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IN
137th Year, No. 29
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
wallowa.com
Hometown hero honored at Trail Blazers game
Brooke Langerman lauded for her
diligence at county dispatch center
virus. Shaver wanted to
recognize her dedication
during a diffi cult time, said
Brenda Micka, adminis-
trative services director
for the county, in an email
Monday.
Without Langerman,
Shaver would not have
been able to keep the 911
dispatch center up and run-
ning, Micka said. She will-
ingly gave up time with
her family to work extra
hours when she could have
succumbed to the pressure
and fear of the COVID-19
outbreak in the center and
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
Lyvia
Thorne
Wallowa
She loves
her job
working
at lake
ENTERPRISE — Lyvia Thorne was in
Enterprise on Tuesday, Oct. 19, but she’s
lived in Wallowa for the past two years.
Prior to Wallowa, she lived in Enter-
prise for about four years for about six
years in Wallowa County. She lived in
Pendleton before coming here.
Homeschooled, the 17-year-old
high school junior lives with her parents,
Jimmie and Ted Thorne.
But she does more than school,
holding down a part-time job at Wal-
lowa Lake Vacation Rentals as a cabin
cleaner.
“I like it a lot; it’s a very good job,” she
said. “I have a very good boss, too, Cindi
Aschenbrenner.”
Thorne recently shared her thoughts
about living in Wallowa County.
What’s your favorite thing about
Wallowa County?
The lake or the hikes that you can
do. I usually just sit there and look at
(the lake.) It’s really cool; it’s pretty. I like
to hike at the lake or up Tick Hill or Bear
Creek in Wallowa.
As we move into fall, what’s
your favorite season? Why?
Fall is my favorite season, because
it’s so pretty.
Are you concerned about the
recent coronavirus spike?
No. (She hasn’t been vaccinated nor
does she plan to.)
What do you think of
government mandates on face
masks and vaccinations?
I think it’s mostly a waste of time, but
that’s just my opinion. I think if you’re
going to get it, you’re going to get it, but
if you have risks, wearing the masks and
getting vaccinated are good.
With summer now over, what
was your favorite experience?
Working. I really like my job.
What’s your advice for people
who are thinking about moving
here?
I think that it’s a very beautiful place
to live in … and it’s a good community
with good people around. But I don’t
know what advice I would give to some-
one moving here.
PORTLAND
—
Brooke Langerman, one
of the Wallowa County
911 dispatchers, was cel-
ebrated Saturday, Oct. 23,
at the Portland Trail Blaz-
ers game as “our home-
town hero.”
Supervisor
Tammy
Shaver nominated Lan-
german for the award for
her hard work when most
of the Wallowa County
Sheriff ’s Offi ce 911 staff
was down with corona-
requested to remain quar-
antined or sequestered at
home.
“Thanks to Brooke, our
level of service did not
waver and we continued
to provide help and suc-
cor to the members of the
county and our respond-
ers,” Micka said. “We
want to recognize those
who go above and beyond.
Brooke did.”
This wasn’t the fi rst
time Langerman was hon-
ored for going above and
beyond as a dispatcher.
On Aug. 18 at their regular
meeting, she was awarded
the second-ever Golden
See Hero, Page A5
Portland Trail Blazers/Contributed Photo
Wallowa County’s Brooke Langerman was honored as
a “hometown hero” at a Portland Trail Blazers game
Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021, for her diligence in helping keep
the local 911 dispatch center going during a COVID-19
outbreak.
Kendrick Moholt Photography/Contributed Photo
An assortment of biomass logs are staged for use at Heartwood Biomass in Wallowa. The small-diameter log facility makes use of timber that is too
small to sell to a standard lumber mill.
Wallowa County leaders focus on
Natural resources
Commissioners
get update from
Wallowa Resources
HISTORY OF
WALLOWA
RESOURCES
• 1996: Wallowa Resources
founded.
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — Natural
resources dominated the discus-
sion Wednesday, Oct. 20, at the
meeting of the Wallowa County
Board of Commissioners, pri-
marily with a presentation from
Nils Christoff ersen, executive
director of Wallowa Resources.
But fi rst, the commissioners
gave their approval to three let-
ters of support to resource-re-
lated issues.
The fi rst was a letter support-
ing the Wallowa County Energy
Plan. The letter stated that “The
eff ort would produce a county
for energy resilience through
local energy effi ciency produc-
tion and wise use, while at the
same time contributing to local
rural economic development.”
Speaking on behalf of the
letter was Joseph Basile, pro-
gram manager for Wallowa
Resources Community Solu-
tions Inc., who said, “The Wal-
lowa County Energy Plan is an
eff ort with funding from the
Energy Trust of Oregon with
Wallowa Resources Commu-
nity Solutions Inc. ... The inten-
tion of the eff ort is to develop
a plan with holding near to the
values of the community and
the county as to what the energy
picture of the county looks like
in years to come. … At this point
we’ve asked the commission-
ers to provide a letter of sup-
port and we’re also recruiting a
leadership team. This is going to
be a community-run project. …
With your help and leadership
and input for the larger leader-
ship team, we’re going to com-
mence that project here in the
near term.”
The second letter supported
• 1999: Participated in the
Wallowa River restoration on
the Doug McDaniel Ranch.
• 2000: Began a noxious
weeds program.
• 2004: Launched youth pro-
gramming.
• 2008: Took over campsite
management of more than
100 former U.S. Forest Service
campsites.
• 2009: Started Integrated Bio-
mass Resources, now Heart-
land Biomass in Wallowa.
• 2010: Wallowa Resources
moved to its current home.
• 2012: Organized forest col-
laboratives.
• 2013: Expanded educational
programs.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Wallowa County Commissioner Todd Nash passes along a core sample of
a tree provided by Larry Nalls, a Wallowa Resources board member and
consulting forester, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020, during a walking tour of
the East Moraine to consider a forest management plan for the area.
plans by the federal Bureau of
Land Management for reseeding
the area damaged by this sum-
mer’s Elbow Creek Fire in the
northern part of the county.
The letter had been dis-
cussed two weeks earlier by the
commissioners.
Commissioner Susan Rob-
erts said at that time she still
had questions, but on Wednes-
day, she said those questions had
been answered and was ready to
recommend the letter’s approval.
That letter, along with one
supporting the Lostine River
Wetland Project, which also had
been discussed previously by the
commissioners, was approved in
a single motion.
Wallowa Resources
Then came the presentation
by Christoff ersen, who was tak-
ing the opportunity to update the
board, given a landmark date.
“This year is our 25th anni-
versary here in Wallowa County,
so we hope to share a little about
who we are, what we do and what
we hope to do moving forward,”
he told the commissioners.
See Resources, Page A5
• 2015: Created My Blue
Mountains Woodlands Pro-
gram.
• 2017: Supported the
creation of the Hells Canyon
Trails Association.
• 2019: Wallowa Lake County
Service District hydro project.
• 2019: Helped acquire the
property on the East Moraine.
• 2020: Launched the Rural
Engagement and Vitality
Center with Eastern Oregon
University.
• 2020: Established the Col-
laborative Forest Landscape
Restoration Program.
• 2021: Saw the release of “The
West is Burning” documentary
on Western fi res. Aired over
1,200 times on PBS station.