A8
OFF PAGE ONE
Wallowa County Chieftain
Spring:
Continued from Page A1
This year, Joseph is off
to a rough start, with 1.68
inches of precipitation mea-
sured in January and Febru-
ary, nearly 1.1 inches below
normal.
In Wallowa, November
and December are the wet-
test months, with May actu-
ally tied for third on aver-
age and June fi fth. Yet April
Idaho:
Continued from Page A1
Mike McCarter, the
leader of the Greater Ida-
ho-Move Oregon’s Border
movement, said Wallowa
County’s 2020 vote was
close in spite of voters not
knowing some of the bene-
fi ts of a border move.
“We hardly spent any-
thing on our 2020 cam-
Coleman
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through June still brings 5.8
inches on average. Last year,
those three months saw a
combined 1.21 inches. In
January and February this
year, the town is already
0.69 inches below average.
Lostine, a third area
where weather.gov takes
measurements, also was
well below average a year
ago. The town sees 5.93
inches on average from
April to June, the best
stretch of the year. Data for
the fi rst four months of 2021
was not available, but May
and June, traditionally the
two wettest months, saw a
combined 1.12 inches, just
more than 3 inches below
average.
According to the Cli-
mate Prediction Center on
weather.gov, the chances
of Wallowa County see-
ing drought-killing condi-
tions do not appear great.
The outlook for April-June
calls for near-normal tem-
peratures, but slightly below
normal precipitation.
paign, and voters didn’t
even know what they were
voting on,” he said in a press
release. “This year voters
will get a better chance to
hear about how much bet-
ter Idaho’s low-tax, conser-
vative governance is than
Oregon’s governance.”
McCarter added in the
release that the culture of
Eastern Oregon better fi ts
with the culture of Idaho.
“The location of state
borders is arbitrary. The cur-
rent location of the Oregon/
Idaho border doesn’t match
the real cultural boundary,”
he said. “The majority of
southern and eastern Ore-
gon votes for conservative
governance like Idaho has.
It’s better to move the bor-
der than to ask all of those
half a million Oregonians to
move to Idaho.”
To view the petition,
visit
www.greateridaho.
org/petitions-to-put-great-
er-idaho-on-the-ballot.
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Wednesday, April 13, 2022
U.S. Drought Monitor
The various drought levels in Oregon are shown on the U.S. Drought Monitor website. As of
April 5, 2022, when the last report was taken, nearly half of Wallowa County (49.13%) was in
D3, or extreme drought.
Drought:
Continued from Page A1
“I think it would be respon-
sible for us to pursue declar-
ing a drought. I don’t want to
do this every year, but we’re
still recovering from last
year, too,” he said. “Those
soil conditions and I think
even into what is going to
be our groundwater condi-
tions are going to continue to
recover for a while. With that,
it would be my recommenda-
tion that we pursue declaring
a drought.”
Commission Chairwoman
Susan Roberts asked if the
county needs more informa-
tion from a Soil and Water
Conservation District, but
Nash said that isn’t necessary.
“We don’t at this point
because the U.S. Drought
Monitor shows us in D3,”
Nash said. “I did take a bit of
a survey around the county
and got varying responses and
I’ve tried to articulate most of
those.”
U.S. Drought Monitor is
a map that is updated each
Thursday to show the loca-
tion and intensity of drought
across the country. As of the
latest report, taken April 5 and
released April 7, nearly half
of Wallowa County (49.13%)
was in D3, or extreme drought.
Roberts explained that the
declaration is the fi rst step
toward obtaining state or
federal assistance for those
plagued by drought.
“What that does is we send
in a form to the state through
our emergency manager and
then the state recognizes our
declaration and approves
that it and then forwards the
request to the secretary of
agriculture for a consideration
of a drought declaration for
Wallowa County,” she said.
“Then, if people need assis-
tance or if the county does,
we’re eligible for it, but we
have to make the declaration
in order to get the assistance.”
Roberts asked for a motion,
which Nash made, and the
board approved.
As Roberts explained, the
funds come out of the taxes
paid to the Transient Lodging
Fund that is now at $26,000. A
portion of that goes to cities in
the county.
“We want to spread it out
for other events,” Commis-
sioner John Hillock said.
Since the three events are
mostly involving people who
are locals entertaining locals
and not tourists visiting the
county, the lesser amount
seemed more appropriate. The
commissioners approved:
• The Wallowa Valley
Music Alliance’s request to
fund the Courthouse Concert
Series.
• The WVMA’s request to
fund the Juniper Jam.
• The WVMA’s to fund
Joseph Mountain Jubilee.
Other business
In another matter, the com-
missioners also approved
$1,500 each out of the coun-
ty’s hotel/motel tax fund
toward three diff erent proj-
ects. Each had requested
$2,000, but the commission-
ers agreed they needed to
save some of the funds to bet-
ter serve other requests they
anticipate.
“I think that these are
worthy of support,” Nash
said. “But I’d like to support
them at a three-quarter level
of $1,500 apiece instead of
$2,000.”
Easements
In other business, the com-
missioners approved four
easement requests. Approved
by the Road Department and
the commissioners were:
• Tammy Mauro wants to
install a driveway entrance on
Lostine River Road.
• Nick and Deidra Rip-
som want to install a driveway
entrance on Dobbin Road.
• Pacifi c Power Co. wants
to install a new power pole
and provide power to a new
house on North Bear Creek
Road.
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