COUGARS UPSET EAGLES
Wallowa humbles top-ten ranked Joseph
in hard fought contest | PAGE A10
Enterprise, Oregon
Wallowa.com
134th Year, No. 39
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
$1
Wildlife
commission
to fi nally vote
on Oregon
wolf plan
Associated Press
Ellen Morris Bishop
Morgan Anderson gets an enthusiastic send-off from spectators as she starts the fi rst leg of the 31-mile two-stage race in 2018.
Eagle Cap Extreme boasts
biggest fi eld in its history
Oregon Field Guide returns to
document the event
By Ellen Morris Bishop
For The Chieftain
A
s the all-volunteer staff of Eagle Cap
Extreme Sled Dog Race readies the 2019
course, there’s already some good news for
this year’s event.
As of Monday, 25 sled dog teams are registered
for the 15th running of the Eagle Cap Extreme. That
count includes seven competitors in the Iditarod-qual-
ifying 200-mile race and another seven, including
local veterinarian Jereld Rice, in the classic 100-mile
race. It’s one of the largest fi elds to compete in race
history.
Oregon Field Guide, one of Oregon Public Broad-
casting’s premiere TV programs, will be here to fi lm
the race — for the second time. Oregon Field Guide
covered the race in 2009 and they are back a decade
later.
“The scale of the Eagle Cap Extreme is really
unprecedented,” said Ian McCluskey, Oregon Field
Guide producer. “It has really grown over the years.
It has become an epic race in distance and landscape,
the only sled dog race west of the Rockies that offers
an Iditarod qualifi er. It just felt like we needed to doc-
ument it.”
McCluskey is bringing an unusually large team of
two producers, an associate producer, two cameras
and two cameramen to fi lm the race. They will cover
aspects of the event including the vet checks, race fi n-
ishes and the awards banquet. Better technology and
better cameras are part of the reason for returning,
McCluskey said.
Ellen Morris Bishop
See Eagle Cap, Page A16
Dr. Kathleen McGill, head veterinarian for the Eagle Cap Extreme, gets to know
an Alaskan Husky at the Enterprise Wednesday afternoon vet check.
PORTLAND (AP) — The Oregon Fish
and Wildlife commission is fi nally set to
vote on a plan for managing wolves in the
state, after years of contentious meetings.
The commission is expected to vote
in March, The Oregonian/OregonLive
reported.
As in other northwestern states, wolves
have been controversial in Oregon, with
ranchers saying they wreak havoc on live-
stock and conservationists saying they play
a key role in the ecosystem.
The main sticking point has been over
when and how lethal action can be taken
against wolves that kill livestock.
The fi rst wolf management plan was
implemented in 2005 and revised in 2010,
just a year after wolves made their return to
Oregon after dispersing from packs in Idaho.
The plan was supposed to be updated every
fi ve years, but the 2015 revisions became
mired in argument and repeated delays
ensued.
The state said it will release the manage-
ment plan to the public before the vote, but
the plan currently allows offi cials to consider
killing wolves that have been confi rmed to
have killed livestock twice. However, offi -
cials typically don’t approve wolf kills until
after three or more confi rmed depredations,
the agency said in a written statement.
“In practice, ODFW has denied more
lethal removal requests for wolves than it has
approved,” the statement said.
The state hired a professional facilitator
last year to oversee fi ve meetings between
the sides, beginning last August. But all four
conservation groups involved — Defenders
of Wildlife, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wild-
lands and the Center for Biological Diversity
— pulled out of the discussions last week,
just before the last meeting. The groups said
the state failed to seriously consider their
proposals.
“It was a very diffi cult decision to make
after years of advocacy and coming to the
table in good faith,” said Quinn Read, North-
west director for Defenders of Wildlife. “If
we thought there was still an opportunity for
meaningful discussion, we would be there.”
Derek Broman, carnivore coordinator
for the state agency, said the decision by the
conservationists was disheartening.
“We were disappointed these groups left
the discussion and we did not have the full
stakeholder group present at the fi nal meet-
ing,” Broman said in a statement. “Since the
drafting of the original 2005 plan, stakehold-
ers remain very passionate so consensus is
challenging to achieve.”
Jim Akenson, conservation director for
the Oregon Hunters Association, said the
talks had been heated at times, but the pro-
cess had been fair.
There are more than 120 wolves living in
a dozen packs in Oregon, most of them in the
northeastern part of the state. There were 17
confi rmed wolf attacks on livestock in 2017,
according to the state. Five were killed that
year for repeatedly attacking livestock.
Couple welcomes Wallowa County’s fi rst baby of 2019
By Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
Adele and Mark Schott of
Joseph are the proud parents
of Henry “Hank” Owen Schott
— the fi rst baby born in Wal-
lowa County in 2019.
Hank Schott was born at
Wallowa Memorial Hospital
on Jan. 4, at 6:18 p.m., weigh-
ing 8 pounds, 13 oz. at birth
and was 20 inches long. He is
the couple’s fi rst child, and the
sixth generation of the family
to live in Wallowa County.
Renee Grandi is the cou-
ple’s doctor and helped Schott
through a grueling 40 hours
of labor, including 26 hours at
the hospital.
Adele Schott (nee Nash), is
the daughter of county com-
missioner Todd Nash and 6
Ranch owner Liza McAllister,
a well-known cowgirl in the
area. Her husband, Mark has a
degree in bio-chemistry from
Southern Oregon University,
but prefers ranch work and
has traveled all over the west
working for horse trainers and
large ranches.
The couple met at the Chief
Joseph Days rodeo and has
rarely spent a day apart since.
He now trains horses and the
couple partners on Corriente
cattle with the 6 Ranch, sell-
ing grass-fed beef in Portland
and the local market, as well
as managing outside year-
lings in canyons during the
summer.
See Baby, Page A16
Happy New Year
Parents Mark
and Adele Schott
of Joseph with
Wallowa County’s
fi rst 2019 baby,
Henry Owen
Schott, aka
“Hank.” Hank, the
sixth generation
of his family to
live in Wallowa
County, was
born at Wallowa
Memorial
Hospital on Jan.
4 at 6:18 p.m.
He weighed
eight pounds, 13
oz. and was 20
inches long.
Steve Tool/Chieftain