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About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (April 17, 2015)
FRIDAY, ARIL 17, 2015 Classifieds / Loca THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 7 HELP WANTED HERBICIDE GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCEMENT MISC. —ODFW RECREATION REPORT— RESERVE POLICE OFFICERS WANTED! For 2015, Baker County Weed District will again be giving out herbicide on the following locations, dates, and times. This fully mixed, ready-to-go herbicide will be targeting whitetop and scotch thistle. Folks need to bring chemical- resistant containers, preferably gas or oil cans, and a pair of chemical-resistant gloves. Please, no food containers. There will be a five gallon limit imposed for each res - dence. Note!!! New location for Baker City Giveaways! Where Date / Time Huntington Service Station April 17, 8:00-11AM Richland/Halfway-Wildflower Corner May 8, 7-12 Noo Baker City - Old ODOT Building May 16, 7-12 Noon 1050 S. Bridge Baker City - Old ODOT Building May 23 7 - 12 Noon 1050 S. Bridge Street Hereford Hall June 5, 9 AM Hereford Unity Hall June 5, 10:30 AM Unity 5.29 AIR COMPRESSOR. Worthington, bumper hitch towable air compres- sor. Comes HOT with lots of DEAL! hose, 50- 100 feet, pneumatic drill and bits (3). Runs on gas. $1,500. It will need new tires. Call 541.519.5035. BAKER COUNTY HUNTING Reserve Police Officer – City of Baker City, OR is accepting applications for Reserve Police Office . This is an unpaid, volunteer po- sition that will require the completion of reserve police academy and field training program; applicants must pass physical agility, written and oral exams, and back- ground check. Applications are available in person at the Baker City Police De- partment, 1768 Auburn Av- enue, EEO Employer. 4.24 WELDER/FABRICATOR WANTED! FARM & INDUSTRIAL SERVICE COMPANY is currently accepting appli- cations for a Welder/Fabri- cator with 2 years experi- ence required. Drug-free workplace. Wages DOE. Come to 42063 Best Frontage Road for applica- tion or call 541-523-3659. 5.8 BAKER SCHOOL DISTRICT 5J is currently accepting ap- plications for an 18 hour per week Custodian I. For a complete description and application of the position go to www.baker.k12.or.us or contact the employment division. You may also call 541-524-2261 or email nnemec@baker.k12.or.us LEGAL NOTICE OF PUBLIC BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING A PUBLIC MEETING of the Budget Committee of the City of Sumpter, Baker County, State of Oregon, to discuss the budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 will be held at the Sumpter City Hall, 240 N Mill Street, Sumpter, Oregon. The meeting will take place on the 14th of May, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. The purpose of the meeting is to receive the budget message and to receive comments from the public on the proposed budget. This is a public meeting where deliberation of the Budget Committee will take place. Any person may appear to discuss the proposed programs with the Budget Committee. A copy of the budget document may be inspected or obtained on or after May 1, 2015 at Sumpter City Hall, 240 N Mill Street, Sumpter, Oregon be- tween the hours of 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. At this meeting, a PUBLIC HEARING will be held to re- ceive written and/or oral comments on the possible use of State Revenue Sharing Funds received by the City of Sumpter. The City of Sumpter complies with Section 504 of the Re- habilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Assistance is available for individuals with disabilities by calling 541-894-2314 or the Oregon Telecommunication 4.24 Relay Service. 4.24 REAL ESTATE CEMETERY SPACE. Space at Mt. Hope Cem- etery with perpetual care. Current value $1200 for $900 OBO. Grave 2, Lot No 409 in Northwest Cleav- er Endowed section. This area may only have flat headstones. Leaving area and must sell. 541-523- 3604. 5.1 RECREATION BOAT! For Sale, 1972 Sea Ray 20' Boat with trailer, spare tire, licensed through 2015. Motor needs work, winterized. Includes fish finde , covers and bimini. $1,000 OBO. 541-523- 3604. 5.1 YARD SALES OUR GARAGE SALE ADS ARE FREE! VISIT OUR WEB SITE TO SUBMIT YOURS VIA THE CONTACT US FORM! Check the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest website or call them for the latest on Forest Service Rd 39 con- struction and detour route information. Remember it is a designated snowmobile route until April 15 and is not maintained for passenger travel until mid-June. The southern 18 miles may be closed due to construction, please call or check the website ahead of time. Black Bear The warm and dry winter has left much more country snow free than usual. Green up has begun to appear in the lower elevations. The mild weather will have bears out and more active in the early part of the season. Look for bears close to timber stringers feeding on open ridges. Successful hunters need to remember to check in their bear within ten days of harvest. It cannot be frozen and propping open mouth of bear will help in aiding tooth collection later. Turkey season is rapidly approaching. Look for spring turkeys to be moving from wintering grounds to their nesting areas. Listen for males to be calling early and late in the evenings to help locate gobblers. With snow levels higher than normal expect turkeys to be at slightly higher elevations this year. Cougars can be found throughout Baker County but hunters should target areas with high concentrations of deer and elk. Setting up on a fresh kill or using distress calls can all be productive techniques. Hunters are required to check in the hide of any cougar taken, with skull and proof of sex attached. Remember to pick up a 2015 tag. Coyote numbers are good throughout the district. Try calling in early morning and late afternoon. Remember to ask for permission before hunting on private proper- ties. BAKER COUNTY VIEWING Bighorn sheep can be seen in the Burnt River Can- yon west of Durkee or along the Snake River Road south of Richland. The best viewing is in the early morning and late in the evening. Bald and golden eagles can be seen along the Snake River. Take the Snake River Road between Richland and Huntington. SWCD holds meeting to discuss sage-grouse, CCAAs • Potential sage- grouse listing to have wide-spread effects on Baker County landowners BY TODD ARRIOLA Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com Last Thursday, Whitney Collins, District Manager for the Baker County Soil and Water Conserva- tion Districts (SWCDs), Logan Ross, Habitat Conservationist for the Baker County SWCDs, Shawn McKay, Rangeland Specialist for the Malheur County SWCDs, Mark Bennett, Baker County Commissioner, Marissa Meyer, Fish and Wildlife Biologist for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and members of local com- munities came together to discuss Baker County Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assur- ances (CCAAs), in relation to the Greater sage-grouse, in the meeting room of the Oregon Trail Electric Co- operative (OTEC) building on Pocahontas. Because of an agreement reached in March between five SWCDs in Oregon and the USFWS, landown- ers now have the option of entering into a 30-year CCAA with the SWCDs, agreeing to manage their land in ways that reduce or remove threats to the sage-grouse, and in return, receiving protection from additional regulation, even in the event the sage- grouse is listed under the Endangered Species Act. There is no cost to enter into the agreement. Collins and the other representatives intro- duced themselves, and she explained that, “We’re just going to try to answer some questions, and clarify what role the districts part- nering with the county can take, as far as helping you protect your operation, in case of a listing of the sage-grouse.” Collins began a Pow- erPoint presentation with a detailed analysis of the current sage-grouse situation, including the potential listing as an endangered species. In 2005, the listing was “Not Warranted.” In 2010, the sage-grouse was a “Candi- date for Listing, Warranted but Precluded,” and this September, a final listing decision is expected to be made by the USFWS. A five-factor analysis is used in making the final decision, she said: habitat loss and fragmentation, harvest or over-utilization, diseases or predation, inad- equate regulatory mecha- nisms, and other natural or man-made factors. The listing would affect 11 western states, and would include eight coun- ties in Oregon: Harney, with the largest area of estimated acreage of Pre- liminary Priority Habitat (PPH, also referred to as the Core Area) and Pre- liminary General Habitat (PGH, also referred to as the Low Density Area), at 1,170,120; Malheur, with an estimated 890,166 acres of PPH/PGH; Baker and Union, with an estimated 490,581 acres; Crook and Deschutes, with an estimated 483,508 acres; Lake, with an estimated 398,624 acres; and Grant, with an estimated 56,696 acres. Collins displayed a Sage Grouse Priority Areas Map for Baker County, developed by the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA), on the southern wall of the room, smaller copies of which were given to the attendees. The PPH/Core and PGH/Low Density areas indicated where changes in land use, according to that graphic, may result in an unexpected nega- tive impact to sage-grouse population health. Collins said, “Essen- tially, what will happen is, Logan and Shawn will help write site-specific plans. On a voluntary basis, if a landowner is interested in having an agreement, a CCAA, with the SWCDs, they’ll send one of the technicians out to your site, to write a site-specific plan. It identifies the best management practices, and different conserva- tion measures that can be taken, and they’re volun- tary agreements. You can bail out. If you decide you don’t want it anymore, you can remove yourself from it. You’re not locked in. And these only apply to private property.” McKay added, “What the assurances are, is, that’s essentially an insurance policy for your property that says you’ll be able to continue with your opera- tions the way that you are currently managing your ranch. “As we approach this listing decision, we can expect regulations to come down from Fish and Wild- life, regarding the sage grouse, so the whole idea behind the CCAA and the Soil and Water Conserva- tion Districts working with the private landowners, is so that we can kind of take a proactive approach to this decision, and get you folks credit for what you guys are already doing. “In many cases, your operation includes the conservation measures or the management practices that they’re (the USFWS) interested in.” Through the CCAA, funds may become avail- able in order to assist private landowners with improving conservation measures, or implementing new ones, for example. McKay was asked by an attendee if, under a CCAA, a landowner would need to keep track of any deceased Todd Arriola / The Baker County Press District Manager Whitney Collins demonstrates a Sage-Grouse areas priority map of Baker County. sage-grouse on their prop- erty, for example, from ac- cidentally hitting one with a vehicle or machinery. He said, “The plan does say, if you kill any birds, or if you notice any dead birds on your property, that you will simply call either Logan or myself. We just make a note of it. It doesn’t go against you.” He explained that the USFWS developed a complex formula that ad- dresses a certain amount of allowable “take,” which includes injury or death to the sage-grouse. McKay said, “The popu- lations (of sage-grouse) are pretty healthy. There are plenty of birds of out there. So, that’s not what we’re dealing with. What we’re dealing with, is habitat fragmentation. That‘s been identified as the major threat to the bird. That‘s what the focus of the CCAA is, is preserving habitat.” McKay discussed threats to the sage-grouse, and said that, in many cases, a simple solution is possible, such as fence reflectors, i - stalled on the top and third wires of a barbed wire fence, in order to keep the bird from flying into it. A complete list was available at the meeting, of the threats to the sage- grouse, including: habitat fragmentation, wildfire, lack of fire, juniper conifer expansion, unmanaged or improper grazing, exotic invasive vegetation, veg- etation treatments, drought, mechanical degradation of riparian areas, catastrophic flooding, recreation, pred - tion, West Nile Virus, wild horses/burros, and insec- ticide. A complete list of conservation measures was also included along with this. Collins said, “One of the things that is important to point out, is that these agreements are not be- tween private landowners and U.S. Fish and Wild- life. The agreements are between private landown- ers and the Baker County SWCDs. “In the event that some- one would drive by and turn you and your property in to Fish and Wildlife for doing whatever an indi- vidual would consider as a take from sage-grouse hab- itat, at that point, U.S Fish and Wildlife would contact the SWCD, let us know that there’s been a com- plaint, and that is when we would contact you and say, ‘Are you ready to go to U.S. Fish and Wildlife and tell them you have a site- specific plan? But those plans remain confidential. They’re 100 % between the private landowners and the SWCDs themselves. They don’t go anywhere else. They’re not made public.” Collins said, while she was pointing out different areas on the Sage Grouse Priority Areas Map, “This (the CCAA) is available to all private landowners in Baker County. How we are prioritizing, is basical- ly, first-come, first-served and our focus is first, the Core Areas, and the Low Density Areas, before we expand outside of that.” Leading by example, Bennett explained that he had entered into a CCAA with the Baker County SWCD, and said, “It isn’t like we had to make any big change to what we were doing,” speaking about what he and his wife, Patti, went through, with the process. “The conservation measures, for example, with the juniper, it’s not some giant thing that you have to take on.” McKay said, “It’s a very flexible program. Copies of a Landowner Interest Form were shown to the attendees, and con- tacting the Baker County SWCDs for more infor- mation, and signing this form, is the first step in the CCAA process. So far, at least 10 private landowners in Baker County have signed up, Collins said.
