Business
AgLife
B
Thursday, October 7, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Still time
to comment
on climate
program
Hemp
growers
facing
changes
By TRACY LOEW
Salem Statesman Journal
SALEM — Oregon has
extended the deadline for
the public to comment on
a plan to reduce the state’s
greenhouse gas emissions
to slow the impacts of cli-
mate change.
The proposed Climate
Protection Program is being
criticized by both those who
have fought for years for
such a plan, and those the
plan would regulate.
The state has received
more than 5,000 written
comments on the proposal,
said Colin McConnaha,
manager of Oregon’s Office
of Greenhouse Gas Pro-
grams. The new deadline
for written comments is
4 p.m. Oct. 25.
Gov. Kate Brown signed
an executive order in
March 2020 directing mul-
tiple state agencies to take
actions to reduce green-
house gas emissions.
The proposal also calls
for declining caps on green-
house gas emissions, with
targets of reducing green-
house gas pollution by
at least 45% below 1990
levels by 2035, and by 80%
by 2050. It regulates large
corporate polluters, trans-
portation fuels and other
liquid and gaseous fuels.
It exempts landfills, elec-
tric power plants and some
natural gas compressor
stations.
Many of those speaking
at the hearings pushed for
the reduction targets to be
accelerated.
They noted that the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change’s updated
report, published in August,
found that to have any
chance of meeting climate
goals, drastic reductions
in C O2 are needed this
decade, and net zero emis-
sions by 2050.
Oregon’s targets were
developed before the report
was released.
Business and industry
groups, meanwhile, said the
proposal goes too far and
could raise prices for busi-
nesses and consumers.
“We do have to take
action here in Oregon. At
the same time, action that
Oregon takes will not have
much impact on what we’re
experiencing today,” said
Dan Kirschner, executive
director of the Northwest
Gas Association.
HOW TO COMMENT
Written comments must be
received by 4 p.m. on Oct. 25.
To submit comments, email
GHGCR2021@deq.state.or.us.
MORE INFORMATION
For information about the pro-
posed Climate Protection Pro-
gram rules, go to: https://www.
oregon.gov/deq/ghgp/Pages/
capandreduce.aspx.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Photos by Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Nora Hawkins stands in front of her new Wallowa Mountain Midwifery in Wallowa, on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, which is
housed in the former Home Independent Telephone Co. building.
Dial ‘B’ for baby
Wallowa Mountain Midwifery moves to former telephone company building
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA MOUNTAIN
MIDWIFERY
WALLOWA — Want to call
someone in Wallowa to get a baby
delivered? Try dialing the old
Home Independent Telephone Co.
building downtown.
Actually, the historic building
is where Eleanor “Nora” Hawkins
has moved her midwifery practice,
Wallowa Mountain Midwifery,
from where she both visits with
expectant mothers and reaches out
to them in their homes.
A midwife specializes in
child delivery, pre- and postnatal
care. After returning to school to
become a midwife and then prac-
ticing briefly in Central Oregon,
she moved home and opened her
practice in 2017. She has seen cli-
ents primarily in their homes until
now.
“Midwives practice a model of
care that focuses on individual-
ized patient care and a thorough,
informed choice about every step
of pregnancy and birth,” she said.
“Rather than having a baby at
home, a birth center or in the hos-
pital, midwifery care is the stan-
dard in much of the world.”
Hawkins said the U.S. is one of
the only places where physician
care is the standard for low-risk
pregnancies.
“But in Europe, in Australia, in
Canada, you go to your midwife,”
she said. “Having an OB (obstetri-
cian) is something you’d do only if
you had a complication — a risk
factor — in much of the world.”
She said midwifery care very
much parallels the care an obste-
trician would give.
“We do the same prenatal
visits, the same blood work, lab
work, the same ultrasounds, the
same vitals and statistics to mon-
itor both fetal and maternal well-
being,” she said. “It differs in
that midwives are just special-
ized in the child-bearing year of
a woman, so I don’t do all of the
other things a doctor does.”
That “child-bearing year” is the
nine months of pregnancy and the
Who: Eleanor (Nora) Hawkins
What: Midwifery
Where: 301 E. 1st St., Wallowa
Hours: Open Wednesdays or by
appointment.
Phone: 541-263-1724
Email: info@wallowamountainmid-
wifery.com
Online: wallowamountainmidwifery.
com
Nora Hawkins sits on the bed in
one of her two examination rooms
Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, at her
recently opened Wallowa Mountain
Midwifery in Wallowa.
first three months of a child’s life.
Also, since a midwife special-
izes in child delivery, pre- and
postnatal care, she does not do or
have training in many of the other
skills a general practitioner does.
Long-time Wallowan
Hawkins, who is the sixth gen-
eration of a local family, is not
the first in her line to be a mid-
wife. Her great-grandmother, Mae
Schaeffer Hawkins, was a mid-
wife in the lower valley during the
1920s and 1930s.
“I did not know that when I
wanted to become a midwife. My
dad told me after I’d gone back to
school, ‘That’s what my grand-
mother did.’ Barter was common
and she used to trade things to
people who didn’t have money,”
she said. “There are various things
around the ranch that came from
her delivering someone’s babies.”
Historic preservation
Hawkins obtained a matching
grant from the Oregon State His-
toric Preservation Office, which
administers the Diamonds in the
Rough grant through the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Department.
She said the grant helped refurbish
some of the building’s exterior.
With the grant — and her own
funds — she was able to get new
awnings and masonry work done.
She elected to keep the word
“TELEPHONE” at the top of two
sides of the historic building.
Since buying the building
Hawkins said she also put on a
new roof and has completed a full
remodel of the inside.
“It was in a state of disrepair,”
she said.
Open for business
Prior to opening about a month
ago, Hawkins set up two examina-
tion rooms — one with a double
bed and the other with a typical
medical examination table — and
a couple of sitting rooms. The
front room has a small table and
toys to help keep older siblings
occupied while mom is getting
examined.
Hawkins has her office day on
Wednesdays. Winding Waters
Medical Clinic in Wallowa has
also started leasing the building
on Thursdays for its clinic to have
a space in Wallowa as it prepare to
build its own place.
She hopes to have both mas-
sage and acupuncture available in
the building soon, as well.
Hawkins received training and
national certification as a certified
See, Baby/Page B2
Acupuncturist set to open office in Baker City
Hopi Wilder
joining Integrative
Physical Therapy
Baker City Herald
BAKER CITY — Hopi
Wilder, a licensed acu-
puncturist from Halfway,
is opening a new branch in
Baker City on Nov. 13.
Wilder will be joining
Integrative Physical
Therapy. Anne Nemec
owns the business at 1928
Court Ave.
Wilder,
L.Ac., will
offer acu-
puncture,
herbal med-
icine, sup-
Wilder
plements and
nutritional
counseling to patients in
Baker City and the sur-
rounding area.
“We are going to start
off with once per month in
Baker City, yet that could
grow depending on the
requests for treatments,”
Wilder said. “Patients are
also welcome to make the
trek to Halfway if they
want to get in to see me
sooner.”
Wilder began her career
as a sports massage ther-
apist in ski towns for 15
years. After receiving her
Master of Science in Ori-
ental Medicine in 2010 she
developed specialties in
women’s health, chronic
pain, anxiety/depression,
food allergies, weight loss
and stress relief. She was
an apprentice for the past
21 years with her mentor
who taught her orthopedic
acupuncture for muscu-
lo-skeletal pain. Wilder
obtained her license in
acupuncture for Oregon in
2017 shortly after moving
to Halfway, about 53 miles
east of Baker City.
“My specialties are
cowboys and tough women
who’ve lived a full life,”
Wilder said. “It makes it
all worth it to me to see
people get out of pain nat-
urally and without side
effects,” she said.
Her clinic in Halfway,
Wilder Health, is open two
days per week at 207 N.
Main St.
Wilder Health is
expanding the practice
because of a growing need
in our communities for
more peace and relaxation,
Wilder said.
Wilder Health stocks
herbs and supplements
for cold and flu season to
boost the body’s immune
system.
For more information,
or to schedule an appoint-
ment online, go to wilder-
healthacu.com. Wilder is
available by email at wil-
derhealth@gmail.com or
by calling 541-406-0615.
SALEM — New rules
are coming for Oregon
hemp producers as the state
brings its Hemp Program
into compliance with the
USDA.
The state Department of
Agriculture filed draft revi-
sions for the program on
Aug. 30. A public comment
period is now underway,
with a deadline of Oct. 22.
Once adopted, the
agency will submit the
plan to the USDA for final
approval.
The changes
would take
effect for the
2022 growing
season, said
Summers Sunny Sum-
mers, ODA
cannabis policy coordinator.
“Its really important to
follow the requirements,”
Summers said. “There are
a lot of people looking at
this industry, and you can’t
afford to be naive to the
requirements any longer.”
Perhaps the biggest
change, Summers said,
is ODA’s new statutory
authority to conduct back-
ground checks on growers
applying for a hemp license.
Under the USDA hemp
rule, anyone convicted of
a felony cannot participate
in growing or processing
hemp for 10 years. But
ODA previously was unable
to conduct background
checks into applicants’
criminal records.
House Bill 3000 — a
broad cannabis bill signed
by Gov. Kate Brown in July
to crack down on illegal
marijuana operations —
changed that, granting ODA
the ability to conduct back-
ground checks in partner-
ship with the Oregon State
Police.
“The background check
is probably one of the big-
gest, if not the biggest,
change that growers are
going to need to anticipate,”
Summers said.
HB 3000 also gives
ODA stronger authority
to deny or revoke hemp
licenses, Summers said.
For example, if applicants
have already planted hemp
before their license appli-
cations are approved, the
agency can require the crop
be destroyed.
“Just because you sub-
mitted an application to
ODA does not mean you are
legal to grow,” Summers
said. “We’re trying to get
that message out, that you
have to have fully received
your license.”
The revised hemp plan
sets a cutoff date of May
31 for grower applications.
Anyone who submits an
incomplete application will
have 15 days to provide
missing records, or have it
rejected, Summers said.
The USDA requires all
hemp be tested no more
than 30 days before har-
vest to ensure THC levels
do not exceed the legal limit
of 0.3%. THC, or tetrahy-
drocannabinol, is the main
component in marijuana
that gets users high.
Summers said growers
may be subject to random
testing as well throughout
the growing season. Part of
HB 3000 approved ODA’s
request to hire eight new
employees in the hemp
program to keep up with
the increase in production
statewide.