INSIDE
WALLOWA COUNTY MAN HAS 35 TRACTORS IN NEWLY EXPANDED WAREHOUSE | BUSINESS & AGLIFE, B1
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lagrandeobserver.com | $1.50
THURSDAY EDITION
1, 2022
CLASSIC CARS ROLL IN WALLOWA MOUNTAIN CRUISE
INSIDE
B2H siting
hearings
set for
next week
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Oregon Energy Facility Siting
Council to run three-day
meeting in La Grande
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Emotions could run
high at Eastern Oregon University’s Gilbert
Center next week.
The Oregon Energy Facility Siting
Council will meet at the Gilbert Center for
three days starting Monday, Aug. 29, to hear
oral appeals for 30 contested portions of its
proposed site plan
for the controversial
MEETING
Boardman to Hem-
TIMES
ingway transmission
The approximate
line project.
times the Oregon
“This is a crit-
Energy Facility
ical event,” said
Council will meet at
Fuji Kreider, of
the Gilbert Center,
La Grande, secre-
on the EOU campus,
tary and treasurer
will be from 4-8 p.m.
on Monday, Aug. 29,
of the Stop B2H
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Coalition, a grass-
on Aug. 30, and from
roots organization of
8 a.m. to noon on
900 individuals and
Aug. 31.
organizations.
The sessions for
each appeal will run
about 25 minutes. At
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
Archery hunting for elk starts Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022,
in Northeastern Oregon. For the fi rst time, hunting in
most units is controlled, meaning hunters must have
applied for and drawn a tag.
Big change for
archery hunters
B
By JAYSON JACOBY • Baker City Herald
AKER CITY — The archery hunting
See, B2H/Page A7
season will start as usual on the last
Eastern Oregon
Country Music
Festival returns
Saturday in August, but this year is
anything but ordinary in one respect.
For most of Northeastern
Oregon, the archery season
for elk is a controlled hunt
for the fi rst time.
In August 2021 the
Oregon Fish and Wildlife
Commission decided to
change archery hunting for
elk in 13 units and parts of
three others from a general
hunt — meaning there’s
no limit on the number
of tags sold — to a con-
trolled hunt, with a limited
number of tags that hunters
have to apply for through
the state’s lottery system.
The general hunt system
had been in place in
Eastern Oregon since 1979
for both elk and deer.
Event showcases many
musicians, but all came together
due to efforts of one woman
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
The Observer
LA GRANDE — The origins of the
Eastern Oregon Country Music Festival is
the story of one woman, a love of music, a
change in management and what was sup-
posed to be a 50th birthday bash.
Amanda Hampton lives in Cove and owns
Western Skies Wellness Center — a primary
care clinic in Island City. She did not set out
with intentions of creating a country music
Since 1983, the archery
season for both species
has lasted about a month,
from late August to late
September. This year, the
season runs from Aug. 27
through Sept. 25.
But in 2020, offi cials
from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife
announced a proposal to
change archery hunts from
general to controlled for
deer and elk, starting in
2021.
Agency offi cials cited
multiple reasons for the
proposal, including a
growing number of archery
hunters over the past few
decades, and a higher suc-
cess rate among hunters
due to better bows and
arrows.
ODFW said the number
of archers hunting elk in
Eastern Oregon rose from
about 12,300 in 1995 to
about 18,500 in 2019.
Because the archery
seasons remained general
hunts, with no limits on
how many tags are sold,
ODFW’s lone tool to limit
hunting and maintain deer
and elk herds with sus-
tainable numbers has been
to cut tags for rifl e hunts,
which are controlled hunts
with limited tags awarded
through the lottery system.
In choosing which units
to change from a general
to a controlled archery
season, ODFW offi cials
considered the current elk
populations in those units,
as well as hunter density
and hunter displacement,
which are based on a public
survey of hunters done in
2020.
In some units the ratio of
bulls to cows is below the
state’s goals, and in other
units the bull elk harvest is
near what biologists con-
sider the unit’s capacity. In
some units, archery hunters
have been taking as many
or more branch-antlered
bulls than rifl e hunters
have, according to ODFW.
Although the agency ini-
tially planned to change
both elk and deer hunts to
controlled seasons in 2021,
the commission ended
up making the shift for
deer hunting only starting
with the 2021 season. The
switch to mostly controlled
archery hunts for elk was
delayed until 2022.
The change to controlled
archery hunts, for deer and
elk, has been controversial.
Bob Reedy, a Baker
City bowhunter who also
owns an archery shop,
said he thinks the changes
See, Archery/Page A7
See, Festival/Page A7
Schools hope to overcome staff shortages with incentives
School and education service districts
are applying for state dollars to offer
hiring, retention bonuses for staffers
By ALEX BAUMHARDT
Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — School dis-
tricts plan on spending
millions of dollars in state
and federal funds to pay
teachers higher salaries
and off er hiring and reten-
tion bonuses to fully staff
schools by Sept. 1.
Nearly all of Oregon’s
219 school districts and
education service districts
have applied for a portion
of $100 million allocated
by the state Legislature this
year for staff bonuses. Dis-
tricts also have had access
to $1.7 billion in federal
COVID relief money since
2020, of which Oregon
has more than $1 billion
left to spend. Districts are
allowed to use this money
to maintain, retain and
WEATHER
INDEX
Business ........B1
Classified ......B3
Comics ...........B7
Crossword ....B4
recruit staff .
Across the state, dis-
trict superintendents say
they continue to face
teacher shortages for cer-
tain grades and subjects,
including special educa-
tion and English language
teachers, along with short-
ages of administrators, bus
drivers, custodians and
auxiliary staff .
A lack of teachers and
other staff has meant that
a growing number of stu-
dents are taught by sub-
stitute teachers and emer-
gency teachers after
months of online learning
Dear Abby ....B8
Horoscope ....B3
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A5
Opinion .........A4
Spiritual ........A6
Sudoku ..........B7
Weather ........A8
during the pandemic. It has
meant larger class sizes for
some students and teachers
forced to teach during
planning periods and to
work more hours.
The Capital Chronicle
reached out to 100 super-
intendents across the state
and heard back from more
than one-third. A majority
had most of the staff they
needed but were still hiring
in the runup to the fi rst day
of school.
To fi ll gaps, Lane Coun-
ty’s Siuslaw School Dis-
trict in Florence on the
Oregon coast plans to ask a
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Friday
58 LOW
91/54
A starry night
Hot
few retired teachers to help
manage special education
programs at the 400-stu-
dent high school, Super-
intendent Andrew Grz-
eskowiak said in an email.
Right now the school has
one only special education
teacher. Lane County also
lacks bus drivers. Grzesko-
wiak said Siuslaw will try
to attract them by matching
hiring bonuses off ered to
drivers from private com-
panies or in nearby school
districts.
See, Schools/Page A7
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 102
3 sections, 36 pages
La Grande, Oregon
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More contact info
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