NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
A17
Granite Gulch Fire continues to be active
Cover about
2,700 acres in
mosaic pattern
By USFS
Wallowa Whitman
National Forest
With warmer and drier
conditions this week, the
#GraniteGulchFire
will
continue to be active, and
smoke will periodically be
visible from surrounding
communities.
On its west side, the fi re
is expected to move into
sparse fuels as it contin-
ues to climb the ridgeline
south of Cheval Lake. At
lower elevations along its
southern perimeter, the fi re
remains north of the Minam
River. In the east, the fi re is
burning within the lower
portion of the Wild Sheep
Creek drainage. Active fi re
spread, along with a highly
visible smoke column, is
expected today or tomor-
row as the fi re moves fur-
ther northeast into the Wild
Sheep Creek drainage.
The size and effects
of the Granite Gulch Fire
continue to meet its man-
agement objectives. The
fi re is playing a natural
role in the ecosystem and
burning in a mosaic pat-
tern at low-to-high inten-
sities. A mix of burn inten-
sities is desired across the
USFS photo
Granite Gulch fi re burning near Cheval Lake on August 19.
fi re area. Specifi cally, in
mixed conifer and ponder-
osa pine stands, we hope to
see low-to-moderate inten-
sity fi re, while in subal-
pine fi r stands, we hope to
see more high intensity fi re
opening up stand structure
and allowing for whitebark
pine growth. The total area
within the fi re perimeter is
estimated to be in excess of
(https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
incident/6498/) for updated
information about the
Granite Gulch Fire.
2,700 acres, which includes
both burned and unburned
vegetation.
Please visit InciWeb
Wallowa County quits sugar program offered
By Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa County Chieftain
Tamara Fuchs is a holistic
integrative health coach who
works with women over 30
looking for nutritional heal-
ing, balance, and living life
fully.
Today, one of the greatest
health challenges that most
people face can be spelled
in just fi ve letters: s-u-g-
a-r. It’s in almost every pro-
cessed food that we eat, and
also a component of many
natural foods, including
fruit juices, fruit, and even
healthy vegetables like corn
and beets. It is a cause of
obesity, poor energy, faster
aging and a compromised
immune system.
Her program is called
Wallowa County Quits
Sugar. It’s planned to wean
participants almost com-
pletely off sugar in six
weeks. Fuchs will be part-
nering with another health
coach to bring you a sup-
ported educational program
designed to help you make a
lifestyle change to improve
your health by cutting back
to 6 teaspoons of sugar or
less per day.
She runs health pro-
grams as Blossom Integra-
tive Health, and holds a
Bachelors of Science from
Walla Walla University with
additional studies at Seat-
tle Pacifi c University in
the fi elds of Health, Spe-
cial Education. She com-
pleted an integrative health
coaching certifi cation pro-
gram at International Inte-
grative Nutrition in Febru-
ary of 2019.
Fuch’s interest in health
has been spawned by her
struggle with, and capacity
to overcome and heal from
multiple serious diseases,
including a heart attack, a
stroke, cancer, back sur-
gery, multiple auto-immune
issues and other health chal-
lenges, including a new
diagnosis of Carcinoid Neu-
roendocrine Tumor(s).
The fi rst meeting of the
six-week program will be
Wednesday, August 21 at
6 p.m. at The Place, behind
the Congregational Church
in Joseph. Fuchs offers
online support in addition
to the availability of one-on-
one support at the Wednes-
day evening sessions.
The cost is $20 for indi-
viduals or $45 for families,
payable at the fi rst session.
For more information,
contact Tamara at 541-263-
0006, or tamara@blossom-
integratedhealth.org
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Flame retardants found to cause hyperthyroidism in cats
By Kym Pokorny
Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. – An
epidemic of cats with hyper-
thyroidism may be explained
by exposure to a chemical
contained in fl ame retardants
commonly found in furniture,
according to an Oregon State
University study.
Hyperthyroidism (over-
active thyroid) occurs when
the thyroid gland produces
too much of the hormone thy-
roxine. Hyperthyroidism can
accelerate the body’s metab-
olism, causing unintentional
weight loss and a rapid or
irregular heartbeat.
The number of cats diag-
nosed with hyperthyroidism
in 1980 was 1 in 200. Today
it’s estimated that 1 in 10 cats
are affl icted.
For the Oregon State
study, a silicone pet tag devel-
oped by Kim Anderson, an
environmental chemist in
the Oregon State College of
Agricultural Sciences, was
attached to the collars of 78
Oregon State University
A Siamese cat wears a tag that monitors the amount of fl ame-
retardant chemicals she is exposed to. An Oregon State
University study found that fl ame retardants commonly
found in furniture causes hyperthyroidism in cats.
hyperthyroid and non-hyper-
thyroid cats. The cats wore
the tags for a week and own-
ers fi lled out a questionnaire.
Once collected, the tags went
through a process to extract
the chemicals by soaking
them in a solvent.
The feline passive sam-
plers – similar to a rabies
tag – are produced out of the
same material used in the sil-
icone wrist bands invented in
Anderson’s lab for measuring
exposure to environmental
chemicals in humans, includ-
ing after Hurricane Harvey in
Houston in 2017.
“The tags are porous and
chemically very similar to
human cells,” Anderson said.
“Molecules of contaminants
embed themselves in the sil-
icone in the same way they’d
go into the cells in your body.
The silicone is a pretty good
mimic of the types of chem-
icals that you can absorb
– what we call passive
sampling.”
The research, led by Car-
olyn Poutasse, a doctoral stu-
dent in Anderson’s lab, found
over 20 individual fl ame
retardants in at least one tag.
But only levels of tris(1,3-di-
chloro-2-isopropyl)
phos-
phate, or TDCIPP, a fl ame
retardant once used in chil-
dren’s sleepwear and dis-
continued for that use in the
late 1970s, differed between
tags worn by hyperthyroid
and non-hyperthyroid cats.
TDCIPP is still commonly
applied to the foam in uphol-
stered furniture, some plastics
and some gel air fresheners.
The research found that
even in healthy cats, higher
TDCIPP levels were cor-
related with thyroid hormone
levels.
“The way a cat is diag-
nosed with feline hyper-
thyroidism is by extremely
elevated concentrations of
thyroid hormones,” Anderson
said. “Seeing the correlation
is suggestive of a connection
between thyroid function and
exposure to TDCIPP.”
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PARTS S &
SERVICES
Fire Refugia in
Oregon's Forests:
Biological Impacts Series
Learning from the Land
How to Live with Change
Oregon's forests are changing in unprecedented ways. Although wildfires and
insects are native forest disturbances, their activity and co-occurrence appear to be
shifting due to climate warming and fire suppression.
507 S. River Street
Enterprise, OR 97828
541-426-4502
HOURS:
Monday - Friday
8:00am to 7:00pm
Death is so final; there are no do-overs. All we have left is
memories. Thanks, Baxter for the memories.
Little black dog, we will love you forever. Your brother misses
you, your mom misses you, and your dad misses you.
There’s an empty spot Mr. Baxter Reid.
y
r
o
m
e
M
g
In Lovin
of Baxter
Fire refugia – locations that remain unburned or burn less severely than
surrounding areas – influence forest regeneration, wildlife habitat, and subsequent
disturbance dynamics. Understanding the landscape conditions that support fire
refugia and overall pyrodiversity may enable land managers and stakeholders to
prioritize locations for forest restoration and habitat conservation.
Natural History Discovery Center
508 N. Main • Joseph • 541-263-1663 • wallowology.org