OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa.com
Mustangs:
She
fi nds
herself
divided on the issue of
slaughterhouses.
“I can’t say ‘yea’ and I
can’t say ‘nay’ because of
where my heartstrings are.
(For example) I have my
Palomino here. He’s 20.
What if he goes lame and
gets hurt? Do I want to send
him out to pasture? Can I
keep him fi nancially?” she
says. “I mean, seriously,
I’ve got another guy out
here I took from the county,
in Joseph, he’s a pasture
pet. He came to me crippled
after I did my evaluation
and he’s a domestic-born
Paint and unfortunately, the
person before me, messed
him up. I can’t do anything
with him so he just eats
my pasture and just looks
pretty. Do I have money and
time for that? No. But am
I going to send him to an
auction house? No, I can’t.
That would probably, most
likely for him, mean slaugh-
ter, and it’s not fair to him,
so my heartstrings say, no.
Now, what other people do
in their own time, that is not
my concern. Everybody has
a choice and if they choose
to do that, then it’s their
choice.”
Under the BLM’s Adop-
tion Incentive Program, the
horses remain government
property and an adopter
signs a one-year contract to
ensure they properly care
for the horse. Adopters must
show they have suffi cient
feed, water, pasture, a trailer
and can pay veterinarian
expenses.
Under the program, an
adopter pays $25 for the
recently captured mustang
and in about two months,
receives from the govern-
ment $500 to help cover
costs of training. Dawn says
about two months prior to
the conclusion of the con-
tract, the government gives
another $500.
“It’s an incentive to get
more people to adopt more
mustangs that are com-
pletely wild,” she says.
“The government would
really like you to take that
$500 and send that horse
to a trainer rather than just
spend it — put it toward the
animal instead of toward
your personal gain.”
She charges $125 for
a horse that goes to an
adopter.
“It may be the most-ex-
pensive $125 you spend,
but I’ve got three and I will
never go back to domestic,”
she says.
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — A house
owned by the Nez Perce
Wallowa Homeland Project
is about ready for a new lease
on life.
The McCrae home, on the
eastern edge of the 320-plus-
acre parcel of land owned
by the Homeland Project,
is undergoing a renovation,
and the plan is that by July
it will be available for use
by tribal members and other
community members, much
in the same way other ven-
ues on the Homeland Project
grounds are.
The family that rented the
old home from the NPWH
recently moved out, and
Executive Director Angela
Bombaci said it was time to
change how the home was
used.
“We are repurposing this
house from being a profi t cen-
ter for us as an organization
— because we used to make
money off of it for rent —
to being part of the services
that we provide,” Bombaci
said. “It is a fi ve-bedroom
house. We are renovating
it to be a place where tribal
people will come stay, (and)
have that comfortable family
setting.”
Tribal members and oth-
ers can use the land for a
variety of uses — perhaps
the most famous of them
being the annual Tamkaliks
Celebration at the Powwow
Grounds.
But aside from camp-
ing or staying in the long-
house on the property Bom-
baci noted that fi nding places
to stay in town is becoming
increasingly
challenging,
and opening up the home
provides familiar, accessible
lodging.
“What we found is that
as times kind of change here
in the county, it’s harder
and more expensive to fi nd
somewhere to stay when
you’re here,” she said. “We
What about burros?
Taming friends
Dawn spends hours each
day working with her mus-
tangs learning the idiosyn-
crasies of each.
“I troubleshoot what
each horse will let you do,”
she says.
The fi rst diffi cult chore,
once a mustang has been
brought to where it will be
trained, is to get a halter on
it. Keeping the bridle on can
be a chore, too. One mare,
CoCo, was an example.
“She’s still learning that
touches aren’t going to hurt
her and what is OK and
what isn’t OK,” Dawn says.
“She lost her halter the other
day and it took my husband
about 10 minutes to get it
back on.”
She has to fi nd ways to
gradually get horses used to
being touched.
“When people try to put
a bridle on a horse, the horse
is like, ‘Don’t touch me.’
They’re very sensitive up
here,” she says, touching
CoCo’s head.
Dawn is still trying to get
her wildest mustang to relax
around her. Girlfriend was
only two weeks out of the
wild.
“It took me about a week
to be able to touch her,”
Dawn says.
She often uses a long
stick with a string on it much
like is used to direct show
hogs. It gets the mustang
used to being touched.
“She’s the wildest,”
Dawn says. “She’s the most
apprehensive about being
touched.”
She coos and talks to to
Girlfriend, allows Girlfriend
to get used to Dawn’s smell
to get Girlfriend used to her
and calm down.
“This is just basically
teaching her that I’m not
going to kill her,” she says.
“When they realize that I’m
not going to kill them, they
really start settling down.”
The Medleys stick with
horses, they said, since true
to their reputation, burros
can be stubborn.
“I don’t really like them.
I did one,” Dawn says.
“You’re on ‘donkey
time,’” Eddy says. “You do
it when they want to do it.”
Their lone experience
with a burro did have some
positive eff ects.
“Our 6-year-old did
really good with the burro,”
Eddy says.
“She named her ‘Pop
Tart.’ It was cute,” Dawn
adds.
Home on the range
The Medleys love what
they do and where they do it.
Their ranch is about 5 miles
downriver from Imnaha and
the 18 acres have hardly a
fl at spot among them.
“It’s almost all vertical,”
Eddy says.
He’s the one who did the
lion’s share of building the
ranch before he came down
with a disability.
They have a garden and
a wide variety of fruit trees.
They also have a boar, a sow
and a litter of piglets, along
with chickens and dogs.
Dawn’s two older kids
from her fi rst marriage are
grown and gone, but her
daughter recently made
Dawn a grandmother. The
two younger kids, ages 6
and 9, help on the ranch and
attend school in Imnaha.
But in the three years
they’ve been training and
taming mustangs, the Med-
leys seem to have found
their calling.
“We have a motto: To get
as many wild-to-mild mus-
tangs out of the corrals and
fi nd the loving adoptable
homes,” Dawn says. “Also,
to watch something so
majestic and ‘wild’ become
your partner and become
one with them” she fi nds
fulfi lling.
BARGAINS
OF THE
MONTH
®
Letter:
Continued from Page A1
had no documented claims
of harassment by coun-
cil members. However, in
an email June 15, he con-
fi rmed that he knows of
Bethscheider’s Feb. 21 let-
ter and its content. He said
that other letters of com-
plaint have been received,
but he could not discuss
their content, who they are
from or who they accuse.
“The city is treating
these complaints with pri-
vacy to those in ques-
tion until they can be
fully investigated and vet-
ted through the council,”
Eckstein said in his email.
“Anything that you release
in your article should make
note of that as we are not
trying to violate any pri-
vacy laws with this and we
are not releasing a press
release regarding these
complaints until after the
executive session.”
Eckstein has said in the
past that options the council
can consider do not extend
SAVE
20
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While supplies last.
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Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
The McCrae house, which is owned by the Nez Perce Wallowa
Homeland Project, is undergoing a renovation to be available
for use by tribal members and other community members
starting in July 2021.
realized how critical it was
to have family lodging —
not camping, not sleeping
in the longhouse, and not
hotels because basically in
the month of July you can’t
fi nd hotels anywhere in Wal-
lowa County.”
Interior work to prepare
the home has been under-
way for months, and Bom-
baci said hundreds of volun-
teer hours have helped with
the progress — from individ-
uals helping do small things
like clean up to professionals
donating time and materials.
“Our big push is to have it
ready for people to come stay
this July,” she said. “We have
a group of published, Native
writers coming out to stay for
a retreat in July. The timeline
to have it ready in at least its
fi rst phase is this summer.
But there’s bigger scale work
that does need to happen.”
And there are more oppor-
tunities to pitch in coming
up.
“We had a plumber come
and donate all his time,
and almost all of the paint-
ing has been done by vol-
to removing one of its own.
Removal would have to be
by a recall election by the
voters. The council can,
however, censure a mem-
ber by removing them from
any committee assignments
and even barring them from
City Hall.
unteers. We’ve come a long
way without spending a ton
of money yet,” Bombaci
said. “But now we’re on to
the more expensive things
like painting the exterior, a
new roof and ADA access,
and then the fun part, which
is furnishing it.”
Household items and
supplies are being sought
via an Amazon wish-
list posted to social media.
Those interested in donat-
ing or volunteering can con-
tact Bombaci at info@wal-
lowanezperce.org, or by
calling 541-778-0055.
The Homeland Project
will not be charging a fee
to stay, but individuals are
asked to consider donating
when possible.
“We’re kind of counting
on those who can to help us
keep it up and running as a
community off ering, just an
extension of the welcome
we were founded to provide
dispersed Nez Perce descen-
dants,” Bombaci said. “The
Wallowa community and
Wallowa County community
want to welcome Native peo-
ple to this community. This
is a very tangible, fundamen-
tal, element of saying, ‘Yes,
come spend time here. There
is to be a place to sleep and
cook and be.’”
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A7
Homeland Project guest house nears completion
Preparing for adoption
Continued from Page A1
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
• Historic photo exhibit
• Local history books for sale
• New site plan to come see
• Book signing of “Homesteading
The North End” with author
Linda Bauck
WALLOWA HISTORY CENTER
Sale Ends 6/30/21
602 West 1st Street Wallowa, Oregon 97885 • (541)886-8000