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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 2020)
B Friday, January 3, 2020 The Observer & Baker City Herald RECREATION REPORT EVEN WITH SNOW LACKING, ELK HAVE CONGREGATED AT STATE-RUN FEEDING SITES NEW BOATING FEES IN PLACE SALEM (AP) — Oregon public land offi cials have an- nounced visiting and recreational activity costs are expected to increase while new permit systems limit access to large regions of backcoun- try. The new fees and permits to hike, boat, fi sh and visit lands target low-paying groups to combat overcrowding amid a statewide popula- tion increase, The Statesman Journal reported Tuesday. Anyone operat- ing a non-motorized boat over 10-feet long in any boatable waterway must pur- chase a waterway ac- cess permit effective New Year’s Day or be fi ned about $115 after a short grace period, offi cials said. The permit is avail- able for $5 weekly, $17 annually or $30 every two years typically including an extra $2 process- ing fee, land offi cials said. In May, the U.S. Forest Service ap- proved a limit entry permit system for Three Sisters, Mount Jefferson and Mount Washington wilder- ness areas, but indi- vidual costs have yet to be determined, land offi cials said. In addition, the cost of fi shing and hunting licenses, adult angling tags and recreational vehicle campsites have also increased, offi cials said. These changes raise questions about affordability and accessibility, but they are all meant to improve outdoor ex- periences statewide, land managers said. WILDLIFE VIEWING UNION COUNTY Ladd Marsh Wild- life Area: Hundreds of waterfowl remain in the area, including Canada goose, mal- lard, northern pintail and American green- winged teal. During the day, they are most often loafi ng on open water areas. Many wetlands and portions of ponds are frozen, limiting areas for waterfowl. Many tundra swans are now using the area. Look for them on the Foothill Road refuge as well as in other ponds and wetlands. WALLOWA COUNTY A good place to observe mule deer is along the Wal- lowa Lake highway between Joseph and the south end of Wallowa Lake. Drive slowly and watch along the moraine on the east side of the lake around dawn and dusk. Use the turnouts when stopping to watch. S. John Collins / Baker City Herald fi le photo Elk gather during a previous winter at the feeding site near Old Auburn Road, southwest of Baker City. Where alfalfa tastes as sweet as ice cream ■ Compared with the dry grass they would eat otherwise, the fresh alfalfa hay distributed by the crew at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Elkhorn Wildlife Area is a treat for winterbound elk By Jayson Jacoby Baker City Herald Elk, it turns out, are no more able to resist the lure of ice cream than a sugar- craving kid is. Not actual ice cream, Dan Marvin hastens to add. Elk, with their four-cham- bered stomachs, are better equipped to digest grasses and shrubs than, say, triple- chocolate caramel swirl with fudge chunks. Or even plain vanilla, come to that. But Marvin, whose job is to keep hungry elk satiated lest they plunder ranchers’ haystacks in the Baker and North Powder valleys, uses ice cream as the sweet metaphor for the alfalfa hay that he and his crew distrib- ute every day at the Elkhorn Wildlife Area. Marvin, who is starting his second winter as the Wildlife Area’s manager, said the scanty snowpack means elk can easily fi nd food on their own. But the desiccated winter grass they can scrounge is pretty skimpy fare compared with the fresh green alfalfa the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) sets out. Which is why Marvin equates the alfalfa to a scrumptious frozen dessert. “Why settle for dry grass when you can come in and eat ice cream?” he said. The elk that return yearly to the 10 sites along the eastern base of the Elkhorns that comprise the Wildlife Area clearly prefer the latter option. The animals’ seasonal migration to the feeding sites, which range from the south end of the Elkhorns along Old Auburn Road about 10 miles southwest of Baker City, to Shaw Mountain northwest of North Powder, is deter- mined by time rather than by weather, Marvin said. “It’s amazing how they can time that,” Marvin said. Whether the temperature is balmy or arctic, and wheth- er snow is drifted deep or, as is the case this year, scarce, the elk begin to “trickle in,” as Marvin puts it, within a few days after Dec. 1, when ODFW closes the Wildlife Area to public entry. (Most of the feeding sites are publicly owned.) “Our elk are pretty accus- tomed to getting fed,” Marvin several miles south of the headquarters, and deer also show up at the Muddy Creek, Hunt Mountain, Auburn and Elk Creek sites. Marvin said the arrival of elk this year has been typical, despite the relatively shallow snow — about 4 inches at both the Auburn and Anthony Creek sites. Workers counted about 600 elk at Auburn last week, and around 200 at Anthony Creek. The tally includes a handful of mature branch-antlered bulls, which usually are the last to arrive. Bigger bulls generally don’t mingle with the cows, calves and young S. John Collins / Baker City Herald fi le photo bulls that comprise the bulk Elk munch on alfalfa hay during a previous winter at the Oregon Department of Fish of the herds at the feeding and Wildlife’s feeding site along Anthony Creek, about 10 miles west of North Powder. sites, Marvin said. The Anthony Creek site, said. “They show up regard- agency’s workers could, in out there to feed them they’d on River Lane, and the Old less of the weather most effect, intercept elk by entic- be down in the neighbors’ Auburn Road sites are the years.” ing them with alfalfa, and haystacks, and that’s what two where visitors have a The Dec. 1 closure date convincing them to stay there we’re here to prevent.” good chance of seeing elk. generally coincides with the and eat the state-provided Covering all 10 feeding sites There is parking space along end of elk-hunting season — handouts. involves a 150-mile round-trip both roads. for obvious reasons ODFW The strategy has proved drive from the Wildlife Area Marvin is just the third doesn’t want to entice hun- to be largely effective — so headquarters near Anthony full-time resident manager for dreds of elk into a concen- long as it’s also consistently Creek, about 10 miles west of the Wildlife Area since ODFW trated area that’s also open to applied, Marvin said. North Powder. added that position in 1981. hunting. “This is a seven-days-a- Elk, generally numbering He replaced Eddie Miguez, Once the feeding sites are week job,” he said soon after more than 1,000 head, are who retired in 2018 after 20 closed to the public, Marvin taking the manager’s job in the main customers, but the years. The fi rst resident man- and his crew, which includes 2018. “The elk will eat one Elkhorn crew also feeds deer ager was Ken Emerson, who two full-time and two season- way or another. If we’re not at one site on Antelope Peak, had the job for 18 years. al employees, distribute alfalfa to the feed sites. Making sure the places are stocked im- mediately is crucial, he said. ODFW created the Elkhorn Wildlife Area in 1971, but its purpose is not to keep elk from starving — the hardy animals are capable of looking after themselves even during persis- tently polar winters, the agency’s wildlife biolo- gists say. The problem is that the easiest meal, often as not, came from hay that ranchers put up to feed their cattle during winter. This was a challenge before ODFW estab- lished the Wildlife Area mainly because the Elkhorns lack a range of Photo by Jim Ward foothills that could serve Hatched and cramped in a dark burrow for several weeks, young burrowing owls are as winter range for elk anxious to get out and explore their new world. The birds aren’t doing well in their and deer. ever-changing environment. Some regions of the U.S. list them as threatened, endan- Once snow drove ani- gered or a species of concern. Pesticides, human development and the eradication of mals out of the moun- many of the creatures that dig the burrows they need are just a few of the maladies tains, they often headed the birds face. Burrowing owls are just holding on in many Eastern Oregon counties. directly for ranches. La Grande’s airport area used to have a breeding population of the birds, but those ODFW’s idea was to birds appear to have disappeared. fi nd places where the Burrowing Owls
