Mt. Vernon rancher and retired high school teacher Roger Ediger raises concerns about the proposed Owyhee Canyonlands national monument at Sen. Jeff Merkley's Saturday morning town hall meeting in John Day.

JOHN DAY — The proposed creation of an Owyhee Canyonlands national monument was a concern shared by many audience members at Sen. Jeff Merkley’s town hall meeting Saturday in John Day.

When Merkley asked the 50 or so Grant County residents in attendance if they were concerned about the issue, and more than half the hands shot up.

Rancher and retired high school teacher Roger Ediger brought up the topic during the question and answer session.

Ediger said people in the county have a more vested interest compared with “a person on the 54th floor of a townhouse” and agriculture uses for that land, such as livestock grazing, would be removed with a monument.

Merkley said the community’s worries would need to be reconciled, including grazing and fire concerns.

He said he’s heard the U.S. Department of Interior is not planning a process to create a monument this year.

After the meeting, Merkley said he’s been in regular communication with the secretary of the interior.

“My argument has been that, if they’re going to have a monument process, they need to be in full dialogue with the community, and I want to present all the feedback I’ve gotten like access, fire management, grazing rights and juniper, for example,” he said. “My impression is that there is not currently a process underway.”

He noted the proposed project is in the hands of the executive branch, and they could change their mind.

A wide range of topics were raised at the meeting, which was Merkley’s eighth visit to Grant County, his 275th overall town hall.

Merkley started the meeting by giving a flag that had flown over the Capitol to Lisa Weigum, a founding member of the Grant County chapter of New Hope for Eastern Oregon Animals.

He thanked Weigum for the organization’s work which has helped over 500 animals with food, shelter, homes, as well as funding assistance with spay and neuter surgeries.

Before taking questions, Merkley covered a few of the issues he supports, including national funding for STEM and career tech education, such as shop classes.

“Often kids grow up with game controllers in their hands, instead of tools,” he said. “I push for inclusion of those programs.”

Merkley also said a major expansion of the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) is possible.

WIFIA establishes a new financing mechanism for water and wastewater infrastructure projects and provides low interest rate financing for large dollar-value projects, according to the EPA’s website.

Looking at the May 17 Oregon election, the senator said Grant and Harney counties had “the best turnout in the nation.”

Officials at the Grant County Clerk’s Office said Grant County had 72.07 percent participation and Harney had 71.95 percent.

Merkley also pledged to do all he can to keep the mill in John Day open.

He said the long-term stewardship contract has not been without its glitches but has significantly increased the amount of timber coming off the forest. He added the Blue Mountains Forest Partners Collaborative “has not had a single project in court.”

“It’s a reflection of folks working together for that,” he said.

He also said pending legislation could improve forest health by preventing “fire borrowing,” when agencies are forced to use funds intended for fire prevention to fight large blazes.

Jim Boethin asked about fire in the county.

“Global warming in Grant County is summer — right now the county is a tinderbox,” he said. “What can we do about this? Where does it end?”

Merkley said the unthinned forest remains “a mess,” and he thinks coming together and developing a plan is the best course of action.

“Oregon is the most successful in the nation for developing a collaborative,” he said. “We need to get people in the same room and develop a strategy.”

Glenn Johnston, a member of the Blue Mountains Forest Partners, told Merkley he appreciates his support.

“I think we’re moving in the direction Jim (Boethin) wants,” Johnston said. “We have a lot more we agree on than we disagree on. (We need to) find a way to work through our differences, and we want people like Jim to join us in our collaborative.”

Dan Driscoll said an industry has been built from fires.

He asked how incentives to put the fire out, when fires are used as an opportunity for employment?

Merkley said he hadn’t heard of fires being started on purpose and that keeping funds in forest health for thinning and hazard fuels reduction would be the closest he could come to for an answer.

Sarah Russ asked about the rising cost of health care.

The senator said one aspect driving the high costs is prescription medication.

He said one way to combat the problem would be to not allow the drugs to be sold for more in the U.S. than the price overseas, and if they cost more in the U.S., there should be ways to import them.

Grant Union freshman Tanner Elliott asked how the absence of a Supreme Court judge, which leaves eight seated, will affect the court’s decisions.

Merkley said, if there is a tie, the case would go to a lower court. He considered it a “huge dereliction of duty” when President Barack Obama’s choice for the position was blocked.

Grant Union sophomore Dante Valentine asked what issues the senator finds most crucial, and Merkley pointed out his four focal points: the role of money in the political system, global warming, college costs and living-wage jobs.

Merkley spoke with several from the crowd after the meeting and said it was a great town hall meeting.

“We have diverse issues,” he said, “and it helps guide me on where I need to spend my time and energy fighting for Oregon.”