Newsletter Newsletter of the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Retirees—Fall 2014 President’S Message—Al Matecko
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OldSmokeys Newsletter Newsletter of the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Retirees—Fall 2014 President’s Message—Al Matecko Elmer Moyer represented the best of the OldSmokeys. Like you, he took passion in the outfit and its people. He never complained, just went about building a better place and a better tomorrow for all. I first met Elmer when Regional Forester Linda Goodman and Deputy Regional Forester Mike Ash asked me to work with the planning team for the 2005 U.S. Forest Service Centennial Reunion held in Portland. Elmer was one of those OldSmokeys who just went about seeing the Reunion would be a success, and he did what- ever was necessary. And I must say, the 2005 Reunion was the hallmark of all reunions! After he passed away, the OldSmokeys Board of Directors did a wonderful thing in establishing the Elmer Moyer Memorial Emer- gency Fund to be used to help in emergency situations. It was an outstanding idea to honor not just Elmer but all the OldSmokeys! Suring the summer fires on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, two Forest Service members and a volunteer lost their homes and all their possessions. Because of an earlier Board’s foresight to create the Elmer Moyer fund, we were able to send three checks to the affected individuals. It should also be noted when one of the three said he’d be honored to join our group, Bob Devlin immedi- ately paid the dues. These actions show how valued all of you are and how much passion and dedication you have for all Forest Ser- vice people—retired and still serving! To those who attended this year’s picnic, it was great to see everyone, and see the joy of old friends gathering together. Rick Lar- son, who arranges for the catering, and Deb Warren, who keeps track of the money and the list of attendees, deserve a lion’s share of the credit for the event—as well as Bev Pratt and Mary Moyer who again made sure no detail was left undone! In addition, it was great to have Mike Kerrick, Rolf Anderson, and others display the good work OldSmokeys’ grants have accomplished along with the hard work of OldSmokey volunteers. As we start the Holiday Season, it is nice to give thanks to all of you for making the organization what it is—a caring, thoughtful group who take the time and make the effort to make the Forest Service a better place! All the best of the Holidays to you and your families! Al Matecko In This Issue… Forum: Outsourcing by Any Other Name?...Ranger Exam Rangers...Desi Zamudio’s Canopy Gap Forestry...Membership…….2 OldSmokeys News: Carlton Complex Fire Aid...Picnic...Dues...Fish Lake...Grants...High Desert Ranger Station...more….…….3 OldSmokeys Say: “What Happened to the Forest Service” by R. Robertson...“Some Dust for Perspective” by D. Zamudio…..10 Forest Service News: 2014 Wildfire Season...Regional Forester Jim Pena Arrives...Chief Tom Tidwell Visits…more………….12 Feature: “Smokey Bear is 70! (Part 4): A Septuagenarian Year Wrap-Up” by Les Joslin…………………………………………..16 Changes: Updates to the OldSmokeys Membership Directory…………………………………………………………………………...17 New Members: Introductions of New OldSmokeys…………………………………………………………………………………...……17 Memories: Remembrances of the Recently Deceased and Appreciations of Art Seamans and Jill Dufour………………………...19 Letters: Sharing of Thoughts and News: Marshall...Seamans...Great Paisley Campout...Region 6 Regional Foresters…………22 Books: Jon Stewart’s Walking Away from the Land...Les Joslin’s Life & Duty………………………………………………...25 Films: “With Planes: Fire & Rescue Disney Explores Aerial Firefighting, Sorta” by Les Joslin..………………………………….27 Uncle Sam’s Cabins: Cedar Bark Forest Service Cabin, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest…………………………….…….27 Out of the Past: “C.C. Hall: Pioneer U.S. Forest Service Ranger and Supervisor” by Roy Elliott…………………………………28 My First Forest Service Job: “Butte, Montana, 1954” and “White Sulphur Springs, Montana, 1958” by Rolf Anderson……..30 Visit the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Association website at: www.oldsmokeys.org Annual Dues for 2015 are Due on January 1. See page 5! OldSmokeys Newsletter — Fall 2014 Page 2 visitors meet these days is either selling them a ticket or writing Forum them a ticket. Outsourcing by Any Other Name? Stewardship contracting And then there’s “stewardship contracting,” the use of end- Some years ago courageous U.S. Forest Service personnel, re- results contracting to increase the pace and scope of forest res- tirees, and others who value the National Forest System stood toration activities on federal public lands permanently author- strong—and at least somewhat successfully—against a presi- ized when Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed dential administration’s “competitive sourcing” efforts to turn the 2014 Farm Bill on February 7 to the approval of many for much national forest management over to private contractors. its many merits. A primary merit is, in plain language, forest Yet the practice of outsourcing continues under other harvesting pays for forest restoration. names—perhaps by design, or perhaps by default as another “Forest conservationists and timber harvesters in particular presidential administration focuses on other priorities—and celebrated [this authorization] which allows the U.S. Forest raises the possibility the Forest Service could become more a Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to issue contract-administering rather than field-operating organization. contracts to timber harvesters and increases forest restoration Recreation concessionaires efforts,” American Forests said in a February 10, 2014, online Campers see it in national forest campgrounds, the majority article by John-Miguel Dalbey. “These contracts, which are set now operated by for-profit companies called “concessionaires.” for 10 years at a time, allow for timber harvesters to conduct “Both the Forest Service and the companies regard the con- prescribed burns as well as thin forests that would otherwise cessionaire program as a great success in public-private partner- become dangerously dense, thus preventing wildfires.” ship (the term they prefer to ‘privatization’), and consider it an “Chris Topik, director of the Restoring America’s Forests essential tool for keeping campgrounds open in a time of gov- program under The Nature Conservancy, stated that ‘… ernment belt-tightening and reduced staffing,” Cally Carswell permanent stewardship contracting authority…provides certain- wrote in “The privatization of public campground management” ty to communities, industry and conservationists to expand the in a recent edition of High Country News. Some members of the collaborative forestry that improves the health of our federal public find fault with concessionaire profit-making from public forests that desperately need attention,’ adding that there would recreation resources. Others find fault with a March 28, 2014, be ‘no increased taxpayer spending.’ Representatives from the federal court decision that concessionaires are not subject to the Federal Forest Resource Coalition and the National Association same recreation fee rules as the agency and with how this could of Forest Service Retirees made similar statements of support. negate the value of their federal recreation passes. We now look forward to working with the federal agencies to In recent years, the public-private partnership practice has ensure the implementation of this tool is efficient and effec- tive….” crept into the operation of national forest visitor centers at which the Forest Service itself once met its public and provided A cautionary tale or two information and assistance. In the Pacific Northwest Region, for Along the Great Divide Trail in Canada—on which OldSmokey example, operation of the visitor center at historic Clackamas Jon Stewart walked another 600 miles or so after completing Lake Ranger Station was in 2011 turned over to Northwest the Continental Divide Trail trek he reports in a new book, Lands Management, a California-based park and campground Walking Away From The Land, reviewed in the Books section management company that specializes in providing visitor, hos- of this issue—Jon saw how Canada’s provincial governments pitality, and retail services to parks and campgrounds in Oregon “happily surrender management and oversight [of public lands] and Washington. This is the concessionaire which operates to whatever mining, petroleum, timber, or other business inter- many of that national forest’s campgrounds. est willing to extract a resource from the land. The leaseholders In the Rocky Mountain Region, the cash-strapped Grand take control of their parcels, install gates and build roads at their Mesa National Forest (a member of the “Grand Mesa, Uncom- convenience—all with the tacit approval of the governments” phagre, and Gunnison National Forests” lumping also known as which, at least in terms of other uses and apparently of applied “GMUG”) has all but turned over the beautiful Grand Mesa land and resource stewardship, walk away from the land. As a Visitor Center constructed in 1991 and refurbished at a cost of result, a lack of current maps and guidebooks—not to mention $600,000 to a county-interpretive association-outfitter guide trail maintenance and marking—“makes traversing [these combination for operation. During fiscal year 2011, 46,175 peo- lands] far more challenging” than even our seasoned, intrepid ple (plus 300 more per day just to use the restrooms) visited the trekker anticipates. center along the Grand Mesa National Scenic Byway. What comes through is Jon’s concern that