In February, Cliff Bentz held a town hall that got national attention. His constituents raised concerns about cuts to Medicaid, the privatization of public lands, and the mass layoffs of federal workers that threaten a huge part of the local workforce, firefighting, and outdoor recreation. Rather than meaningfully addressing any of that, he tried to distract us by talking about wolves and disparaging the conservation community for objecting to a logging project in our drinking watershed.

Thankfully no one was having it. And it turned out that the delays to the logging project were due to Forest Service process — something that won’t get better with more staff cuts.

In the end, environmentalists, the logging industry, and the agency worked through their disagreements in an amicable process. The project is going forward. It’s an example of how environmental safeguards that require protection of water and wildlife, thoughtful analysis, and public input from all parties are critically important to good outcomes.

Now that that’s all behind us, maybe the congressman will answer the questions that are really concerning us rather than vilifying people working to find solutions and protect the values our public lands provide.

Sarah Cuddy

Baker City