PREPARE FOR THE
POLAR PLUNGE 2A
Enterprise, Oregon
Wallowa.com
134th Year, No. 36
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
$1
Governor’s budget directs $247M to rural projects
Wallowa Dam gets $16
million earmark
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — On the campaign
trail, Gov. Kate Brown was eager
to tell voters she would represent
all regions of the state.
“I’m the only candidate in this
race with a track record of bring-
ing Republicans and Democrats
together, urban and rural Orego-
nians together, to tackle the prob-
lems facing Oregon,” Brown said
during one debate.
A month after her reelection, she
is following through on that claim.
Brown’s
proposed
bud-
get, released last week, includes
more than $247 million for rural
infrastructure projects and other
increased spending to benefi t rural
residents.
“I also believe that the work we
are doing to continue to grow the
economy by investing in infrastruc-
ture, housing, broadband, water
and of course, career and techni-
cal education will benefi t commu-
nities large and small across Ore-
gon,” Brown told reporters as she
released her budget proposal.
There’s
enthusiasm
from
observers about Brown’s spending
plans for rural Oregon, from dams
to housing to high-speed internet.
But some advocates and law-
makers worry about other parts of
her budget that cut fi re protection
on forestland, hold steady money
for community colleges and
increase taxes by $2 billion.
Rural areas of the state face
unique challenges. Despite the
state’s robust overall economic
growth, rural Oregon has yet to
fully bounce back from the Great
Recession.
Rural unemployment has been
declining since its peak in 2009,
and the state’s rural economy is less
diverse, making it more vulnerable
to shocks. And the populace and
Chieftain fi le photo
See Budget, Page A9
The lakeside face of the badly aging Wallowa Lake Dam.
Farm groups
express relief
as Trump
signs farm bill
WILD
HORSES,
WILD
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
CANYONS
Kathleen Ellyn/Chieftain
Dawn Medley-Fowler with her mustang mare “Smokin’ Ghost.” Medley-Fowler thinks she may have picked just the right
kind of horse for the rugged Imnaha country and is enjoying training mustangs to prepare them for adoption.
New Imnaha residents train
mustangs
By Kathleen Ellyn
Wallowa County Chieftain
D
awn Medley Fowler and hus-
band Ed Medley have long
dreamed of working cattle in
the rugged Imnaha country.
They’ve got a start on that
dream. The couple bought the Jim
Fields place about fi ve miles down
the Lower Imnaha Road. And Dawn
has the right kind of horse for the
Imnaha Canyon.
She’s a mustang trainer with the
federal Trainer Incentive Program,
which means she gets paid to break
mustangs brought in from Bureau of
Land Management herds across the
west. Her horses have so far come
from Beatys Butte near Lakeview,
Cold Springs near Harper, and Black
Mountain in Owyhee County, Idaho.
TIP trainers only have to put 10
days on a horse before the animal is
safe enough to be adopted. During
those 10 days, a trainer must teach
specifi c skills. It’s a high expectation
list, given that some of the horses are
completely wild and adult. If a trainer
can get a younger horse, training
not as hard as one might expect —
though the trainer has to be a pretty
good hand to meet the requirements.
Trainers don’t have to have gone
through a specifi c program, but must
have letters of recommendation, and
must use natural horsemanship meth-
ods. Dawn follows the Parelli method.
Her fi rst big success came when
she took her young mare, “Smokin’
Ghost” to the Teens of Oregon Mus-
tang Challenge in 2017. During that
show and sales event, all the horses
in the 100-days-of training competi-
tion are able to show off their train-
ing in trail, condition and handling,
and maneuvers classes. The show in
Albany also included a freestyle rid-
ing exposition, Dawn said.
See Mustangs, Page A8
The signing of a new farm bill by Presi-
dent Trump on Thursday delivers just what
farmers and ranchers were wishing for this
Christmas season.
Farm groups were quick to register their
appreciation and relief in press statements
thanking Trump, his administration and
Congress for securing a bill before the clock
ran out on 2018.
The American Farm Bureau Federation
said enactment means risk-management
tools, foreign market development and envi-
ronmental stewardship programs continue to
be available — and on terms that refl ect a
much tougher economy than when the last
farm bill became law.
“The farm bill helps to ensure the food
security and economic security of our nation.
Directly or indirectly, it benefi ts everyone in
towns large and small,” Zippy Duvall, AFBF
president, said.
National Farmers Union said the lead-
ers and staff of House and Senate agricul-
ture committees delivered on much-needed
improvements to the previous farm bill and
continued support for programs that aid
family farm sustainability and emerging
markets.
“Farmers Union members are relieved to
have the support of the farm bill heading into
an uncertain future for American agricul-
ture,” Roger Johnson, NFU president, said.
“We’re entering a sixth year of devastat-
ingly low farm prices, leading to substantial
fi nancial stress for farm families and forcing
many out of business,” he said.
USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue said
Trump’s signature is a Christmas present to
American agriculture.
“Farmers take fi nancial risks every year
as a matter of doing business, so having a
farm bill in place gives them peace of mind
to make their decisions for the future,” he
said.
See TRUMP, Page A9
Wallowa County aids victims
of California’s Camp Fire
Local donations
By Ellen Morris Bishop
for the Chieftain
The Wallowa County Humane Society is
working to help the pets and domestic ani-
mals still separated from their owners after
California’s disastrous, 153,000-acre Camp
Fire last month.
About 1,300 animals, including cats, dogs,
goats, sheep, pigs and chickens remain housed
in animal shelters and the Oroville (Butte
County) Fairgrounds, awaiting a reunion with
their families, according to the Butte County
Animal Control website.
Joseph resident Trudy Turner learned of
the animals caught in the fire through friends
who lived in nearby Chico, California.
“I just had to do something to help,” she
said. “So I gathered up some things I had.
Then I put out a call on Wallowa County
Classifieds. It was like a firestorm. People
brought in food and all kinds of supplies.”
Then Turner contacted her friend,
Michale Thibideau, a pilot who lived in
Tracy, California.
See Fire, Page A8
Ellen Morris Bishop for the Chieftain
Wallowa County Humane Society Vice President
Denise Clevenger tallies up the sheets
and fl annel blankets donated to victims of
California’s Camp Fire by Wallowa Memorial
Hospital.