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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2017)
T EN GREAT REASONS TO ATTEND THE W ALLOWA V ALLEY F ESTIVAL OF A RTS PAGE Enterprise, Oregon 3 Wallowa.com Issue No. 22 September 13, 2017 MULE POWER $1 EVENT DRAWS COMPETITORS AND SPECTATORS FROM ALL OVER THE WEST Paul Wahl/Chieftain J.R. Collier, state park man- ager for the Wallowa Lake Unit, responds to a ques- tion regarding the update of the master plan for the park Thursday. What’s in store for Wallowa Lake Park? By Paul Wahl Wallowa County Chieftain walls are slated for con- struction adjacent to the west side of the path. The walls are located between Iwetemlaykin State Her- itage Site parking lot and the south entrance to Iwetemlaykin. The department added the walls to the project to eliminate the need to lay back slopes, which would have extended into and required obtaining a right- of-way from Iwetemlaykin. Yurts are becoming wildly popular with campers across the nation. Wallowa Lake State Park has only one yurt. It could eventually have several. Yurts –– essentially circu- lar cabins –– are one of dozens of improvements included in a master plan released Thursday in Joseph. Other key features include a fenced dog park, a fueling station for boats, better gar- bage handling and more. Don’t visit the park next summer and expect to see all the improvements in place, cautioned J.R. Collier, who heads local operations for Ore- gon State Parks. He and a number of pre- senters mentioned several times the master plan is in the concept phase and nothing is set in stone. In addition, no specifi c funding has been identifi ed for any of the improvements, according to David Stipe, Inte- grated Park Service manager for the state. “What we’re looking at is mostly modest improve- ments within the proper- ties to enhance visitor experi- ence,” Stipe told a group of a dozen gathered Thursday eve- ning at Joseph Community Center. Two overarching impacts on the park in coming years are driving some of the sug- gested improvements. A plan to restore the por- tion of the Wallowa River where it enters Wallowa Lake is under development. It would form several channels in a del- ta-type formation to allow for better fi sh breeding grounds See PATH, Page A16 See PARK, Page A8 Photos by Paul Wahl/Chieftain ABOVE: Brian Cook of Irrigon competes in the early going of Hells Canyon Mule Days in Enterprise on Friday morning at the Wallowa County Fairgrounds. This is Cook’s second year as a competitor, but he is a long-time spectator. RIGHT: Kavet Charles Bridgman Haines, 7, of Enterprise (in red) rounds the curve in the Stick Mule Race on Sat- urday at Hells Canyon Mule Days at the Wallowa Coun- ty Fairgrounds. Kavet went on to take first in the Boot Scramble Race that followed. Find more photos of the 37th annual Hells Canyon Mule Days on Page 9 and online at wallowa.com Joseph to lake bike path on tap for 2018 By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain 82 Wall ow a S. College St. S. Main St. R ive r Little Sheep Ck. Hwy. llowa Ave. Wa JOSEPH W. Jose ve Ri Ski Run Road Wallowa -Wallowa La k e ph Joseph- Wallowa Lake Trail Project r N Hw y. 1,000 ft. 82 Wallowa Lake Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group A long awaited .85-mile bike and pedestrian path from the southeast corner of College Street in Joseph to the county park at the foot of Wallowa Lake will likely be built in 2018. The Oregon Depart- ment of Transportation unveiled the project to the public in 2015. The $2.2 million design was origi- nally slated for 2016 con- struction, but issues with the Native American tribes, endangered plants, purchas- ing private property ease- ment and adding additional ADA accessibility delayed the start. ODOT media represen- tative Tom Strandberg said the project is on fi rm foot- ing and could go out for bid early in 2018. The two-way pavement path is 10 feet wide and generally separated fi ve feet from the highway. The path runs along the west side of the highway and fea- tures an ADA ramp at Col- lege Street and two addi- tional ramps are slated for placement at the southwest and southeast corners of the East Street and Hwy. 82 intersection. Changes from the orig- inal project include the removal of a retaining wall across the highway from the cemetery because of the visual impact it would have looking out from the cem- etery and approaching the lake. Two smaller retaining Lostine residents wrestle with corridor project This is the latest in an occasional series of stories on the Lostine Corri- dor Public Safety Project. By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain Resident who live in the Los- tine Corridor Public Safety Project are studying the proposal, listening to both sides and hoping their neighborhood isn’t burned before a decision is made. “I’m trying to fi nd out who’s tell- ing the truth,” said Ron Polk, Lostine Homeowners Association President. “The forest service, who believes they have done this in a collaborative fash- ion, and the alarms of groups like Ore- gon Wild who say there’s going to be 4.5 million board-feet logged ... Does that mean one percent of the forest or half a percent or 20 percent?” What you’re describing is big government, where the process becomes the work. It’ll be in the process for years until it burns.” — Dennis Prezeau Polk was one of six residents who gathered recently to discuss the plans, which the U.S. Forest Service calls a fi re mitigation project. All in attendance said they were aware of the project and many, if not all, had participated in fi eld trips as well as attending homeowner meetings and meetings in the town of Lostine. Polk said he had read the forest ser- vice statements on the project but was also interested in the position of envi- ronmental groups Oregon Wild and the Greater Hells Canyon Council. Both fi led a joint lawsuit to stop most of the project on May 31. Another resident, Lael Prezeau, said she believes that the people who under- stand forest fi res should be the ones making the decisions. “Not people in the community getting worked up because one little law wasn’t quite followed,” she said. “In the mean- time there’s arguing and fi ghting and law- suits ... and people up here won’t be able to get out of here if a fi re starts. Is that worth fi ghting over because some people don’t like how the process works?” Matt and Lora Melchiorsen said they had only recently moved to their Lostine River home and had forest management concerns. “I’m certainly concerned,” Matt Melchiorsen said of the forest surround- ing his home. “It appears overstocked, and there’s ladder fuels, which are writ- ten out in their (USFS) report, but I’m not a forester, so I can’t speak to that.” He added that a fi re would pose a threat to salmon habitat because sedi- mentation from runoff would change the riverbed. See CORRIDOR, Page A16
