Anti-environmental anger in northeastern Oregon captured headlines last year when Joseph residents hung in effigy activists Ric Bailey and Andy Kerr (HCN, 11/14/94). But according to a recent survey, 58 percent of the residents in the Hells Canyon region believe “the region’s natural environment should be protected even if this means that some people will have to change jobs.” The poll, by Whitman College professor Phil Brick and several students, surveyed 1,250 registered voters from Union, Baker and Wallowa counties in northeast Oregon and Nez Perce and Idaho counties in central Idaho. “As usual, it’s the group that screams the loudest that gets the most attention, even though these screams seldom represent the views of the whole community,” says Pat Hannigan, a student who participated in the survey. For a copy of the survey, Common Goals, Divided Communities, contact Brick at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. (509/527-5291).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Not the whole story.
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