Page 13 - Flathead Beacon // 7.15.15

community
banking...
What does it mean to you?
“Community banking means
neighbors helping
neighbors.”
- BECCA M.
www.ThreeRiversBankMontana.com
NEWS
Sheriff: Girl Who Survived Plane Crash Found Girl in stable condition after plane goes missing with Marion residents onboard
co
BY BEACON STAFF
A 16-year-old girl survived a plane crash in northern Washington and walked through rugged, mountainous terrain for two days before she was found.
Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rog- ers told the Associated Press July 13 that Autumn Veatch, 16, of Bellingham, Wash- ington, was admitted to an area hospital and appeared to be in stable condition.
Rogers said the girl had been “walk- ing for a couple of days.” He said she was being taken to a local hospital and she seemed to be in stable condition. Rogers wouldn’t comment on the status of the other two people aboard the plane.
Veatch was onboard a small private plan with her step-grandparents, Leland Bowman, 62, and Sharon Bowman, 63, both of Marion. The plan departed Kalispell over the weekend and never arrived at its destination in northern Washington.
Search efforts were centered on a remote section in the Cascade mountains south of Mount Baker and northeast of Seattle. According to the Washington Department of Transportation, crews were focusing the search in Skagit, What- com, Chelan, and Okanogan counties. The last found cell signal was at about 4
Leland Bowman, 62, and Sharon Bowman, 63, both of Marion were onboard a plane that was reported missing.
COURTESY WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
p.m., July 11 near Omak.
The plane left Kalispell at 1 p.m.,
headed for Lynden, Washington. The plane crossed the Idaho-Washing- ton border near Newport at 2:21 p.m. It dropped off the radar near Omak at 3:21 p.m., according to Washington DOT officials. The last signal from one of the occupants was recorded at 3:49 p.m. in the same area.
The Federal Aviation Administration and family contacted authorities late
Saturday night when the plane did not arrive on schedule.
Air crews on July 12 searched the area listening for emergency locator beacon signals as well as conducting visual searches. Emergency beacons are required on all planes. Ground search crews were on standby and will be sent in if something is detected from the air, according to Washington officials.
[email protected]
Zinke’s Forest Reform Bill Passes House
Resilient Federal Forests Act heads to Senate, would require groups to post bonds before suing timber projects
BY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
The U.S. House of Representatives on July 9 passed the Resilient Federal For- ests Act, a bill to expedite management activities on federal forests that support- ers – including the measure’s co-spon- sor, Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana – say are needed to improve the health of the nation’s overgrown and fire-prone fed- eral forests.
The House voted in favor of the reforms 262-167, with 21 Democrats crossing the aisle to support the legisla- tion. The vote followed a floor debate that included effusive support from Zinke, who lives in Whitefish, as well as other Republican lawmakers from western states.
Opponents say the bill undermines the public’s right to challenge poorly planned or illegal timber projects, weakens bed- rock environmental laws and paves the way for dramatic increases in logging.
“Dramatically increasing logging based upon little to no environmental analysis is like racing down the highway with your windshield painted black,”
said Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife. “You know that the outcome will not be good. The public will be looking at irreparable habitat damage, polluted watersheds and drinking water and a devastated outdoor economy.”
Under the measure, litigants who do not take part in a collaborative timber planning process would have to post a bond before they could sue. If they lose, they’d be required to cover the federal government’s legal bill. Opponents say that impairs the public’s right to chal- lenge poorly-planned projects.
Zinke disagreed, saying the bill merely weeds out frivolous lawsuits that stall and derail logging projects, and that the bonds would only apply to groups who do not participate in a collaborative planning process, which he said leads to smart, healthy logging projects.
At one point, Zinke cited a recent tour of the Glacier Rim fire burning along the North Fork Flathead River, an area that previously burned in 2003. He said the recent fire is evidence of poor forest man- agement, and that the Forest Service was hamstrung by the specter of litigation.
“It’s burning the same ground that burned in 2003. I was told by people on the ground that the reason why this fire is burning is the Forest Service was not able to conduct a salvage operation for fear of lawsuits among other reasons, and those lawsuits left standing timber which can- not be addressed by crews, which only can be addressed by helicopters, and that’s a million dollar project,” he said. “We need more scientists in the woods and less lawyers.”
The Resilient Federal Forests Act, or H.R. 2647, will now go for a vote before the Senate, where Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, has pledged his support.
“I’m encouraged that the House of Representatives has passed critical- ly-needed legislation to improve the health of forests and create good-pay- ing jobs across Montana,” Daines said in a prepared statement. “Representative Zinke’s provisions to discourage litiga- tion and protect Montana-made collab- orative projects reflect what I’ve heard repeatedly from Montanans and are vital to restoring active management.”
[email protected]
www.T
JULY 15, 2015 | FLATHEADBEACON.COM
13
b p
m
h