Wallowa County Chieftain
wallowa.com
Business News
New shingle,
joyful returns and
congratulations
June 7, 2017
A7
YOU ‘CAN’ DO IT
BIZ BUZZ
Kathleen Ellyn
T
here’s a new addition
to our tourist busi-
nesses that is sure to
please. Bigfoot Balloons
has opened and is ready to
lift off immediately. The
balloon season will extend
until around mid-September
Owners Jake Thomas
and Shannon Tuck moved
here from Chattanooga,
Tenn., lured by the oppor-
tunity to fl y their balloons
out of a mountain town
where they can also enjoy
paragliding.
“Those two things kind
of sucked us in,” said
Thomas.
They’re avid outdoors
people who enjoy hiking,
riding dirt bikes, fl ying in
wingsuits or paragliding
and more.
They launch their bal-
loon from the Joseph base-
ball fi eld on N. Lake Street
at sunrise and the three-hour
trip includes an hour of
gliding at 2,000 feet wher-
ever the wind blows (mostly
out over the Zumwalt Prai-
rie). The excursion includes
the fl ight, setup, packing up
and champagne toast. You
can go up in a shared fl ight
or your group can book an
exclusive fl ight.
They are offering dis-
counts to local folks.
Call Bigfoot Balloons
at (423) 443-7994 or visit
them at bigfootballons.com.
• Folks at the head of
the lake are welcoming a
new facilities manager for
the Wallowa Lake Tram.
Perry Batten, a former Wal-
lowa County resident and
graduate of Enterprise High
School, has “come home”
to act as lift maintenance
and operations manager.
“I was trying to get
home,” Batten said. “It was
time after 20 plus years of
living in California. In all
the places I’ve been in the
last 20 years, there’s no
place that compares to here.
The people, the mountains
–– it’s always been home.”
Batten originally left
Wallowa County to make
a career and chase good
skiing conditions. He
moved to Kirkwood, Calif.,
to manage a big ski area
with 16 lifts and act as lift
maintenance and operations
manager.
The move back to
Wallowa is a vertical move
because the tram opera-
tion offers so many more
responsibilities, he said.
He’ll be working on some
upgrades to equipment, a
complete cosmetic overhaul
of the gondolas, managing
the facilities of the restau-
rant and cabins and more.
“I’m really enjoying
it,” Batten said. “It seems
like it’s been a seamless
transition.”
Batten is the son of
Doug and Carol Batten of
Enterprise. He is married to
Adrianne and has two chil-
dren, Keith, 15, who attends
Joseph Charter School and
Henry, who is almost a year
old.
Batten will continue to
get his skiing in doing “a lot
of backcountry skiing” and
using his time off to travel
to experience the snow
sports in other areas.
• Congrats to Kim Tip-
pett of Community Bank,
who retired last month after
18 years with Community
Bank.
She began as a teller
in 1999, working in both
Enterprise and Joseph
branches. In 2010 she took
on a new role as the loan
fi le coordinator and was
promoted to staff accoun-
tant in 2012.
“Kim is always super
upbeat and positive,” said
Leah Johnson, marketing
manager of Joseph Com-
munity Bank. “She always
had a smile on her face and
was just a pleasure to work
with. No matter what the
task in any position, she
was always fi nding ways to
improve effi ciency.”
Kim’s retirement plans
include adding more lakes
to her Wallowa Mountain
hiking to-do list and catch-
ing up on reading, painting
and visits with family.
Are You
Turning
65?
Need Help
Navigating and
Understanding
Your Medicare
Options...
Locally owned & operated
616 W. North Street, Enterprise
541-426-4208
Call Kathleen TODAY
to discuss your options
Contributed photo
Terminal Gravity Brewing of Enterprise is offering its Eagle Cap IPA in new 12-oz. cans. They’re on shelves now at a variety
of retailers. Packed with Citra hops and a 6.1 percent alcohol by volume, the beer features notes of citrus, tropical orange
and grapefruit.
Groups sue over Lostine Corridor project
Complaint filed
in federal court
By George Plaven
East Oregonian
A controversial logging
project in the Lostine Corri-
dor –– one of the most popular
and well-trodden entry points
into the Eagle Cap Wilderness
in Wallowa County –– will be
challenged in court.
Two nonprofi t conserva-
tion groups are taking the
U.S. Forest Service to court
over the plan.
The complaint, fi led May
31 by Oregon Wild and the
Hells Canyon Preservation
Council, accuses the Forest
Service of violating the Na-
tional Environmental Policy
Act by improperly authoriz-
ing the project as a “categor-
ical exclusion,” allowing the
agency to sidestep a formal
environmental impact study.
Kris Stein, district ranger
for the Eagle Cap Ranger Dis-
trict on the Wallowa-Whit-
man National Forest, signed
off on the project April 5.
Restoration activities include
treating roughly 2,110 acres
of forest and removing hazard
trees to make the area safer
and more resilient to wildfi re.
The Lostine Corridor is lo-
cated along an 11-mile stretch
of road that follows the Wild
and Scenic Lostine River un-
til it dead ends at Two Pan
Trailhead,
encompassing
some private land along with
seven campgrounds and three
trailheads for visitors to ac-
cess the surrounding wilder-
ness.
For decades, the corridor
was managed lightly to avoid
disturbing natural resourc-
es including habitat for fi sh,
wildlife and sensitive plant
species. Now Stein says there
is so much dense and over-
grown vegetation that it poses
a safety risk for the nearby
community.
“A lot of people were re-
ally concerned about the con-
dition out there,” Stein said.
“We needed to do something
about this.”
But Rob Klavins, northeast
Oregon fi eld coordinator for
Oregon Wild, said the project
goes well beyond mere pub-
lic safety. According to the
lawsuit, the Lostine Corridor
project would harvest an esti-
mated 4 million board feet of
wood, with just 7 percent of
tree removal designed to pro-
tect people.
“The vast majority of the
project is not about that,”
Klavins said. “It’s an industri-
al timber sale.”
Klavins said the project
was shielded from NEPA
review thanks to what he
described as a loophole in
the 2014 Farm Bill. That
year, Congress amended the
Healthy Forests Restoration
Act to help expedite small
logging projects “in an area in
which the risk of hazard trees
poses an imminent risk to
public infrastructure, health
or safety.” The amended was
based largely as a response to
the outbreak of pine bark bee-
tles across the West.
2017 Season • First Half (May - July)
Summer Events
& Presentations
Get your
FREE
Eclipse
Glasses!
Fri, May 26
Fri, June 9
Free! Wallowology Opens for the season!
Fridays
Saturdays
Free! Discovery Walk leaving from Wallowology. 10am-Noon
Sundays
Free! Discovery Walk leaving from Wallowa Lake Lodge. 9-11am
Tuesdays
Free! Twigs & Tales Story Hour at Wallowology. Noon to 1pm
Free! Wallowology Season Opening Party
Mark your
Calendars
Eclipse Presentation
10am - All Day!
Fri, June 9 Free! Presentation: Photographing Raptors:
August 17th • 7pm
Patience Rick McEwan, at Wallowology
The Art of Developing Patience,
Nature Photographer. At Wallowology! 7pm
Sites Rick McEwan, 8:30 am
Sat, June 10 Free! Field Trip: Raptor Nesting Sites,
Meet at Wallowology. Pre-register at (541-263-1663).
Workshop Connecting with Nature,
Sat, June 17 Photography Workshop:
Rick McEwan, Nature Photographer. 1:30pm - Midnight
Pre-register at Wallowology (541-263-1663). $150
Fri, June 30 Free! Watershed Festival,
Festival Wallowa County Fairgrounds. 11am - 4pm
Fri, July 7 Free! Presentation: Wallowa Lake Moraines Geology Study
Study,
UofO Earth Sciences Dept. At Wallowa Lake Lodge. 7pm
Saturday Science! Most Saturdays 10am - Noon
Hands-on science & art for ages 9 -12. $5 per class.
In Partnership with Wallowa County Library.
Wednesdays Free! Discovery Walk leaving from Wallowa Lake Lodge. 4-6pm
Natural History Discovery Center
508 N. Main • Joseph • 541-263-1663 • wallowology.org
Open • Tues - Sun • 10am - 3pm