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WALLOWA COUNTY FAMILY MAKES SOAP ‘FROM LOVE, ART, HERBALISM’ |
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THURSDAY EDITION
Five goats
killed
in wolf
att acks
Attacks near Elgin
linked to Balloon
Tree Pack
By DICK MASON
The Observer
ELGIN — Five goats
were killed by at least one
wolf in the Elgin area during
a two-day period in late
November, according to
a report from the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife.
The fi rst death was
reported on Saturday, Nov. 27.
The owner said that morning
that the animals had broken
out of their night pen within a
44-acre private pasture. One
goat was found dead and one
was injured.
The following morning,
Nov. 28, four more goats in
the Elgin area were found
dead and two more were
injured. The fi ve dead goats,
each weighing between 30
and 150 pounds, included two
adult females, two yearling
females and one kid.
ODFW determined wolf
attacks were responsible for
the goat deaths and injuries,
and GPS location data indi-
cated a radio-collared wolf
was at or near the site of both
attacks.
“The size, location and
severity of injuries are consis-
tent with wolf depredations,”
according to the ODFW
report, which attributed the
attack events to the Balloon
Tree Pack.
Alex Wittwer/ EO Media Group
A sapling that had succumbed to the dry conditions sits dead in the ground at the Donivan Tree Farm in La Grande on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. Scorching
summer heat waves and persistent droughts have damaged the new plantings of Christmas trees, killing off many saplings and seedlings.
A lasting impact?
Drought scorched trees
to affect Christmas
tradition in the future
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
L
A GRANDE — A scorching
summer and persistent drought
in Oregon has stressed young
saplings and seedlings of
Christmas trees from the Willamette
Valley to Eastern Oregon. Those envi-
ronmental conditions have exacerbated
an already strained industry that was just
starting to recover from a Christmas tree
shortage that was decades in the making.
Due to a large surplus in trees in the
early to mid-2000s, many Christmas tree
growers had one unprofi table year after
another, leading the farmers to seek out
other avenues of revenue as prices plum-
meted for their product.
“Between growers not planting —
that stayed in the businesses — the
number of trees that were going into
the ground from 2006 to 2007 wasn’t
enough to sustain the demand that would
be out there 10 years in the future,”
said Greg Smith, owner of Molalla Tree
Farms, which grows Christmas trees on
nearly 200 acres in Clackamas County.
Other attacks
The Balloon Tree Pack
was responsible for killing
12 ewes and injuring two
guard dogs protecting sheep
north of Elgin earlier this
fall, according to ODFW
investigations.
That pack’s breeding pair
produced pups for the fi rst
time in 2020, with at least
three surviving through the
end of that year.
An employee of a sheep
rancher found three dead
adult ewes on Sept. 29 on
a private timbered pasture,
according to ODFW.
See, Wolves/Page A5
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Kevin Lyon, of Enterprise, cuts down a Christmas tree at the Donivan Tree Farm in La Grande on
Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. The Donivans say they’ll have more than enough trees this year to satisfy
demand.
“So, in 2015, you started seeing the
market tighten up for supply, and then
people have been planting again, but it’s
such a long process to grow a Christmas
tree. It’s a 10-year project to get a mar-
ketable tree.”
Drought, rising gas prices, labor
shortages and heat waves conspired
to reduce the already low supply of
Christmas trees this year, and the eff ects
of the heat wave are just the beginning.
Smith lost many of his younger saplings
and seedlings this year due to the high
temperatures in the summer that pushed
the mercury to more than 110 degrees in
some parts of the state.
See, Trees/Page A5
LHS alums keep history alive
Graduation Class
Picture Project
volunteers restoring
group photos
HELPING OUT
For information on making a donation,
call Kathy Rudd, a 1969 LHS graduate
and a Graduation Class Picture Project
member, at 541-910-6122.
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A group
of fi ve La Grande High School
alums are succeeding at keeping
Father Time’s corrosive hands
from erasing their school’s past,
but they need help to continue.
The alumni are working as vol-
unteers for the Graduation Class
Picture Project, which is restoring
framed collections of 36 surviving
LHS graduating class photos from
1924 to 2001. The preservation
work includes having the picture
frames replaced, with plastic glass
that helps protect the photos from
damaging ultraviolet light.
The restored frames have new
blue background paper to coincide
WEATHER
INDEX
Business ........B1
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B2
See, Photos/Page A5
Dear Abby ....B6
Horoscope ....B3
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A3
SATURDAY
Opinion .........A4
Spiritual Life A6
Sports ............A9
Weather ........B6
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Kathy Rudd, right, and Mary Ellen Taal lay out photos of the La Grande High School
class of 1964 on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. A small group of volunteers are restoring
yearbook displays to place in the hallways of La Grande High School, showcasing
the school’s history.
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Friday
27 LOW
38/29
A bit of snow
Cloudy, fl urries
BRINGING HOME A CHRISTMAS TURKEY
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 144
3 sections, 36 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page 4A.
Online at lagrandeobserver.com