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