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Wallowa.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
A3
Commissioners, advocate butt heads — again
Joseph woman wants few or no
people on East Moraine face
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Once
again the Wallowa County
Board of Commissioners got
a visit from a self-described
land-use planning advocate
and once again they came
head-to-head over the coun-
ty’s the East Moraine Forest
Management Plan.
“I’ve made a study of the
wildlife history the best I
could,” said Milley O’Cal-
laghan of Joseph in submit-
ting a stack of 41 pages with
maps and the history of wild-
life management. “I’ve been
worried about the wildlife
corridor. … I want the face
of the moraine protected
because it’s winter range.”
O’Callaghan said the
commissioners were vio-
lating restrictions on devel-
oping the face of the East
Moraine by continuing
to allow a single road —
mainly used for walking —
up the face of the moraine.
The moraine, a parcel of
land of roughly 1,800 acres,
was purchased and moved to
county ownership in January
2020. A draft management
plan has since been worked
on by the Wallowa Lake
Moraines Partnership —
made up of Wallowa County,
the Wallowa Land Trust,
Wallowa Resources, the
Oregon Department of Parks
and Recreation, the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife, the Oregon Depart-
ment of Forestry and the Nez
Perce Tribe’s cultural and
forestry divisions, as well as
community members.
The single road
“Uses of this type, serve
to increase the level of
human activity and den-
sity in the inventoried area
and are considered to have
eff ects on the wildlife habi-
tat,” O’Callaghan said refer-
ring to the single road.
The commissioners had
diffi culty getting O’Cal-
laghan to state up front what
it was she desired.
“There’s one pathway
or road that’s been in exis-
tence that people walk and
ride and take bicycles up and
it’s right there at the edge of
the timber,” Commissioner
Todd Nash asked her. “Do
you see that as a confl ict and
a detractor?”
“I do,” she said.
“So do you think that
should be demolished and no
more access at that point?”
Nash asked. “I’ve wanted to,
for months now, to get what
you want and you dance
around what you want out
of this. You’ve treated some
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Milley O’Callaghan of Joseph, a self-described land-use planning advocate, addresses the
Wallowa County Board of Commissioners at its meeting Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021, about the
county’s pending management plan for the East Moraine. From center, Commissioners John
Hillock and Todd Nash listen.
of our staff very poorly
over these last few months.
Our staff doesn’t need to be
treated like this; we don’t
need to be belittled. If you’re
not going to get to the point
and answer my questions,
we’re no longer going to
have a conversation. I don’t
want to treat you poorly, but
this has been ongoing. I’ve
asked you directly several
times to get to the point and
I want you to get there.”
“OK, the point is, you
cannot develop the face of
the moraine, it would only
destroy it,” O’Callaghan
said. “You can only develop
the backside.”
Commissioner
Susan
Roberts tried to soothe
O’Callaghan’s concerns.
“We have no plans to
develop the face of the
moraine, and that’s where
I’m unsure and unclear on
what it is you’re asking,”
she said. “We have no plans
to change anything except
improve the gate.”
Human density
“The point is that human
density is the issue,” O’Cal-
laghan said. “The county
also faces a policy … that
they would determine in the
future which kind of human
density levels they wanted,
but they never got around to
doing anything except writ-
ing that policy. The purpose
for acquiring the property
was to establish a commu-
nity forest that would pro-
tect the open space on the
face of the moraine and the
wildlife corridor that’s on
the face of the moraine and
be compatible with the con-
servation goals of the Wal-
lowa County Land Use Plan
… adding increased recre-
ational activities that are
in confl ict with the wild-
life corridor is not protect-
ing the resource on the face
of the moraine.”
“Is your request to us
to monitor the number of
people we allow on the
moraine? Is that what you’re
after?” Roberts asked.
“We fi gure that three
people a day for a year con-
stitutes the number of peo-
ple who regularly use it
now,” O’Callaghan said.
She also mentioned
requests she had heard of for
additional trails to access
the face of the moraine.
And, she said the commis-
sioners had not held enough
meetings on the manage-
ment plan.
“So we have a diff ering
of opinion on that, and we
know we do,” Nash said.
“We disagree there.”
O’Callaghan concluded
her presentation by submit-
ting her 41-page document
to the commissioners as
part of the public comment
the county is taking on the
forest management plan.
Comments may continue
to be submitted until Oct. 2.
After that, the plan’s man-
agement committee will
review it and make appro-
priate changes. In Novem-
ber, the county commis-
sioners will review and
approve the revised plan, as
will the Oregon Department
of Forestry. In December, it
is expected the plan will be
adopted and implemented
by the commissioners.
$ 5
County reaches 500 COVID-19 cases
Chieftain staff
ENTERPRISE
—
It’s a number that, just
months ago, may have felt
unimaginable.
But on Friday, Sept. 17,
the Oregon Health Author-
ity’s report of seven new
COVID-19 cases in Wal-
lowa County pushed the
county past 500 total cases
of the virus, with 60% of
that count coming in the past
two months.
The county had seven
more cases reported over the
weekend, putting the total
during the pandemic to 508.
The OHA last week also
reported fi ve fatalities in
Wallowa County, four of
which came during a week-
long stretch in August, and
one earlier in the spring.
There have now been 11
COVID-related deaths in
Wallowa County during the
pandemic.
The four August deaths
are the fi rst reported by
OHA during a spike in cases
that has seen roughly 300
people in the county con-
tract the virus in the past two
months.
The earliest death was
KEY DATES
Below are the reported
dates of key COVID-19
numbers in Wallowa
County, with amount of
time between the dates.
First case: April 8, 2020
50th case: Oct. 30, 2020
(205 days later)
100th case: Jan. 26, 2021
(88 days)
150th case: April 2, 2021
(66 days)
200th case: July 19, 2021
(108 days)
250th case: Aug. 5, 2021
(17 days)
300th case: Aug. 17, 2021
(12 days)
350th case: Aug. 24, 2021
(seven days)
400th case: Aug. 30, 2021
(six days)
450th case: Sept. 7, 2021
(eight days)
500th case: Sept. 17,
2021 (10 days)
a 79-year-old woman who
tested positive on April
28 and died May 11. The
woman, who had underly-
ing conditions, died at St.
Joseph Regional Medical
Center in Lewiston, Idaho,
the OHA update said.
Then, a tough stretch in
August saw four individuals
die with COVID-19.
First was a 69-year-old
man who died on Aug. 20,
six days after testing posi-
tive for COVID-19. It’s not
yet known if he had underly-
ing conditions.
A day later, on Aug. 21,
an 84-year-old man died,
also six days after test-
ing positive for the virus.
The man had underlying
conditions.
Four days later, on Aug.
25, a 56-year-old woman
tested positive and died the
same day. It’s unknown
yet if she had underlying
conditions.
The most-recent was an
86-year-old woman who
tested positive Aug. 25 and
died two days later on Aug.
27. It’s unknown if she had
underlying conditions.
Vaccinations rates, as of
Monday, Sept. 20, continue
to trickle higher, though at a
slow pace. Currently, 64.1%
of residents 18 and older
have received at least a dose
of vaccine. In the last month,
that number has increased by
about 3 percentage points.
The data shows, through
Sept. 18, 3,691 people vac-
cinated in the county who
are 18 or above, up 176 from
3,515 on Aug 18.
The overall vaccination
rate in the county stands at
53.9%.
Statewide
hospitaliza-
tions for COVID-19 are
starting to trickle downward,
with the OHA reporting 968
on Monday.
But in Oregon’s Region
9, which includes Wal-
lowa County, there were
31 reported hospitaliza-
tions due to COVID-19, the
region’s third highest total of
the pandemic.
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Commissioners wrap up monetary issues
Chieftain staff
ENTERPRISE — A cou-
ple monetary items that had
to be approved before the
end of the month were OK’d
by the Wallowa County
Board of Commissioners at
a special session Monday
morning, Sept. 20.
The
commissioners
approved a bid of $28,373
for a District Attorney’s
Security Grant project that
will install bulletproof glass
in windows and a door in the
DA’s offi ce.
The funding came from
Wildhorse Grants of Pend-
leton and from the DA’s
usual funding sources.
The approval was delayed
because county offi cials
wanted to be sure the Wild-
horse grant was coming
through before spending it,
said Brenda Micka, admin-
istrative services director for
the county.
Micka also said she was
given the go-ahead to pay
out $372,537 in premiums
for those who participated in
this year’s Wallowa County
Fair.
She said the premium
checks, which also must be
paid by Sept. 30, are going
to those who entered open
class, 4-H and FFA exhibits
and who sold animals during
the fat stock sale.
The commissioners meet
next on Wednesday, Oct. 6,
at 9 a.m.
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