A6
News
wallowa.com
DEVICE
Scot Heisel/Chieftain
Welted thistle
may be from
North Dakota
The explosive device was
discovered
underwater
in the small channel
(background, right) that
feeds into the Wallowa River.
other explosives were used to
initiate detonation. However,
he agreed that it certainly
was more powerful than an
M80 and closer to a stick of
dynamite.
“In my opinion, it proba-
bly was some teenagers who
made this and left it there,”
Sheriff Rogers said. “Our
main concern was the safety
of the public. There was con-
cern that this thing would be
dragged out onto the bank,
dry out and then detonate.”
The device was discov-
ered just east of the public
beach and boat launch area at
the north end of the lake. It
was in the small channel that
feeds into the Wallowa River.
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Earlier this spring, Wal-
lowa County Vegetation
Department Manager Ryan
Oberhelman called rancher
Todd Nash about spraying
some Musk Thistle on Pratt
Road. The spraying was ar-
ranged and then, before he
rang off, Nash dropped what
proved to be a bombshell.
By the way, he told Ober-
helman, there’s a weird thistle
on the corner of Brock and
Eggleson Roads out on Alder
Slope south of Enterprise.
He sprayed it, Nash said,
but Oberhelman might want
to take a look at it because it
didn’t look like anything Nash
had seen before.
“It looked like plumeless
thistle,” Oberhelman said.
“That’s an A-List, worst-of-
the-worst thistle.”
Only it didn’t look exactly
like plumeless thistle.
Oberhelman pulled a sam-
ple of the weed up and then
sprayed the remaining plants
for a second time.
He showed his sample
to Mark Porter, Oregon De-
partment of Agriculture In-
vasive Weed Management
Coordinator, and both agreed
they might have something
“weird” here, all right.
They sent the thistle to Or-
egon State University, where
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Wallowa County Chieftain
New-to-Oregon invasive
weed discovered in county
Continued from Page A1
notiied state and federal au-
thorities. An FBI dive team
was then assembled and
tasked with removing the
device. Representatives from
the Multnomah County Sher-
iff’s Ofice and that county’s
dive team also participated
as backup for the federal dive
team.
Members of the Ore-
gon State Police also were
brought in to handle the de-
vice once it was removed
from the water. OSP Ex-
plosives Specialist Dennis
Wagner from the Hermiston
ofice described the device
as a cylinder “about one inch
in diameter and eight inches
long and wrapped in black
tape.”
Wagner and another OSP
trooper took the device to a
safe location outside of Jo-
seph and detonated it soon
after it was removed from the
lake.
Wagner said it was difi-
cult to estimate how power-
ful the pipe bomb was since
July 27, 2016
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ACROSS
1. Dried corn kernals (pl.)
6. A dog is one
9. Medieval feline
13. Appeal emotionally
14. Uncommon
15. Chinese currency
16. Gain as interest
17. Habitat
18. Ribosomal ribonucleic acid
19. 2015 NL batting champ
21. Makes wet
22. Discounts
23. Beavers build this
24. Between south and east
25. Promotional materials
28. Arbiter
29. Ancient Greek ruler
31. Ruse
33. Where coaches spend their time
36. LA landmark __ House
38. Nothing
39. Chickpea plant
41. Revolutionary War militia member
44. Civil rights organization
45. Fathers
46. Carries things
48. Frequently
49. Location of White House
51. Small amount
52. A structure forming a covered entrance
54. Soothes
56. Shameless
60. Middle Eastern nation
61. Footsteps
62. Russian river
63. Once-influential student organization
64. Jags owner Khan
65. Bura-__: Nigerian language
66. Small boy
67. Belonging to a thing
68. Mosses
qt
qu
rn
DOWN
1. Went too fast
2. Protruding ridge on worms
3. Insignificant
4. Pains
5. South Dakota
6. Greek island
7. Emerald Isle
8. Golfers know this well
9. Desire to set fire to things
10. A glow
11. Levels
12. Enzyme
14. Explains again
17. City in South of France
20. Paddle
21. Salian
23. Split pulses
25. Consumed
26. Small drink of spirits
27. Indigenous people
29. Elaborated
30. Painting technique
32. Repentance
34. Not bright
35. Kansas hoops coach
37. Koran chapters
40. Dead end
42. Foul-mouthed bear
43. Nostrils
47. Game Cache File
49. One who believes in a supreme being
50. Carnival worker
52. Gnawing animals
53. German town
55. Conquer
56. Thai money
57. Taxis
58. __ Clapton
59. A form of Persian
61. Pounds per square inch
65. Nighttime
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Wallowa County Vegetation Manager Ryan Oberhelman and
his helper “Metchka” examine a big welted thistle at the edge
of an alfalfa field on Alder Slope.
it was genetically tested.
“The answer came back
July 19,” Oberhelman said.
“It is a Carduus Crispis, or
welted thistle, also sometimes
called a curly plumeless this-
tle. It’s never been seen in
Oregon before. The nearest
its ever been reported is North
Dakota and British Colum-
bia.”
Wallowa County just got
famous in the worst weedy-
way possible. The welted
thistle is an A-List weed in its
own right.
“We need to get on top of
this thistle because we can,”
Oberhelman said. “It hasn’t
had time to spread widely and
get out of control.”
Porter and Oberhelman
immediately began search-
ing for more of the thistle,
sprayed the edges of Mark
Vanderzanden’s alfalfa ield
where it was discovered, ar-
ranged with Vanderzanden to
destroy any baled hay up to 15
feet into the ield, and walked
the irrigation ditch.
“It’s all along Lower Alder
Slope Ditch,” Oberhelman re-
ported. “It appears upstream
to the fence line of Vander-
zanden’s ield and abruptly
stops, but it goes downstream
to Aspen Grove Road.”
All discovered sites have
been sprayed, but Porter and
Oberhelman estimate the
weed has been in Wallowa
County for about four years
and may have gone out in
bales of hay to other locations.
The weed warriors, with
the assistance of Vanderzan-
den and other farmers, are
tracking down any folks who
bought hay from the immedi-
ate area to make sure no weed
seed traveled to a new loca-
tion. Fortunately, Oberhelman
said, Vanderzanden has excel-
lent records and the weed only
appeared at the very edge of
his ield.
What’s more alarming,
Oberhelman said, was that
they have no idea how it got
here. It most likely started in
the ditch, as ditches are com-
mon vectors for weed seed.
But how did it get into the
ditch?
“Who is bringing in ditch
equipment from North Dako-
ta?” Oberhelman mused. “We
will probably never know for
sure how it got here. But we’ll
get in touch with every single
person on this ditch system
and warn them to watch out
for it. We’ll be monitoring this
weed for a long, long time.”
The weed is not poison-
ous to livestock, but grazing
is not a reliable control. If it
is grazed early in the spring,
it will have time to re-lower
and spread.
If you see a “weird thistle,”
please contact Ryan Oberhel-
man at roberhelman@co.wal-
lowa.or.us or 541-426-3332.
WOLF
Continued from Page A1
ODFW wildlife biologist
Mike Hansen suggested that
a wolf or wolves from a new
and unnamed pack — or even
remnants of the Imnaha Pack
— may have been responsible
for the depredation. He said
wolves from the Snake River
or South Snake River packs
may be expanding their terri-
tory.
“We just don’t know
enough about them,” Hansen
said. “We don’t have radio
collars on them, so we don’t
have reliable or consistent
enough information about
them yet.”
So far this year, state ofi-
cials have determined 14 pos-
sible depredation incidents as
either “conirmed” or “proba-
ble,” and nine of those cases
occurred in Wallowa County.
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