NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, November 6, 2021
Rancher overcomes injury to win award
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SENECA — Despite an acci-
dent nine years ago that left him
paralyzed from the sternum down,
Alec Oliver is busier than ever at
his family’s fifth-generation cattle
ranch in Eastern Oregon.
Oliver, 33, rides tall in a modi-
fied saddle that allows him to
continue roping cows on pasture
and forestland east of Seneca.
When he’s not managing his own
herd, Oliver usually is connect-
ing with other ranchers across the
West as membership director for
Country Natural Beef.
A rising star in the livestock
industry, Oliver was named the
2021 Agriculturist of the Year by
Oregon Aglink, a nonprofit group
dedicated to agricultural education
and promotion.
“It’s shock i ng and ver y
humbling,” he said. “I still feel
I have a long ways to go, a lot to
prove and a lot to achieve.”
Getting to this point almost
didn’t happen for Oliver, who was
23 when he rolled his pickup one
night after having too much to
drink at a fundraiser in Seneca,
population 262.
Prior to the accident, Oliver
actually had gotten a ride home
but decided later he would return
to town. He remembers the truck
fishtailed, and he swerved to avoid
hitting their fence. That’s when the
vehicle flipped, pinning his leg
between the steering wheel and
gear shifter.
J.C. Oliver Inc./Contributed Photo
Alec Oliver working cattle on the ranch near Seneca. Oliver was named 2021 Agriculturist of the Year by Oregon
Aglink, a nonprofit group dedicated to agricultural education and promotion.
Instead of being ejected, Oliver
had his hip pulled out of the socket
and broke the T7 vertebrae in his
spine. The truck landed back on its
wheels, and his parents, alerted by
the noise, ran outside to find him
hanging out of the driver’s window.
“If (the pickup) had gone
another quarter-turn on its side,
I’d have been underneath it,”
Oliver said.
Oliver was f lown from the
hospital in John Day to an inten-
sive care unit in Bend, where he
had surgery. After two weeks, he
was flown again to Craig Hospital
in Englewood, Colorado, to begin
rehabilitation as a paraplegic.
Even then, Oliver said he never
gave up hope he would eventually
get back to ranching.
“I never thought about quit-
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ting,” he said. “It was just a matter
of how do I do it.”
The biggest moment of inspi-
ration for Oliver came when he
was visited by his neighbors and
fellow ranchers Mike and Linda
Bentz. To be a rancher, they told
him all he needed was his brain
— he could always hire help for
physical tasks.
In 2013, the year after the
accident, Oliver went to Indiana
where he had a lift installed in
the back of his pickup that could
maneuver him on and off a horse.
He also had a custom saddle made
by Randy Bird in Texas, with a
high back and strap to keep him
from falling.
Today, Oliver runs the ranch-
ing business, J.C. Oliver Inc.,
after his father J.C. Oliver III
died in 2017. Another silver lining
of the accident, Oliver said, is it
put him in touch with Country
Natural Beef, a co-op with more
than 100 rancher-members from
Hawaii to Texas.
Networking with other ranchers
has helped to refine practices on
their own ranch, Oliver said, such
as grazing plans and regenerative
agricultural practices to increase
the land’s overall resiliency and
drought tolerance.
“I think grazing has been a huge
thing, just managing the grass and
soil to create healthier landscapes
and allow for more production,”
Oliver said.
The goal, Oliver said, is to keep
the 132-year-old ranch along Bear
Creek healthy and productive for
another century.
“We’ve been here since 1889,”
he said. “My hope is by 2189,
there’s new generations taking
even better care of the land than
I am.”
Oliver will be recognized by
Oregon Aglink on Nov. 19 during
the organization’s annual Denim
and Diamonds event at the Salem
Convention Center.
Buffalo Peak selected as facility of
the year by Oregon Golf Association
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
A shower; windy
this afternoon
Partly sunny and
cool
Rather cloudy
Cloudy and cooler
with showers
Some sun with a
shower in places
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
51° 34°
51° 35°
56° 47°
51° 41°
54° 38°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
56° 36°
56° 34°
56° 48°
54° 44°
55° 39°
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
50/43
46/32
52/31
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
51/37
Lewiston
50/42
57/39
Astoria
51/43
Pullman
Yakima 52/35
49/40
51/37
Portland
Hermiston
53/44
The Dalles 56/36
Salem
Corvallis
51/41
La Grande
Yesterday
Normals
Records
49/30
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
52/41
46/33
49/28
Ontario
58/34
Caldwell
Burns
53°
41°
56°
34°
79° (1934) 13° (2003)
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
51/42
Trace
0.10"
0.17"
4.02"
2.86"
6.64"
WINDS (in mph)
58/35
47/21
0.10"
0.15"
0.21"
6.18"
10.36"
10.53"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 48/25
52/43
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
51/34
52/37
55°
39°
55°
35°
75° (1934) 13° (2003)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
50/40
Aberdeen
47/32
48/32
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
49/42
Today
Sun.
Boardman
SSW 8-16
Pendleton WSW 10-20
Medford
52/38
SSW 4-8
SSW 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
44/25
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:42 a.m.
5:35 p.m.
10:06 a.m.
6:56 p.m.
First
Full
Last
New
Nov 11
Nov 19
Nov 27
Dec 3
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 93° in San Bernardino, Calif. Low 11° in Alamosa, Colo.
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
ice
50s
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cold front
E AST O REGONIAN
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Oregon’s elite youth golfers compete at the Buffalo Peak
Golf Course in Union during the 91st Bob Norquist Oregon
Junior Amateur tournament June 28-July 2, 2021. The Union
golf course recently won the Oregon Golf Association award
for facility of the year, an acknowledgment the association
gives to the best facility in the state.
more focus on marketing,
following a loss of money
nearly every year of opera-
tion since it opened.
Londin joined the course
as general manager shortly
after, in February 2020,
and has helped the county
achieve its vision for the
course.
“I would give all the
kudos for the award to our
crew and to Dana,” Union
Cou nt y Com missioner
Donna Beverage said. “They
all really work hard and have
put in so much time over this
last year and a half.”
Londin stated the course’s
financial report for the last
year outdid the team’s expec-
tations.
“We’re really trying to be
physically and financially
responsible, that’s a huge
emphasis,” he said. “I think
last year we did really well.
The financial goals that I set,
we literally blew away.”
Part of that success came
from hosting the Oregon
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State Junior Amateur Cham-
pionship this summer. More
than 100 of the state’s top
junior golfers came to Union
to compete, adding a sizable
economic boost to local busi-
nesses and the course itself.
The event was considered
a massive success by those
involved, while also show-
ing the positive impact the
golf course can have on the
county.
“We’re hoping that this
will continue to help other
entities in Union County,
like the restaurants, Mount
Emily Recreation Area and
the Union County Museum,”
Beverage said. “We wanted
to be able to help the whole
region.”
Upon hosting this year’s
championship and winning
golf facility of the year, the
Oregon Golf Association
selected Buffalo Peak to
host the first major event of
the season for the next five
years. The competition will
take place in May.
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UNION — A hidden
gem is no longer hidden, as
Buffalo Peak Golf Course
is starting to turn heads
around the state and in the
golf community.
The Union golf course
recently won the Oregon
Golf Association award
for facility of the year, an
acknowledgment the associ-
ation gives to the best facil-
ity in the state. Buffalo Peak
received the honor for its
contributions to the game
of golf, the community and
the Oregon Golf Associa-
tion. After being built 20
years ago and facing hurdles
along the way, the course has
become a spectacle in the
heart of Union County.
“As a team we’re very
proud of it, I have to say,”
Dana Londin, the course’s
general manager, said.
“We’re in a town of 1,300
people and 30,000 in the
county, so to receive this
award is a great honor.”
Built in 2000, the golf
course itself encountered
many challenges in paying
off construction costs and
building up a reputation
capable of drawing in skilled
golfers and amateurs alike.
“We’ve got a great team
here,” Londin said. “They’ve
bought into my plan and
we’re just running with it.”
The course includes 18
holes that were originally
designed by golf course
architect Williams Phillips.
The premier playing range
utilizes the local beauty of
Northeastern Oregon, which
Londin noted is a big draw to
visitors.
In 2019, the Union County
Board of Commission-
ers created a restructured
fiscal plan that was aimed
at increasing the course’s
spending budget. The deci-
sion marked a shift toward
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