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