that you will regret very much. You definitely need help, and we are sure that some honorable judge will help you get it.

Bob and Linnie Jellum, owners

All American Inn

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I see the banner in La Grande about the suicide races in Elgin.

Is that in fact where the horses are run on steep hills and through water and is actually murder?

If it is, why is your newspaper not outraged?

This is 2007 and what kind of messages do we keep sending to the kids?

Misery is fun?

Laura Downey

North Powder

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The Native Americans since 1995 have been putting a drop net completely across the fish ladder at The Dalles Dam. This practice can run Monday through Friday with a maximum limit of four hours per day, usually determined by the number of buyers for these fish. The drop nets are placed on the lower part of the fish ladder on the east side of the dam.

The criteria for the impact on Chinook salmon is 10 percent of the fall pack. A fall pack is defined as "100 fish going up, and if a viewer sees 10 fish going in the opposite direction," then the biologists make the Native Americans pull their net that day.

Where in their treaty does it say that the Native Americans can gain monetarily by selling fish? The treaty reads they may fish for their food supply or subsistence. My next question is what good is this treaty that they proudly flaunt if they do not follow all aspects of it?

How can game fish survive sea lion predation and gill netting? In addition, a drop net on the Oregon side of The Dalles Dam further diminishes the fish supply.

Finally, once these fish reach their destination, the Native Americans can harvest fish on their spawning grounds.

Why don't the tribal members practice the conservation they preach? I, as well as others, am appalled that Native Americans would stoop to drop-netting a fish ladder.

Glenda Christian

Ukiah

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I've lived in Oregon all 62 years of my life. I'm ready to retire and I love the access to our national forest — not just by ATV, but by all other ways to get there.

I have maintained approximately 300 miles of roads in Boise Cascade cottonwood plantations for several years. There are more elk and deer in the plantation per square mile then there is in 10 square miles in the national forest. That's not a study, but a fact. The ATVs run seven days a week taking care of the water system, etc. The ATVs have not killed one animal that I know of.

If you want to see deer, just stay in the city limits of Union, Elgin,

La Grande or any other city limits in Baker and Union counties. The problem with our game is not roads, ATVs, pickups, jeeps or horses. It's our predators. It took 100 years to get rid of them and now they are back.

Our game commission sells all types of hunting tags beginning in May through January. If we were to just hunt predators for two years and not our elk and deer, the game commission would go busted.

If we give up what is left of our national forest (which is not wilderness now), in 20 years what is left of our natural forest will most likely become wilderness, which hardly anyone uses now.

If you don't want access, go to the wilderness and, by the way, stay off man-made trails and enjoy.

Allan Chase

Union