FROM PAGE ONE
TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2021
THE OBSERVER — 5A
LOOKOUT
Continued from Page 1A
as well as the boundary
between Baker and Grant
counties.
Mount Ireland is one of
more than a dozen prom-
inences in Northeastern
Oregon where the tradi-
tional method of fi nding
wildfi res — a person
working inside a tiny
building on a high point,
looking for the telltale ten-
dril of smoke — persists.
Several decades ago
there were more than 50
lookouts in the region that
were staff ed each summer.
But over time, with sur-
veillance by airplane more
feasible, and a proliferation
of roads making it easier
for fi re crews to access
remote areas, most look-
outs were closed, and many
removed.
Mount Ireland remains a
valuable cog in the fi re-de-
tection system in part
because of its elevation —
if you head west from the
peak you won’t hit a higher
summit until you get to the
Cascades.
But its location is also
ideal, said McCraw, the
fi re management offi cer
for the Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest’s Whitman
District.
From Mount Ireland’s
summit, the lookout can
see swathes of the Wal-
lowa-Whitman as well as
parts of its neighboring
national forests, the Uma-
tilla and Malheur, McCraw
said.
On especially clear
days the views extend east
into Idaho and north into
Washington.
The Observer, File
Wallowa-Whitman National/Contributed Photo
The lookout at Mount Ireland might see as many mountain goats as human visitors.
“It’s a pretty critical
one,” McCraw said.
Mount Ireland also over-
looks the municipal water-
shed for Sumpter, where
a wildfi re could threaten
the city’s water supply,
McCraw said.
But of course a lookout
is only as eff ective as the
person who works there,
scanning the hundreds of
thousands of acres where a
fi re could start.
And for the past two
years, McCraw has had to
scramble to hire someone
for the position, which
pays about $16.90 per hour.
In 2020, Mount Ireland’s
longtime lookout wasn’t
able to return to the lofty
perch, but McCraw had a
fair amount of time to fi nd
a replacement.
Typically the lookout
doesn’t start work at Mount
Ireland until late June or
early July, when most of the
snow has melted and the
wildfi re risk begins to rise.
This spring McCraw’s
challenge was even more
acute. The lookout he had
enlisted for the job backed
out late in May.
Then someone sug-
gested to McCraw that he
explain his dilemma to
associations of fi re lookout
enthusiasts, of which there
are several.
The Oregon Fire Look-
outs posted about the situ-
ation on its Facebook page
on June 4.
McCraw said he has had
a “very good response”
from the post, and several
candidates have been in
touch.
McCraw said on
Wednesday, June 9 that
he will be able to fi ll the
vacancy in time to have
Mount Ireland staff ed.
The person he hires
will have an interesting
summer, to be sure. Mount
Ireland is pretty remote
even by lookout standards.
You can’t drive to the
peak.
The roughly 3 1/2-
PRIDE
Island City location.
Other booths included
the Oregon Family Sup-
port Network, posters with
LGBTQ resources in the
area and several small busi-
ness owners.
Kelly Fry, owner of
Handcrafts by Kelly in
La Grande, sold custom
designed glassware at a
table, with all proceeds
going to the Trevor Project,
an organization dedicated
to LGBTQ youth suicide
prevention.
According to Brittany
Cambell, the event means a
lot to her because growing
up in La Grande, she had no
space to refl ect on her own
identity and sexuality.
“Growing up, I didn’t
know anyone else like me,”
she recalled. “I love La
Grande. I’ve never wanted
to live anywhere else and I
just want everyone else to
feel the same.”
Now that Pride is a
city-recognized event,
Cambell hopes that more
people will reach out for
resources in the future and
come to events such as this
one.
“I just want to see it
keep growing and become
more of a normal thing in
the area,” Cambell said.
“I can’t stand the thought
of anybody feeling so
alone. I just want as many
people to know that you are
wanted, you are loved, you
are important and there is
always help.”
people to help you,” Mori
said. “I love EOU, thank
you for teaching me so
much and helping me when-
ever I needed it.”
Last fall, the university
resumed some in-person
instructions, with about
half of the classes for
the 2020-21 school year
taking place in classrooms,
according to Seydel.
“I think what’s spe-
cial about this class is that
they’ve gone through a
lot,” he said. “Last spring,
they found out they weren’t
going to be able to return
to the in-person experience
that they were so used to,
so that’s why we pushed so
hard to return to in-person
programming over the last
year.”
Brandon Porter, who
plans to return next year
to earn his master of arts
in teaching, said he is
thankful for the school’s
eff orts to organize a live
commencement.
“I’m feeling excited and
fortunate to have an actual
graduation ceremony,” he
said. “I’m just thrilled to be
here and see my accomplish-
ments pay off . I’ve found
such a close-knit family here,
and that’s what I love about
the community.”
Continued from Page 1A
from local organizations.
One of them was Shelter
From The Storm, which
provides education and
advocacy services to vic-
tims of domestic violence
and sexual abuse. Executive
Director Jamie Landa hopes
that this event continues to
grow each year.
“I got in touch with Brit-
tany because I was actually
planning a Pride event at
Shelter From The Storm,”
Landa said. “I’m glad that
we were able to make it
out and show our support
for such a valuable organi-
zation. I hope it continues
to grow each year and that
we’ll be able to have a
parade one day.”
Shelter From The Storm
will hold its Pride event on
June 25 from 1-5 p.m. at its
GRADS
Continued from Page 1A
usually holds a separate
commencement ceremony.
In total, 745 students
graduated from EOU this
academic year, many of
whom could not attend
the ceremony. According
to Seydel, this will likely
be the last graduation
restricted in size due to
COVID-19.
“In previous years, this
is normally a huge event,
there’s thousands of people
that come to the stadium,
and it’s just a really over-
whelming and fun expe-
rience,” he said. “We’re
hoping that next year we’ll
be able to do it normally
again, with families and stu-
dents in the stadium.”
MJ Mori, who graduated
with a degree in psychology,
said she is thankful for the
university community for
helping her throughout her
four years on campus.
“It was a lot of fun.
People here enjoy helping
others and as long as you
reach out, there are always
mile hiking trail off sets
its modest distance with a
signifi cant elevation gain
of 2,300 feet — roughly
equivalent to climbing the
Astoria Column about 18
times.
(Except without stairs.)
The nearest settlement is
Granite, about eight miles
from the trailhead. Sumpter
is about 15 miles.
McCraw said the Forest
Service each year hires a
helicopter crew to haul in
water, propane and other
supplies to the lookout. A
technician checks the radio
equipment on the peak,
which includes an antenna
and a repeater.
The Mount Ireland
lookout usually works until
mid to late September,
depending on the weather.
Snowstorms are pos-
sible in any month at that
elevation, but McCraw said
in some years dry weather
persists into October so
the lookout stays on duty
through deer season.
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Eve and Dora Koltuv color in pride art at the Pride Family Fun Day
held in Riverside park on Friday, June 11, 2021.
La GRANDE
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La Grande High School teacher John Lamoreau, left, and his U.S.
government students listen to Sen. Ron Wyden’s response to a
question while talking to the students from Washington, D.C., via
Skype in 2017.
CIVICS
Continued from Page 1A
the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Gov-
ernment for a redress of
grievances.”
Lamoreau wants stu-
dents to understand that it
is not a coincidence that
the freedom of religion
is the fi rst right listed in
the fi rst amendment. This
indicates, he said, how
strongly the United States’
founding fathers felt about
the importance of freedom
of religion and how much
we should value it.
He noted that when the
Bill of Rights was being
created, there was a move
in the country to exclude
people of the Jewish,
Catholic and Muslim
faiths from having citi-
zenship. Lamoreau noted
though that then-president
George Washington and
future presidents Thomas
Jeff erson and James Mad-
ison both worked hard to
make sure that the Bill of
Rights allowed people of
all beliefs to be citizens
and to be allowed to prac-
tice their faith.
When discussing the
right to freedom of speech
Lamoreau likes to tell his
students of the visit he
made in 1968 to what was
then the Soviet Union. He
told people there that he
was opposed to the United
States’ involvement in the
Vietnam War. The young
people he was talking to
in the Soviet Union asked
him if he feared retali-
ation from his govern-
ment for being so out-
spoken. Lamoreau said
they were amazed to learn
that he did not fear retali-
ation because of his First
Amendment right to prac-
tice freedom of speech.
“That really opened my
eyes. Going to the Soviet
Union made me love my
country a lot more,” he
said.
Lamoreau said he
believes most schools are
already teaching civics.
He thinks, though, that the
legislation will spur school
districts to develop better
curriculum for civics.
Teaching state
government
He hopes that high
schools, spurred by SB
513, will also teach more
about state government
and how Oregon’s is dif-
ferent from many others.
For example, in Oregon
citizens can get measures
passed using the initia-
tive petition process. Few
other states have an initia-
tive petition process that
makes it as easy for citi-
zens to create new laws as
Oregon does.
Lamoreau also hopes
SB 513 makes students
aware of portions of Ore-
gon’s history he does not
believe many students
know about.
“Many people do not
realize that a United States
president grew up in
Oregon,” he said.
He was referring to
Herbert Hoover, who was
raised in Newberg after
moving there from Iowa
when he was 11.
Mark Mulvihill, super-
intendent of the Inter-
Mountain Education Ser-
vice District, said civics
is already embedded
throughout the curric-
ulum of Oregon’s public
schools. However, he
also believes the added
emphasis on civics SB 513
calls for is a positive step.
The superintendent
said it will be construc-
tive at a time when our
society is so polarized.
Mulvihill said boosting
students’ understanding
of how our government
works will result in people
being better listeners and
reducing this divide.
“It will pull us together
more,” he said.
The superintendent
also believes SB 513
may result in more stu-
dents later participating in
government.
“The more involved
people are, the more
enlightened they will be
and the better government
will be,” he said.”That is
what the intent of the bill
is all about.”
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