A8
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Joseph City Council back up to full strength
Nancy Parmenter
voted to fi ll
vacant seat
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The Joseph
City Council is back up to
full strength, having unan-
imously voted to appoint
Nancy Parmenter to fi ll the
last vacant at-large seat at
the council’s meeting Thurs-
day, Dec. 2.
Parmenter and Ryan
Swindlehurst had submitted
applications for the seat, but
Swindlehurst withdrew his
application Nov. 29.
The council developed
vacancies when Councilor
Lisa Collier was appointed
mayor upon the resignation
of Belinda Buswell when
she moved out of town. For-
mer Councilor Kathy Bing-
ham also resigned this sum-
mer after being censured.
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The council still needs to
fi ll some committee assign-
ments, which were on the
Dec. 2 agenda as an optional
item, but no action was
mentioned in an email from
interim city Administrator
Brock Eckstein.
In another matter, the
council decided on a new
way to handle the city’s
annual Christmas lights
competition. The two top-
prize winners will be able
to select a local nonprofi t
or school organization to
receive a donation from the
city. The fi rst-place winner
will receive a $200 dona-
tion and second place will
receive $100. The individ-
ual winners also will receive
a credit to their water/sewer
bills. The winners will be
announced before Christmas
to allow residents to view
the homes while the lights
are still on display.
The council also directed
Eckstein to develop two
are charged three total ser-
vices: one for each parcel
and a “master” charge. Only
the individual shops would
be responsible for their bills.
Eckstein said in his email
that both ordinances are
being developed in an eff ort
to provide fairness to res-
idents and businesses. He
hopes to have both ordi-
nances ready for passage at
its Jan. 7 meeting. At that
time, the public will have the
opportunity for comment.
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ENTERPRISE — Hunt-
ers and anyone who comes
in contact with a dead cer-
vid — deer, elk or moose
— are asked to bring in the
heads for testing for chronic
wasting disease, a neurolog-
ical disease fatal to those
animals.
Bree Furfey, the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and
Wildlife district wildlife biol-
ogist for Wallowa County,
said Thursday, Dec. 9, that
hunters harvested two deer
in October in Idaho about 30
miles from the Oregon bor-
der. The deer has since tested
positive for CWD.
“It’s never been close to
Oregon before,” she said,
adding that means there has
never been a case of CWD in
the state.
Furfey encouraged hunt-
ers or anyone coming upon
a dead cervid to drop off
the heads for disease sam-
pling. A barrel is outside the
Enterprise ODFW offi ce and
the offi ces in La Grande and
Baker City. Information on
where the animal came from
should be included.
According to an ODFW
press release, the Idaho
Department of Fish and
Game has taken immediate
steps to increase surveillance
to determine the prevalence
rate of the disease in the area
including via a special hunt.
Oregon, too, is ramping up
CWD testing of deer and elk,
especially in Northeast Ore-
gon, by asking hunters, road-
kill salvagers and others to
help the department look for
any cases of the disease in
Oregon deer and elk. There
are only a handful of moose
in the state and there’s no
legal hunting of them.
Alarming news
“The news of an Idaho
detection is alarming, but we
have been working for years
to keep CWD out of Oregon
and preparing to respond if it
is detected here,” said Colin
Gillin, ODFW’s state wild-
life veterinarian.
Gillin has been active in
national eff orts to monitor
and slow the spread of CWD
for decades through partic-
ipation in the Association
of Fish and Wildlife Agen-
cies Health Committee. He
currently serves in the lead-
ership of the wildlife health
committee and as a co-edi-
tor for national guidance on
AFWA Best Management
Practices for surveillance
and response of CWD.
Furfey said the positive
Idaho test so close to Oregon
makes it all the more alarm-
ing because once it arrives
in Oregon, it may be here to
stay.
“There’s no eff ective
way to eradicate it once it
becomes established,” she
said.
She said there’s also
no cure or vaccine for the
disease.
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new ordinances.
One ordinance will estab-
lish clearer water/sewer rates
for all zones in the city with
a basic rate applied to each
zone irrespective of meter
size and make a more accu-
rate charge based on usage.
The other ordinance will
allow a business owner with
multiple units in one build-
ing to no longer be charged
a master account. Currently,
if a business has two shops
located in one building, they
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Terry Kreeger/Wyoming Game and Fish
This deer has visible signs of chronic wasting disease. Two
deer harvested in Idaho in October just 30 miles from Wallowa
County tested positive for CWD recently and the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife is asking anyone who has
taken a deer to turn in the head for testing.
The ODFW already
has emailed tag holders
for ongoing and upcoming
deer and elk hunts in select
Northeastern Oregon units
requesting they provide
parts from their deer or elk
for testing if they are suc-
cessful on the hunt. Barrels
placed at various locations
will make it easier for these
hunters to submit a head for
sampling by biologists and
veterinarians.
Beginning in 2022, it will
be mandatory for anyone
transporting wildlife car-
casses or parts to stop at a
check station if they encoun-
ter one and to allow their
animal to be tested.
A cervid parts import ban
also remains in eff ect: Ore-
gon residents or those travel-
ing through who are return-
ing from hunting out of state
may not bring in certain cer-
vid parts that contain brain
or spinal cord tissues as
these are known to be tis-
sues of CWD concentration
in infected animals. Sev-
eral hunters have been cited
for violating this regula-
tion, most recently in Klam-
ath County. Oregonians who
hunt in other states also need
to be aware of and follow
that state’s regulations for
CWD.
Furfey said that ODFW
has been closely watch-
ing for CWD since the late
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1990s and has tested more
than 23,000 samples since
then. No tests have returned
positive, she said.
She said it is not believed
that CWD can be transmit-
ted to humans, pets or live-
stock, but it is always fatal
to cervids. She said it comes
from a protein that lives in
the environment and can for
several years while passing
between animals.
She said if an animal tests
positive, it is recommended
to not eat the meat.
Symptoms
As for symptoms of
CWD, a cervid may have the
disease for months or years
before it becomes apparent.
“You can harvest a per-
fectly looking animal and
not be able to tell,” Furfey
said.
Symptoms include stag-
gering, poor posture, a wide
stance, apparent disorienta-
tion, lowered ears, an emaci-
ated appearance, consuming
lots of water and drooling.
“But again, it could take
months or years for those
symptoms to show up,” she
said.
Furfey said anyone with
questions may call the
ODFW’s Enterprise offi ce
at 541-426-3279 and talk to
a wildlife biologist. ODFW
also has offi ces in La Grande
and Baker City.
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