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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2020)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Friday, February 21, 2020 ODFW confirms wolves killed rancher’s bull near Sparta Numerous wolf tracks found near steer’s carcass By JAYSON JACOBY EO Media Group BAKER CITY — A state wildlife biologist concluded that wolves killed a Baker County rancher’s 2-year-old bull and probably also killed a yearling steer last week in the snowbound Wallowa Moun- tains northeast of Baker City. Mib Dailey, who lives near Sparta, about 25 miles north- east of Baker City, said the bull and steer, along with two other bulls and one cow from his herd, had been stranded in the Eagle Creek area over the winter. The animals didn’t turn up last fall when he was gath- ering his herd from summer pasture in the mountains, where he runs 250 cow-calf pairs. Dailey said he has been looking for the missing ani- mals, and about a week ago he found them on the west side of Eagle Creek near Puzzle Creek. That’s between Eagle Forks and Martin Bridge, about 2 miles north of Sparta. Dailey said a friend had been hauling hay to the cat- tle using a side-by-side ATV, as the 30 or so inches of snow made it impossible to reach Contributed photo A state wildlife biologist concluded that wolves killed a Baker County rancher’s 2-year-old bull and probably also killed a yearling steer last week in the snowbound Wallowa Mountains northeast of Baker City. the area in a truck and trailer. Dailey said he also brought in a bulldozer to plow some of the snow from a road, with the goal of leading the cattle back to a main road where he could load them in a trailer and drive them back to his ranch. Dailey said his friend delivered hay to the cattle late in the afternoon of Feb. 12. All five animals were together at that time, Dailey said. When his friend returned with more hay on Saturday, Feb. 15, he found the carcass of the steer and the 2-year-old bull with severe wounds. Dailey went to the site the next morning, Sunday, Feb. 16. His son, Shondo, put down the bull due to the ani- mal’s severe wounds. Dailey said the bull was worth about $2,500. He put the 600-pound steer’s value at around $1,000. Justin Primus, assistant district biologist at ODFW’s Baker City office, investi- gated the case and examined the bull’s carcass on Sunday. In his report confirming that wolves killed the bull, Primus wrote that “fresh wolf tracks were found at Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY the scene.” He estimated that the bull had been attacked three to four days earlier, which would put the attack one or two days after Dailey’s friend had last brought hay to the cattle. Primus, in examining the bull’s carcass, found numer- ous “bite scrapes” and mus- cle tissue trauma up to 9 by 6 inches across and 3 inches in depth. The number, location and direction of the bites and the associated depth of inju- ries on the bull are consistent with other confirmed wolf attack injuries on cows. Sunshine mixing with some clouds 53° 31° 54° 38° Spotty afternoon showers Times of clouds and sun Periods of clouds and sun PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 57° 35° 53° 30° 50° 32° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 53° 29° 56° 38° 60° 39° 55° 31° 53° 32° OREGON FORECAST 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 52/39 47/31 50/27 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 50/34 Lewiston 57/36 52/28 Astoria 51/36 Pullman Yakima 48/28 55/35 53/33 Portland Hermiston 56/36 The Dalles 53/29 Salem Corvallis 56/32 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 45/28 Bend 56/33 58/28 53/29 Ontario 46/23 Caldwell Burns 0.00" 0.12" 0.69" 0.36" 3.00" 1.97" WINDS (in mph) 47/24 48/22 Today 64/34 Sat. E 3-6 NNE 4-8 Boardman Pendleton Medford WNW 3-6 WNW 6-12 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 57/24 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 6:49 a.m. 5:30 p.m. 6:13 a.m. 3:35 p.m. New First Full Last Feb 23 Mar 2 Mar 9 Mar 16 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 90° in Immokalee, Fla. Low -38° in Cotton, Minn. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s -0s 0s showers t-storms 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 © 2020, EO Media Group PORTLAND — People keep moving into Oregon — and relatively few are leaving. Newly released census data shows Oregon had the nation’s 10th-fastest rate of net migration from 2018 to 2019, growing at a rate of 6.9 per 1,000 residents. That’s nearly four times faster than the national rate. Nearly all the new arriv- als came from another part of the U.S.; immigrants accounted for less than 12% of Oregon’s net migration. The influx likely reflects Oregon’s robust economy and relatively low housing costs, compared to Seattle and the Bay Area. The migration may also reflect Oregon’s proxim- ity to California, the larg- est state by population in the nation and also one of the places people are leaving. Oregon’s southern neighbor had a net outmigration rate of 3.3 last year. Migrants have been key to Oregon’s economic growth, bringing educated workers with skills the state hasn’t developed on its own. Population growth brings challenges, too, of course, chief among them more competition for housing and more vehicles on the state’s roads. Oregon’s population grew by just over 10% from 2010 through 2019, accord- ing to census data, 11th-fast- est in the nation during that stretch. Migration accounted for three-quar- ters of that growth. Still, Oregon economists worry migration may actu- ally be slowing, with poten- tially serious consequences for the state. “Oregon’s stronger long- run economic growth his- torically is tied to migration and faster working-age pop- ulation gains,” state econo- mists wrote in the quarterly revenue forecast released Wednesday. “The primary risk to the local outlook is the available labor supply, particularly as recent pop- ulation estimates indicate migration is slowing more than expected.” PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene 50° 17° 50° 29° 67° (1982) 15° (2018) 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 56/31 0.00" 2.01" 0.82" 4.03" 3.79" 2.20" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 45/28 56/32 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 53/31 54/32 51° 23° 48° 30° 69° (1982) 7° (1957) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 54/35 Aberdeen 46/27 44/30 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 54/40 era images of wolves, tracks found by biologists, as well as reports from residents. The Keating pack wolves have roamed this winter over an area from roughly Eagle Forks north into the Eagle Cap Wilderness and west to near Medical Springs, Rat- liff said. Ratliff said the pack had at least two pups last year. None of the wolves has been captured and fitted with a tracking collar, however, so ODFW can’t monitor the ani- mals’ movements in detail. One of the wolves appears to have an injured left hind leg. Ratliff said biologists have found wolf tracks this winter that were likely made by an animal with an injured leg. Kylee Simonis of Baker City, who said he had four trail cams set up earlier this winter about 6 to 8 miles from where Dailey’s cat- tle were attacked, captured a video of two wolves, one of which trots past the camera with a gait clearly affected by its left hind leg. Simonis said he shared that video and other images of wolves in the area with ODFW. Dailey’s two other bulls and the cow were not injured, and he said Wednesday morning he hoped to bring that trio back to his ranch later in the day. Oregon growing at 4 times national rate By MIKE ROGOWAY The Oregonian Sunny to partly cloudy Primus said he deemed it “probable” rather than “confirmed” that wolves also attacked the steer only because the steer’s carcass had been mostly consumed, with no muscle tissue remain- ing to allow him to examine wounds in the same detail as with the bull. “The steer was largely consumed, and only a small piece of the hide, skull and pelvis remained,” Primus wrote. He did find numerous wolf tracks near the steer’s carcass, as well as tooth scrapes up to 1/4-inch in diameter and up to 3 inches long on the steer’s hide. Those marks “appeared to be postmortem,” Primus wrote in his report. Given the bull and the steer had been traveling together, and that he confirmed wolves had attacked the bull, Pri- mus said even in the absence of wounds to examine on the steer he could conclude it’s “probable” that wolves attacked both animals. “The steer died at the same location and time as the injuries to the bull occurred,” he wrote in his report. Specifically wolves from the Keating pack, which ODFW believes consists of at least six wolves, said Brian Ratliff, district biologist at the agency’s Baker City office. Ratliff said that tally is based on ODFW trail cam- 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high low BRIEFLY Oregon denies pipeline permit before federal decision PORTLAND — Oregon’s Department of Land Conservation and Development says a proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal in Coos Bay would have significant adverse effects on the state’s coastal scenic and aes- thetic resources, endangered species and crit- ical habitat. The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that in a letter Wednesday to backers of the Jor- dan Cove Energy Project, agency director Jim Rue said neither the Federal Energy Reg- ulatory Commission nor the Army Corps of Engineers “can grant a license or permit for this project unless the U.S. Secretary of Com- merce overrides this objection on appeal.” The decision on one of the key state per- mits for the project is a rebuke that comes just before the Federal Energy Regulatory Com- mission is scheduled to issue a final envi- ronmental analysis on the project, approving or denying its primary federal license. The Trump administration is a supporter of energy export projects in general, and Jordan Cove in particular. The proposed natural gas terminal and a 230-mile feeder pipeline would permit ship- ment of natural gas from the United States and Canada to Asia and would be the West Coast’s first liquefied natural gas export terminal. The Oregon Department of Environmen- tal Quality has already denied a water qual- ity certification for the Jordan Cove natural gas export project proposed by Pembina, the Canadian energy company. Pembina with- drew its application for a different state per- 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 mit and said that it awaits a final determination by the federal commission. Its three current members were all appointed by Trump. Eight arrested in police search of College Place home COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. — Eight people are in custody after police spotted a theft sus- pect’s vehicle Wednesday afternoon at a home in the 200 block of West Whitman Drive. Walla Walla police were investigating a sus- pect who stole from Sportsman’s Warehouse, College Place Police Chief Troy Tomaras said. A College Place officer saw the suspect’s alleged vehicle at the 220 W. Whitman Drive home just before 2:20 p.m. and notified Walla Walla police and Walla Walla County Sher- iff’s Office deputies, as they knew several people were inside, Tomaras said. One man came out after police surrounded the home and was taken into custody after resisting arrest, but two tried escaping out the back. They were arrested, too, the chief said. “We had to surround the home because people wouldn’t come out,” Tomaras said. Tomaras said police used a loudspeaker to call the remaining occupants, who came out after a time, he said, and were arrested with- out incident. Tomaras said arrests were for investigation of various crimes, including warrants, but he didn’t have details yet. He also didn’t know yet who those arrested were, but would know more when officers completed their search, as the investigation was underway. — Walla Walla Union-Bulletin and wire services 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