REGION
Thursday, February 16, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 3A
Oregon wolf count, management plan update delayed
Extreme winter weather
interrupted ODFW surveys
By ERIC MORTENSON
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s heavy
snow in January caused problems
for wildlife staff who track the
state’s wolf population.
The Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife said extreme weather
in northeast Oregon, where most
of the state’s wolves live, inter-
rupted airplane, helicopter and
ground surveys of wolfpacks. As
a result, the annual wolf report
has been delayed a month and
won’t be delivered to the ODFW
Commission until its April 21
meeting in Klamath Falls.
The report usually is released
in March and typically includes
an updated wolf population
count and information on the
number of breeding pairs in
the state. The count provides
Courtesy of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Two adult wolves from the Walla Walla Pack were caught on
remote trail camera Jan. 16, 2016 in northern Umatilla County.
an information baseline as the
commission considers updates to
the state’s Wolf Management and
Conservation plan. The plan is
reviewed every five years, and the
BRIEFLY
Morrow County
School District sets
make-up days
Schools across Oregon
have had to adjust their
calendars as they’ve been
hit by an unusually high
amount of winter weather,
and the Morrow County
School District is no
different.
According to a district
press release, Boardman
and Irrigon schools have
missed seven days while
Heppner schools have
missed five, spurring the
district to activate built-in
make-up days to recapture
lost instructional time.
Boardman and Irrigon
students will now go to
school on April 7, 14, 28,
and May 12. Students that
attend Heppner schools will
attend classes on April 7, 14,
and 28.
Even in the event of an
additional snow day, the
make-up dates will not
change.
With the make-up days
now set, the district is in
position to meet the state’s
minimum threshold for
instructional hours.
Property taxes
due in March
PENDLETON — Paul
Chalmers, director of
the Umatilla County
Assessment and Taxation
Office, reminds everyone
doing business in the
county that the deadline for
returning personal property
and real property tax
returns is March 15, 2017.
The returns must by in the
Assessment and Taxation
Office or postmarked on that
date to avoid a late filing
penalty.
If you are a new business
and have not received a tax
return in the mail it is your
responsibility to call the
person property appraiser at
the Assessment and Taxation
Office at 541-278-6217.
Holiday Inn
Express announces
grand opening
HERMISTON —
Hermiston’s new Holiday
Inn Express is having a
grand opening and ribbon
cutting on Friday, Feb. 24
from noon to 2 p.m.
The open house will
include tours, refreshments
by Nookies and a chance to
win a free stay at the hotel.
The hotel, located on
the corner of Highway
395 and West Hermiston
Avenue, features four floors,
93 rooms, 18 suites, an
indoor pool, fitness center,
complimentary breakfast,
laundry room, meeting
room, WiFi and a business
center featuring computers
and other office equipment
for guest use.
The hotel opened its top
floor to guests starting Dec.
7 as it worked to finish the
rest of the rooms.
BMCC hosts
EMS conference
PENDLETON — The
2017 Eastern Oregon
EMS Conference begins
Thursday in Pendleton.
The event, now in its
fourth year, is a partnership
with Life Flight, Blue
Mountain Community
College and the Oregon
Trail Fire Training
Association.
The conference
draws emergency
services providers in
rural communities across
Oregon, Washington
and Idaho with training
opportunities that count
toward required education
credits.
Attendees will
participate in workshops
and presentations about
subjects like treating burns,
sepsis, pediatric respiratory
emergencies, human
trafficking and CPR.
The keynote address
will be delivered by
Mike Helbock, a clinical
educator in pre-hospital
medicine at the University
of Washington School of
Medicine.
Pre-conference
workshops will start at
BMCC on Thursday and
Friday while the main
conference will start
Saturday morning and
finish Sunday afternoon.
Attendees can register
or find more information
at http://easternoregonems.
com.
commission will most likely adopt
an updated version later in 2017.
Although heavy snow and
an extended cold snap delayed
ODFW’s field work, department
spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy
said it probably didn’t harm
Oregon’s wolves.
“Wolves typically do quite
well during the winter,” she said
by email. “Winters that are hard
on deer and elk may actually be
easier on wolves. There is winter
(prey) loss to scavenge and it is
harder for ungulates (deer and elk)
to escape in the deep snow.”
Oregon had a minimum of
110 wolves at the end of 2015,
according to figures released
by ODFW in February 2016.
At least seven wolves died in
2016. Four members of Wallowa
County’s Imnaha pack, including
venerable alpha male OR-4, were
shot by ODFW in March 2016
after repeatedly attacking, killing
and eating livestock. Wildlife
biologists speculated at the time
that the group began attacking
livestock due to OR-4’s advanced
age and the fact that his longtime
mate limped from an injured leg.
They had two yearlings with them,
and the four appeared to have
separated from or been forced out
of the main Imnaha pack.
In addition, a female wolf
designated OR-28 was found dead
in October 2016 in south-central
Oregon. Officials have not said
how the wolf died, and Oregon
State Police are investigating. A
$20,000 reward for information is
available.
State police also are inves-
tigating a wolf found dead in
Northeast Oregon in March 2016.
In May 2016, a sheep herder
shot a wolf from the Walla Walla
pack that was attacking sheep.
State police judged the shooting
was lawful under the “caught
in act” provision that allows
producers to kill wolves that
are wounding, biting, killing or
chasing livestock, according to
ODFW.
———
The Capital Bureau is a collab-
oration between EO Media Group
and Pamplin Media Group.
PENDLETON
PENDLETON
Former Round-Up director
named to Hall of Fame board
No severance for
superintendent Kovach
plenty of experience.
Jackie was a member of
Carl Culham has moved the Happy Canyon Quadrille
from one Pendleton Round- team and a Round-Up contes-
tant while her sister, Andrea
Up-related board to another.
The
Round-Up
and Beck, was the queen at the
75th Round-Up.
Happy
Canyon
The couple’s three
Hall of Fame
sons have also
board announced
been
Round-Up
Wednesday
the
volunteers.
addition of Culham,
Culham’s
who served on
arrival isn’t the
the
Round-Up
only change at
Association Board
the Hall of Fame
of Directors from
board.
2008-2016.
Greg Ducheck
After going to Culham
was
recently
high school on the
west side of the state, the named board president
Jack
Remillard
Pendleton native resettled in while
Athena with his wife, Jackie. assumed the vice-president
A 38-year employee of the position. Secretary June
U.S. Forest Service, Culham Mohrland and treasurer
has added 12 years of volun- Steve Campbell retained
teering at the Round-Up since their positions.
The rest of the board is
returning to Eastern Oregon.
Culham will serve as the comprised of Cedric Wild-
hall of fame’s director of bill, Cydney Curtis, Susan
membership and Circle of Talbot, Gary Ward, Patricia
Dawson
and
Marlene
Champions.
Culham doesn’t have a Currin.
Round-Up lineage, but he
married into a family with
East Oregonian
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The Pendleton School
Board provided superin-
tendent
Andy
Kovach
with
some
kind
words when he
announced his
impending resig-
nation Monday,
but he won’t get
much more than
that when he
steps down June Kovach
30.
Board chair-
woman Debbie McBee said
Kovach waived his rights
to a compensation package
when he announced his
resignation, even though
he was in the midst of a
three-year contract.
“It’s all null and void,”
she said.
McBee said the district
will continue to pay him his
$127,500 salary through
June, but otherwise will
not provide compensation
for the final two years of
his contract.
The $127,500 represents
the low end of the
scale the school
board agreed to
when the district
went through its
last superinten-
dent search, the
maximum set at
$140,000.
In a statement,
Kovach said he
was
resigning
for
“personal
reasons” and has declined
to elaborate further.
The board will hold
a special meeting on
Monday to declare a super-
intendent vacancy and
plan the hiring process for
Kovach’s replacement.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra
at asierra@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0836.
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