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TUESDAY EDITION
August 31, 2021
Helping
people
who
need it
‘We are
defi nitely
concerned’
Group provides
grocery gift cards
and services to
families isolating
due to COVID-19
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — In
diffi cult times, a commu-
nity-based organization
is providing some relief
to families impacted by
COVID-19.
Northeast Oregon Net-
work, a nonprofi t based in
La Grande,
provides sup-
port to fam-
ilies whose
incomes are
impacted by
a quarantine
Avila
or isolation by
off ering grocery gift cards
and other services. Funded
by the Oregon Health Asso-
ciation and other partners,
the nonprofi t health collabo-
rative aims to provide fi nan-
cial and non-fi nancial sup-
port to families in need.
“We just want to help
people make it through
their quarantine or isolation
safely because it’s a really
stressful time,” Executive
Director Liberty Avila said.
Local outreach
The Oregon Health
Association began funding
the program in July 2020,
while the Center for
Human Development, La
Grande, also works with
the organization on a local
basis. According to Avila,
Northeast Oregon Net-
work has assisted roughly
300 families with gro-
ceries and other services
since the start of the pan-
demic. The organization’s
outreach spreads across
Union, Baker and Wallowa
counties.
For families in need
due to quarantine, the pro-
gram can provide up to
$120 in grocery gift cards
per family member. North-
east Oregon Network also
helps families retrieve their
groceries if necessary,
transport family members
See, NEON/Page A6
Jim Ward/Contributed Photo
A female adult elk licks her calf in this undated photo. A Starkey Project study is helping to determine if climate change is hurting Rocky Mountain elk repro-
duction by leaving less time in the spring and early summer to build up fat reserves, which are critical for having successful pregnancies and producing the
milk needed to raise their calves.
Biologists study how climate change affects Rocky Mountain elk
By DICK MASON
The Observer
STARKEY — Rocky
Mountain elk in Northeastern
Oregon may fall prey to climate
change.
U.S. Forest Service research
biologist Mike Wisdom and
Casey Brown, a research biol-
ogist with the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife,
are among a growing number
of people who are concerned
about the role climate change is
playing in nature. Wisdom and
Brown are helping conduct a
Starkey Project study aimed at
determining if climate change
will hurt Rocky Mountain elk
reproduction.
The study is not complete
and intensive data analysis
remains to be done, but its pre-
liminary fi ndings indicate that
climate change could cause elk
populations to decline in North-
eastern Oregon and other areas.
“We are defi nitely con-
cerned,” Wisdom said.
The reason for the worry
is that rising temperatures
resulting from climate change
are reducing the amount of
U.S. Forest Service/Contributed Photo
A Starkey Project study is helping to determine if climate change is hurting
Rocky Mountain elk reproduction.
time quality vegetation is avail-
able to elk.
“The nutrition window for
elk is shifting,” Wisdom said.
“It is more compressed.”
Climate change’s impact
Wisdom said cow elk now
have less time in the spring and
early summer to build up fat
reserves, which are critical for
having successful pregnancies
and producing the milk needed
to raise their calves.
“Lactating females have
higher energy demands and
thus are more sensitive to cli-
mate change,” he said.
Brown said that in the past
the most nutritious vegetation
available to elk, grasses and
forbs fl ush with new growth,
were available in Northeastern
Oregon from early spring to
early summer. This vegetation
is now available on a less nutri-
tious — but still valuable level
— from early summer to mid-
summer, followed by a brown
period when there is little
precipitation, from mid-July
through the fall, a time when
most of the vegetation avail-
able is dried out and off ers little
nutritional value.
Today, the best forage for
elk is available for about two
fewer weeks than before, and
the “brown” periods runs three
to four weeks longer.
“There is now a more pro-
nounced period of low precip-
itation during the summer and
fall,” said Wisdom, co-project
leader of the Starkey Project
with Darren Clark of the
Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
Brown anticipated, when
she and research biologist Pris-
cilla Coe started their plant
study at Starkey in 2015, that
they would fi nd less forage
was available to elk than three
decades ago. But she was sur-
prised by how much it had
decreased.
“It was greater than I
thought it would be,” she said.
See, Elk/Page A6
Anger over mandate prompts protest
Hundreds rally for
medical freedom
in La Grande
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — “Just
say no.”
Those words echoed
through downtown La
Grande as former Speaker
of the Oregon House of
Representatives Mark Sim-
mons led chants to a crowd
of over 200 gathered in
front of City Hall on Sat-
urday, Aug. 28.
The demonstration
was organized by several
groups in Union County
to rally for members of
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Demonstrators congregate on the sidewalk in front of La Grande City Hall during the medical freedom
rally on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021. A crowd of over 200 displayed signs and fl ags as speakers voiced their
opinions on the City Hall stairs.
INDEX
Classified ...............B4
Comics ....................B7
Crossword .............B4
Dear Abby .............B8
WEATHER
Home ......................B1
Horoscope .............B4
Letters ....................A4
Lottery ....................A2
THURSDAY
Obituaries ..............A3
Opinion ..................A4
Records ..................A3
Sports .....................A5
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Wednesday
42 LOW
71/43
Clear and chilly
Sunny; pleasant
THE HISTORY OF A LOCAL BAND
the community against
COVID-19 vaccination
requirements. The outcry
comes in the wake of Gov.
Kate Brown’s vaccine man-
dates for state employees,
school staff and health care
workers. Citizens gath-
ered along the sidewalk on
Adams Avenue to demon-
strate, voice their con-
cerns and display signs to
ongoing traffi c.
“At some point we’ve
got to say, Kate Brown, I
will not comply,” said Kyle
Hove, one of the rally orga-
nizers from Silent No More
Union County.
The former Oregon
State Police sergeant with
20 years of service helped
See, Protest/Page A6
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 102
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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observer.com.
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Online at lagrandeobserver.com