MULE DAYS CLIPPITY CLOP
INTO ENTERPRISE // 9
Enterprise, Oregon
Wallowa.com
Issue No. 21
September 12, 2018
$1
No one pleased with forest plan revision
Wallowa County
leaders see big
problems ahead
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
The 26-pound 5,600-page Blue
Mountains Forest Plan Revision,
released in late June of this year by
the U.S. Forest Service, could par-
tially determine the economic direc-
tion of Wallowa County for the fore-
seeable future.
The plan covers the Wal-
lowa-Whitman, Malheur and Uma-
tilla national forests. The revision pro-
cess took 14 years to accomplish and
the plans were last updated in 1990.
Although the revised plan called
for nearly twice the amount of tim-
ber harvest, other parts of the revi-
sion, including wildlife management,
reduced and more stringent grazing
regulation and road access, are giving
county leaders cause for concern.
At a public forum in Septem-
ber, Wallowa County Commission-
ers Todd Nash and Paul Castilleja
explained the county’s response and
sought input on the plan. Around 25
people attended.
Specific citizen objections included
the wolf management directives that
seemed to treat all wolves as endan-
gered species, even though wolves in
Wallowa County were removed from
the endangered species list.
Nash noted that no one from the
conservation community attended the
meeting.
“They weren’t precluded from
coming to make comments,” he said.
“It would have been nice to have an
eclectic mix of Wallowa County rep-
resented there, but that’s what I see
at these meetings unless (senators)
Wyden and Merkley show up.”
Nash also gave credit for the coun-
ty’s stance and knowledge of the plan
to Bruce Dunn, the recently deceased
commissioner-elect and president of
the county’s Natural Resources Advi-
sory Committee.
“He probably spent more time than
any two people on the plan, which
says a lot, because a lot of people have
dedicated a lot of time to it over the 14
years,” he said. Commissioner Susan
Roberts called the revision a long-run-
ning process in which the county
See FOREST, Page A17
State parks
master
plan to be
unveiled
By Paul Wahl
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa County residents are invited to
come out and help chart the course of Wal-
lowa Lake State Park and two other parcels
next week.
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
has updated its 2001 master plan for the park
at the lake, as well as Minam State Recreation
Area and the Wallowa Lake Highway Scenic
Corridor. The document is designed to help
chart recreational use and resource manage-
ment over the next several decades.
The two largest projects are both slotted
for Wallowa Lake –– an events center at the
marina and reconfiguration of the marina park-
ing lot.
The events center is described as an “event
space with views overlooking the lake and east
moraine.” Estimate cost is $1.2 million.
Reworking the parking lot is tagged at
$700,000.
“In general, the large amounts of park-
ing at the marina are underutilized,” the plan
states. “Therefore ... there is an opportunity to
See PARKS, Page A17
Joseph sewer
rates may be
on the rise
Council eyes installing
new lagoon system
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
Paul Wahl/Chieftain
Nearly 2,000 bicyclists streamed into Wallowa Lake Monday afternoon, part of the Cycle Oregon Classic. The ride began earlier in
the day in Half Way. Participants were treated to showers and a hot meal Monday evening at Wallowa Lake State Park. They rose ear-
ly Tuesday morning and departed for Elgin, with a lunch stop in Minam.
Joseph is facing up to $4.2 million in
improvements to its wastewater facilities.
That’s the bad news in the long-awaited
updated Department of Environmental Qual-
ity permit process.
Joseph has been living on borrowed time
for nearly 10 years since its old wastewa-
ter discharge permit expired in 2009. It has
taken DEQ until now to come up with new
requirements.
See SEWER, Page A17
VOSSES EARN TOP ‘GRASSMAN’ HONORS
Much of their work is
unchanged from what it
was 100 years ago
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
If you want to measure the depth of range-
land knowledge a Wallowa County grassman,
has, you’ll need a very long plumb line.
Plenty of ranchers across the state have
learned their land, but Wallowa County growers
face unique challenges due to a landscape that
ranges from 9,262 feet to 840 feet.
The 2018 Wallowa County Grassman of the
Year selected by Wallowa County Stockgrowers
Association is a prime example of a successful
rangeland manager and cattleman.
Dwayne (1955) and Carol (1957) Voss run
600 mother cows plus yearlings and bulls on
land in Joseph, rangeland at Horse Creek on the
Lower Imnaha, land on Sheep Creek halfway to
Imnaha, the Horse Creek Ranch on the Lower
Imnaha, Vance Meadow in Buckhorn and other
land — mostly steep hillsides.
“Our land ranges from 4,200 feet to 1,700
feet,” Dwayne said.
Dwayne got a good education when he stud-
ied for his degree in Forestry and Rangeland Man-
agement at Central Oregon College in Bend back
in 1975 — and he spent three summers working
for the U.S. Forest Service before he discovered he
preferred cowboying. His academic education was
fleshed out with reality –– long hours in the saddle.
“I’d spent time in those canyons,” Dwayne
said. “The day I walked out of Joseph High
School in 1973, I had my bedroll in my pickup,
and I went to Horse Creek (the Jim DuPratt
ranch in Imnaha) and went to work driving cat-
tle out of there clear up to the Divide.”
See GRASSMAN, Page A18
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
The Wallowa County Stockgrowers award 2018 Grassman of
the Year went to Carol and Dwayne Voss of Joseph. Dwayne
manages thousands of acres from high desert to forest.