OFF PAGE ONE
FIRE: Two single-propeller planes circled the burn
Page 8A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
getting a bulldozer working
for this very reason. Three
state troopers reassured him
fi refi ghters saved structures.
Pardee moved here about
a year ago from Biloxi,
Mississippi “to keep from
getting shot at anymore.”
He said wildfi re was a new
danger for him.
“I now know what my
vehicle tops out at,” he said.
Locals walked horses
down Kirk Road, away from
the danger zone. Reitz said
one barn was lost in the fi re,
but no livestock.
“There
were
local
ranchers moving the live-
stock to safe locations,” she
said.
One fi re started within
a quarter mile of a barn
belonging to Preston Winn
on CRP land northeast
Staff photo by Phil Wright
Flames peek over a ridge Wednesday afternoon in
Weston.
of Weston, but he said a
neighbor put it out as the
wind pushed it south. If the
wind was blowing north, he
said it could have done real
damage to his property.
Reitz
said
multiple
agencies responded to calls
for aid, including Pendleton,
Hermiston, Helix, Pilot
Rock and the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian
Reservation. Members of
the Oregon State Police
and the Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Offi ce kept roads
clear for emergency vehicles.
The Oregon Department
of Forestry also provided
resources, including a heli-
copter with a water bucket.
Two
single-propeller
planes circled the burn, and
a larger plane dumped fi re
retardant on the fi re. Farmers
also provided key resources
for the effort.
“We couldn’t have gotten
this contained without them,”
Reitz said.
Firefi ghters began heading
home around 8 p.m., and the
East Umatilla crew headed
home about 9 p.m.. Reitz
said the Oregon Department
of Forestry stayed overnight
to monitor the hot spots.
She also said the crews
had to thank the Long Branch
Cafe & Saloon in Weston for
cooking burgers and other
food for the fi refi ghters.
———
East Oregonian news staff
also contributed to this story.
CATTLE: Sells three market steers every year
Continued from 1A
Urenda
said.
More
important, it represents her
ticket to college. Steers like
Wyoming can fetch as much
as $5,000 at auction, and
Tejeda Urenda has already
set aside $13,000 to pursue a
degree in agriculture.
“This is the only way,
aside from scholarships, I’ll
be able to go to college,”
she explained. “It’s going to
fund my future.”
For Tejeda Urenda,
raising cattle is more than
a hobby — it’s entrepre-
neurship. Over the course of
three years in 4-H and now
two years with Hermiston
FFA, she has established her
own livestock program from
the ground up, complete
with breeding stock and
market animals.
And, while the rewards
can be rich, the amount of
time and work it takes to care
for all those cows is a big ask
for any high-schooler.
In addition to classes,
student council and the
National Honor Society,
Tejeda Urenda spends hours
every day with her animals.
She must bathe them,
groom them and make sure
they have plenty of food,
water and shade during the
summer.
“It’s like a little beauty
salon at my place,” she jokes.
The cattle actually stay
on her family’s pasture just
outside of Hermiston, where
her father, Martin Tejeda,
also raises livestock. Tejeda
Urenda visits the herd twice a
day, a chore that has become
much easier since she earned
her driver’s license earlier
this year.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Hermiston junior Isel Tejeda Urenda lets her heifers drink water after showing the
animals on Wednesday at the Umatilla County Fair in Hermiston.
Tejeda Urenda sells three
market steers every year
at the Milton-Freewater
Junior Show, Pendleton
Junior Livestock Show
and Umatilla County Fair.
She attends seven live-
stock shows total between
the months of April and
September, which makes for
a packed schedule.
“Sure, sleepless nights
are sometimes a deal, but
it’s fi ne,” Tejeda Urenda
said with a smile. “I have
a planner at home, and I
always try to ask for dates
ahead of time.”
Leah Smith, an agricul-
ture teacher and FFA adviser
at Hermiston High School,
said Tejeda Urenda has
done as much as she can to
continue growing her cattle
program through hard work,
commitment and motiva-
tion.
“She’s really aspiring to
do something that’s not as
easy for her as for someone
who has 100 acres out their
back door,” Smith said.
“This cattle program is a
lifelong commitment.”
County fair is the one
week that all FFA kids look
forward to every year, Tejeda
Urenda said. It is a bitter-
sweet combination of hellos
and goodbyes, a chance to
visit with old friends while
at the same time bidding
farewell to animals they have
spent months raising.
Wyoming — named for
the state where he was born
— will be sold at Saturday’s
fair auction. Every year,
Tejeda Urenda said she cries
when it comes time to part
with one of her cows, but
understands that is the nature
of the business.
“His purpose in life is to
be a good market steer,” she
said. “I just remember the
great life I gave them.”
Tejeda Urenda is not
sure yet where she will go
to college, but when she
does leave, that won’t mean
the end of her program.
She plans to keep some of
her higher quality cattle,
and her father has offered
to care for the herd as long
as she continues to pay for
their feed.
“It’s something I hold
near and dear to my heart,”
she said. “I love the species.
It’s something that if you
work, they’ll work with
you.”
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
REKLAIM: Employed 28 people in Boardman at its peak
Continued from 1A
scrap tires every year. Tires
came in shredded and pulver-
ized into a product known
as crumb rubber, similar to
the grainy material used for
cushioning in artifi cial turf.
Crumb rubber was then
fed into the plant, where it was
heated at high temperatures
in the absence of oxygen — a
process known as pyrolysis.
That resulted in the separa-
tion of two main products:
recovered carbon black,
which is used as a reinforcing
agent in rubber products, and
tire-derived oil, which can be
mixed into alternative fuels.
“Essentially, it’s true recy-
cling for tire rubber,” Redd
said.
Changes in energy prices
ultimately proved to be the
Boardman plant’s undoing.
Between 2015 and early
2016, Redd said the price of
crude oil fell from more than
$100 per barrel to around
$30 per barrel. Those low
prices made it impossible for
Reklaim to compete in the
market.
“Our technology was not
clearly viable at such low
energy prices,” he said.
The Boardman plant
stopped
production
in
January
2016,
though
Reklaim held out for months
to see if energy prices would
recover or if the facility could
be converted to another use.
When nothing came up, Redd
said they decided to divest
their assets.
“Of course, it was a very
diffi cult decision,” Redd
said. “Boardman and the Port
of Morrow are really great
places to operate. They’ve
been completely supportive
over the years.”
At its peak, Reklaim
employed 28 people in
Boardman. The company
has since gone on to form
a new joint venture, named
Pyrolyx USA, seeking to
recycle scrap tires with a
different technology that
Redd claims is cheaper and
more effi cient. A new plant
will be built in Indiana.
Redd said the company
has no other plans in Oregon,
but hopes the former plant
will be purchased and put to
good use.
Assets at the facility
include a full control room
with electrical, oil and
natural gas infrastructure.
The port also offers rail and
barge service, along with
50,000 gallons of bulk oil
storage. There is room for
expansion, according to
Maas Companies.
Potential buyers may
inspect the 20,000-square-
foot building prior to the
auction. Private appoint-
ments can be made with
Maas Companies, which is
handling the sale.
More details about the
sale are available at www.
maascompanies.com or by
calling 507-285-1444.
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
First Aid, Choking
Adult & Infant CPR/AED
Classes Given Monthly
When: Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Where: St. Anthony Hospital
Rooms 3 & 4 • 12pm-5pm
$60-per session:
Includes Manual
Registration Required
Call Emily • 541-278-2627
2801 St. Anthony Way
Pendleton, OR. 97801
www.sahpendleton.org
Thursday, August 10, 2017
CARE: Keeping the
animals’ living spaces clean
a big part of the challenge
Continued from 1A
also tries to avoid putting a
coat on her animals, which
many people do to keep
them clean before showing.
“I’ll wash her tonight
and put a coat on her right
before she shows,” Leetch
said. “But they pant and
foam, and it’s not good.”
Leetch also takes Wilma
for frequent walks outside
her pen, to work her before
the show.
“At home she’d have
a lot more space to run
around,” Leetch said. “The
pen’s kind of small.”
Some have unique
needs.
“With the pigs, there’s
a lot of skincare needs,”
Baker said. “Their skin’s
like ours, so we use gentle
soap. We also put sunscreen
on them, because if we’re
not careful, it can scar.”
For steers and lambs,
Baker said it’s important to
keep the pens well-venti-
lated and cool.
Keeping the animals’
living spaces clean is a big
part of the challenge, as
well.
“You don’t let the
animals lie down, or they
get shavings or dirt on
them,” said Ethan Hobson,
17, an Echo School student
who shows beef.
He said the new facility
makes animal hygiene
slightly easier.
“The wash racks are
easier to use,” he said.
Maintaining the animals’
pens, and the space between
them, is also a constant
task.
“We probably rake
the stalls every hour,”
said Sydney Parker, an
11-year-old who was busy
shoveling the aisles in the
swine barn.
In the small animal barn,
competitors have to watch
for some unique issues.
Billie Roberts, who
shows guinea pigs and
rabbits, said the animals
have to be regularly
“We check
their ears, eyes,
mouths. We clean
their cages twice
every two days.”
— Billie Roberts,
shows guinea pigs
and rabbits
checked for lots of little
things.
“We check them and
make sure their nails aren’t
chipped, because it can rip
off their toenails and make
them bleed,” she said. “We
soak towels and lay them
across the cage so they drip
down, or get our hands wet
and wipe them on their
ears.”
They also lay frozen
water bottles alongside the
animals to keep them cool.
With so many animals in
a small space, it’s important
to be constantly aware of
their conditions.
“We check their ears,
eyes, mouths. We clean
their cages twice every
two days,” Roberts said.
“Because it’s summer,
there’s the possibility of
fl ystrike, where the fl ies
crawl up their butts and eat
the insides.”
Unpleasant problems
like that can be avoided by
regular cleaning of cages,
Roberts said.
For animals like geese,
cleaning the pens is a
two-person job.
“They can fl y,” said
Melany Post, a seventh-
grader from Arlington who
shows the large birds. “They
just don’t realize they can.
They’re a lot harder to keep
from escaping.”
One person has to stand
guard and keep the geese in
one corner of the stall while
the rest of it gets cleaned.
–——
Contact
Jayati
Ramakrishnan at 541-564-
4534 or jramakrishnan@
eastoregonian.com
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