WRESTLERS GO FOR THE GOLD
Three bring back medals from state | Page A9
Enterprise, Oregon
Wallowa.com
Issue No. 45
February 21, 2018
Changing
the face of
Logging
$1
Tough
challenges
face ‘new
agrarians’
Winter Fishtrap spends
three days considering
the issues at hand
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Goal is sustainability
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Darvin (Butch) Tanzey of Tanzey Forest Improvement Inc. inspects a treated area on
sheep rancher Sky Krebs land outside of Enterprise. Tanzey manages 21 forests on
private land in the county.
First in a multi-part series
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
B
utch Tanzey of Wallowa watches
his son, Brandon, turning logging
slash into mulch. He’s smiling.
He points to a three-foot seedling a
few feet from the equipment Brandon is
using.
“See that little tree?” he said. “Bran-
don’s going to preserve that.”
That kind of delicate work is why
Tanzey and his two grown sons, Bran-
don and Nick, have all the timber man-
agement work they can handle.
Tanzey Forest Improvement Inc. man-
ages land for 21 property owners in Wal-
lowa County. The emphasis is on sustain-
able harvest and resource preservation.
The knowledge needed for the work
comes from a lifetime of experience and
a ton of education. Tanzey, 66, is an OSU
See LOGGING, Page A7
Caleb Howard is young, full of ideas and
ready to be a rancher. The only thing stand-
ing in his way is land.
Howard was one of a number of panel-
ists who were part of the discussion of issues
in Winter Fishtrap’s Young Agrarians event
Feb. 16-18.
Some have access to family land and can
avoid the cost of having to purchase prop-
erty. Howard is not one of them.
He painted a frustrating picture for poten-
tial ranchers who do not have the luxury of
leasing smaller acreage for their agricultural
dreams.
“My parents are not going to be ready
to release management for another 20-30
years,” he said. “Retirement begins with a
six-foot hole in the ground.”
Howard would like to have several hun-
dred acres and a grazing allotment.
“I’ve looked into buying land,” he said.
“It’s not hard to get a loan — but it’s hard
paying it back,” he said.
In the meantime, he is managing land
with a “side hustle” of marketing 1,000 head
of cattle per year — for others.
He also keeps 20 cows of his own.
“I probably ought to just sell them — but
I enjoy them,” he said.
Despite his success as a manger, his goal
is to be ranching his own land.
See FISHTRAP, Page A7
Plans unveiled
for Enterprise
city buildings
New lighting approved
for Enterprise Airport
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Brandon Tanzey demonstrates the precision of the work done by Tanzey For-
est Improvement Inc. as he grinds slash into fertilizer while carefully preserv-
ing a tiny tree nearby.
See that little tree? [My son] Brandon’s going to preserve that.”
— Butch Tanzey
Tanzey Forest Improvement Inc.
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
The new city hall and fire hall in Enter-
prise might not be bigger than previous digs,
but they will be a significant upgrade.
City council members poured over the
new plans for a $2.2 million pre-fabricated
steel building submitted by City Engineer
Brett Moore of Anderson Perry Associates
at the Feb. 15 meeting and quickly approved
moving forward.
The fire hall, which will measure 128x90-
feet, will feature seven fire truck bays along
East North Street. The fire hall previously
had two bays and a door entrance on the
short end of the hall on SE First Street.
See CITY, Page A8
Criminals and addiction
Treatment
Court
FIRST IN A TWO-PART SERIES
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
One of the ways the court system deals with
those going through drug or alcohol addiction is
Treatment Court.
Started in the mid-90s and adopted by Wal-
lowa County in the late ‘90s, Treatment Court
provides a chance to work on sobriety and change
their lives with a team of support people instead
of sitting in jail cells or going back to their old
lifestyles after completing their sentences.
The program is largely funded by grants, and
participants have to pay a fee to enroll. The min-
imum time for participation is 18 months.
The Treatment Court team in the county con-
sists of a representative of the district attorney’s
office, the county juvenile and probation depart-
ments, both circuit court judges and counsel-
ors from Wallowa Valley Center for Wellness
and Building Healthy Families, Department of
Human Services and Community Corrections.
A representative of circuit court personnel
serves as facilitator of the program.
It is one of 3,142 such programs nationwide.
“It’s a collective group of people who can
provide a service to support these people and
also hold them accountable,” Wallowa County
Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Frolander
said. She added that the Treatment Court team
decides who participates after going through
applications –– not everyone is eligible.
For example, those guilty of drug delivery
charges are not accepted unless it’s a one-time
delivery crime to support their habit. People guilty
of committing property crimes can qualify if it
can be shown addiction was a motivating factor.
See DRUGS, Page A8