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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Tuesday, October 8, 2019 Ventenata, a noxious weed, spreads across the West become especially apparent after fires ignited by light- ning strikes in 2014 and 2015 that devastated tens of thousands of acres sur- rounding John Day. “The invasion rate was reaching a level that it seemed to be affecting fire spread,” said Becky Kerns, a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service. “It doesn’t need fire to trigger an invasion, but fire may exacerbate and increase the population.” Kerns is taking part in an interagency research proj- ect that’s studying ventena- ta’s influence on novel fire behavior, as well as map- ping the extent of the weed’s spread and examining the role of climate change in that invasion. The study began in 2016 in response to reports that ventenata was creating fuel connectivity across open scrubland, allowing flames to traverse sparsely vege- tated areas that normally serve as fire breaks. It’s expected that research papers from the study will first be published in 2020 though the overall project may last another year. Ventenata appears to recolonize burned acres more quickly than native species, such as sagebrush, which provide important By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press JOHN DAY — Looking out at an expansive meadow in Oregon’s Blue Moun- tains, local cattleman Loren Stout sees not an idyllic landscape but an “environ- mental disaster.” The problem is as subtle as it is pervasive: The wispy yellow grass drying in the sun isn’t forage that’s read- ily consumed by livestock and wildlife. It’s ventenata, an inva- sive species that originated on the other side of the globe but now crowds out native plant life on large swaths of government-owned land in the Blue Mountains. The weed contains enough silica — a com- pound traditionally used for glass production — that it’s largely considered inedible for herbivores. “There is nothing utiliz- ing this stuff,” said Stout. “It just looks lush in spring, but they won’t touch it.” Aside from its lack of forage value, experts are finding that ventenata has another pernicious trait. Specifically, the invasive grass seems to benefit from the same wildfires that it helps fuel. That dynamic has Capital Press Photo/Mateusz Perkowski Cattleman Loren Stout examines ventenata, an invasive weed, growing in Oregon’s Blue Mountains near John Day. The species appears to benefit from wildfire, helping it spread. wildlife habitat, said Claire Tortorelli, an Oregon State University graduate stu- dent participating in the study. “We’re not really seeing the recovery of those shrubs or woody perennials,” Tor- torelli said. Preliminary study results indicate perennial grasses are holding their own bet- ter than annual forage types, Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY which haven’t been return- ing as readily after fires, she said. Even though peren- nial grasses may have sur- vived a fire, ventenata may impede their reseeding of the ground, she said. “The concern is you’ll lose that perennial compo- nent in the long term,” said Kerns. “Invasive grasses tend to be pretty aggressive.” Chilly with plenty of sunshine 58° 32° 49° 25° Cool with plenty of sunshine Partly sunny and cool Cool with periods of sun PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 53° 27° 56° 30° 58° 42° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 55° 22° 63° 35° 57° 25° 58° 28° OREGON FORECAST 60° 43° ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 54/34 52/28 59/29 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 58/34 Lewiston 54/34 63/36 Astoria 56/36 Pullman Yakima 59/33 54/31 59/36 Portland Hermiston 57/39 The Dalles 63/35 Salem Corvallis 58/33 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 52/30 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 60/36 56/27 53/29 Ontario 64/37 Caldwell Burns 79° 35° 69° 41° 88° (2014) 25° (2012) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 58/34 0.00" 0.01" 0.12" 4.77" 5.56" 6.68" WINDS (in mph) 66/37 61/24 0.00" Trace 0.22" 10.85" 7.11" 9.16" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 49/28 57/34 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 58/32 59/38 76° 38° 68° 43° 87° (1980) 23° (1898) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 54/33 Aberdeen 52/27 54/31 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 52/39 Today Wed. Boardman W 10-20 Pendleton WSW 10-20 Medford 65/36 NNE 6-12 NNW 6-12 61/23 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Full 7:02 a.m. 6:23 p.m. 4:41 p.m. 1:36 a.m. Last New First NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 99° in Thermal, Calif. Low 8° in Antero Reservoir, Colo. Oct 13 Oct 21 Oct 27 Nov 4 NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -0s 0s showers t-storms BAKER CITY — Searchers found the body of Andrew Dean Dennis of Haines late Sunday morning in a nearly sheer rock chute in the Wallowa Mountains, eight days after the 60-year- old Haines man failed to return from a planned one- day deer-hunting trip. It appears that Den- nis died from a fall in the steep terrain near East Eagle Creek, his niece, Candy Sturm, said Sunday. Sturm said her uncle’s body was found near where searchers trapped Dennis’ dog, Barney, on Saturday evening. The site is near where Curtis Creek crosses the East Eagle trail, about 2 miles from the trailhead where Dennis parked his vehicle on Sept. 28. Dennis’ body was ini- tially spotted by a drone, according to a post Sturm made on her Facebook page. Searchers found Dennis about 11:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a press release from the Baker County Sheriff’s Office. “His death appears to be a tragic accident,” according to the press release. “No foul play is suspected.” Ashley McClay, the pub- lic information officer for the sheriff’s office, said a drone operated by the Uma- tilla County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue team located Dennis’ body. McClay said searchers later found his body in what they described as a “water- fall, crevice area” on a steep slope above the East Eagle trail. Sheriff Travis Ash described the location as a chute. McClay said it appears that Dennis fell on Sept. 28, the day he arrived in the area to hunt for deer. “We believe that he died the day he went hunting,” McClay said. Sturm said Barney was reunited with Dennis’ wife, Patty, and that the dog, although he has lost some weight, is doing well. Sturm said she “cannot express enough” to thank all the people who participated in the search for her uncle over the past week. On her Facebook page Sturm, who traveled from her home at Ridgefield, Washington, to participate in the search, posted: “I watched as men and women came down that mountain after searching from sun up to sun down, some strangers, a lot of friends and family and Uncle Andy’s brothers along with SAR members. Sitting by the fire to warm up with tears in their eye they wouldn’t give up. Thank you to each and everyone of you that searched.” The search effort included members from Baker, Union, Umatilla, Wallowa and Harney counties, as well as the Oregon State Police and Baker Aircraft and the Oregon National Guard, the latter two supplying helicopters. SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls -10s cies exceeds what we’re able to do,” both from the budget perspective and due to envi- ronmental study require- ments, she said. The interagency research currently being conducted is expected to help focus resources on areas where ventenata treatment will still be most effective, Brun- son said. Stout, the cattleman, blames the spread of ven- tenata on grazing restric- tions that opened the region to medusa head rye — another invasive grass — and eventually led the way to ventenata. “You have to take the competition away from these (desirable) annual grasses, and they do exactly the opposite,” Stout said, referring to federal and state land managers. Kerns, the Forest Service research ecologist, said the interagency study has not established a link between grazing and ventenata prevalence. It’s possible the weed’s behavior is varied across landscape types, such as prairies, forests and scab- lands, said Tortorelli, the OSU graduate student. “In each of those commu- nity types, it’s going to have different impacts in relation to grazing,” she said. Missing man’s body found By JAYSON JACOBY EO Media Group Clouds and sun, a shower; cooler An advantage the weed holds over many other plant species is its adaptability to land that normally has only scattered vegetation, said Tortorelli. Ventenata is more abun- dant than these native plants and thus it contributes to the overall intensity of fires, she said. “They’re not these super-productive eco- systems,” Tortorelli said. “When ventenata has invaded, there’s just so much more ventenata than any- thing else in that system.” The invasive species is considered an “ecolog- ical driver” that’s capable of altering “ecosystems at landscape levels,” said Jessi Brunson, a botanist with the Malheur National Forest’s supervisor’s office. “It can push the ecosys- tem over the edge, so to speak, into an environmen- tal state from which it’s dif- ficult to recover,” she said. Because it’s now so wide- spread, however, ventenata falls into the “tolerate” cate- gory of weeds under the For- est Service’s classification system — the lowest prior- ity for treatment, Brunson said. Other categories for weeds include “eradicate,” “control” and “contain.” “The amount of herbicide and cost to control the spe- 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s 50s ice 60s cold front E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays EastOregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to EastOregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Copyright © 2019, EO Media Group 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low BRIEFLY Proud Boys member involved in Portland fights arrested PORTLAND — A right-wing extremist, who rose to prominence for fighting in Port- land during political protests and fled the Pacific Northwest after being indicted on fel- ony assault charges, has been arrested. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported the U.S. Marshals Service detained 23-year-old Tusitala “Tiny” Toese at the Portland Interna- tional Airport around 10:30 p.m. Friday. That’s according to Brent Weisberg, a spokesman for the Multnomah County Dis- trict Attorney’s Office. Toese was later booked into the Multnomah County jail on a pair of outstanding warrants. Toese, who is 6-foot-4 and 265 pounds, gained notoriety as a member of the right- wing groups Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys who fought left-wing activists and others during demonstrations in Portland. He was scheduled to appear Monday morning in Multnomah County Circuit Court, Weisberg said. Oregon must redo guidelines for river temperature SALEM — A U.S. district court says Oregon must develop new plans to keep the Subscriber services: For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1 SUBSCRIPTION RATES EZPay 52 weeks 26 weeks 13 weeks Local home delivery Savings (cover price) $13/month 60 percent $173.67 41 percent $91.86 38 percent $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge Single copy price: $1.50 Tuesday through Saturday Circulation Dept. 800-781-3214 ADVERTISING Regional Publisher and Revenue Director: • Christopher Rush 541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com Advertising Manager: • Angela Treadwell 541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Lora Jenkins 541-276-2214 • ljenkins@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Business Office Coordinator • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com state’s rivers from getting too warm for fish. A ruling Friday set a series of deadlines that cover more than a dozen rivers, includ- ing the Willamette, Umpqua, Rogue, John Day, Columbia and Snake. Federal law requires Oregon have plans in place to ensure that the state’s rivers don’t get too warm. These plans are referred to as TMDLs, or total maximum daily loads, under the federal Clean Water Act. Oregon’s current TMDLs for temperature are permis- sive enough to kill salmon and steelhead, which rely on cold water to survive. This section of the Rogue River was one of the first in America to be protected by the Wild and Scenic Act of 1968. Nina Bell is executive director of North- west Environmental Advocates, a plaintiff in the case. She said this ruling is a victory, but the real test comes after the plans are in place. “It still leaves it in the lap of Oregon agen- cies and elected officials as to whether they’re going to use these plans to address Oregon’s largest sources of water temperature in our streams and rivers and that is the logging, farming and taking water out of the streams,” she said. Depending on the location, the state will have between four and eight years to get the work done. — Associated Press Classified & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com Business Office Manager: 541-966-0824 COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com