Page 10C
OUTSIDE
East Oregonian
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Interstate 84 bighorns captured, transported
2016 Owyhee
hunts canceled
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
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skies earlier this week to capture
26 bighorn sheep from Philippi
Canyon along Interstate 84 in
Eastern Oregon and move them to
the Diablo Mountain and Coglan
Buttes herds in Lake County.
The Oregon Department of Fish
& Wildlife also captured seven
Rocky Mountain sheep from the
Lookout Mountain Unit in Baker
County and moved them up to
Washington as part of the Hells
Canyon Initiative — a joint effort
by state and federal agencies
and sportsman groups to restore
bighorns in the area.
Trapping bighorns is a dramatic
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from a specially designed gun
out of a moving helicopter. Once
captured, the sheep are blindfolded,
restrained and taken to a location
where ODFW biologists and veteri-
narians test the animals for diseases.
The bighorns are then trucked
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duced to their new herds. ODFW
posted footage of the operation on
YouTube, where the video has been
watched nearly 500 times.
ODFW works every year to thin
overpopulated herds of bighorns
and supplement those that need new
individuals for genetic diversity. It’s
all part of a decades-long effort
to restore the native animal to its
historic range.
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troduced to southeast Oregon in
1954, and the population has since
grown to 3,500-3,700. Bighorns
were brought to northeast Oregon
in 1971, and now total roughly 800.
Disease concerns
After moving sheep from
Philippi Canyon — known as the
I-84 herd — ODFW began stepping
up disease testing in the Whitehorse
Unit of far southeast Oregon in
Malheur and Harney counties. A
particular strain of pneumonia is
now affecting sheep in the unit,
which previously led to deaths in
Nevada’s Santa Rosa Mountains
more than a decade ago.
“These bacteria can persist
in sheep populations over long
periods of time, even decades, and
move long distances and across
state boundaries,” said Colin Gillin,
Photo contributed by Michelle Dennehy
ODFW biologists and veterinarians test bighorns from Philippi Canyon for diseases before transporting them to the Diablo Mountain
and Coglan Buttes herds in Lake County.
wildlife veterinarian with ODFW.
Meanwhile, a more recent
outbreak of pneumonia has hit
bighorns in the neighboring
Owyhee Unit. Helicopter surveys
detected a 50-60 percent reduction
of sheep between March and
December 2015. Samples taken
from sheep harvested by hunters
tested positive for the disease on
both sides of Owyhee Canyon.
“Our biggest concerns at this
point is the level of infection, how
prevalent the bacteria is in our
herds, and whether we can devise a
management strategy to mitigate the
effects of a pneumonia outbreak,”
Gillin said.
The outbreak has prompted
ODFW to cancel bighorn sheep
hunting in the Owyhee Unit for
2016. Any hunter who has already
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can cancel the application for a
refund or change their application.
Disease was one of the factors
behind the sheep’s annihilation
in Oregon in the 1940s. Bighorns
are now one of the rarest game
mammals in Oregon today, with
fewer than 100 tags offered in
2015. Bighorn hunts are considered
Photo contributed by Michelle Dennehy
ODFW used a helicopter to capture 26 bighorn sheep from the I-84 herd at Philippi Canyon,
transplanting the animals to herds in Lake County.
a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
locally.
Hunters have since been an inte-
gral part of helping restore bighorns
to the state. Groups like the Oregon
Foundation for North American
Wild Sheep also lend their help and
expertise.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or
541-966-0825.
Some outdoor gear stores lure customers with beer
SKI REPORT
Spout Springs
Tollgate, Ore.
Conditions: Good snow-
fall, coverage. Open on
weekends, including
Friday and Saturday
evenings.
Anthony Lakes
North Powder, Ore.
New snow: Trace
Base: 58”
Conditions: Big storm
dropped 13” on
Wednesday, wintry-mix
fell on runs on Thurs-
day, Friday.
Ski Bluewood
New snow: 4”
Base: 76”
Dayton, Wash.
Good storms through
weekend, terrain parks
open.
Ski Fergi
Joseph, Ore.
New snow: 4”
Base: 25” on top
Conditions: Fresh snow,
groomed runs, open
Jan. 23-24, 10 a.m. to
4 p.m.
Mt. Hood Meadows
Government Camp, Ore.
New snow: 2”
Base: 104”
Conditions: Poor. Rain-
fall throughout week.
Rain-streaked hardpack
groom. Rain-soaked
snow off the groom.
Avoid tree wells and
ride with a partner.
By MARK FREEMAN
(Medford) Mail Tribune
GOLD HILL— River
runners who venture into
the new Sawyer Station can
peruse the rows of Sawyer’s
signature driftboat oars, check
out the newest in stand-up
paddleboard paddles and
wash it all down with a pint of
Southern Oregon Brewery’s
Killer Rabbit ale.
Instead of being kids in a
candy store, customers can be
like adults in a craft brewery
at Sawyer, which is one of a
handful of local outdoor-ori-
ented businesses turning to
beer and wine sales as a way
to get more people in their
stores instead of shopping for
their gear online.
Sawyer has been pouring
pints of local beer at the
company hub in Gold Hill
since June, luring in anglers
and boaters from the nearby
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days on the water with a cold
one, or two.
“You know it’s the right
move when you see kayakers
coming in with their dry suits
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with their waders on,” Sawyer
co-owner Zac Kauffman says.
Joining Sawyer in pouring
pints is Flywheel Bicycle
Solutions in Talent and
Northwest Outdoor Store in
Medford’s Bear Creek Plaza,
which is prepping to add a
lineup of 10 regional brews to
its offerings next month. Visi-
tors can drink at the store’s
reclaimed Sequoia-wood bar
Denise Baratta/The Medford Mail Tribune via AP
In this Dec. 31 photo, Alan Vos of Phoenix, Ore., has a beer while visiting the Fly-
wheel Bicycle Solutions shop in Talent, Ore. A handful of local outdoor-oriented
businesses turn to beer and wine sales as a way to get more people in their stores
instead of shopping for their gear online.
or take it home in growlers.
“It was in my business plan
when I wrote it seven years
ago, and the word growler
wasn’t even in existence
then, but now it’s coming into
fruition,” Northwest Outdoor
Store owner Scott Keith says.
“It’s a place where people
can relax and hang out with
each other. I want it to be
a community hub for the
outdoor community.
“Outdoor gear and beer,”
he says. “It rhymes.”
It’s a trend the Oregon
Liquor Control Commission
is tracking and helping to
expand as more businesses
look to supplement their
regular business with beer and
wine sales, OLCC spokesman
Mark Pettinger says.
OLCC traces the trend
back to the spring of 2012,
when a new interpretation
of OLCC rules allowed an
expansion of where sales of
carry-out growlers of beer
could be sold, Pettinger
says. It began when Bend’s
Stop-N-Go gas station added
a growler station, and now
more of these so-called
“non-exclusive” businesses
are getting the so-called
“O-licenses” to sell beer and
wine, he says.
The licenses cost $100 a
year and are relatively easy
get, as long as the business
remains consistent with city
zoning and other local rules,
Pettinger says.
Those smaller shops
adding beer and wine tend
to be in outlying regions
around metro areas, with
others in urban settings such
as in a bike shop six blocks
from OLCC headquarters in
Salem, Pettinger says.
The shops tend to sport
seasonal businesses, and are
looking to add beer and wine
either as an economic supple-
ment to their regular sales
or to create an ambiance for
their customers while there,
he says.
That’s what put lifelong
bicycle man Ian Bagshaw in
the bar business nearly two
years ago, and he doesn’t
even drink beer.
The owner of Flywheel
Bicycle Solutions bought
and remodeled a building on
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years ago, ending up with a
bar-like setting overlooking
the repair corner of the shop,
Bagshaw says.
“We always liked the idea
of having customers watch
their bikes getting worked
on,” Bagshaw says. “Some
would even say it would be
nice to have a beer.”
The alcohol sales seem
to have opened cyclists’
minds to the possibility that
Bagshaw’s bike shop might
be a place to visit even when
their ride doesn’t need work.
“Instead of just being a
place to buy stuff and get
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a place to hang out,” he
says. “It’s a social hub. It’s
awesome, and it makes my
job more enjoyable.”
“For me, being in the bar
business after 20-plus years,
it was really cool to have
some new challenges and
step out of my comfort zone,”
Bagshaw says.
It also gives would-be
customers a new reason to
push away from the computer
keyboard and sip a cold one at
the local outdoor shop of their
choosing.
Lawmakers, experts explore ways to raise revenue for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
SALEM (AP) — Budget woes
at the Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife have state lawmakers
and outdoors experts teaming up to
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the agency.
A recent Secretary of State audit
shows ODFW’s costs rising much
faster than its revenue, reported
The Bulletin. Hunters and anglers
describe being trapped in a vicious
cycle with the department. As
ODFW raises license fees to boost
revenue, fewer people buy the
licenses.
About 20 lawmakers and
leaders from outdoors, tourism
and wildlife viewing groups are
exploring ways to raise money
from wildlife viewers and others
interested in healthy wildlife
populations.
“Fifty percent of our agency
revenue comes from hunters and
anglers” and a match from federal
funds, said ODFW director Curt
Melcher. The projection for future
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Over the last year, the agency
has cut 10 percent of its licensed
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ODFW also worked with the
Legislature to increase the cost
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gap that needed to be addressed
immediately.
To help keep the department
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bring hunters and wildlife watchers
together.
“In the natural resource and
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said task force member Sen. Chris
Edwards, a Eugene Democrat. “We
have to come up with a solution.”
The task force includes former
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of Portland, a retired attorney, the
director of a Salem bike racing
association and the vice president
of Columbia Sportswear, among
other members.
Though task force members
have expressed a love of Central
or Eastern Oregon, where hunting
and angling is more popular, none
of them live there.
The owner of Oregon Pack
Works in Redmond said Monday
that he isn’t surprised by the
group’s composition.
“Welcome to Oregon politics,”
said owner Karl Findling. “This is
a conundrum we’re in right now in
this state, geographically, and it’s a
great example with this task force.”
——
Information from: The Bulletin,
http://www.bendbulletin.com