Chili cook-off heats up Joseph. A5
Enterprise, Oregon
Wallowa.com
Issue No. 40
January 18, 2017
$1
‘Extreme’ event fi eld fi lled with veterans
Near-perfect weather forecast for 2017 races
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County weather has
been a blessing for the Eagle Cap
Extreme sled dog race with both
cold temperatures and abundant
snowfall making for a near-perfect
race course.
“Even the slight warming we
had earlier this week is good for
trail conditions,” said Troy Nave,
public relations director for the Ea-
gle Cap Extreme. “Trail crews and
the Snowmobile Club groomer will
have an easier time compacting the
snow now that it’s warmer, making
for a good running surface. Now
we’re keeping fi ngers crossed for
cool temperatures during the race.”
This year’s ECX, which begins
at noon Thursday, is well populated
in every race category: the 200-mile,
12-dog main event, an Iditarod and
Yukon Quest qualifi er; the 100-mile,
eight-dog race; the 31-mile, six-dog
pot race (two stages: one on Thurs-
day, one on Friday), and the 22-mile
Juniors race which will start on
Thursday – a last minute schedule
change just announced by race offi -
cials.
Race offi cials decided over the
weekend to change the Juniors Race
start time from Friday to Thursday
with Juniors leaving the start chute
on Thursday early afternoon, imme-
diately after the Pot Racers leave.
Having more assistance along the
trail for the beginning mushers was
cited as the reason for the change.
See RACE, Page A6
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Scott White
gave it a few
hours after
this checking
in at Ollokott
last year, but
was too sick
to continue.
This year,
he’s healthy
and ready to
give two-time
winner Brett
Bruggeman
a run for his
money in
the 200-mile
race.
Big cold doesn’t stop
BIG READ
EVENT KICKS OFF WITH
DOCUMENTARY OF
VIETNAM-ERA TALK SHOW
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
T
he latest cold snap didn’t keep the reading
public, including students from Joseph and
Enterprise schools, from packing the Hurri-
cane Creek Grange Hall for Fishtrap’s Big
Read Kickoff on Jan. 5.
The Big Read is a nationwide community reading
program initiated by the National Endowment of the
Arts. This year, the county chose the Vietnam War clas-
sic “The Things they Carried,” a semi-autobiographical
account of the war by former soldier Tim O’Brien.
The kickoff event featured a showing of the docu-
mentary fi lm “Dick Cavett’s Vietnam.” Cavett hosted
a nighttime talk show on ABC from 1969-1975, some
of the most controversial years of the war. His shows
often featured outspoken guests, including politicians,
government offi cials, celebrities, veterans and others
on both sides of the war. The documentary featured the
most pertinent discussions on the war.
See READ, Page A6
Steve Tool/Chieftain
Fishtrap executive director Shannon McNerney addresses
the nearly packed house at Fishtrap’s Big Read
Kickoff on Jan. 12. The event was held at
Hurricane Creek Grange Hall.
Fishtrap’s second
Big Read event happens
Thursday, Jan. 19t, at the
Tomas Conference Cen-
ter, located at 309 S. Riv-
er St., starting at 7 p.m.
The event, titled: “What
Vietnam Teaches Us:
Wallowa County Veterans
Discuss The Things They
Carried” will feature a
panel of Wallowa County
veterans discussing their
reaction to Tim O’Brien’s
novel, “The Things
They Carried” from their
unique perspective as
combatants.
Miles McFall, recently
retired from 30 years
service in the Department
of Veterans Affairs where
he served as chief of
psychology service and
director of outpatient
mental health services,
will moderate the panel.
See EVENT, Page A6
Researchers look at cow’s impact on riparian areas
”
Study finds cows
spend little time
in streams or
buffer areas
By Eric Mortenson
EO Media Group
A fi ve-year study of cat-
tle grazing on federal range-
land showed they spend only
1 percent to 2.5 percent of
their time in streams or in ri-
parian buffer areas, a fi nding
that may prove important as
debate continues over the im-
pact of cattle on public land.
Researchers at Oregon
State University outfi tted
Courtesy of Oregon State University
A cow and calf drink from Catherine Creek in Union County.
cows from three ranches
with homemade GPS track-
ing collars and mapped their
positions during spring to
fall grazing seasons over fi ve
years. The collars reported
WHAT MIGHT WE LOOK AT IN MANAGEMENT
OPTIONS THAT LETS US BE MORE EFFICIENT?
John Williams, OSU Extension
the cows’ positions about
every fi ve minutes and com-
piled more than 3.7 million
data points over the course
of the study. The technology
was able to pinpoint when the
collared cows were within 30
meters of streams.
The study took place on
federal grazing allotments in
the Wallowa-Whitman and
Umatilla national forests.
The fi ndings are potentially
signifi cant because critics of
public land grazing practices
have long contended cattle
trample and erode stream-
banks and pollute water.
But John Williams, an
OSU Extension rangeland
expert in Wallowa County,
said cows enter riparian areas
for two reasons: “One is to
drink, the other is to cross,”
he said.
The cows typically did not
rest or graze near streams.
Instead, they spent most of
their time grazing on higher
ground or resting in dry areas
away from streams, accord-
ing to Williams.
See STUDY, Page A6