I attended, along with several members of Baker County Natural Resources Advisory Committee, the Blues Intergovernmental Council meeting in Baker, on March 21, 2023.

The purpose of the BIC supposedly is “serve as an overarching entity for planning and guidance around land management issues related to the Blue Mountain Forests, namely the Malheur, Wallowa-Whitman, and Umatilla, including but not limited to the Forest Plan Revision.” On the website, first and prominently displayed, is that this “BIC process” wants, needs and pontificates about the absolute desire for public involvement and engagement. These are great talking points, but sadly was the very least of what I witnessed personally.

The meeting was from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the dialogue was strictly between the members, or invited guests of the BIC. I fully understand that to get through the confirmed agenda, and get the items accomplished, some of the meeting is confined to the council members. The public is there to listen and observe.

The agenda allowed, at the end of the meeting, 15 minutes of public comment. That in itself is an insult for the citizens who endured this length of meeting! But the real disregard for the public, was delivered by the coordinator of the meeting, Dr. Daniel Paul Costie, listed as an Assistant Professor of Public Administration, Eastern Oregon University.

The tyranny of controlling the public input was in full display. He limited each citizen’s remarks at 2 minutes, allowed for absolutely no interaction from council members to questions asked by the public. The elitist disrespect by this meeting format for the public participation was truly abysmal! The conduct of this meeting is a blatant example of administrative/bureaucracy controlling the narrative, with little to no respect or regard for the community priorities, or values surrounding our national PUBLIC Forests.

The hypocrisy of eliciting, in words only, that the Blues Intergovernmental Council wants public engagement, and the totally rude treatment of sincere individuals with knowledge and experience, expressing their perspectives was abhorrent. This is a pathway for a repeat of the debacle of the USFS Travel Management Plan that was withdrawn, because of public protests, in recent history.

If the Blues Intergovernmental Council returns to sincerely wanting and respecting public participation, they are most definitely needing to change their “process” and meeting protocols!

Curtis W. Martin

Baker County