FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2017
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 7
Outdoor Rec / Local
Awards announced for ‘Eastern Oregon Eight breeding
Regional High School Art Exhibition’
wolf pairs
documented
The “Eastern Oregon
Regional High School
Art Exhibition” featur-
ing over 300 works by
students from 15 regional
high schools opened with
a reception and awards
presentation in Nightingale
Gallery at Eastern Oregon
University February 24.
Regina Braker, interim
dean of EOU’s College of
Arts and Sciences, wel-
comed gallery visitors with
opening remarks, and Cory
Peeke, director of Night-
ingale Gallery, presented
awards selected by the art
program for exemplary
work by students in grades
nine through 12.
“On behalf of EOU and
the Nightingale Gallery,
congratulations to the
award winners and all the
student participants in the
2017 exhibition,” Peeke
said. “Special credit is also
due to the teachers who
make it all possible, and
who on a daily basis, go
out of their way to help
students create works of
such high caliber.”
All Best of Show winners
received an award certifi -
cate, $50 Barnes & Noble
gift card, sketchbook, EOU
T-shirt and lanyard. Honor-
able Mention recipients
received a certifi cate of
award.
Best of Show 12th
Grade:
Jenna Monson (Union
High School) for her paint-
ing “Eden’s Waterfalls”
Best of Show 11th
Grade:
Elizabeth Cashell (La
Grande High School) for
her paintings “Glass Ceil-
ing” and “Broken Glass”
Best of Show 10th
Grade:
Justin Smith (North Pow-
der High School) for his
drawing “David”
Best of Show 9th Grade,:
Zac Johnston (Union High
School) for his painting
“Blur Bunny”
Honorable Mentions:
Baker
Luke Barnes, 10th grade,
for his ceramic piece
“Bamboo and Blood”
Erin Blincoe, 12th grade,
for her ceramic sculpture
“See No Evil”
Maggie Crabill, 12th
grade, for her painting
“Skull Buddies”
Kerrie Kast, 9th grade
for her mixed media piece
“Insanity”
Douglas Nichols, 12th
grade, for his ceramic
piece “Alloy Amalgama-
tion”
Echo
Ethan Hobson, 11th
grade, for his sculpture
“Metal Willow”
John Day
Anastasiya Hozhenko,
10th grade, for her drawing
“The Glass Red Pepper”
Joseph
Kai Oliver, 12th grade, for
his ceramic piece “Hard-
ship”
La Grande
Owen Kreutz, 10th
grade, for his drawing
“Lord of the Rings, Ara-
gon”
North Powder
Casey Neske, 12th grade,
for her “Batik Mask”
Rylee Richman, 10th
grade, for her drawing
“W.S.”
Peyton Secl, 10th grade,
for her painting “Our Kiss”
Pendleton
Johnny Malcom, 12th
grade, for his drawing
“Chance”
Union
Kylie Bruce, 9th grade,
for her painting “In the
Door”
Emilee Freeman, 9th
grade, for her painting
“The Stache with Class”
Rosalyn Morton, 10th
grade, for her untitled print
Matthew Sheehy, 10th
grade, for his untitled
painting
Mrs. Gustavson’s entire
class who made the giant
cardboard masks
Giving a special award
for the ninth year in a row,
the La Grande Arts Com-
mission’s “La Grande High
School Creative Artist of
2017” was presented to
Emily Andrews. Jeremy
Clark, arts commissioner
and local artist, selected
Andrews’ painting “In-
spired by Jove Wang’s
‘Dreaming Santa Barbara
Harbor.” Clark and Evna
Stacey, commission chair-
person, presented her with
the award that includes a
certifi cate and check for
$100.
J oining the La Grande
Arts Commission in pre-
senting additional special
awards were three regional
art centers.
Union County’s Art
Center East presented a
$50 “Union County’s Best
Young Artist” award to
Zac Johnston of Union
High School for his works
“Bunny Mask” and “Blur
Bunny.”
The works were selected
by writer, cultural advocate
and center resource coor-
dinator Kelly McGilvrey
and the award presented by
Rebecca Hartman, center
board member and EOU
history professor.
Baker County’s Cross-
roads Art Center presented
two $50 awards. Their
“Baker High School Aspir-
ing Young Artist” award
went to Alexa Nickens for
her ceramic work “Fierce
Deity” and Crossroads’
“Baker County Aspiring
Young Artist” award went
to Jin Sue Kim of Burnt
River High School for his
graphite drawing “Andrew
Garfi eld.”
Winning works were
selected and awards pre-
sented by Tom Dimond,
artist and EOU professor
emeritus.
Pendleton Center for the
Arts in conjunction with
Pendleton Art & Frame,
Art & Antiques on Main
and the Blue Mountain
Community College
Foundation, presented a
$200 “Best of the Blues”
award to Johnny Malcom
of Pendleton High School
for his drawing “Chance.”
Bonnie Day, artist and cen-
ter coordinator of educa-
tion and outreach, selected
the winning work and Cory
Peeke presented the award.
Participating teachers:
Baker City High School
– Kristen Anderson
Burns High School –
Ben Holtby
Burnt River High School
– Laurie Hueckman
Cove High School – Eric
Gustavson
Crane Union High
School – Connie Robbins
Echo High School – Rick
Thew
Enterprise High School –
Dianne Pfel
Grant Union High
School – J.J. Collier
Joseph Charter School
– Jennifer Hawkins-Con-
nolly
La Grande High School
– Mike Schireman
North Powder High
School – Jessie Street
Pendleton High School –
Olivia Rush
Prairie City High School
– Amelia Harmon
Union County Youth
Creative Arts – Theo
Miller
Union High School –
Jaime Gustavson
Vale High School – Ka-
cie Shaffer
The “Eastern Oregon Re-
gional High School Exhi-
bition” runs through March
21 in Nightingale Gallery
in Loso Hall at EOU.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 4
p.m., Monday through Fri-
day. Follow the gallery’s
Instagram and Facebook
feeds to stay up-to-date on
this and other upcoming
exhibitions.
BCFD names ‘Adopt-a-hydrant’ winners
Baker City Fire Depart-
ment (BCFD) announces
the February winners for
the “Adopt-A-Hydrant”
program. Jesse Soliz of
Baker City and brothers
Kale and Kaiden Dalke of
Baker City were randomly
selected as winners.
Jesse Soliz and the two
Dalke brothers adopted
multiple hydrants since
the program’s inception in
January.
The “Adopt-A-Hydrant”
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program was developed to
help uncover fi re hydrants
buried in the snow.
Firefi ghters were fi nd-
ing it diffi cult to locate
hydrants once they became
buried in the snow.
They were shoveling out
hydrants every day just to
keep them accessible.
With over 900 hydrants
in the city it was diffi -
cult to keep up with the
demand.
The fi re department
partnered with local mer-
chants who supplied gift
certifi cates as incentive
for the public to adopt a
fi re hydrant buy shoveling
away the snow and taking
a photo of themselves and
their hydrant.
The photos are posted
on the department’s Face
Book page and two win-
ners are selected at the end
of each month.
The program will con-
tinue through the winter
months until the hydrants
are accessible again.
You can enter by adopt-
ing a hydrant, taking a
photo of you and your
hydrant and sending your
information and the hy-
drant location to adopta-
hydrant@bakercity.com
or post it to the Baker City
Fire Department Face book
page.
Eastern Oregon is now in Phase III of wolf manage-
ment after ODFW staff documented a third year of seven
or more breeding pairs in the region east of U.S. High-
ways 97, 20, 395 for year 2016.
A “breeding pair” is two adult wolves that produce at
least two pups that survive through the end of the year.
The eight packs that qualify as breeding pairs in 2016 are
Meacham and Walla Walla (Umatilla County), Catherine
(Union County), and Snake River, Chesnimnus, Wenaha,
Minam and a group of unnamed wolves in the Imnaha
Wildlife Management Unit (Wallowa County).
“Moving into Phase III is a signifi cant milestone to-
wards the recovery of gray wolves in Oregon,” says Russ
Morgan, ODFW wolf biologist. “It shows how successful
wolves can be in this state – in just nine years under exist-
ing management we have gone from no packs of wolves
to multiple packs and an expanding distribution.”
In addition to counting wolves, ODFW biologists have
placed 14 radio-collars on wolves this winter in seven
groups. Another milestone was reached on Feb. 24 when
OR50 was collared in the Imnaha Wildlife Management
Unit, marking the 50th wolf collared in Oregon. Biolo-
gists may soon learn more from the DNA and radio-
collar data about whether OR50 is part of a new group of
wolves or a pack that shifted its home range into the area
previously occupied by the Imnaha pack.
ODFW completes its annual year-end survey of wolves
and announces the results in its 2016 Wolf Annual Report.
The report is set to be presented to the Oregon Fish and
Wildlife Commission on April 21 in Klamath Falls.
Western Oregon remains in Phase I of wolf manage-
ment, with protections that match those implemented
when wolves were listed as state endangered. Wolves
also remain listed as endangered under the federal Endan-
gered Species Act west of U.S. Highways 395, 78, 95.
Under the current Wolf Conservation and Manage-
ment Plan, Phase III continues to focus on conservation
of wolves while addressing instances of wolf-human
confl ict. This includes continuing to emphasize the use of
non-lethal deterrents, the use of controlled take in certain
situations, and expands livestock producer options for
investigating potential wolf depredations of livestock.
The current Plan states that controlled take of wolves
can be allowed in two specifi c circumstances: 1) if
wolves are determined to be causing declines in ungulate
populations such as deer and elk or 2) in specifi c cases of
chronic livestock depredation.
“These Phase III provisions do not replace good faith
efforts at non-lethal solutions to wolf confl icts,” Morgan
says. “Take of wolves can only be considered as a man-
agement response in very specifi c situations and there are
no plans for controlled take at this time.”
As we move into Phase III, the current Plan allows
either ODFW or USDA Wildlife Services to confi rm wolf
depredations in Eastern Oregon. The Plan also allows
USDA Wildlife Services to continue to assist ODFW with
wolf damage management using the skills and experience
of both agencies. Lethal removal of wolves for specifi c
cases of chronic depredation will be decided by ODFW
and will continue to be based on a rigorous evidence-
based investigation process. USDA Wildlife Services
will not assist in the lethal removal of wolves or expand
its role in depredation investigations (including confi rm-
ing wolf depredations) until it has evaluated its obliga-
tions under the National Environmental Policy Act.
ODFW staff are currently working on a routine fi ve-year
Wolf Plan review and will present the draft, updated Wolf
Plan to the Commission at their April 21 meeting, though
fi nal action on the plan is not expected to occur until later
in the year.
EOU offering
outdoor activity
classes
An array of activity classes designed to introduce and
immerse participants in the great outdoors are being of-
fered during spring term at Eastern Oregon University.
“These courses will get you outside enjoying the beau-
tiful surroundings and fabulous recreational opportunities
that abound in northeast Oregon,” said Michael Hatch,
coordinator of EOU’s Outdoor Adventure Program.
“After a long winter, spring is a great time to learn a new
sport or skill set, meet new friends, and truly enjoy what
La Grande and the surrounding area have to offer.”
Registration is open for many outdoor activity courses
available this spring through EOU and the Outdoor Ad-
venture Program. Courses include:
• Backpacking
• Hiking
• Kayaking
• Mountaineering
• Rock climbing
• Yoga
• Bird watching
• Archery
• Horsemanship
• Whitewater rafting
The courses are open to everyone and can be taken
for credit or without registering for credit. Register on
Webster by logging in at my.eou.edu or contact Hatch
for more details at mhatch@eou.edu or 541-962-3621.
Spring term begins April 3.