What we like most about our moms!
Special Mother’s Day tribute, pages A6 and 7
www.wallowa.com
Enterprise, Oregon
$1.2M in timber
money on its way
May 6, 2015
O LD - FASHIONED WORKING HORSES
Lee Carlson,
73, walks his
championship
team up to
their plow.
Left, Fjord
mare Carmel,
9; right,
Haflinger
mare Bella,
8. The pair
proved their
quality at the
17th Lee Scott
Memorial
Plowing Bee,
May 2, east of
Joseph.
Numbers not yet concrete, commissioner warns
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County got
word that its “timber mon-
ey” was on the way last week
when Sen. Ron Wyden an-
nounced that Oregon would
receive nearly $61 million
in Secure Rural Schools and
Community Self-Determi-
nation Act (SRS) money.
Wallowa County does not
share in the BLM payments,
but its award is estimated at
$1,223,032. Title 1 money
makes up $1.039,577 of that
and Title 2 money the bal-
ance of $183.454.
Title II money is ear-
marked, by law, for resto-
ration of public lands and
nearby private lands. Weed
control is an example of a
program that benefits from
Title 2 money. Approxi-
mately $636,594 from the
Title 1 money will go to
roads. The balance of Title
1 money will go to schools
$1
in the county.
The numbers are still not
concrete, said County Com-
missioner Mike Hayward,
because the amounts are
dependent upon other con-
siderations at the state level
that have not yet been taken
into account.
“As a good example of
just how uncertain these es-
timates are, we already have
a revision,” Hayward said.
SEE
STORY,
PAGE A12.
See MONEY, Page A9
TRAIL ENTRANCE
CLOSED
Homan
JSD hires
Homan as
new super
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
See HOMAN, Page A9
C HIEFTAIN
WA L L O WA
C O U N T Y
Wallowa County’s
Newspaper Since 1884
‘NO PUBLIC ACCESS’ TO EAST MORAINE
”
PART OF THE PROBLEM IS THAT PEOPLE HAVE HISTORICALLY
TRESPASSED AND ASSUMED A SENSE OF COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP
Kathleen Ackley executive director of Wallowa Land Trust
By Steve Tool
Wallowa county Chieftain
T
he Wallowa Valley’s
uncharacteristic balmy
spring weather has
wrought not only
the early bloom of
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East Moraine of Wallowa Lake,
but also the early start of home
construction, as the main access
trail from Wallowa Lake Highway
to the moraine suddenly sprouted
a “no public access” sign. Proper-
ty owner Bruce Ham, a Portland
surgeon, erected the sign because
the main access trail runs close to
the construction site.
Despite Wallowa County’s cur-
rent land development ordinance,
Article 44, adopted in 2002, which
curtails and monitors development
along the lake and its moraines,
building is possible and legal. The
site meets the design review criteria
of Article 44, according to Harold
Black, the county’s planning
director.
Black said a previous planning
director, Diane Daggett, signed off
on the original permit in December
of 1995. In December of
1999, Ham had a well and
electricity installed on the
property, which “perfect-
ed,” or made permanent
the opportunity to legally
build on the site.
Black said the Hams
are very conscientious
landowners who are
careful to follow the
stipulations of Article 44, and con-
tinually consult with him during
the construction process.
See ACCESS, Page A9
Rob Ruth/Chieftain
Joseph School District’s
board of directors recently
hired Joseph Charter School’s
athletic director and sixth-
grade teacher, Lance Homan,
to take over the district’s su-
perintendent position. Homan
will take over the position
July 1. The current JCS su-
perintendent, Rhonda Shirley,
is slated to retire at the end of
this school year.
Homan is a Wallowa
County native, having spent
grades 1-12 in the Enterprise
school system. Upon gradua-
tion, Homan attended Eastern
Oregon University for a year
before attending Southern Or-
egon University in Ashland.
Courtesy Photo
Construction of the Ham home is well underway on the East Moraine of Wallowa Lake. A well-used trail which runs very close to the site is actually
on private property.
A sign next to the
Wallowa Lake Highway
informs the public of
interrupted access to a
trail on private land.
Volume 133 Issue No. 3
© 2015 EO Media Group
Biomass for downtown Enterprise studied again
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa
Resources
Community Solutions Inc.
(WRCS), of Enterprise, has
won a $30,000 grant to design
and engineer the conversion
of three public buildings in
downtown Enterprise from
heating oil to regionally pro-
duced woody biomass. The
three buildings are the City
Hall/Fire Station, the Enter-
prise Carnegie Public Library
and Pioneer Guest Home.
It is the second study
WRCS will have done on the
feasibility of biomass heating
for downtown structures. The
company received $9,000 in
2013 to study the feasibility
of swapping out the city hall
boiler for biomass. The city
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at that time.
“At the time there was just
Rob Ruth/Chieftain
Pioneer Guest Home, Enterprise’s historic structure at N. River and E. Main streets that
was originally the Enterprise Hotel, is the third structure currently under study for biomass
heating.
too much uncertainty to make
a decision,” said Enterprise
City Administrator Michele
Young.
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that the new, broader design
project is no indication that
any decision has been made
one way or the other about
the potential conversion; it
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opment of a potential market
for biomass that is one of
WRCS’s goals.
In fact, the U.S. Forest
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designed to stimulate bio-
mass businesses and create a
higher demand for biomass,
according to Marcus Kauff-
man, Oregon Department of
Forestry biomass resource
specialist. “The grants are
designed to provide business
the resources to jump-start
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the low-value material result-
ing from forest health treat-
ments,” he said.
The city’s involvement at
this point is simply provid-
ing the blueprints needed to
create the options the council
will view when completed,
according to Enterprise May-
or Steve Lear.
See STUDY, Page A9