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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2015)
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3 FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2015 Business & Ag Wolf sighting no April Fool’s joke ODFW’S WOLF PLAN COORDINATOR TO RECOMMEND DELISTING • Wolf pack seen harassing elk herd BY SUNNY WERNER Sunny@TheBakerCountyPress.com On April 1, 2015, Bryan Karolski reported seeing a pack of wolves harassing an elk herd in the Medical Springs area. Brian Ratliff, District Wildlife Biologist for Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, says Karolski “gave a credible report and “it was within reason to believe this was an actual wolf sighting.” Ratliff went on to explain that none of the collared wolves currently tracked were near that area, but that there are known lone wolves in the Union/Bak- er/Wallowa range. “It’s definitely po - sible some unknowns could have come over the (Snake) river,” he said. “There are regular routes we have identified that the wolves travel.” No new reports have been made of this group of wolves, which most likely means, according to ODFW Wildlife Techni- cian Phillip Perrine, “They were just passing through. Wolves can easily travel up to 30 miles a day, so they could be hundreds of miles away by now.” Collared wolves are tracked by satellite with “pings” sent every 12 hours. “As long as they aren’t in deep brush or in Gamer Haven CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Violette said they have done no advertising, but have had enough business to meet their daily sales goals. Violette owned businesses in California and has been a professional magician full-time for the last seven years. Neilson “knows games inside and out” and is a former IT guy with lots of tech knowl- edge. Gamer Haven offers video games, magic tricks, comic books, board games, Magic cards, role play- ing games, Dungeons and Dragons books (including the brand new 5.0 edition), a laptop area, and a game room with free-to-play board games. Violette said they ex- actly match the prices of Game Stop in La Grande with their video games. Customers can turn in video games for store credit, and receive the same credit as they would at Game Stop. Violette emphasized that they want to keep Gamer Haven a family-friendly place and cater to the local nerds/geeks/gamer people. He said several families have come in and utilized the free-to-play board games. April 11th was International Table-Top Board Game Day and the store live-streamed events for the day on its big- screen. Most of the board games sold by Gamer Haven are available to play for free in the game room. Violette explained that a cave or deep canyon, if the satellite can read the signal, we can track them,” said Perrine. When asked about col- laring and trapping the wolves, Ratliff explained the challenges. “We can’t trap them now because we might interfere with the pups. We usually go out in the winter,” he explained. “Trapping and collaring is labour inten- sive and very expensive.” The ODFW staff have use any methods available to reach the identified an - mal, and that can include horseback, four-wheeler, helicopter and light air- craft. Once the collar is on the animal, Perrine says, the battery life is between one to two years. The signal is sent to the satellite every 12 hours, enabling ODFW staff to locate that particu- lar animal within a radius. When a collared animal approaches a ranch or other registered property, an email or text is automat- ically sent to the property owner, alerting them to the fact that there is a wolf nearby. “We don’t want anyone to panic,” says Ratliff. “It’s just a warning. So for example if they have a cow about to calve, they can move her in closer, or whatever.” When wolves were reintroduced into Yellow- stone National Park, in 1995-1997, there were 41 wolves. 20 years later, with way families can try out the games and see which they like. A popular game this year is Betrayal at House on the Hill. Violette explained players work together to build a house with various rooms and hallways, etc. Partway through the game with a random dice roll, one player is chosen to become haunted. The rest of the game is played with that player trying to eliminate the others and the other players trying to eliminate him or escape from the house. Another popular game is Cards Against Humanity: A Party Game for Horrible People. Like a fill-in-the blank trivia game with a twist, each round, one player asks a question from a black card and the others “answer with their funniest white card.” The game is designed for those 17 and up and Violette explained that since it is an adult game, it is one that is not free to play in the game room. Violette said he is a big fan of comic books and has collected quite a few in his travels as a magician, performing at Comic- Cons and other cosplay events. A shipment of 200 additional comics was an- ticipated to arrive this past Wednesday. Gamer Haven hosts Friday Night Magic every week. Every other Friday evening, they host Magic draft tournaments. The en- trance fee is $15 and play- ers receive three packs of cards. Violette explained since players aren’t bring- ing in their own decks and it is all luck of the draw, it evens the playing field. First prize in the tourna- ment is six decks of cards. The next tournament natural attrition and the dispersal of wolves across state lines, there are still 300 descendants of those 41 living in the greater Yel- lowstone area. Officials and local cit - zenry in nearby states took note of the wolves and their travels, and devel- oped contingency plans for their inevitable arrival. Working together with ranchers, farmers, land use managers, local citizens and community partners, ODFW drew up The Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan. Russ Morgan, the Wolf Plan Coordinator, was (at press time) headed to Bend to give his presentation to State ODFW regarding the conservation goals that have been met in Phase Two of this plan. In brief: all goals of Phases One and Two are met, the wolf population has stabilized so that threat of extinction is no longer considered likely. Therefore, the recom- mendation is to “delist” the wolves. (Remove them from the Endangered Spe- cies list for Oregon.) Quoted directly from the report, which has not been presented to the State at this point. Options: 1. Direct staff to initiate rulemaking to remove the wolf from the List of Or- egon Endangered Species. 2. No action. Morgan’s staff recom- mendation is summary Sunny Werner/The Baker County Press Phillip Perrine, ODFW. — Weekly Hay Report — Friday, April 10, 2015 — Eastern Oregon Prices trended generally steady compared to the same quality last week. Trade activity and demand slowed this week. The continued good weather in several areas of Oregon has slowed down demand, as pasture grasses are growing causing end us- ers to be able to turn animals out on pasture rather than purchase and feed additional hay. Export hay business seems to slowly be picking up, however continued issues with few containers available and backup of containers needing to be loaded at the shipping ports continues to slow down the ability to export hay overseas. Most producers have sold all that they plan to sell for this season. Alfalfa- Large Square/Premium, 80 tons, $200 avg. USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov — Cattle Market Report — Wednesday, April 8, 2015 Vale, Oregon Cattle sold through the auction: 790 Steer Calves 300-400# Bulk 291.00 - 326.00 Top 331.00 400-500# Bulk 282.00 - 310.00 Top 313.00 500-600# Bulk 254.00 - 297.00 Top 301.00 Photo courtesy of ODFW. Brian Ratliff, ODFW is: “While this briefing is primarily informational, staff recommends that the Commission determine significant information exists to justify initiating rulemaking to remove the gray wolf from the Oregon List of Endangered Spe- cies. “I move to determine that significant information exists to justify initiating rulemaking to remove the wolf from the List of Endangered Species under the Oregon Endangered Species Act.” Heifer Calves 300-400# Bulk 271.00 - 307.00 Top 315.00 400-500# Bulk 253.00 - 271.00 Top 273.50 500-600# Bulk 232.00 - 257.00 Top 259.00 Yearling Steers 600-700# Bulk 228.00 - 249.00 Top 252.00 700-800# Bulk 207.00 - 231.00 Top 233.00 800-900# Bulk 179.00 - 204.00 Top 208.50 900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A 600-700# 700-800# 800-900# 900-1,000# Yearling Heifers Bulk 221.00 - 236.00 Top 239.00 Bulk 196.00 - 223.00 Top 227.00 Bulk 181.00 - 196.00 Top 232.00 Bulk 159.00 - 167.00 Top 170.00 Thin Shelly Cows 74.00 - 89.00 Butcher Cows 91.00 - 107.00 Butcher Bulls 114.00 - 125.00 Stock Cows 1300.00 - 1725.00 Younger Hfrts. 117.00 - 146.00 Pairs Yng. - 1900.00 - 2475.00 ProducersLivestock.com 541-473-3136 — Log Price Report — Price per 1,000 board feet: Northeast Oregon Meghan Andersch /The Baker County Press Scot Violette in front of board game display at Gamer Haven. learn how to play together. is this Friday, April 17, Several people have asked beginning at 5 p.m. about learning how to play On April 25th, the Dungeons and Dragons, so store will host a Quote they are planning to start the Movie Night, begin- nights for folks to come ning at 6 p.m. Violette learn how to play. explained they will have They also plan to have The Princess Bride playing a summer magic camp for on the big screen and will kids and eventually hope to see how many people can have a bank of computers quote the lines from the film. Future showings may so that people can come in and do online gaming. include Monty Python and There is a free laptop area the Holy Grail and Space and users can bring in their Balls. laptops and access “super On May 4th (May fast” Internet service. the Fourth be with you), Lynne Proudfoot did all Gamer Haven will hold an all-day Star Wars event, in- interior artwork for Gamer cluding showings of all six Haven, as well as a large Star Wars films. They will sign in front of the build- ing. The first room is pa - also be running scenarios terned after Minecraft and from the Star Wars board the game room is painted game. Violette explained to look like a stone dun- the game takes 10 hours geon. Messages are paint- to play, but they will run ed on the dungeon walls in various scenarios from the Draconic from Dungeons game so folks can play a and Dragons and Dwarfish while and then do some- and Elvish from Lord of thing else. the Rings. The messages Future plans include can be interpreted by those a Grand Opening event, familiar enough with the hopefully the beginning of June. Meanwhile, they are languages. More information working to build up their is available on Gamer inventory. Violette ex- plained they will also have Haven’s website and at facebook.com/gamer- unboxing events for new havenbaker. Gamer Haven board games that come is open 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. out. They will open the Tuesday through Saturday. game and go through and Doug Fir is $415.00/mbf White fir is $365.00/mb Ponderosa Pine is brought sold on diameter splits 6 to 11 inch dib $300 to $310/MBF 12 to 17 inch dib $350 to $375/MBF 18 to 23 inch dib $400 to $430/MBF 24 inch plus dib $450 to $500/MBF DIB is diameter inside bark at small end of log. MBF is thousand board feet lumber, net scale. People interested in selling logs should call and get specific quotes from saw mills. Courtesy of Arvid Andersen, Andersen Forestry Consulting — Precious Metals Report — Price per ounce, USD Gold: $1192.20 Silver: $16.18 Platinum: $1,154.13 Palladium: $762.82 Bloomberg.com — Ag Commodities — Corn: $373.25/bu/USD Wheat: $496.00/bu/USD Soybeans: $960.75/bu/USD Oats: $263.70 bu/USD Rough Rice: $10.21/cwt/USD Canola: $456.20 CAD/mwt Live Cattle: $150.50/lb./USD Feeder Cattle: $213.35/lb./USD Lean Hogs: $78.48/lb./USD Bloomberg.com
