W ALLOWA BASKETBALL TEAMS FLYING HIGH
P AGE B1
www.wallowa.com
Enterprise, Oregon
February 4, 2015
$1
Ranchers get more latitude to kill wolves
Annual survey shows population milestone met
By Eric Mortenson
EO Media Group
An annual wolf population survey
shows seven breeding pairs in Oregon,
enough to meet the state’s conservation
objective in Eastern Oregon and to give
ranchers more leeway to protect live-
stock.
The Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife, which regulates the state’s
wolf recovery plan, said the survey
count is a milestone.
“In the past seven years, Oregon
has gone from no known wolves, to
resident and reproducing wolves, and
now to meeting our conservation ob-
jective for the eastern part of the state.”
ODFW wolf program coordinator Russ
Morgan said in prepared statement.
The count moves Oregon’s wolf
plan, at least in Eastern Oregon, to
Phase 2. Livestock owners are still en-
couraged to use non-lethal means to
protect livestock, but now may shoot
wolves that are chasing livestock. Pre-
viously, producers could shoot wolves
only if they were “biting, wounding or
killing” livestock or working dogs, and
then only if other conditions were met.
Todd Nash, a Wallowa County
rancher and chairman of the Oregon
Cattlemen Association wolf commit-
tee, told the East Oregonian it is highly
unlikely for producers to actually catch
a wolf causing trouble in the pasture.
The rule does,
however,
make
them feel a little
more empowered
than they were
before.
“We
didn’t
want wolves to
begin with,” Nash
said. “We’re trying
to get along as best
we can in the politi-
cal climate we live in.”
See WOLVES, Page A10
Rocky Wilson/Chieftain
Wallowa County Vegetation Manager Allen Schnetzky, left, and
Julia Lakes, vice chairman of the Wallowa County Weed Control
Board, concur that the biggest weed eradication push currently
underway in Wallowa County is for meadow hawkweed.
Fight against meadow
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By Rocky Wilson
Wallowa County Chieftain
Picking weed enemy No. 1
for Wallowa County is a sub-
jective matter for landowners
here, where the geograph-
ic area is large and there’s
much diversity in habitats,
climates, and elevations.
There’s no debating which
single weed is receiving the
most money for treatment at
this point in time, however.
As pointed out by Wal-
lowa County Vegetation
Manager Allen Schnetzky
and Wallowa County Weed
Board Vice Chairman Julia
Lakes, more grant money
is being secured locally to
combat the invader meadow
hawkweed than for any other
single weed.
And the competition isn’t
even close, says Schnetzky.
A major meadow hawk-
weed problem spreading
C HIEFTAIN
WA L L O WA
from the Bear Creek area
near Wallowa “is working its
way up the valley,” Schnetz-
ky says. Lakes says efforts
are underway to target the
weed near Wallowa this year,
target its spread from Wal-
lowa to the Lostine River
next year, and possibly con-
centrate on the quick-spread-
ing weed beyond the Lostine
River thereafter.
Chemical treatments con-
trol hawkweed the best, says
Schnetzky, but such treat-
ments are expensive and of-
ten prove to be less than ef-
fective against the wayward
weed. Like strawberries,
meadow hawkweed spreads
by sending out near-surface
roots called “stolons” that
produce mono cultures, and
also disperses by emitting
dandelion-like seeds into the
wind.
See WEED, Page A11
S.F. Tool/Chieftain
Along the route of the proposed bike path, which would run on the other side of the guardrail on the same strip of
land where these trees grow.
Proposed lakeside
bike path in spotlight
Planned route runs through grazing zones
By S.F.Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
The proposed bike/pedestrian path
that would connect the county park at
the foot of Wallowa Lake to the state
park at the head of the lake continued
to inch forward at a Jan. 20 meeting
at the Wallowa County Courthouse.
County commissioners, the county
planning department, various state
departments and interested citizens
took part. The project is subject to
county approval.
John Bosket, senior project man-
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the state hired to design the project,
gave a brief history of the bike path
and several alternative routes that
were considered before tentatively
See PATH, Page A11
County again
has its own
watermaster
C O U N T Y
Wallowa County’s
Newspaper Since 1884
settling on route proposal 3A. The
3A route skirts the east side of the
lake between the highway and the
water’s edge and gained preferred
status for several reasons, including
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constraints, and substantial public
support.
F IRST BRAND - NEW PERSON IN ’15
Volume 132 Issue No. 42
© 2015 EO Media Group
role served
for many
years
by
ENTERPRISE — For Watermaster
WKH ¿UVW WLPH VLQFH WKH HDUO\ Shad Hattan
1990s, Wallowa County now who dou-
has its own Watermaster.
bled as the
$OWKRXJKWUDI¿FWRKLVRI Watermas-
Bates
¿FHKDVQ¶W\HWUHDFKHGÀRRG ter for both
stage, an increasing number Union and Wallowa counties.
of people are dropping by Bates says Hattan is continu-
to tap the services of Water- ing to work as Watermaster
master David Bates, sparing for Union County.
According to Bates, much
themselves the former drive
WR/D*UDQGHWR¿QGDQVZHUV of his current work out of
KLV (QWHUSULVH RI¿FH GHDOV
to their water questions.
Bates, a graduate of the with research and education
University of Idaho in Phys- and, as his presence in the
ical Geography and GIS, had Wallowa Resources build-
eight years of experience ing becomes more generally
working on water issues as known, every day people
the Oregon Water Resources DUH YLVLWLQJ KLV RI¿FH WR LQ
Department Assistant Water- troduce themselves and ask
master in Sisters before being questions.
transferred to Wallowa Coun-
See BATES, Page A10
ty. He’s moving into a local
By Rocky Wilson
Wallowa County Chieftain
Courtesy photo
Steven Joseph Butterfield earned the distinction as Wallowa County’s first baby of 2015
when he saw fit to arrive Jan. 13 at Wallowa Memorial Hospital. This third child of Joseph
couple Robert and Julie Butterfield tipped the scales at 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 20
inches long. Grandparents are Kathy and Joe Ihli, of Caldwell, Idaho, and Lori and Dan
Butterfield, of Joseph. At home young Steven joins a brother, Kolton, 5, and a sister,
Makayla, who is nearly 3.