A8
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Commissioners Moncrief already reeling in whoppers
apply for a
$500K grant
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
Money will
go for senior
citizen housing
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — In
a nearly record-short
about 7½-minute meet-
ing, the Wallowa County
Board of Commissioners
handled largely routine
money matters, including
applying for a $500,000
grant to help with low-in-
come housing, during the
board’s Wednesday, April
21 meeting.
The board authorized
Commissioner John Hill-
ock to sign an application
for the grant under the
2021 Community Devel-
opment Block Grant
Program.
Hillock explained how
the grant works.
“As part of my duties
of being on the board of
Community Connection
— generally we partner
with other counties — the
money’s used for low-in-
come housing improve-
ments,” he said. “The way
they set it up in the past is
we get this grant from the
state, it goes into a revolv-
ing loan fund and, say
we go do some work on
a senior citizen’s house,
they would get a loan on
that, but there’s no money
due payable until the
house is sold or the per-
son is deceased. … It’s a
way to get money out to
low-income people to do
repairs on their homes.”
He said Wallowa
County usually partners
with neighboring coun-
ties. This year, Grant
County decided to spon-
sor the grant. Last year
it was Union County and
Wallowa County has done
so in the past.
“Unfortunately, not a
lot of the seniors are tak-
ing advantage of it in
Wallowa County,” Hill-
ock said. “They seem to
be using it in Grant and
other counties more than
they are here.”
He said some home-
owners seem reluctant to
take a new lien on their
homes, even though it’s
not required to be repaid
until the house is sold or
the homeowner dies.
“A lot of people don’t
want to put a lien on their
house,” he said. “But it
would be advantageous”
for
various
projects
homeowners might need
done, such as roof repairs
or a septic system.
Hillock
said
one
advantage to the county
is that unused funds can
be rolled over from year
to year. As a result, the
county has a considerable
fund for senior housing,
although he didn’t know
the exact amount.
In
other
routine
actions, the commission-
ers approved:
• A plan of action for
the county to satisfy the
state audits division.
• The receipt of a
$39,000 grant from the
state to use for a trailer for
its recycling program.
• A transfer of $25,000
to use for weed spraying.
• A transfer of
$250,000 to buy out the
lease the county held on
a road grader used by the
road department.
The transfers were
to place county funds
already on hand into the
line items where they’ll
be used.
The
commissioners
also:
• Accepted the resig-
nation of Deputy Kevin
McQuead from the Wal-
lowa
County
Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce. McQuead
was sworn in earlier
this month as Enterprise
police chief.
• Hired Jean Jancai-
tis to handle planning and
building codes.
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WALLOWA LAKE —
A local fi shing expert who
holds the record for the larg-
est mackinaw caught at Wal-
lowa Lake recently hooked
another whopper.
He also has had recent
success pulling in kokanee,
and said it appears this will
be a good season for catch-
ing large kokanee at the lake.
It’s been a good start
to the angling season for
Mark Moncrief, a hunting
and fi shing guide who owns
Tri-State Outfi tters south of
Enterprise.
In a matter of hours
during a fi shing trip at the
lake in late March, Mon-
crief — who holds the lake
record for a 36½-pound
mackinaw he reeled in back
in the 1980s, caught a 35½-
pound mackinaw and, he
said, hauled in a 33-pounder
a couple of hours later.
“I do really well from
usually about the fi rst cou-
ple week or weeks in March
on,” he said. “We’ve done
good in February. It depends
on the year. On an aver-
age by mid-March on we’re
starting to do good and con-
sistently catching. I do really
good on the macks early like
that. We have a really large
average on our fi sh. Most
macks, people are catching
5-12 pounders. Our average
here is 15-18 (pounds).”
With the kokanee, Mon-
crief said there has been a
cycle between smaller fi sh
sizes but higher numbers, or
larger numbers but smaller
fi sh.
“Last year, I saw the
cycle swing back to a big-
ger fi sh,” he said. “This year,
this early in the year, I’m
catching fi sh in excess of
20 inches already. They’ll
UPDATE ON
LOCAL FISHING
Chinook salmon num-
bers are not expected to
be good this year, Kyle
Bratcher, assistant district
fi sh biologist for the
Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife, said in a
recent update.
Mark Moncrief/Contributed Photo
Mark Moncrief holds up a 35½-pound mackinaw he caught
recently at Wallowa Lake. Moncrief holds the record for the
largest mackinaw caught at the lake, one that was just a
pound heavier than the one pulled in last month.
In the report, Bratcher
wrote that Hells Can-
yon opened to spring
fi shing April 24, and that
he looks for the fi shing
to improve around the
middle of May.
Bratcher also reported
that kokanee fi shing
on the Wallowa Lake
is turning in fi sh that
are averaging about 10
inches.
Steelhead fi sheries close
on Friday, April 30.
Mark Moncrief/Contributed Photo
Two of Mark Moncrief’s clients hold up a 29-inch, 9-pound
kokanee caught under Moncrief’s guidance about a decade
ago at Wallowa Lake.
grow an inch a month after
March.”
Most
good-sized
kokanee, he said, are any-
thing in excess of 12 inches,
and he said 18-20 inches is
getting into trophy-sized fi sh
range.
Business has not slowed
down for Moncrief despite
the pandemic, especially
once restrictions were lifted
last year and he was able to
get back on the water.
“When they opened the
county back up I was just
fl ooded,” he said. “... I think
it was the COVID. They
were just bugging out —
a lot of Washington (and)
Idaho people (were here).”
Moncrief isn’t sure if this
year will be as busy as 2020
was for him, but when the
large kokanee start showing
up at Wallowa Lake, more
people make their way to the
water to try and hook a big
one.
“I don’t know if it’ll be
as busy as last year, but the
word is getting out about
these big fi sh,” he said.
This spring, Moncrief not
only has had a solid run of
catching large fi sh, but he
and his clients are pulling
them in in large numbers.
“I had two clients out
(from) California. With
three of us fi shing we boated
62 kokanees,” he said,
though he noted he person-
ally releases almost all his
catches now.
Catching big kokanee, by
the way, is not just a trait of
his — it runs in his family.
The second-biggest kokanee
pulled in in the world was
one he said his daugh-
ter, Shelby, caught at Wal-
lowa Lake 10 years ago — a
27-inch, 9½-pound whopper.
Those interested in get-
ting a guided tour from
Moncrief can call Tri-State
at 541-426-4468.
Volunteers hold spring cleaning for Earth Day
Art contest,
litter patrol held
in Enterprise
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Spring
cleaning took on a special
meaning Thursday and Fri-
day, April 22-23, as about a
dozen volunteers celebrated
Earth Day by holding a “lit-
ter patrol,” cleaning up the
Wallowa County Recycling
Center and holding a recy-
cled art contest.
The Friends of Wallowa
County Recycling organized
the eff ort, as nine mem-
bers of the Wallowa County
Rotary Club spent a cou-
ple hours Thursday picking
up trash along Highway 82
from Enterprise to Eggleson
Corner, fi lling 21 bags.
Friends member Randi
Jandt said there were a few
interesting fi nds among the
trash.
“Interesting fi nds this
year did not include any
checks like last year,” Jandt
said, in reference to a $200
check found during a simi-
lar eff ort in 2020. “But they
included a small, new Amer-
ican fl ag (still in the wrap-
per), an Easter card from
1982, a large cardboard box
(creepily labeled “Research
Mannikans”) and pages of
Spring Artisan Market
Saturday May 8th • 10:00am-4:00pm
Next to Stein Distillery
Come celebrate Mother’s Day weekend
with local women artisans.
Pottery • Jewelry • Fine art prints and cards • Felted wool treasures
Wood-burned art • Handmade skin care products
Friends of Wallowa County Recycling/Contributed Photo
Volunteers bag trash Thursday, April 22, 2021, during a litter patrol south of Enterprise. The
volunteers picked up 21 bags of trash between Enterprise and Eggleson Corner.
a quite torrid letter — or
someone’s draft of their lat-
est romance novel.”
The recycling center got
to show off a recently arrived
mobile recycling unit trailer,
purchased with a grant from
the Oregon Department of
Environmental Quality.
On the trailer were entries
in the recycled art con-
test where throngs of peo-
ple could vote on the win-
ners, spin a wheel for prizes
and learn about the county’s
recycling program.
The winners will be on
display soon at the Jose-
phy Center for Arts and Cul-
ture in Joseph. Everyone
who entered an art piece got
some kind of a prize, Jandt
said.
Local merchants and
individuals donated more
than $1,000 in prizes and
giveaways, she said.
Friends
volunteers
cleaned out the recy-
cling centerbuilding, pres-
sure-washed the gummy
plastics room fl oor, picked
up escaped paper around
the grounds and perimeter,
mounted a new decorative
sign and accomplished other
chores, Jandt said.
Mike Harvey was on
hand with his Wallowa Val-
ley Cleaning Products. All
Harvey’s products have
refi llable containers — a
throwback to when we all
used to refi ll stuff — with
the intention of reducing
plastic waste in the landfi ll.
Harvey’s products are avail-
able locally at the Wild Car-
rot Herbals in Enterprise and
Joseph Hardware in Joseph.
Local merchants kicked
in great prizes and gift certif-
icates, reminding us that the
best way to reduce packag-
ing and transporation waste
is to shop local, Jandt said.
She said even the weather
cooperated for the eff orts at
the recycling center and the
litter patrol.
“If only we could have
weather like that every Earth
Day,” she said.