Wallowa County Chieftain
wallowa.com
Minam Curve
roadwork gears up
Tidewater Contractors
and their subcontractors
expect to begin work on
the Minam Curve project
around Aug. 6. The two-
year project will realign
the 25 mph hairpin turn at
milepost 30. It has been a
historical accident location.
The realignment will
move 1,500 feet of road-
way and take some of it
into the hill by as much as
300 feet. Slope stabiliza-
tion is part of the project.
Travelers can expect
crews, trucks and equip-
ment in the area with flag-
gers and pilot cars con-
LAND
Continued from Page A1
The celebration will also
include symbolic gestures
of return, prayer, music and
storytelling.
The property holds mean-
ing for the Nez Perce Tribe
because of the spiritual, envi-
ronmental, ecological and
historical significance of Wal-
lowa Lake and the surround-
ing area, according to Greg
Nelson, Director of Commu-
nications for the Methodist
church.
“Oregon-Idaho United
Methodists’ relationship with
the Nimi’ipuu (Nez Perce)
homeland began in 1922
with the first event at Wal-
lowa Lake followed by the
purchase of the property in
1923,” Nelson said.
As the years have passed
the conference’s relation-
ship with the Nez Perce has
evolved as it was fostered by
persons who served as pas-
tors in the Joseph, Elgin and
Enterprise congregations, as
well as staff at the Wallowa
Lake Camp.
The Nez Perce Tribe,
based in Lapwai, Idaho, has
held two culture camps each
summer for elementary and
high school aged children
since 2000.
trolling traffic. Blasting to
cut through the rock face
is expected to begin late
August or early Septem-
ber and continue at inter-
vals through the summer
and fall.
Traffic delays through-
out construction are
expected to be less than 20
minutes long. Motorists are
advised to factor in those
delays when planning
drives through the area.
Tidewater was awarded
the $4.3 million contract
earlier this year and has
until fall 2019 to complete
the work.
“This annual interaction
has gifted both the tribe and
United Methodists with learn-
ing and understanding,” Nel-
son said. “Because of this,
the relationship has deepened
and, in the summer of 2016,
a meaningful step was taken
when the Nez Perce flag
began being flown alongside
the US flag at the camp.
“We hope this is another
step on our journey toward
healing and peace between
the church and the tribe,” said
Rev. Todd Bartlett, Executive
Director of Camp and Retreat
Ministries for the Methodists.
The Wallowa Lake Camp
is owned and operated
through the Oregon-Idaho
Conference of The United
Methodist Church and its
Board of Camp and Retreat
Ministries. The board oper-
ates six sites in the two states
with a mission to create qual-
ity environments of Christian
hospitality and learning. The
sites serve religiously affili-
ated groups, schools and edu-
cational bodies, families, ser-
vice organizations and other
nonprofits.
The Nez Perce Tribe is
located on a 750,000 acres
reservation. Seventeen mil-
lion acres in what is now
Idaho, Oregon, Washington
and Montana made up the
tribe’s original homeland.
From A1
August 1, 2018
A9
BIOMASS
Continued from Page A1
The company has done
well in firewood sales due to
its ability to reliably meet the
needs of their grocery store
customers primarily from Ore-
gon and Washington. The fire-
wood market allows them to
use trees scorched by forest
fires and small diameter logs
larger mills do not want, mak-
ing them a key player in forest
restoration.
“For the last two years, 50
percent of our volume through
here has been post fire mate-
rial,” Schmidt said. “We really
got that niche market started
because we were the first in the
west to do certified pest free,
so we’re not moving invasive
species across the west.”
And for retailers, no spiders
in the groceries.
IBS is also preparing to
expand it market for posts and
poles by using a new process
that wraps the base of fir post
and poles with Rotblock, a
recycled drip irrigation mate-
rial. That material gives the
wood a life expectancy com-
parable to treated poles.
Organic farms and vine-
yards are an important new
market for the product,
Schmidt said, because they do
not want chemically treated
material in the ground.
“We are partnering with
Rotblock to prewrap poles
here,” Schmidt said. “We put
in, for the second year in a
row, for a Wood Innovation
Grant through USDA to build
an automated system for that.”
One of the problems the
business has faced is that most
forestry sales are too large for
small companies and there-
fore go to companies outside
WALDEN
Continued from Page A1
Joseph Days Parade July 28.
She simply asked the candidate
face-to-face.
“A lot of folks have been
asking whether we’re going
to debate,” she said. “I think
any candidate owes voters
an opportunity to hear their
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Nils Christoffersen of Wallowa Resources, U. S. Rep. Greg Walden and State Rep. Greg Barreto
joined Commissioner Todd Nash and David and Jesse Schmidt of Integrated Biomass in Wal-
lowa for a tour of the facility and a discussion of timber harvest and local lumber business op-
portunities July 26.
of Wallowa County, Schmidt
said. That means the jobs cre-
ated are not available to Wal-
lowa County residents –– pro-
viding local workers with
living wage jobs remains a pri-
mary goal for the company,
Schmidt said.
Another problem is that
the wages IBS can reasonably
offer are falling behind the cost
of living.
“We’re looking for ways
we can offer those $15 to $20
an hour jobs,” Schmidt said.
“Housing costs have doubled
in Wallowa County in the nine
years I’ve lived here ... and the
$13 per hour jobs we created
are going unfilled. We’ve had
five positions open for a year.”
But the situation is improv-
ing. Smaller timber sale proj-
ects for smaller businesses
are being required through
the small business set-aside.
Schmidt said his company was
the only bidder on five recent
small-diameter timber sales.
New measures have been
proposed included in Federal
Farm Bill, according to Rep.
Walden, including catago-
ric exclusions at 6,000 acres,
requirements for replanting
after a fire and others.
Another measure provid-
ing for up to 20-year steward-
ship contracts were recently
approved in the 2019 Omni-
bus Spending Bill, Walden
said.
In addition, large mills
are realizing that disposing
of material they cannot use is
important and are partnering
with businesses like IBS.
The company continues to
look for capital from a vari-
ety of sources, pushing for
more automation that will cre-
ate higher-wage jobs. And
they are readying themselves
for partnerships with larger
companies.
“Our business model fits
an important niche,” Schmidt
said. “Every month we have
communities from all across
the west that want to come
and look at what we’re doing
because this is something
that’s needed in other places.”
ideas side-by-side with the
opposition.”
She added that several
organizations have contacted
both candidates in order to
arrange a debate.
“From what we’ve heard,
he hasn’t been responsive
to those organizations, so I
thought yesterday would be a
great opportunity to ask him
directly,” she said, during a
July 29 exclusive interview
with the Chieftain.
A video of the event shows
McLeod-Skinner walking to
Walden’s vehicle and chal-
lenging him to the three
debates.
“I look forward to a sched-
ule,” Walden replied.
McLeod-Skinner
then
requested debates in south-
ern, central and eastern Ore-
gon or all 20 of the district’s
counties.
“I look forward to debat-
ing you,” Walden said. “We’ll
figure out a schedule that
works.”
“Excellent,” Skinner-Mc-
Leod replied, just before
Walden’s car pulled away.
Later, McLeod told the
Chieftain, “Hopefully, that’s a
commitment on his part.”
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