District Ranger Brian Anderson of the Wallowa Mountains Office, left, listens as Shaun McKinney, supervisor of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, describes plans for the forest for 2024. The Forest Service officials met with the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024.

ENTERPRISE — Two officials with the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest came to the Wednesday, Jan. 3, meeting of the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners intending to brief the commissioners on the work planned for the coming year on the forest.

And they did that. But all the officials present — Forest Service administrators and commissioners alike — expressed continuing frustration on a related topic: The inability to get funding to repair a five-mile stretch of the Wallowa Mountain Loop Road.

Shaun McKinney, supervisor of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, and Brian Anderson, district ranger of the Wallowa Mountains Office in Joseph, were on the commissioners’ agenda for their Jan. 3 meeting. 

All-American Road

For years, the Forest Service has wanted to upgrade the Hells Canyon All-American Road, also known as the Wallowa Mountain Loop and Forest Service Road 39. The windy, scenic road traverses the mountain country between the Imnaha Highway east of Joseph and Interstate 84 near Halfway. The Forest Service is concerned primarily with the first five miles between its boundary and Salt Creek Summit.

Commissioner John Hillock noted that funding the work has been repeatedly put off.

“We had a meeting about five years ago talking about the 39 Road and we were supposed to get funding for the 39 Road within two years, and that was fine, but we’ve been passed over every year for funding on the 39 Road for us and for Baker County, as well,” he said. “There are people who are concerned about the 39 Road. … We’ve had some tragic accidents there; I don’t know if it’s due to the condition of the pavement — I don’t think that helps any — but we need to get this problem solved.”

Anderson said after the meeting that the work is estimated to cost $8 million to $9 million.

“I’ve been reaching out at every opportunity,” he told the commissioners. “When we were over in Portland to get recognized for an award I found myself talking to the director of engineering and said, ‘you’ve heard about this.’ What I’ve heard is that we’re still in the mix” for funding. He said the forest has reapplied for money for the project.

“I don’t have a great solution to your question, but I fully understand and agree with you on that,” he told the commissioners.

He said the Forest Service has applied to the Federal Highway Administration and other sources, but they’re still waiting.

The road is a nationally designated scenic byway. The byway was first designated as a National Forest Service Scenic Byway in 1992, and then, as a State Scenic Byway in 1996. In May 2000, the Federal Highway Administration designated the byway an All American Road for its exceptional scenery, widely varied terrain, recreational opportunities, and historical significance.

Commissioner Susan Roberts said the county, too, has applied for funds to repair the road.

“It’s important because it’s an ‘All-American Road’ but you can’t drive on it because of its condition,” she said, and added that the lack of funding for road upgrades suggested “It was not as important as other spots in the state of Oregon.”

Anderson agreed the road is important.

“It’s an incredibly important road and for the communities it serves,” he said. “We are going to continue to work on that.”

“It’s certainly not us holding it up,” Roberts said.

Hillock said the county already has spent money on the road, which extends into Baker County.

“We spent a lot of money a couple years ago on our portion of the road,” he said.

Roberts said other areas seem to get a priority.

“We applied and were told it wasn’t so important,” she said. “One of the reasons (it keeps getting passed over for funding) is the population isn’t that big. It doesn’t make any difference to us what the population is. It’s an important route. Then you put it on the scenic byway, but you don’t want to keep it up?”

Commissioner Todd Nash said the road is vital to locals.

“Our local people use that a lot for recreational purposes,” he said. “So many people go up there in the wintertime to the snowpark.”

Forest recovery

Anderson and McKinney focused most of their comments on helping the forests recover from the wildfires of late-summer 2022.

“We’re going to be focusing quite a lot on forest restoration activities … and that really presents a fire hazard, so we really want to treat it as much as possible in a very strategic smart way,” McKinney said.

“We look at the landscape where we have roads or rivers that would stop a fire and concentrate on that. We can get some timber out of it, as well, to benefit the communities and mills and look at our reduction of fire on the landscape. … We want to stop catastrophic fires. We recognize that fire on the landscape is a natural part of it — we want to see more fire on the landscape — but not catastrophic wildfires. There’s a little bit of nuance there, but I think it’s important to understand for our communities.”

He emphasized the difference between destructive and constructive forest fires, which often involve controlled burns as a means to restore forests. He also stressed the important of “partnerships, transparency and communication to look at these forests to see where is the best place to go for the health of the forest itself.”

Other issues

McKinney and Anderson also discussed other issues critical to the forest, such as water, rangelands, invasive species and wildlife.

Nash asked about how the relationship between the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management works in the light of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. McKinney said that under the act, the agencies have to make sure an agreement is reached that lasts 50 years.

“That’s a long time and we want to make sure the mitigation is in place to ensure the American people that that river is going to be in good shape for years to come, for generations to come,” he said. “We all know that energy generation is important to all of us. … I think we can do it in a way that preserves our responsibilities.”

Roberts asked about the Grande Ronde River, given that it largely flows through BLM land.

“The BLM is the lead management agency of the Grande Ronde River; the Forest Service is the lead agency on the Snake River,” McKinney said.

“We have quite a little wild and scenic in Wallowa County,” Nash added.

Rangeland and Forest Service management of range allotments was an issue the commissioners were interested in, given that so much of the county’s economy is involved in the cattle industry.

“We’ll continue to administer active allotments across the districts,” Anderson said. “That’s a huge component of our work. … We received moneys from a couple years ago. … Our focus for planning continues to be on analysis to support fish requirements for fish and plants under the Endangered Species Act on the variety of allotments.”

Anderson said he’s been working with the county on rangeland monitoring.

Rancher Kelly Birkmaier asked about stream conditions and treatment of invasive species.

“It seems like there should be some effort into managing some of those species, in particular medusahead (thistle) before it does get out of control on our rangelands and into the timber,” she said, and urged this concept be included in the upcoming forest plan and that it include aerial application of herbicides to fight weeds.

In discussing the county’s streams, she drew agreement from Roberts.

“What Kelly just said, we need to do some monitoring to show what a stream used to look like and what it does now and how it got in that condition and does that mean it’s bad,” Roberts said. 

The original online version of this story incorrectly reported where Shaun McKinney, supervisor of the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, is based. He is based in Baker City. The story has been corrected.