FROM PAGE ONE
SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 2021
THE OBSERVER — 5A
LUNCH: Meal is free to all youths 18 and under
Continued from Page 1A
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Contributed Photo, File
A report from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says a
sheep herder on Horseshoe Ridge, outside of Meacham, reported
seeing four wolves in close proximity to his sheep on a 1,200-acre
private pasture.
WOLVES
Continued from Page 1A
approximately a quarter of
an inch in diameter on the
neck, with associated hem-
orrhage and tissue trauma
from 1 inch to up to 1-3/4
inches deep. Both injured
lambs had fresh wounds
on their necks and labored
breathing.
Fish and Wildlife
attributed the attack to
what is known as the
OR30 wolves.
Wolves have made
Mount Emily their home
for almost a decade but,
according to Roblyn
Brown, Fish and Wildlife
state wolf biologist, OR30
and his companions are the
only wolves known to be
in the Meacham area right
now.
Because the area of this
recent attack has become
so well used by wolves,
Brown said Greg Rimbach,
district wildlife biologist at
ODFW’s Pendleton offi ce,
has been working with this
producer in this area for
many years on cattle and
sheep issues. Currently,
the lambs are gathered
each night and kept in a
pen surrounded by an elec-
tric fence.
“They are very proac-
tive and have been trying
many diff erent things
over the years to reduce
wolf-livestock confl ict,”
Brown said.
OR30 was originally
a Wallowa County wolf,
but around the age of 2, he
left the Snake River Pack
and was collared on Mount
Emily in February 2015.
He spent much of that
year in the Mount Emily,
Starkey and Ukiah wildlife
units south of Interstate
84. In December 2015, he
was observed with another
wolf in the area formerly
QUEEN
Continued from Page 1A
day — about 4 hours. The
smaller ones, I can make
four or fi ve in a day,” he
said.
The time-consuming
part comes later when
Corsini dries, fi res, glazes,
and re-fi res the creations
in the classroom. It takes
about a week to fi nalize the
pieces. Corsini said he was
thankful to have the space
and material off ered by the
high school to create the
set.
“It gave me an oppor-
tunity to do it well, and
work harder on it,” he said
regarding his sculpting.
The inspiration for
making the chess set came
partly from McIlmoil, who
after observing Corsini
sculpt fi gures, suggested
that he make a chess set.
Corsini, who is a fan of
chess and routinely plays
against his dad and his
friends, agreed.
“I usually beat my dad,”
Corsini said.
Corsini likes to play
chess with his friends,
though he noted that chess
hasn’t found much of a fol-
lowing in the region.
“There’s nothing really
serious about chess around
here. It used to be a big
thing in the world, with
master chess players every-
where,” said Corsini.
Chess has seen a renais-
sance in the past year,
having been bolstered
by the pandemic and the
release of the hugely pop-
used by the Umatilla River
Pack.
In 2016, radio-collar
locations showed OR30
primarily using a large
area in the Starkey and
Ukiah units that he had
frequented in the summer
of 2015. He also was dis-
covered from time to time
in the Mount Emily Unit
and was believed to be
alone.
In the spring of 2017,
OR30 was observed with
a diff erent wolf and the
pair was in the northern
Starkey and Ukiah units
south of I-84.
In 2017, the OR30
wolves produced at least
two pups that survived to
the end of the year, but
they were not counted as a
breeding pair because the
female died in October.
Radio-collar data showed
a 306-square mile use
of area primarily in the
Starkey and Ukiah units.
Roughly 67% of location
data points showed them
on private lands.
The following year the
OR30 wolf group totaled
three animals and were
monitored until September.
By the end of 2018, two of
the wolves remained in the
pack area.
By January 2019, OR30
left the Starkey and Ukiah
area, and the group’s area
of known wolf activity was
discontinued. According
to ODFW’s website,
OR30 spent most of 2019
in the Wenaha Pack area
of known wolf activity.
In early 2020, he was
observed with another wolf
in the Mount Emily wild-
life management unit.
Brown said the depart-
ment has documented
three wolves in the OR30
group this spring and sus-
pect they are denning
in the area and there are
probably pups, as well.
ular Netfl ix series “The
Queen’s Gambit.” That
same enthusiasm, however,
hasn’t found much of a fol-
lowing in La Grande.
Northwest Chess, a
repository website of local
chess clubs in the North-
western United States, con-
fi rms Corsini’s statement
— the nearest chess club is
in Hermiston, which meets
only on the fi rst Wednesday
of the month. Pendle-
ton’s chess club is listed as
inactive.
For now, Corsini is con-
tent with making his pieces
and casually playing with
his friends. He hopes to
complete the set by the end
of the year, and to fi nish
making a wooden board to
host the pieces.
When asked about what
he would like to do after
he fi nished the set, he
wasn’t sure — noting that
he hadn’t thought about
entering it into art shows,
competitions, or even con-
sidered selling it.
“I’m probably just gonna
put it in my room,” he said,
noting that he was more
focused on creating the
pieces than planning their
exhibition.
La GRANDE
AUTO REPAIR
975-2000
www.lagrandeautorepair.com
MOST
ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY
AVAILABLE
Joe Horst
ACDelcoTSS
Activity Center, 2609
Second St., La Grande,
because of state social dis-
tancing rules in place to
protect people from the
COVID-19 pandemic,
said Jeff Hensley, assis-
tant director of Community
Connection of Northeast
Oregon.
A total of 6,140 meals
were served in 2020 via
the Summer Food Program
at Riveria. This was an
average of 108 per day, up
from the average of 94 a day
in 2019.
Hensley credits the
increase to a move made
a year ago when lunches
started being prepared not
in Riveria’s kitchen but
instead at the Union County
Senior Center by its food
service staff led by Sydney
Gleeson, the center’s food
service nutrition department
manager. This was done to
boost effi ciency since meals
are already prepared there
for the center’s senior meals
program, which is part of
Community Connection.
Hensley said the lunches
prepared by Gleeson were
tastier, which likely explains
why more people came
for meals at Riveria last
summer.
“Sydney does a won-
derful job of preparing
meals,” Hensley said.
Many of the staff who
are again serving lunches at
Riveria are volunteers.
“Hats off to the volun-
teers who give up their time
to serve children,” Hensley
said.
Community Connec-
tion has operated a summer
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Kids and parents sit in the grass outside Riveria Activity Center and eat lunch after receiving free meals
donated and cooked at the Union County Senior Center on Thursday, June 10, 2021.
MORE INFORMATION
For additional information
on free lunches in Wallowa
County, call Building Healthy
Families at 541-426-9411.
Alex Witwer/The Observer
Volunteers Gerry Montgomery, left, and Judy Sherman prepare to
serve lunches to children at Riveria Activity Center on Thursday,
June 10, 2021.
lunch program at Riveria
since 2005.
The free lunches in
Elgin will start June 14 and
are provided by the Elgin
School District. Youths age
18 and younger will be able
to pick up the lunches each
weekday. The Elgin School
District and Community
Connection will be reim-
bursed by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture for the
lunches they serve.
The free meals in Wal-
lowa County will be off ered
DROUGHT
by Building Healthy Fam-
ilies. BHF will off er grab-
and-go curbside pickup at
sites in Wallowa, Enterprise
and Joseph Monday through
Thursday from June 14 to
Aug. 5.
The lunches will be
free to all youths age 18
and younger from noon to
12:30 p.m. at the following
sites: the east side of Enter-
prise City Park, the east side
of Evans Park in Wallowa,
and the parking lot of the
Joseph United Methodist
Church.
Funders of the program
include the USDA and local
sponsors.
MORE INFORMATION
Continued from Page 1A
declaration, requested
that all state and federal
drought programs, grants,
loans and other assis-
tance be made available
to aff ected Union County
citizens. These include
farmers and ranchers who
already are feeling the
impact of the drought.
“The wheat crop has
never been lower in the
past 30 years,” Burton said,
referring to Union County
and Northeast Oregon
overall.
Union County Com-
missioner Paul Anderes
noted that dry land wheat
crops may develop smaller
kernels because of the
drought. He also said live-
stock producers are now
feeling the impact.
“The lack of spring rain
has reduced pasture land
for cattle,” he said.
Burton said the forage
available for cattle is down
as much as 60% because of
the drought.
“Grassland is not as
productive,” he said.
A year ago, Burton said,
ranchers could graze 400
cattle on a certain amount
of land for a month, but
now can only graze for
about two weeks on the
same acreage before they
have to move cattle to
another pasture.
The situation will get
worse for farmers and
ranchers later in the year
when stream fl ows likely
will continue to decline,
Burton said. Farmers and
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
A burn notice and fi re season sign outside of Elgin warns of an in-
creased risk of fi re on Friday, June 11, 2021. Union County offi cially
declared a drought on June 9 after a warm spring had prematurely
melted nearly all of the nearby mountain snowpacks.
ranchers who do not have
water rights high on a
seniority list may come up
empty this summer when
attempting to use some
streams.
“Water may not exist for
them,” he said.
Still, Union County is
much better off in terms
of drought conditions
than almost all of its sur-
rounding counties. Burton
said this is often the case
in terms of drought and
wildfi res.
“We are in a blessed
center,” he said.
Fire season
The commissioners’
decision to enter Union
County into a regulated
fi re season on June 15
means it will do so 15
days before the fi re sea-
son’s mandatory start. The
move comes on the heels
of a recommendation from
the Union County Fire
Defense Board. The board
consists of all fi re depart-
ment chiefs within Union
County.
Fire Defense Board
Chief Craig Kretschmer
said the recommendation
was made due to extremely
dry fuel conditions and
several fi re starts locally
and regionally.
Union County Com-
missioner Donna Beverage
said the decision will help
heighten awareness of the
wildfi re dangers the region
faces.
“It will make a lot of
people more hyperalert,”
she said.
Anderes said Union
County will have a pair
of new elements working
for it on the wildfi re pro-
tection front this summer
— two fi re breaks in the
Mount Emily Recreation
Area now close to com-
pletion. One is six miles
long on MERA’s Mainline
Trail, which runs north-
south starting from the rec-
During the regulated use fi re
season which begins June 15,
no open burning is allowed on
private lands within rural fi re
protection districts as well as
outside of city limits and on all
private lands in Union County.
The provision does not include
regulated agricultural fi eld
burning or the use of gas or
pellet barbecues at residences.
Burn barrel use from 6 a.m.
to 10 a.m. and recreational
fi res are also allowed under
regulated use as long as they
meet provisions within the
county’s regulated fi re season
ordinance.
The regulated fi re season
ordinance can be read in its
entirety at www.union-county.
org/emergency-services.
reation site’s parking lot off
Fox Hill Road. The other
is about 1 mile long and
runs on the western edge
of MERA.
“They have turned out
very well,” Anderes said.
The trunks of all trees
in the fi rebreaks are at
least 10 feet apart and
their crowns 25 feet apart.
The distances make it
much less likely for a fi re
to spread from tree to
tree. These fi rebreaks are
designed to help stop the
advancement of fi res from
the Mount Emily area
into the Grande Ronde
Valley and blazes moving
in the opposite direction,
Anderes said.
The fi rebreaks, created
over the past six months,
cost a combined total of
$200,000, much of which
was covered by state and
federal grants.
EASTERN OREGON
2021
PHOTO CONTEST
Official Rules:
Photo Contest open now and closes at
11:59 pm Sunday, June 20, 2021.
Staff will choose the top 10. The public can
vote online for People’s Choice from 12:01
am Monday, June 21 through 11:59 pm
Thursday, June 30.
Digital or scanned photos only, uploaded
to the online platform. No physical copies.
Only photographers from Oregon may
participate.
The contest subject matter is wide open but
we’re looking for images that capture life
in Eastern Oregon.
Submit all photos
online at:
Entrants may crop, tone, adjust saturation
and make minor enhancements, but may
not add or remove objects within the
frame, or doctor images such that the final
product doesn’t represent what’s actually
before the camera.
The winners will appear in the July 8th
edition of Go Magazine; the top 25 will
appear online.
Gift cards to a restaurant of your choice
will be awarded for first, second and third
place.
lagrandeobserver.com/photocontest