LA GRANDE — The Union County Board of Commissioners will take public input on what could be a major forest management project at the Mount Emily Recreation Area.

The meeting will serve as a field review for a potential commercial timber harvest plan that would take place in the winter and spring of 2022. The plan would involve closing portions of MERA for timber harvest in the Red Apple area for the primary purpose of reducing fire risk and improving forest health.

Local residents can participate and ask questions at the Owsley Canyon Trailhead at noon Wednesday, Nov. 10.

“We want input,” Commissioner Paul Anderes said.

‘It needs to be managed’

It has been about 15 years since the Red Apple area was logged.

“It needs to be managed,” said Forrest Warren, a member of the MERA advisory committee.

Forest management efforts are needed to reduce tree density and the build up of fuels to cut the risk of high-intensity fires. Work will involve the removal of dead and diseased trees.

Warren said he believes some healthy trees also might have to be logged to allow for the project to be profitable for the company removing them.

“To make it financially feasible, some good trees will have to be taken out,” he said.

Warren said from a financial standpoint it might be best to do the thinning now because the price of timber is up. Still, Warren said, this is not something that should be rushed into.

“It is easy to do something that will take a long time to heal,” he said. “It is important not to do something that takes 10 years (until the forest) looks like a forest again.”

Warren said the thinning and removal of fuels and other forest management must be done, but he does not believe it is essential that it be completed this winter.

“Forest management is a long-term thing,” he said.

Coming under fire

Warren said steps already have been taken in recent years to thin trees and remove fuels in the Red Apple area and reduce fuel loads, something he credited the county with.

The original project was proposed in the fall of 2020, with an emphasis on logging, precommercial thinning and fuels treatment. That proposal showed that approximately 190 acres of the recreation area would be logged, as well as follow-up commercial thinning and damaged tree removal.

The county purchased the nearly 3,700 acres of land at MERA in 2008, with the $4.65 million cost being financed by grants from the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department’s all-terrain vehicle program and the Blue Mountain Habitat Restoration Council. The Union County Parks Department and the MERA Advisory Committee manage MERA’s trails.

The project has drawn criticism from some, such as Friends of Mount Emily Recreation Area. The group, along with other voices in the community, have noted the logging could have an adverse effect on the well-being of recreational trails as well as winter recreation activities.

Bart Barlow, a former member of the MERA Advisory Committee, said fire mitigation is important at the recreation area but the proposed logging could be detrimental.

“I’m not opposed to logging or forest management, but it needs to be done right for the recreation area,” he said. “The more information the county can get out, the more people can get involved in things.”

Warren said he believes it is critical to keep MERA as a site that offers recreational opportunities to so many. He noted it is an important part of Union County’s economic engine because it draws in many people from outside the area.

“What MERA means to our economy is huge,” he said.

Warren also said some residents have told him the Mount Emily Recreation Area is the reason they live in Union County.

There is no definitive timeline in place for when the forest management project would begin, but the field review meeting will likely provide answers from the county. The meeting also serves as an opportunity for public input and Q&A.

Anderes said the work would be done in the winter since the snow and ice cover often present would limit the impact tree removal would have on soil. He said he wants MERA managed for forest health, fire resiliency and for the purpose of maintaining the recreation opportunities it provides.

“Our objective is to leave it better than we found it,” Anderes said.

What: Public field review opportunity for planned forest management of the Red Apple area at MERA

Where: Owsley Canyon Trailhead

When: Wednesday, Nov. 10, at noon

Additional information: Union County MERA, 541-963-1319