THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 3
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017
Business / Agriculture
Citizens upset over BMTD bill
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
Board members ap-
proved to refund property
owners who requested
exemption.
Wallender explained that
there needs to be an in-
vestigation into a possible
glitch between the interac-
tion with Chaves’ database
and the Assessor’s Office
to see why charges are on
people’s property taxes
when they are not in the
database for the district.
They are not sure what has
caused the problem and are
working to find a solu-
tion so it does not happen
again.
“If everything works
right, everything has to
work right, we send out
our letter every year,
people send them back
saying yay or nay, every-
thing should work right. It
didn’t this year,” explained
Wood. “All we can do is
say we’re trying, we’re try-
ing very hard. And we’re
going to be working with
Mr. Savage, who has a
great department. We’ll be
working with Alex; he’s a
great employee. We don’t
want to have issues like
this because it doesn’t do
us any good.”
Kerry Savage explained
that the problem is not
from Chaves or the Baker
County Assessor’s Office,
saying it has to be some-
where internally. He ex-
plained that it came from
whatever was reported
from the District to his
office.
Those attending also
voiced concerns regarding
being told their letters had
not been received.
Wallender explained that
McHaddad had stepped
into a position that had
been neglected and his
predecessor had not col-
lected any mail that was
sent to the district and did
not process letters given
to the district requesting
exemption.
“I think everyone should
rest assured that the Board
of Directors, with Alex’s
help, is going to make
improvement,” stated Wal-
lender.
According to the board
meeting packet, “The
District’s engineering ser-
vices contractor, Mr. Rob
Stilson, will complete the
channel repack process by
November 27th. At present
he is unable to provide a
timeline for the comple-
tion process to the Board.
Hatfield & Dawson have
provided valuable services
to the District in finding
new channel space.”
The Board approved the
first reading of the Board
Policies regarding the col-
lection of Service Charge
Fees for property entirely
surrounded by the district.
The ORS 354.690 autho-
rizes translator districts to
collect service charge fees
from the owners of proper-
ties entirely surrounded by
the district.
The proposed policies
regarding the collection
of service charge fees for
property entirely sur-
rounded by the district
were drafted by staff and
reviewed by council. They
are available on the BMTD
website.
They received the resig-
nation of Board members
Anna and Mike Dean.
Their next meeting will
be December 5th at 12:00
p.m. in La Grande.
Sage-grouse study focuses
on raven predation
• ASSISTANT
PROFESSOR GIVES
INTERVIEW
BY TODD ARRIOLA
Todd@TheBakerCountyPress.com
This summer, Oregon
State University Assistant
Professor Of Shrub-Steppe
Wildlife Habitat Ecology,
Jonathan Dinkins, teamed
with others to begin a
multi-year project that
includes Baker County,
to study the decline in
Greater Sage-Grouse num-
bers, with a focus on raven
predation.
Dinkins said, “This
study, it came together
really quickly,” last fall,
and involves numerous
stakeholders, including the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife (ODFW),
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS), and the
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment (BLM).
Years ago, the Local
Implementation Team
(LIT), basically, a “sage
grouse working group,”
which includes private par-
ties, livestock groups, and
hunters, developed a sage
grouse conservation plan,
for the Baker sage grouse
pack, according to Din-
kins, but, because of the
serious decline in numbers
recently—from between
2,000 and 2,500 males, to
between 100 and 110—
the LIT was recruited to
develop another one.
Dinkins said, “The BLM
did their threat assessment-
-of what threats there are
to the sage grouse pack,
the priority areas...there in
Baker...And then, because
of a hard BLM trigger, we
basically have to up our
conservation action.”
The study will include
analyses of potential
threats to the sage grouse,
according to Dinkins,
which includes weeds,
fire, fragmentation from
roads, off-highway vehicle
(OHV) use, etc. “All of
those potentials are on that
list, and more, so, it’s very
inclusive,” he said.
He said that not many
of the typical threats for
sage grouse have changed,
since the pack was around
2,000 to 2,500 males, and,
now that the number is so
low, nobody’s bothered to
ask, “Why is this occurring
with what doesn’t seem to
be a big habitat change?
I mean, there have been
habitat changes, but,
there’s no one factor that
everybody can point their
finger at.”
Dinkins thinks that there
has been an increase in ra-
ven abundance (numbers),
but, unfortunately, there
is no reference here—no
pre-data—for that. People
suggest that the issue may
be ravens, and Dinkins and
others, including livestock
producers, have seen
ravens, their eggs, and egg
shell remains, but, “This is
all anecdotal—that could
have been happening for
50 years, and was never a
problem.”
ODFW Sage Grouse
Conservation Coordina-
tor Lee Foster contacted
Dinkins last fall about the
study, because, while Din-
kins is new to Oregon, as a
faculty member of Oregon
State University (OSU),
his PhD research at Utah
State University involved
the study of sage grouse,
raven, and raptor prey
interaction, in Southern
Wyoming.
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) Wild-
life Services, which lethal-
ly removed ravens from
some of those Wyoming
project sites, asked Dinkins
what assessment would
be needed for ODFW
and USFWS to be able to
lethally remove ravens, if
considered an appropri-
ate response, and that’s
when Dinkins considered
a Before After Control
Intervention (BACI)-style
study. “It’s really the best
way to look at these types
of resources—not remov-
ing ravens right now, until
you have the status quo of
what’s going on in Baker,”
he said.
This summer, Dinkins and
his team, which includes
graduate students, began
collecting data on ravens,
and while that’s the study’s
focus, “...the lab is taking
a broader context, and say-
ing, ‘Okay, we’re going to
start to account for many
of these other variables.’
Overall, the bigger study
design is, if you remove
ravens, and the sage grouse
increase, and we’re only
looking at Baker, the prob-
lem you have is that people
say, ‘Well, was it just the
weather that improved, or,
some other factor, that has
nothing to do with ravens,
and, it so happens that sage
grouse were increasing
anyway?’”
Addressing that issue,
Dinkins said, involves hav-
ing reference study areas,
in addition to the Baker
pack. They include Bully
Creek, and Crowley, two
sage grouse priority areas
of conservation, north
and south of Highway 20.
Next year, there may be an
additional area, in Jordan
Valley.
Dinkins said that OSU
will monitor and research
what sage grouse manage-
ment is occurring, but OSU
won’t be involved with the
lethal removal of ravens.
SEE SAGE GROUSE
PAGE 5
— Weekly Hay Report —
Friday, November 3, 2017 — Eastern Oregon
Prices trended generally steady in a limited test.
Retail/Stable type hay remains the largest demanded
hay. Many hay producers have sold out for the year.
Tons Price Range Wtd Avg
Alfalfa Large Square Premium
350 175.00-175.00 175.00
Barley Large Square Good / Premium
70 115.00-115.00 115.00
USDA Market News Service—AMS.USDA.gov
— Cattle Market Report —
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Vale, Oregon
Cattle sold through the auction: 1,977
Steer Calves
300-400# Bulk 172.00-195.00 Top 200.00
400-500# Bulk 162.00-194.00 Top 199.50
500-600# Bulk 132.00-160.00 Top 162.25
Heifer Calves
300-400# Bulk 130.00-149.00 Top 153.00
400-500# Bulk 125.00-146.00 Top 149
500-600# Bulk 120.00-145.00 Top 149.25
Yearling Steers
600-700# Bulk 131.00-155.00 Top 157.25
700-800# Bulk 125.00-154.00 Top 157.25
800-900# Bulk 122.00-138.00 Top 142.50
900-1,000# Bulk 120.00-128.00 Top 133.00
Yearling Heifers
600-700# Bulk 130.00-145.00 Top 148.00
700-800# Bulk 128.00-136.00 Top 138.50
800-900# Bulk 115.00-134.00 Top 137.50
900-1,000# Bulk 106.00-119.00 Top 124.00
Thin Shelly Cows 42.00 - 55.00
Butcher Cows 55.00 - 65.00
Butcher Bulls 65.00 - 77.00
Stock Cows N/A
Younger Hfrts. 75.00 - 100.00
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: $1,281.70
Silver: $17.40
Platinum: $930.35
Palladium: $1017.49
Bloomberg.com
— Ag Commodities —
Corn: $348.25/bu/USD
Wheat: $426.75/bu/USD
Soybeans: $998.50/bu/USD
Oats: $269.50 bu/USD
Rough Rice: $11.41/cwt/USD
Canola: $520.80 CAD/mwt
Live Cattle: $122.93//lb./USD
Feeder Cattle: $156.90/lb./USD
Lean Hogs: $63.53/lb./USD
Bloomberg.com