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East Oregonian
Saturday, August 27, 2016
Idaho farmers help protect neighbors from wildire
By JOHN O’CONNELL
EO Media Group
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho
— Even as Ken Christensen
watched some of his range-
land burn, he was over-
whelmed with gratitude for
his neighbors, who brought a
leet of tractors and discs to
dig ire lines and help protect
the rest of his property.
The Henry’s Fork ire
started early Aug. 21, sparked
7 miles east of Idaho Falls
by an undetermined human
cause. It had expanded to
52,233 acres by Aug. 25, with
30 percent of it contained.
Fire oficials say the area
includes dryland farms, range-
land and land in the Conser-
vation Reserve Program.
No estimates of damage to
agricultural land or the loss of
livestock have been made.
However, oficials say
they are certain farmers who
contributed their time and
heavy equipment to the battle
have minimized losses and
protected homes.
“I think our community
really came together and
these farmers really stepped
in way above and beyond
Courtesy of James Hoff
Equipment manned by growers Steven Longhurst, left, and James Hoff is used to dig
ire lines late Aug. 21 to control the Henry’s Creek ire near Idaho Falls. Fire oficials
say growers who brought equipment have been essential in their ireighting efforts.
to help us out. They were a
godsend,” said Dave Coffey,
deputy chief of operations
with the Idaho Falls Fire
Department. “They created
ire breaks and put homes in
a safe zone, where I didn’t
have to worry about them.”
BRIEFLY
Idaho police use
school bus to catch
texting drivers
MOSCOW, Idaho (AP)
— A school bus roaming the
streets of Moscow this week
has been a cover for police
oficers looking to catch
trafic violations.
Members of the Moscow
Police Department, Idaho
State Police and Latah County
Sheriff’s Department rode
in the bus that was equipped
with a video camera, and
radio, The Moscow-Pullman
Daily News reported. Oficers
were particularly interested
in catching drivers who were
texting and driving, which is
illegal in Idaho.
When a driver was
seen committing a trafic
violation such as texting
while driving, the bus-riding
oficers would radio a patrol
car in the area and then a
trafic stop would be made.
ISP Sgt. Rich Adamson
said the bus was used
because people didn’t
expect oficers to be inside
and it also gave the oficers
a higher vantage point to
see into cars. Adamson
said he got the idea from
a national highway safety
summit earlier this year
and proposed the tactic to
Moscow police.
Cpl. Travis Hight said it
is often hard to cite a driver
for texting because the law
is poorly worded. He said
the law says a driver cannot
text, which includes reading,
typing or sending messages,
but doesn’t exclude looking
at a phone to select music.
According to police
brochures, sending or
receiving a text takes a
driver’s eyes off the road for
an average of 4.6 seconds.
That means a driver could
drive the length of a football
ield blind if they were
traveling at 55 mph.
Six wolves
killed in western
Washington
SALEM — Washington
wildlife managers this
week have killed four more
wolves in the Profanity Peak
pack, bringing the total to
six as the Department of
Fish and Wildlife seeks to
eliminate the entire pack
from Ferry County.
The department shot an
adult male Sunday and the
next day killed a female pup
and two adults, including at
least one male, according to
WDFW wolf policy leader
Donny Martorello.
The sex of the second
adult is unknown, according
to WDFW. The wolf was
killed from a helicopter, but
has not been found.
Previously, the
department shot two female
adults Aug. 5. WDFW
suspended the hunt Aug.
18, but resumed it the next
day when the department
conirmed wolves had
attacked more calves.
WDFW originally planned
to “partially remove” the
Profanity Peak pack, but
decided to eliminate the entire
pack after depredations on
cattle continued.
Prior to the six shootings,
the pack had six adults and
ive pups, according to
WDFW.
WDFW has conirmed
the pack has killed or injured
eight cattle since July 8.
The pack probably attacked
at least seven other cattle,
according to WDFW, though
investigators were unable to
absolutely conirm the cattle
were attacked by wolves.
The state has never
exterminated an entire pack
to stop attacks on livestock.
WDFW announced plans
to remove the Wedge Pack
from Stevens County in
2012. Oficials shot seven
wolves, but two in the pack
survived.
The Henry’s Creek ire
has been devastating to
Christensen, who estimates
2,800 acres of his rangeland
has burned. He’d planned
to use that ground as fall
pasture. He’s also lost about
2 miles of fencing.
But the rancher also
counts his blessings that he
hasn’t lost any cattle, and for
the tireless efforts of neigh-
boring farmers, who irst
showed up on the afternoon
of Aug. 21 and returned the
next day when the ire lared.
“It was so impressive how
many farmers showed up,”
Christensen said.
He acknowledged he was
at a loss for words when he
sought to thank one of the
growers who raced to estab-
lish a ire break before the
lames arrived.
“You’re kind of at your
wit’s end standing there and
watching your place burn,”
Christensen said. “I didn’t
know what to say to that
guy except, ‘Thanks.’ He’s
busting his machine going
over this rocky ground.”
Christensen also used
his equipment to dig a ire
line that protected an alfalfa
ield, where his cattle are
now grazing. He’s asked
Bonneville County to issue a
disaster declaration, enabling
him to graze CRP acres.
Some of Mark Blatter’s
fencing and CRP land also
burned. His ive sons worked
with shovels to help establish
a ire line and “a lot of neigh-
bors got in there and really
worked it.”
Idaho Potato Commis-
sioner James Hoff said the
ire started about 3 miles from
his farm but the winds never
pushed it in his direction.
He and his father, Tom, took
a break from preparing for
spud harvest and helped their
neighbors, using about 200
gallons of fuel to dig several
miles of ire line. Hoff fought
the ire for several hours on
both Aug. 21 and Aug. 22.
The labor left him exhausted,
with a bad headache.
“It kind of looked like
everything was going to be
under control. Then they
lost control at 1 a.m. on
Monday,” Hoff said. “The
winds picked up. It just took
off like a shot.”
Hoff aided several prop-
erty owners, including Chris-
tensen, and he and his father
agreed to change locations
on the night of Aug. 22 at the
request of the ire department
to protect a neighborhood.
According to a ire infor-
mation oficer with the Great
Basin Incident Management
Team 7, 289 ireighters were
dispatched to the ire, which
has been fueled by high winds
and low humidity. Bonneville
County sheriff’s deputies
have contacted homeowners
asking them to prepare for
possible evacuation.
Tribe trucks totem pole 4,800 miles in fossil fuels protest
PORTLAND (AP) — A
Paciic Northwest tribe is
traveling nearly 5,000 miles
across Canada and the United
States with a 22-foot-tall
totem pole on a latbed truck
in a symbolic journey meant
to galvanize opposition to
fossil fuel infrastructure proj-
ects they believe will imperil
native lands.
This is the fourth year the
Lummi Nation in northwest
Washington has embarked
on a “totem journey” to try to
create a uniied front among
tribes across North America
that are individually ighting
plans for coal terminals and
crude oil pipelines in their
backyards.
The highly visible tours,
which include tribal blessing
ceremonies at each stop, it
into a trend of Native Amer-
ican tribes bringing their
AP Photo/Manuel Valdes
Linda Soriano of the Lummi Nation performs a
smudge ceremony at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathe-
dral in Seattle, fanning smoke from burning sage
with eagle feathers onto a totem pole on Thursday.
environmental activism to
the masses as they see irst-
hand the effects of climate
change, said Robin Saha,
a University of Montana
associate professor who
specializes in tribal issues
and environmental justice.
“I wouldn’t go as far as to
say there’s an anti-develop-
ment movement, but tribes
are feeling the effects of
climate change quite dramat-
ically and are responding
in a lot of different ways,”
Saha said. “Some of them
feel as if they’re not going to
survive.”
In North Dakota, for
example, people from across
the country and members
of 60 tribes have gained
international attention after
gathering in opposition to
the four-state Dakota Access
oil pipeline. The totem pole
heads to that site, near the
Standing Rock Sioux’s
reservation, next week.
Tribes in the Paciic
Northwest have protested
publicly and taken legal
action as West Coast ports
have emerged as strategic
locations for crude oil and
coal companies to reach
customers in energy-hungry
Asia.
Pot shop ordered
to stop selling
VANCOUVER, Wash.
(AP) — A marijuana
business that opened in
violation of Clark County’s
ban on recreation pot sales
has been ordered to stop
selling its products.
The Columbian reports
a judge on Tuesday ordered
owner John Larson to
stop selling recreational
marijuana immediately at his
Hazel Dell shop. The store
remained open for business
Thursday, and Larson says
he plans to appeal.
The county maintains
Larson provided false
information about what he
would be selling at the store
in order to obtain a building
permit.
Larson’s application
describes the shop, which
opened in December, as a
“general retail business”
selling novelties, crafts, and
antiques.
Umatilla County Historical Society
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