NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Contract awarded for forest management on Mount Emily
By DICK MASON The Observer
LA GRANDE — A controver-
sial plan for forest management in
the Red Apple portion of the Mount
Emily Recreation Area will go
forward, but over a longer timeline.
The Union County Board of
Commissioners voted Jan. 5 to
award ReedCo Forestry a contract
for the project, which will include
some logging in the 300-acre Red
Apple area of MERA. The contract
will pay the Union County-based
business $500 an acre for its work.
The Red Apple area is filled with
popular trails for hiking and moun-
tain biking and other nonmotorized
activities. Its users have expressed
concern that while fire prevention
and forest health are paramount, the
proposed project could damage the
area’s trails and landscape.
The contract calls for ReedCo to
do most of the thinning and removal
of fuels this winter and in the winter
of 2022-23. The original plans were
for it all to be done this winter. The
bidding process for the work was
postponed to allow Union County
officials more time to take public
input on the project.
Sean Chambers, Union Coun-
ty’s parks manager, said he will
meet with Jesse Reed, the owner of
ReedCo Forestry, to discuss plans
for his company’s work, which
could start as soon as this week.
Chambers said the two-year
timeframe will reduce the negative
impacts of the project. He said it is
best to do forest management work
in the winter, when the ground is
harder due to freezing conditions
and there is snow cover. This
Dick Mason/The Observer, File
ReedCo Forestry of Union County on Feb. 2, 2021, works to create a firebreak at the Mount Emily Recreation Area
near La Grande. The Union County Board of Commissioners in early January awarded the company the contract
to do forest management work that will include some logging in the 300-acre Red Apple area of MERA.
reduces the chance of equipment
damaging the land.
“Having an extended work
window will allow for protec-
tion of trails and allow for open
public access during the spring and
summer without interference with
any operations,” he said.
ReedCo Forestry was the lone
bidder for the project. The company
is familiar with MERA.
In 2021, it created a 6-mile fire-
break along MERA’s Mainline
Trail.
Chambers said ReedCo did an
excellent job of creating the fire-
break, adding the forest manage-
ment project will be much different
because the firebreak work involved
clearcutting but the work in the Red
Apple area will not.
He said trail corridors of the
Red Apple, Rock Garden, Lower
Hotshot and MERA loop trails will
be flagged to help ReedCo identify
them, avoid damaging them and
limit the crossing of them.
Chambers said any damage that
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may occur will be repaired by the
county. He added that in the inter-
est of safety, there will be some
closures during the work.
“These closures will be limited
and may allow for weekend access,
something to be coordinated with
the contractor,” he said.
The project area — 300 acres —
is about 8% of MERA’s total acre-
age of 3,700 acres.
Forrest Warren, a member of
MERA’s advisory committee,
said he does not like the idea that
the management project will be
completed over two winters because
it means the Red Apple trails may
be tied up over a longer span. Still,
he sees an upside because the work
will be done when there is frozen
ground and snow cover.
“It will be a lot better on trails,”
he said. “There will be a lot more
no-trace logging.”
Warren, echoing a concern
expressed by many in late 2021,
said he wishes more public input
had been given serious consider-
ation before the decision to move
forward on the forest management
plan was made, but he said he is
impressed with Chambers’ concern
for MERA.
“Sean has the best interest of
MERA at heart,” he said.
In his address to the Union
County Board of Commissioners
on Jan. 5 before its vote, Cham-
bers noted there were a number of
meetings during the last two years
where plans for forest management
work at Red Apple were discussed,
including a board of commissioners
work session in August 2020 that
was followed by a field review at the
Owsley Canyon Trailhead not long
after that meeting, as well as a field
review in November 2021.
The parks coordinator believes
the county has been transparent
about the development of its plans
for a forest management proj-
ect meant to protect a cherished
portion of the Mount Emily Recre-
ation Area.
“We all appreciate what a gem
this is for our community,” Cham-
bers said, “and we are intent on
making it shine brighter.”
Fishtrap to explore drought in the West
Wallowa County Chieftain
A little afternoon
rain; cooler
Fog early, then
cloudy
43° 33°
43° 30°
Some brightening
Mostly cloudy and
chilly
Mostly cloudy and
milder
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
40° 26°
38° 30°
50° 40°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
44° 31°
43° 32°
43° 29°
42° 31°
OREGON FORECAST
51° 38°
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
52/42
37/32
40/28
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
43/34
Lewiston
51/44
44/31
Astoria
51/43
Pullman
Yakima 38/27
53/40
41/34
Portland
Hermiston
51/43
Salem
The Dalles 44/31
43/35
51/41
Pendleton 38/30
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
39/33
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Bend
52/40
47/30
42/35
Ontario
36/27
Caldwell
Burns
45°
34°
43°
29°
67° (2021) -11° (2017)
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
Eugene
Trace
0.77"
0.47"
0.77"
0.32"
0.47"
WINDS (in mph)
39/29
41/22
Trace
1.33"
0.63"
1.33"
0.41"
0.63"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
43/33
51/41
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
52/42
Corvallis
56°
46°
42°
28°
61° (2021) -19° (1909)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
52/37
Aberdeen
38/31
36/28
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
52/42
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
53/35
Fri.
SSE 4-8
SSW 6-12
N 4-8
N 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
47/27
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
7:33 a.m.
4:35 p.m.
1:10 p.m.
4:07 a.m.
Last
New
ENTERPRISE — Fish-
trap Director Mike Midlo
said it’s time to talk about
the drought in the West as a
community.
Fishtrap will host Winter
Fishtrap: Drought, an online
conference on two consecu-
tive Saturdays, Jan. 22 and
29, at 10 a.m., according to
a press release. Registration
costs $50, or $45 for Fishtrap-
pers. Student registration is
$20.
“As of August 2021, 99%
of the United States west of
the Rockies was in drought,
as severe a measurement as
any in the historical record,”
Midlo quoted Sierra Maga-
zine.
But how did we get here?
And where do we go from
here?
Winter Fishtrap will
explore drought as it relates
to the environment, the econ-
omy, socioeconomic justice,
cultures and the ultimate
future of the American West.
Guests include rural land
use and water policy expert
Hannah Gosnel, director of
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
The Wallowa Lake Dam was well on its way to holding a full
lake in June 2021 despite the Wallowa County Board of Com-
missioners declaring a drought. Winter Fishtrap on Jan. 22
and 29, 2022, will host an online conference on the drought
in the West.
the Oregon Climate Change
Research Institute; Erica
Fleishman of Oregon State
University; research fellow
Kyle Hogrefe; Wallowa
County rancher Dan Probert;
and Katy Nesbitt, who will
lead a panel discussion from
local and regional experts.
On Jan. 22, there will be
an online discussion with
Fleishman on the causes and
consequences of aridification
across the West and some of
the surprising ways in which
natural and agricultural
systems can adapt to these
trends.
On Jan. 29, the panel will
discuss agriculture, timber
and tourism, as Nesbitt
moderates, with Gosnel,
Hogrefe and Probert in addi-
tion to local farmers, ranch-
ers and regional experts.
Learn more about Winter
Fishtrap: Drought and regis-
ter at Fishtrap.org.
First
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 81° in Santa Monica, Calif. Low -25° in Seboomook, Maine
Jan 17
Jan 25
Jan 31
Feb 8
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Dead wolf found in Wallowa
County likely shot, OSP says
WALLOWA — Oregon State Police
are seeking information about a dead wolf
found in Wallowa County that apparently
was shot.
A resident reported the wolf carcass to
state police about 10:36 a.m. on Saturday,
Jan. 8. The wolf was along Parsnip Creek
Road about 6 miles southeast of Wallowa.
The wolf, which was fitted with a track-
ing collar, is a 2-year-old female that had
dispersed from the Chesnimnus Pack,
according to a press release from OSP.
The initial investigation showed the wolf
had been fatally shot.
Oregon State Police is urging anyone
with information regarding this case to call
the Oregon State Police TIP line at 1-800-
452-7888, *677 or email at TIP@state.or.us.
Oregon State Police/Contributed Photo
This 2-year-old wolf was found dead on Sat-
urday, Jan. 8, 2022, apparently shot, along
Parsnip Creek Road about 6 miles southeast
of Wallowa.
Reference case No. SP22006179.
— EO Media Group
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
60s
cold front
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