NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, November 14, 2020
Nez Perce Tribe invests in lodge conservation easement
By ELLEN MORRIS
BISHOP
For EO Media Group
WALLOWA LAKE —
A long-held dream of rein-
troducing sockeye salmon
to Wallowa Lake is one step
closer for the Nez Perce
Tribe.
The tribe secured a con-
servation easement last
month on the 9.22 acres
at the head of the lake and
along the Wallowa River
owned by Wallowa Lake
Lodge, LLC. The move
guarantees that sockeye
spawning and rearing hab-
itat will be ensured for
posterity.
“The main reason we
have wanted this easement
is for protection of the inlet
for sockeye salmon and pro-
tecting the waters and the
habitat around that area
expressly for sockeye rein-
troduction and for the fi sher-
ies,” said Shannon Wheeler,
Nez Perce Tribal Executive
Committee chairman. “The
other reason — it’s a place
that’s very meaningful to
the tribe.”
The area is known to the
Nez Perce as Waakak’amkt,
or “where the braided
stream disappears into the
water,” Wheeler said.
The conservation ease-
ment covers all 9.22 acres
of the lodge grounds. It
maps out three conserva-
Ellen Morris Bishop/For EO Media Group
A new conservation easement will preserve the Wallowa River’s eastern channel and wet-
land areas from future development.
tion zones, each of which
occupy about one-third of
the property. One, around
the lodge and cabins, allows
for expansion of the lodge
and cabins in areas that will
not impact habitat or old-
growth trees.
The second zone includes
the lodge’s renowned lawn,
shaded by old-growth trees,
and a small wetland to the
east. This is designated
open ground/habitat. Here,
the easement allows wed-
dings, parties and general
access that will not nega-
tively impact the habitat val-
ues of the site.
The third zone is the
wild and wet west side of
the property. It includes the
river, springs and wetlands
that provide spawning hab-
itat. This zone is designated
as an aquatic habitat, and
will remain undeveloped.
The specifi cs will be
spelled out in a management
plan that is under develop-
ment, Wheeler said.
“For me, the easement’s
everything
because
it
cements together both the
reality of buying the lodge
and everybody’s hope that
the tribe would be able to
protect the head of the lake,”
the lodge’s managing part-
ner, James Monteith, said.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
Intervals of clouds
and sunshine
MONDAY
Cloudy and milder
TUESDAY
Cloudy
WEDNESDAY
Windy in the
morning; cloudy
Periods of rain
The Nez Perce Tribe
purchased the conserva-
tion easement for about
$686,000, which was less
than the original appraisal
of $941,300. The funds will
allow Wallowa Lake Lodge,
LLC, to retire most of the
bridge-loans from Craft3
Bank and the Bank of East-
ern Oregon that helped
acquire the property in
2016.
“That turned out to be the
right amount for us given
the diffi culties the Nez
Perce Tribe faced during
the COVID-19 pandemic,”
Monteith said.
Wallowa Lake Lodge
56° 42°
51° 44°
John Gordon
Hanna was arrested
in September
By CHRIS COLLINS
Baker City Herald
54° 36°
56° 45°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
53° 44°
59° 43°
52° 41°
56° 33°
57° 42°
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
46/44
Kennewick Walla Walla
48/41
Lewiston
47/44
53/45
Astoria
49/46
39/35
50/34
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24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Pullman
Yakima 50/39
46/41
47/39
Portland
Hermiston
48/46
The Dalles 53/44
Salem
Corvallis
49/45
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
42/36
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
50/47
43/39
40/38
Ontario
47/37
47/36
39/31
0.09"
1.32"
0.49"
3.61"
4.95"
7.80"
WINDS (in mph)
Caldwell
Burns
56°
37°
52°
33°
73° (1999) 5° (1959)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Albany
48/45
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 39/34
48/45
0.13"
2.01"
0.55"
11.77"
11.39"
10.58"
HERMISTON
Enterprise
48/41
50/40
53°
37°
50°
34°
72° (1999) 6° (1916)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
47/41
Aberdeen
40/34
43/35
Tacoma
Yesterday
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Spokane
Wenatchee
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Medford
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Sun.
SW 7-14
SW 8-16
Boardman
Pendleton
WSW 7-14
WSW 8-16
Charitable Trust, the Meyer
Memorial Trust Fund, Col-
lins Foundation, the Oregon
Community
Foundation,
Healey Foundation, and the
Pacifi c Power Foundation
have funded the purchase of
this easement.”
The easement is part of
a growing presence of the
Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) peo-
ple in their Wallowa County
homeland. That includes
the preservation of the Iwe-
temlaykin State Heritage
site, Nez Perce participa-
tion in management of the
county’s 1,800-acre East
Moraine property, the work
of the Joseph-based Nez
Perce Fisheries in restoring
coho salmon, lamprey eels
and eventually sockeye to
the rivers here, the Home-
land Project in Wallowa and
the Precious Lands preserve
(Hetes’wits Wetes) in the
Joseph Canyon area.
“Our efforts will con-
tinue to interact with the
land,” Wheeler said. “That’s
where our people are from.
When the Nez Perce people
were leaving (in 1877), one
of the elders asked people to
turn around and look at the
land because it might be the
last time that they would see
it. So any chance that we get
to come back, I see a lot of
smiling faces when our peo-
ple are there, and I think the
land smiles when the Nez
Perce are there.”
Baker City man gets prison for meth
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
48° 41°
was constructed in 1923.
When it went on the auction
block in 2015, a partnership
of more than 100 sharehold-
ers, many of them Wallowa
County residents, purchased
the lodge for $3.1 million
with the intention of main-
taining the historic building
and preserving its natural
setting.
“Everybody had an equal
inspiration of having the
lodge continue as a lodge,
and that protecting the head
of the lake was very import-
ant,” Monteith said.
The property had been
zoned to permit 32 homes
or 122 condominiums on
the land. Several hotel and
development companies had
placed sealed bids on the his-
toric building and grounds,
according to Monteith.
“The
tribe
worked
closely with the Lodge own-
ership beginning in 2016 to
design a conservation ease-
ment that would protect land
and water resources sur-
rounding the historic Lodge
property,” said Ann McCor-
mack, a Nez Perce tribal
member and Wallowa Lake
easement project leader.
“With the help of grant
writer Karen Antell and
our legal staff member,
Dave Cummings, fund-
raising began in 2018 and
was accomplished in 2020.
The outstanding generos-
ity of the M.J. Murdock
BAKER CITY — A
Baker City man who was
arrested during a law
enforcement sweep of a
southeast Baker City prop-
erty known in the neigh-
borhood for rampant drug
activity has been sen-
tenced to 33 months in
prison for dealing in “sub-
stantial
quantities”
of
methamphetamine.
John Gordon Hanna,
54, who police describe as
a transient, was one of six
arrested in September on
drug-related charges by
offi cers from the North-
east Oregon Regional
SWAT Team and Baker
County Narcotics Enforce-
ment Team who executed
a search warrant at a Baker
City residence.
The property is owned
by Stacey Bork, who also
was among those arrested.
Hanna was convicted
Nov. 3 in Baker County
Circuit Court of deliver-
ing a substantial quantity
of methamphetamine and
being a felon in possession
of a fi rearm.
One other count of deliv-
ering methamphetamine,
two counts of possessing
methamphetamine and one
count of obliterating a fi re-
arm identifi cation number
were dismissed in a plea
agreement with the District
Attorney’s Offi ce, court
documents state.
Judge Matt Shirtcliff
sentenced Hanna to 33
months in prison for deliv-
ering a substantial amount
of marijuana and 18 months
in prison for the felon in
possession of a fi rearm con-
viction. Shirtcliff recom-
mended that Hanna obtain
substance abuse treatment
while in prison.
The sentences will be
served concurrently.
Hanna also must com-
plete three years’ post-
prison supervision upon
release. As terms of his
supervision, the court rec-
ommended substance abuse
treatment, no contact with
Bork or Amanda Crews,
who also was arrested on
drug charges on Sept. 15,
and Shebb Bassman. Hanna
was ordered to forfeit all
items seized during his
arrest, including fi rearms,
the court records state.
Crews, 42, no fi xed
address, was sentenced to
21 days in jail and placed on
three years’ probation after
pleading guilty last month
in Baker County Circuit
Court to one count of deliv-
ering methamphetamine as
a commercial drug offense
and fi rst-degree theft by
receiving.
According to court
records, visiting Malheur
County Circuit Court Judge
Lung S. Hung found that
based on Crews’ criminal
history, she was eligible by
Oregon law for an optional
probationary sentence.
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
42/36
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
New
6:54 a.m.
4:25 p.m.
6:02 a.m.
4:24 p.m.
First
Full
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 92° in Weslaco, Texas Low -12° in Daniel, Wyo.
Nov 14
Nov 21
IN BRIEF
Last
Nov 30
Dec 7
Walla Walla VA to hold
virtual town hall
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The Walla
Walla VA Medical Center is holding a vir-
tual Veterans Town Hall Meeting on Mon-
day, Nov. 16, starting at 4:30 p.m. The event
will be held on the web, streamed live on
Walla Walla VA’s Facebook page, and there
is also an option to call in via the telephone.
Walla Walla VA leadership wants to stay
connected with veterans and the community
about what’s happening, provide updates
on the various options of delivering health
care to veterans, COVID-19 updates and to
answer any questions. November is National
Family Caregiver Month, and there will also
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
be an update on VA’s caregiver support pro-
gram and information on the recent expan-
sion of this program.
To connect with the the Nov. 16
event, visit the Webex login at www.bit.
ly/3640BZE and use access code 199 935
7868 and password DRwKNzJ@623, or call
404-397-1596 (code 1999357868##). Event
connection information also can be found
on Walla Walla VA’s Facebook page as
well as on the calendar of Walla Walla VA’s
external website.
For more information, contact Linda
Wondra, public affairs offi cer, at 509-525-
5200, ext. 26520, or email Linda.Wondra@
va.gov.
— EO Media Group
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