THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017
Business / Agriculture
Geiser Grand wins wine award
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
Sidway first learned
of the award when local
winemaker Travis Cook,
from Copperbelt Winery,
ran across the street from
that company’s tasting
room with the good news.
The award is no small
achievement in wine
circles.
Presented by the Oregon
Wine Board and Oregon
Wine Press corrobora-
tively, the award is the
result of jury voting, done
with secret ballots. As for
how her restaurant, which
operates in the Palm Court
beneath the famous stained
glass ceiling inside the ho-
tel itself, was nominated?
Well, that’s something of a
mystery.
“I have my suspicions,
though,” said Sidway.
The Geiser Grand’s wine
list is impressive, filling
a legal-sized page on the
menu and broken into
categories such as red,
white, sparkling and even
nonalcoholic choices.
Five years ago, those
choices also earned Sidway
another wine award from
WinePress Northwest.
“We are locally focused,”
she said. “We are offering
wines not generally avail-
able ... It takes more effort
to find smaller producers
but you get a better product
at a lower price.”
Sidway explained that in
her experience, the better
quality of local wines from
small producers naturally
results from the care they
put into their products
versus a mass production
approach.
Oregon’s Lodmell wines,
for example, are only pro-
Samantha@TheBakerCountyPress.com
As of March 7, 2017, to
his knowledge, Anthony
Constantine III became the
only arborist in Baker City.
Constantine’s family owns
and operates Tony’s Tree
Service.
He helped with his fam-
ily’s business growing up,
officially became a rep-
resentative for service in
October 2015, and is now a
certified arborist.
“It’s more just a trade
name than anything,” ex-
plained Constantine. “It’s
kind of like the profession.
The study of arboriculture
is kind of like the study of
what we do—trees, biolo-
gy, pest management—it’s
sort of all-encompassing.
The ISA, the International
Society of Arboriculture,
is the organization which
gives you the certified
arborist title and they are
trying to turn the industry
into more than just a bunch
of guys out there cutting
trees however they see fit.
“It creates a standard of
how best to perform our
duties and things to watch
out for. Risk management,
insect disease, pest control,
fertilization, soil manage-
ment, and it sort of brings
the tree care in line with
the urban environment.”
Constantine explained
that if a company wanted
to build a parking lot in an
area where there are trees,
the idea is for them to have
an arborist on site before-
hand to prevent any dam-
age to the existing trees.
Friday, March 10, 2017 — Eastern Oregon
Prices trended generally steady in a limited test
compared to week ago prices. Most demand lays
with the retail/stable hay. According to some pro-
ducers, horse owners prefer lower sugar, higher pro-
teinhay. Many producers are sold out for the year.
Tons Price Range Wtd Avg
Alfalfa — Large Square Good
30 130.00-130.00 130.00
Alfalfa / Orchard Mix — Small Square Premium
3 175.00-175.00 175.00
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
— Cattle Market Report —
Kerry McQuisten/ The Baker County Press
Barbara Sidway holds the wooden plaque sent to her by Oregon Wine Press.
duced to the tune of about
1,000 cases per year.
The wines she offers
are primarily not widely
distributed; they arrive at
her venue when the owners
swing through town or
when she takes a trip to
them instead.
The winemakers, she
said, “Make tough deci-
sions at every turn—just
like anyone in agriculture.”
They must, she said,
decide on financial invest-
ment, how long to age the
wines in the barrel versus
pulling them out early, and
how to build the image or
brand attributed to their
private label.
“They have to particpate
in food and wine shows,
and competitions,” she
said. “It’s a lot.”
Sidway’s wine knowl-
edge has been a steady
work in progress. In the
early 90s she attended Pi-
not Camp, where she first
met Bev Calder in McMin-
nville, now owner of Bella
Main Street Market in
Baker City. Sometime after
that friendship formed,
Calder moved to Baker
City and established her
business, which also car-
ries a variety of wines.
More recently, Sidway
actually participated as a
jury member at the North-
west Wine Summit, which
was held over three days
at Timberline Lodge. Jury
members are only allowed
to participate once in a
lifetime, and judge 1,500
wines in the competition.
“It’s the Oscars of the
wine industry,” she said.
A total of 21 judges,
broken into groups of three
to five people, conduct
the blind taste tests for the
wines.
The Geiser Grand is
planning a celebratory
Copperbelt wine dinner on
April 8th with “foods that
will elevate the wines,”
she said. The event will be
limited to 30 guests.
Sidway said she’s not
only interested in sourcing
locally for wines, but is
always on the lookout for
locally grown produce. At
present, the restaurant uses
a specialty garlic chive
with lavender-colored
flowers, cherry tomatoes,
and greenhouse-grown
micro-grains for use on
salads—just to name a few.
And, being beef country,
locally grown beef is on
the menu.
A full list of award win-
ners is available at www.
oregonwine.org/a-list.
There’s a new arborist in town!
BY SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
— Weekly Hay Report —
“If they wanted to clear
a certain amount of acres,
the arborist would choose
which trees are worth
saving or not. The arbor-
ist would choose the trees
based on species, age,
how hearty it is, and other
aspects,” he said.
“It’s sort of bringing a
sense of professionalism
into our industry,” said
Constantine. “I grew up in
the industry. My dad has
owned Tony’s Tree Service
since before I was born and
in his day and age the tree
guys were kind of rough
around the edges. They
weren’t really considered
professional, someone that
you’d probably want to
sit and have a dinner with,
or something. I think it
always sort of carried like
a bad image and so the ISA
is trying to sort of make it
a little more professional.”
Constantine explained
that in order to do tree
work, one needs a contrac-
tor’s license.
In the state of Oregon
people can use the ISA title
of arborist, but it is not
necessary to have a busi-
ness and do arborist work
as it is not a license.
To become an arborist,
a person would need to
become a member with the
ISA, buy a study guide—a
book—to study what an
arborist should know, and
take a test. Someone would
also have to have a few
years’ experience in the
industry or have gone to
school for botany, horticul-
ture, or something that has
to do with plants.
“Really what it takes
is just studying, having
Samantha O’Conner / The Baker County Press
Arborist, Anthony Constantine III.
a basic knowledge and
understanding of what it is
you’re doing and trying to
achieve,” said Constantine.
“And ultimately, I think,
you have to have some
level of passion for trees
and the industry to be an
arborist. It was something
I studied for all winter, and
then you become a mem-
ber of the International
Society of Arboriculture,
you take a test and, if you
pass the test, you get the
certification.”
He said, “They also offer
furthering education and
you can become a master
arborist and I think that
takes multiple years of
performance above what
they would consider just
an arborist; you have to be
involved in different Arbor
Day Foundation Projects.
And then they do Tree
Climber’s Certifications
and that sort of thing.
“So, what they’re really
building is a community
of arborist like-minded
people who want to see the
industry progress and want
to see the care of trees
improve because there are
a lot of poor practices go-
ing on in every city across
the nation, or at least every
city I’ve been to.
“You’ll see poor prac-
tices, whether it’s pruning,
soil management, con-
struction; I feel like a lot
of times people just sort of
disregard them and people
don’t really take note or
really consider what the
benefit that trees add to
everyone’s life, really.”
Constantine’s father,
Anthony Constantine
II, began climbing trees
over 50 years ago in New
Jersey.
SEE ARBORIST
PAGE 5
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 1345
(No new sales numbers for last week available.)
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk 157.00-187.00 Top 193.00
400-500# Bulk 155.00-183.00 Top 183.50
500-600# Bulk 140.00-161.00 Top 165.50
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk 147.00-162.00 Top 162.50
400-500# Bulk 132.00-158.00 Top 160.50
500-600# Bulk 125.00-141.00 Top 143.00
600-700#
700-800#
800-900#
900-1,000#
Yearling Steers
Bulk 128.00-140.00 Top 143.00
Bulk 119.00-129.00 Top 129.50
Bulk 116.00-125.00 Top 125.75
Bulk 110.00-118.00 Top 119.25
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 116.00-128.00 Top 130.00
700-800# Bulk 110.00-121.00 Top 122.50
800-900# Bulk 104.00-111.00 Top 114.00
900-1,000# Bulk N/A Top N/A
Thin Shelly Cows 37.00-52.00
Butcher Cows 58.00-65.00
Butcher Bulls 58.00 -77.00
Stock Cows N/A
Hfretts 69.00-91.00
Stock Cows Young - N.A
ProducersLivestock.com
541-473-3136
— Log Price Report —
Prices are based on the majority of saw mills in
Northeastern Oregon and Central Idaho. The prices
listed below are a composite prices of various saw-
mills willing to visit with me about this topic.
Ponderosa Pine—small diameter class 8-11 inches
diameter class $250 per mbf. Only one sawmill was
willing to buy small diameter pine at this time.
Ponderosa Pine—medium diameter class 12-17
inches diameter class $300 to $350 per mbf
Ponderosa Pine-large diameter class 18 plus inches
diameter class $380 to $410 per mbf
The Pine prices are still approximately $40 per mbf
below average lumber/log market due to 2017 fire
salvage
Doug Fir & Western Larch—$380 to $420 per
mbf. Normal prices typically ranged between $425
to $475 per mbf.
White Fir-$300 per mbf. Normal prices typically
ranged between $340 to $360 per mbf.
Engelmann Spruce—$350 at one Idaho sawmill,
other sawmills including with White fir prices.
In general, the log prices still impacted from 2015
fire season and fire salvage that resulted. Sawmills
are starting to get log yard inventory in line with
sawmill production needs. With a new Administra-
tion as of 1/20/2017, a more normal economic envi-
ronment should result and hopefully a more healthy
housing situation will result in a better climate for
Northeast Oregon Sawmill and private forest land-
owners.
Courtesy of Arvid Andersen,
Andersen Forestry Consulting
— Precious Metals Report —
Price per ounce, USD
Gold: $1,214.90
Silver: $17.23
Platinum: $951.66
Palladium: $762.70
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Corn: $363.50/bu/USD
Wheat: $436.00/bu/USD
Soybeans: $998.00/bu/USD
Oats: $257.25 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $9.68/cwt/USD
Canola: $510.80 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $108.25//lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $127.33/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $78.83/lb./USD
Bloomberg.com