Wallowa County Chieftain
wallowa.com
Local news
March 22, 2017
Few races in
May election
competitive
M ONEY FOR WEED WARRIORS
By Tim Trainor
Wallowa County Chieftain
Courtesy photo
Musk thistle is one of the most prevalent of thistles in the county. The county was awarded two grants from Oregon
State Weed Board this year to help remove it, as well as welted and plumeless thistles in Wallowa County. The goal is
containment and eradication of all of these species. “I am trying to get the word out that there is free money for people
who have these weeds and we are going to be working our tails off to kill them all this summer,” said Ryan Oberhelman
Wallowa County vegetation manager.
Wallowa County residents make
multiple trips to Standing Rock
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Local citizens Joe Whit-
tle and Quintin Lynch, after
watching media coverage of
the Standing Rock pipeline
protests in North Dakota,
decided they wanted to take
part.
Both men said the trips
made a deep impact on their
lives, both spiritually and in
their world view as they wit-
nessed the heights of humani-
ty as well as its worst aspects.
Whittle is a Wallowa
County native who works as
a backcountry ranger for the
U.S. Forest Service, as well
as a freelance photographer/
journalist. He is an enrolled
member of the Delaware and
Caddo tribes of Oklahoma.
Lynch, originally from New
Hampshire, recently moved
with his family to this area
from central Washington.
He wanted to get involved
with the protest, fi rst by sup-
porting the Wallowa County
for Standing Rock Facebook
page. Within two days, the
site had helped raised $3,000
for a trip to the site to bring
winter clothes, food and fi re-
wood.
Jaime Stone, a friend of
Whittle’s, invited him along
for the ride.
“I was really rewarded
by the fact that people of so
many different walks of life
came together to support
the cause and our trip over
there. People donated who
were multi-generational fam-
ily farmers or even members
of patriot movements. The
struggle for freedom and
to stand up against govern-
ment oppression appealed to
them,” he said.
In November 2016, Whit-
tle departed for Standing
Rock. He was also docu-
menting the protest for “The
Guardian,” a British newspa-
per.
“Part of my goal as a jour-
nalist is to bring indigenous
narrative into the mainstream
media so we (Native Ameri-
cans) can speak for ourselves
and not be spoken for,” he
said.
On the fi rst trip Whittle
stayed at the main camp, Oce-
ti/Sakowin, which is the name
the Sioux tribes call them-
selves. Another encampment,
Sacred Stone, was on Army
Corp of Engineers land on the
other side of the Cannonball
River.
Whittle noted the spiritual
and traditional atmosphere of
the protests. There was head-
A3
May will be a quiet elec-
tion in Wallowa County, as
there are no bonds or levies
on the ballot and only a few
school board seats are in dis-
pute.
The fi ling deadline was
5 p.m. on March 16. Candi-
dates are still able to mount
write-in campaigns, though
their names will not be on the
ballot.
As of the fi ling deadline,
there are only a few compet-
itive races in the county. All
of those races are for school
board seats.
In Enterprise, Autumn
Wilburn and Heather Melville
will square off while in Jo-
seph it will be Kirsten Rohla
against Rachel Sykora. Dustin
Dehaan and Connie Curry will
compete for a single school
board seat in Troy.
Many others are running
currently running unopposed.
That includes:
Education Service District:
Penny Arentsen, Joan Gilbert
and John Lawrence
Enterprise School District:
Kate Fent
Enterprise Cemetery Dis-
trict: Linda Weaver, David
Hayslip Allen Schnetzky.
Also, no candidate fi led for
seat three.
Joseph School District:
Sara Hayes
Joseph Cemetery District:
Tom Schaafsma
Lostine Cemetery District:
Muriel Jones, Shirley Doud,
Les Carlsen
Wallowa County Health
Care District: Nick Lunde,
Katherine Loftus
Wallowa School District:
Carrie Holmes, David Flynn
and Polly Devore
Wallowa Cemetery Dis-
trict: Marcus Burns, Bonnie
Henderson
Wallowa Lake Rural Fire
District: Bob Young and Da-
vid Hurley. Also, no candidate
fi led for seat fi ve.
Wallowa Rural Fire Dis-
trict: Bobbie Baker and Larry
Wightman
Evergreen Water District:
Gary Willett, Robert Burns
and Jason Crenshaw
Lower Valley Water Dis-
trict: Kim West. Also, no can-
didate fi led for seat fi ve.
Alder Slope Cemetery Dis-
trict: Joyce Zollman
Lower Joseph
Creek Project
record released
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Courtesy photo
The Standing Rock Veterans Day March from a distant perspective. Those are law enforcement
vehicles at the bridge ahead of the marchers. Several Wallowa County citizens participated.
man council, and deference
given to the culture and tribe.
“We even had a sacred fi re
that never went out,” he said.
“Everyone was allowed to
have a say.”
After dropping off sup-
plies and getting a taste for the
culture, the group returned to
Wallowa County.
But Whittle turned back
around about a month later,
traveling to the protest site
with his brother Larry in D
cember.
“We stayed at Sacred
Stone (encampment) because
we thought Oceti might get
raided,” he said.
As talk of an imminent
raid increased, about 5,000
veterans joined the camp in
a show of support. Although
the standoff got tense, on Dec.
4, the ACE announced their
intention to ask for an Envi-
ronmental Impact Statement,
which defused the tension.
Whittle said the protest,
the tension, spurred Indian
country.
“It awakened something
that was dormant in a lot
of Native people for a long
time,” he said. “It was pret-
ty profound for me. I can’t
describe it. It brought home
just how unjust the system is,
particularly in its treatment of
Native Americans.”
Lynch made three trips to
the encampment, the fi rst two
at the same time as Whittle.
The last was on Feb. 22 for
what he called the “get the
hell out” notice.
“I had to go back and clean
up,” he said. “Those people
had given so much.”
Lynch described his role
in the protest as “delivery boy
for Wallowa County.”
“It was amazing and hum-
bling to bring supplies to peo-
ple to fi ght for a cause,” he
said. “As a new resident, I’m
amazed at how giving this
county is.”
Like Whittle, Lynch found
himself overwhelmed by the
spirituality exhibited by the
protesters.
“There were daily prayer
walks. I’m not particular-
ly religious, but I took my
share. Nearly every religion
and ethnic group was repre-
sented there. It was powerful,
listening to people speak at
the sacred fi re and watching
the water ceremony led by
three women each day while
the phrase “water is life” was
murmured in every imagin-
able language. It has impact-
ed me like nothing else has,”
he said.
The most challenging
thing for Lynch was a bliz-
zard during his December
visit.
“We had arctic conditions,
and the wind chill was twen-
ty below zero,” he said. “I
wasn’t sure what was going
to happen, but the next morn-
ing it was clear and bright, so
got our snow shovels and got
to work.”
Whittle said Standing
Rock might feel like a world
away, the crux of the issue is
something everyone can un-
derstand.
“What I really want peo-
ple in Wallowa County to un-
derstand is this: Just imagine
that someone was trying to
build a pipeline full of toxic
poison over Wallowa Lake.
Would anyone here support
that? Likely not,” he said.
“Now imagine that everyone
here from the commissioners
on down were against it, and
the National Guard showed
up the next day with guns and
said, ‘Too bad.’ What would
Wallowa County do? That’s
exactly what’s happening to
those people.”
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The U.S. Forest Service
announced Monday its fi nal
record of decision which, will
allow for implementation of
the Lower Joseph Creek Proj-
ect.
The long-awaited deci-
sion gives the green light to
improve forest resiliency on
and enhance fi sh and wildlife
efforts on about 100,000 acres
of forest land in northern Wal-
lowa County. The project is
located about 20 miles north
of Enterprise along Highway
3.
On March 17, Wal-
lowa-Whitman forest super-
visor Tom Montoya signed
the fi nal decision authorizing
implementation of the project.
With some changes, the U.S.
Forest Service chose alterna-
tive two of the fi nal environ-
mental impact for project im-
plementation. A more detailed
exploration of that alternative
will appear in a future edition
of the Chieftain.
A brief overview includes:
tree thinning, commercial
logging and other treatments
on about 17,000 acres. An
‘T
he thoughtful
feedback we
received from all
participants in
this project really
helped shape a
decision that will
allow positive
progress across
the landscape.’
Tom Montoya
forest supervisor
additional 90,000 acres will
receive prescribed fi re treat-
ments in the next decade.
Changes in road densi-
ty, including the opening 23
miles of road to public access
while closing 12 miles of road,
is also part of the project.
“The thoughtful feedback
we received from all partic-
ipants in this project really
helped shape a decision that
will allow positive progress
across the landscape, resulting
in a healthier decision,” Mon-
toya said.
The project is expected to
support several dozen jobs to
the community throughout
its duration, which could be
as long as a decade.