NEWS
Wallowa County Chieftain
A16
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Arrowhead: New owners, location but same quality product
By Christian Ambroson
Wallowa County Chieftain
Known for its artisan
chocolates, fresh coffee
and tremendous gracious
hospitality, some patrons
may have been concerned
over its absence these
past couple weeks. Fear
not! The family business
that opened in 2010 has
always emphasized wel-
coming service while
using only side ethical and
sustainable food sources.
While ownership has
changed hands, Arrow-
head remains a family
business and won’t be
straying from its core val-
ues or its uniquely deli-
cious chocolate creations.
And though they are
new to the business,
Arrowhead’s new own-
ers are quite familiar with
Wallowa County. Like-
wise, many in Wallowa
County are familiar with
Courtesy Photo
New owners Dotsons and the Ivys are ready to take on a new life challenge.
them. Perhaps some have
crossed paths with Jerry
Ivy or his daughter Syl-
vana Dotson at Ivy’s New
Heights Physical Ther-
apy private practice. Oth-
ers may recognize Ivy’s
son-in-law and Sylvana’s
husband Chad Dotson
through his work at The
Nature Conservancy.
The family capital-
ized on the opportunity to
take the reins at Arrow-
head when it discov-
ered a storefront build-
ing that could house both
Ivy’s New Heights Physi-
cal Therapy practice while
also having space for the
newly revamped space for
the artisan chocolate and
coffee shop.
“We realized there was
a building large enough
to house both of our
businesses,” said Dot-
son. “It seemed like the
right choice to consoli-
date.” Dotson, who works
for both New Heights
and Arrowhead, making
her the new set-up quite
convenient
Don’t expect many
changes to the new oper-
ation. “We … were
extremely fortunate to
retain the amazing staff at
Arrowhead,” lauded Dot-
son. “We are infi nitely
grateful to them for work-
ing so hard during the
transition.”
The new owners plan
on building on the suc-
cess of their predecessors.
“Arrowhead has been
extremely successful for
a reason. Their product
quality is something we
will continue to uphold.”
But that’s not to say Dot-
son and her team won’t do
a fair share of experiment-
ing with fl avors of their
own either. “I really enjoy
cooking and baking and
experimenting with fl a-
vors,” explained Dotson.
For now, the new col-
laborative owners are
taking things one day
at a time. Fortunately
the building of success
has passed on to them.
“Arrowhead Chocolates
has become a mainstay. in
the Wallowa County com-
munity,” Dotson said. “We
are excited to uphold that
tradition.
LOCAL AG
LENDING
Alan Klages,
Community
Bank business
customer
for 30 years.
SINCE
1955
Your Source For:
•
•
•
•
Farm Real Estate Loans
Ag Operating & Livestock Loans
Equipment Loans
FSA Guaranteed Loans
J oseph
609 N Main St
541-432-9050
www.communitybanknet.com
Enterprise
Wallowa
300 NW 1st St
541-426-4511
202 N Storie St
541-886-9151
Member FDIC
Supporting
Wallowa
County Ag
Energy Community Service.
Forest Service withdraws Blue
Mountains Forest Plan revision
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
541-426-0320
Ed Staub & Sons
E.J. Harris/EO Media Group File
The Blue Mountain Forest Plan has been withdrawn.
201 East Hwy 82
Enterprise, OR 97828
After 15 years of prepara-
tion, the U.S. Forest Service
was on the cusp of updating
management plans for three
national forests covering
5.5 million acres in the Blue
Mountains of Eastern Oregon
and southeast Washington.
Instead, the agency is
again taking a step back
as it tries to resolve deep-
rooted concerns of residents,
industry and environmental
groups.
Northwest Regional For-
ester Glenn Casamassa
announced the Forest Service
is scrapping the proposed
Blue Mountains Forest Plan
Revision, which includes the
Umatilla, Wallowa-Whitman
and Malheur national forests.
A fi nal draft of the plans was
released in June 2018.
The three forest plans —
which together total more
than 5,000 pages — con-
tain guidelines for everything
Thank you Wallowa County
farmers and ranchers!
209 NW First St., Enterprise • 541-426-4567
from grazing and timber har-
vest to wilderness protec-
tions. While the plans do not
authorize specifi c projects,
they do set goals and desired
conditions for the forests, and
are ripe for scrutiny.
Forest plans are due to be
revised every 10 to 15 years
to account for changes in the
landscape and to keep up
with the latest science.
Casamassa, who joined
the Forest Service Pacifi c
Northwest Region in August
, said he was invited by U.S.
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., to
meet with the Eastern Ore-
gon Counties Association in
October, where county com-
missioners said the plans fell
short of meeting economic,
cultural and social needs.
More than 300 people also
spoke against the plans during
objection resolution meetings
held across Eastern Oregon
in November and Decem-
ber. Objections mostly cen-
tered on road closures, forest
access and restoring land-
scapes to improve wildfi re
resilience, while also provid-
ing economic benefi t to com-
munities, Casamassa said.
Environmental
groups,
too, worry about the increas-
ing fragmentation of forest
habitat for vulnerable wildlife
species, such as wolves, birds
and endangered fi sh.
“These lands are import-
ant. They mean a lot to a lot
of different people,” Casa-
massa said. “We need to get
it right. If it means taking
(more) time to do that, that’s
what we’re going to do.”
This is not the fi rst time
the Forest Service has hit the
reset button on the planning
process.
A draft version of the
plans was completed in 2014,
and received so much back-
lash the local forest supervi-
sors decided to develop new
plan alternatives.
The result was a new alter-
native favored by the For-
est Service that offi cials said
would have provided for
thinning up to 33 percent of
dry upland forests, and more
than doubled the current tim-
ber harvest from 101 million
board-feet per year to 205
million board-feet.
The proposal also iden-
tifi ed 242,800 animal unit
months, or AUMs, of live-
stock grazing. An AUM is
the amount of forage one cow
and her calf, one horse or fi ve
sheep or goats eat during a
month.
In total, the feds claim the
plans would created up to
1,173 new jobs in forest prod-
ucts, ranching and recreation,
with $59.5 million in added
income.
The decision to withdraw
the revised plans came from
Chris French, the reviewing
offi cer and acting deputy For-
est Service chief. While the
review did not identify any
specifi c violations of law,
regulation or policy, French
said the plans were diffi cult to
understand and “do not fully
account for the unique social
and economic needs of local
communities in the area.”
“Many factors com-
pounded to produce revised
plans that would be diffi cult
to implement,” French said.
The current Blue Moun-
tains forest plans, which were
last updated in 1990, will
remain in effect for the time
being. Casamassa said the
Forest Service will be reach-
ing out again to stakeholders
to determine the next steps
toward the long-overdue
revisions.
Despite the setback, Casa-
massa insisted the last 15
years of work have not been
wasted, and the lessons they
learned will play a role in
helping the agency to come
up with Forest Plans that are
implementable, and written
in plain English.
“To be quite honest, we
can’t obviously do this on
our own,” he said. “We need
everyone working together.
Walden thanked the
Trump administration for
restarting the process and lis-
tening to local input.
“While it is unfortunate
to have to begin again, I’m
hopeful we can move for-
ward in a manner that ensures
the needs of our local com-
munities are fi nally being
heard and refl ected in the
plan,” Walden said. “Getting
this plan right is important to
improving the health of our
forests and our communities,
reducing the threat of wild-
fi res and maintaining access
to our public lands that is
part of our way of life in rural
Oregon.”