A8
NEWS
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Elk: Encroachment on Wallowa County ranch-land may take long-term solutions
Continued from Page A1
“[B]y 1924 there were
numerous complaints about
competition between elk and
domestic livestock,” Den-
nehy said.
Complaints of elk destruc-
tion by cattle ranchers are, on
the whole, nothing new. What
is new are the reasons behind
them. Population is often the
most general and easy to cor-
rect cause for complaint –
although there is some dis-
crepancy about the degree of
overpopulation throughout
Oregon at this time. A new
and more complex issue that
is more diffi cult to solve is
distribution.
The reasons behind this
shift in habit are numer-
ous, including; a decrease in
ranching in the Canyon-lands
– where the elk winter – caus-
ing an insurgence of bunch-
grass, the outlawed use of
hunting dogs for cougars and
bears – increasing the num-
ber of predators in the can-
yons, decreased forest har-
vest – which increases the
forest’s density and reduces
forage available in those
areas, yearly hunting on US
Forest Service lands and the
encroachment of public roads
upon elk habitat.
“It really isn’t a good hab-
itat for elk,” Pam Harshfi eld
said of the current state of
the Canyonlands. “And they
have found this greener pas-
ture in the valleys.”
Harshfi eld, along with her
husband Mike, owns a ranch
outside of Wallowa, Ore.,
where the couple has been
dealing with extreme elk
damage to their hay crops,
feed barns and fencing that
began in earnest in 2016.
Ellen Morris Bishop
“[T]hat was the only win-
ter in 40 plus years,” she said.
“We had close to three feet
of snow. It felt like the elk
almost got trapped because
of the amount of snow. And
honestly, the elk just are not
leaving the valley the way
they used to.”
The Harshfi elds, who
were working with the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife to fi nd a solution for
the increasing size of the elk
herd grazing their land for
many years before the diffi -
cult winter of 2016-17, were
initially reluctant to utilize
many of the solutions they
were offered, including the
use of damage tags and a kill
permits.
“In the beginning we
weren’t really wild about
having hunting on our prop-
erty,” Harshfi eld explained.
“I was just cautious about
who we allowed on our
property.”
But now, after several
more years of damage from
a herd of nearly 200 elk that
have made the Harshfi eld
ranch their nearly constant
home, they are planning to
allow hunting in earnest on
their 450 acre ranch, in the
hopes that it will either thin
the herd or, at the very least,
drive them away.
“We have to keep try-
ing,” she said. “I’m going to
purchase these pop up camo
blinds and set them out at dif-
ferent points on our place. I’ll
need hunters in August and
September – seven days a
week.”
Although that level of
thinning may seem extreme,
Dennehy views the Harsh-
fi eld’s new plan as a step in
the right direction.
“ODFW recognizes that
elk damage is a problem for
the Harshfi elds and other
landowners in the area,” she
said. “We ask that any land-
owner experiencing dam-
age be proactive and work
with us using the many legal
tools available. These tools
are only effective if the land-
owner takes an active role in
helping solve their damage
problem ... and if neighboring
landowners share the same
objectives when it comes to
elk damage and the presence
of elk on private land.”
But not all neighbors do
share the same outlook on the
presence of elk in the valley
lands and because elk roam,
that too can lead to issues.
“[D]ifferent and often
neighboring landowners can
have different objectives,
with some allowing hunting
for example, and some not,”
Dennehy said. “For exam-
ple, in the Harshfi eld situa-
tion, there are neighboring
landowners who desire more
elk and who would prefer
ODFW not attempt to reduce
local elk numbers.”
Tsiatsos agrees that neigh-
borly cooperation is key to
solving the elk issue but –
because the land around his
ranch is regulated by the state
– he has a unique view of
how the teamwork should be
handled.
“If [the elk] are doing
damage then the state needs to
control that,” he said emphat-
ically. “Say I had 50 cows
get out here on state ground,
I would have them off in 24
hours. Let’s have them have
the same effect. A landowner
can’t support the mismanage-
ment for the public – it’s the
state’s animal. Where are my
rights to protect my property,
land and livestock?”
Currently this issue is one
with foreseeable short-term
resolution. Williams only
sees as a series of long-term
solutions that would need to
play out over many years.
“We need much more
aggressive management of
forests on public lands, we
need predator control and
we need, if possible to bal-
ance the hunting pressure
between the public and pri-
vate lands,” Williams sug-
gested. “And we need to do
these things over a period of
time because changing wild-
life patterns is a slow process.
All this while reducing the
numbers overall.”
But that sluggish timeline
may be diffi cult for ranchers
who continue to offer safe
haven to elk herds that num-
ber in the hundreds.
“Every year we have to
pay someone to go out and
repair our fences,” Harshfi eld
said. “And the herd comes
in and eats a lot of our [hay]
crop. Mike fi gured this year
that loss of revenue – because
of eating of our hay crop and
no forage – he fi gured it cost
us about 10,000 dollars in
lost revenue. We’re actually
being forced to consider cut-
ting back on the number of
cattle we run and we have to
buy hay. We should not be
forced to make that decision.”
Although certainly in
agreement that the situation
is making ranching more tax-
ing, Williams is not worried
about the future of Oregon’s
ranching economy.
“Wallowa County ranch-
ers are resilient,” he stated
confi dently. “They will sur-
vive and at times thrive in
spite of the challenges of
ranching.”
Winter: The season
of dangerous driving
‘isn’t over yet’
Continued from Page A1
Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa Firefi ghters tow Steven’s Honda CRV out of the Wallowa River.
1
Years in business
Celebrating
74 Years!
541.398.1297 (Cell)
Diane.Daggett1297@gmail.com
Est. 1945
Locally Owned
Nationally Known
Diane M. Daggett
Broker
NORTON’S WELDING
1
Year
AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS:
Celebrating 41 Years!
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Auto Shop: 541-569-2069 Toll-free: 866-628-2497
Pendleton • Athena • Baker City
Elgin • La Grande • Heppner
Ione • Hermiston • Condon • The Dalles
131 Highway 82 • Lostine, OR 97857
www.wheatlandins.com
February Savings!
Companion Animal Dental Procedures
WALLOWA COUNTY
$20 off
11 South Main Street
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208) 790-7318
Celebrating
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• Norton Auto Repair
• Enterprise Auto Parts
“That’s one nice thing about
living in a small commu-
nity,” Stevens said. “You
know all your rescuers by
their fi rst names.”
Stevens, a retired teacher
who taught both social stud-
ies and Driver’s Education
for Union, Baker and Wal-
lowa Education Service
Districts, noted that her mis-
fortune should warn other
Wallowa County drivers
that winter is not over yet.
Serious accidents have
a history on Highway 82
along the river and Minam
Grade. In the last, decade,
two people have died in
crashes there. Others were
transported by Life-Flight
or ambulance with serious
injuries. And while the Ore-
gon Department of Trans-
portation plans to com-
plete a $6.7 million project
to improve the sharp, 25
mph corner on Minam
Grade this year, the curving
10-mile stretch along the
Wallowa River will remain
unchanged.
Especially in the win-
ter, that part of the highway
gets little sun, and is often
cold, foggy, and wet. “Com-
ing back from the District
playoff games Friday night
the road was really icy and
pretty foggy,” said long-
time truck driver Del Stan-
ley. “Winter isn’t over yet.”
Health Line
43 YEARS!
401 N Main Street in Joseph, OR
(541) 432-4363 • sportscorral@eoni.com
Celebrating
135 Years
in Business
Dental Cleaning throughout February
Call 541-426-3331 to schedule
Come in and enter to win a dog or cat
dental procedure.
706 Depot St.
Enterprise, OR 97828
enterprisevet.com
542-426-3331
519 W. North Street, Enterprise
541.426.3413
Mon-Thurs 9 to Noon/1-5pm; Fri. 9-1
209 NW First St. Enterprise, OR 97828 • www.wallowa.com