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138th Year, No. 2
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
WALLOWA.COM
A light snowstorm comes down
from the Wallowa Mountains onto
a freshly greened-up pasture
along Airport Lane just west of
Joseph on Thursday, May 19, 2022.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Roz
McTee
Enterprise
She enjoys
the sense of
community here
ENTERPRISE — Roz McTee has
lived in Enterprise for almost eight
years, having moved here from North-
ern Nevada.
She and husband, Ryan, moved
here for “a simpler life and a simpler,
quiet, more home-town feel,” she said.
One of her favorite things about
Wallowa County is the changing of
the seasons. Although she got that in
Nevada, she likes it here, too.
“What I like the most about the
county is that everybody is super
friendly and it’s a friendly community
here, especially with the locals in the
off season,” she said. “I know that we
welcome the tourists every year, which
is great, but I also like the sense of com-
munity during the wintertime and the
little traditions that we have.
“Whether it’s going down to the
tavern in Imnaha or skiing at Fergi or
going to basketball games on Friday
nights. I just like the sense of commu-
nity throughout the entire year.”
She and Ryan have owned and
operated McTee Creations for about
four years, where they build and
sell barnwood furniture from locally
sourced wood that comes from places
in the county that people just give to
them or they search out and fi nd.
“We build anything from enter-
tainment centers to barnwood tables
to cabinets,” she said. “I also do a little
bit of home décor.”
They sell some of their items at var-
ious shops around the county.
“We’re just local artisans trying to
fi nd our way,” she said.
They have a grown son and daugh-
ter, the son lives here.
As the weather gets warmer, Roz
looks forward to getting out and
camping, which she loves.
She believes this month’s primary
election to be quite important.
“I think if you have the means, stick
your ballot in,” she said.
Roz says the increasing cost of
fuel — which she attributes to many
causes — is limiting her ability to
travel.
“I can’t go farther to camp,” she
said. “It’s too expensive to venture far-
ther out of Wallowa County.”
As for people who are thinking of
moving here, she has some advice.
“Come with the attitude of not
changing what it is now,” she said.
“Don’t come into the county and try
and change it; just take it for what it is.”
— Bill Bradshaw,
Wallowa County Chieftain
A WELCOME RETURN
Cool, wet weather
has eased drought
conditions,
challenges remain
By JEFF BUDLONG
Wallowa County Chieftain
ALLOWA COUNTY
— Coming off one of
the driest and hottest
summers in recorded
history,
Wallowa
County and much of Northeast
Oregon has benefi ted from a
recent run of wet, cool weather.
While the central and south-
ern portions of the state still are
extremely dry, leading to Gov.
Kate Brown to use the word
“megadrought” in an address last
week, Eastern Oregon has seen
drought conditions improve.
That doesn’t mean eff ects of last
year’s dry conditions still aren’t
being felt, and fi re season is
coming, if not as soon as initially
thought.
Cooler, wetter weather in
April and to begin May has
helped improve conditions
in northern portions of Ore-
gon. Wallowa County has
areas of moderate, severe and
extreme drought according
to the latest drought monitor
W
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
The level of Wallowa Lake was inching up on the dam Thursday, May 19, 2022, amid a light snowstorm.
released May 17. Most of Uma-
tilla, Morrow and Union coun-
ties are abnormally dry — the
least severe drought ranking.
Much of the moisture the
north has enjoyed eluded central
and southern Oregon where a
large area of exceptional drought
conditions exist.
The combination of mois-
ture and cool temperatures can
be seen in the local green up, but
more importantly is the contin-
ued presence of the snowpack
on the mountains.
“In March, we were seeing
the snowpack melting pretty
rapidly already,” said Marilyn
Lohmann, a National Weather
Service hydrologist in Pendleton.
With the snowpack at just
70-80% of normal, it was pro-
jected to melt between a month
to two months early. Fortunately,
that is no longer the case.
“The cooler weather has
allowed the snowpack to stay in
place, and in some cases actu-
ally build,” Lohmann said. “It
will now be melting in a more
normal timeframe. We should
see stream fl ows last longer into
the early summer months, which
will help irrigation and just put
more moisture back into the
soil.”
April saw 1.37 inches of
moisture and 6.3 inches of snow
in Wallowa County, and just over
an inch of precipitation and an
additional nine inches of snow in
Lostine, Lohmann said. Precipi-
tation over the last 30 days has
ranged from 130-200% of nor-
mal, making for a signifi cant dif-
ference from just 90 days ago.
See Weather, Page A7
County OK’s Road Service District
Donates to Wallowa
bicycle playground
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — The ground-
work was laid for a new Wallowa
County Road Service District and
the planned bicycle playground
in Wallowa received a donation
when the Wallowa County Board
of Commissioners met Wednesday,
May 18.
The commissioners voted
to take advantage of a new law
approved by the Oregon Legisla-
ture that allows counties to direct
the state Department of Revenue
to deposit money that ordinarily
would go into the county Road
Fund into the Road Service Dis-
trict instead.
The funds in question are
Secure Rural Schools money
under which 25% is apportioned
to schools — the Education Ser-
vice District — and 75% to the
Road Department. It comes from
federal funds received as payment
in lieu of property taxes that coun-
ties have received since the fed-
eral government changed its policy
on timber harvest in the 1990s and “Lane County gets the most in the
came up with a formula to replace whole state because they’ve got
the money counties previously more people, although we may
received from logging on
have more acres (of federal
federal lands within their
timberland).”
borders.
Commissioner
Todd
“It dropped the stump-
Nash said the whole “con-
age fee to almost nothing,”
voluted” problem could
Board Chairwoman Susan
have been avoided.
Roberts said. “It went
“We could’ve foregone
from $3 million to about
all of this by just having
Hillock
$50,000. So they came
an agreement with the feds
up with this formula, this
that they no longer subtract
Secure Rural Schools that
that payment, but they’re
went through, that would
not willing to do that,” he
pay for trees they weren’t
said. “We’ve got to jump
cutting anymore, which
through the hoops to make
took away almost all the
it happen.”
income. Then they decided
Hillock said he believes
that formula would give
no other Oregon counties
Nash
it to places that weren’t
have yet taken advantage of
getting huge amounts of
the new law. He noted that
money. They did it on
counties in other states have
a population basis, too.
set up road service districts
Although Wallowa County
for the SRS money.
has a lot more federal land
“That’s because their
than (for example) Union
state allows it and ours did
County, they get more
not, but now it does,” Rob-
money because they have
erts said.
Roberts
a bigger population. It’s
The matter must fi rst go
convoluted.”
before voters. The commis-
Commissioner John Hillock sioners and their legal team has
agreed.
work to do before putting it on
“It’s very convoluted,” he said. the November ballot. This elicited
concern from the commissioners.
“It’s going to be one of those
things that is going to be really dif-
fi cult for people to understand,”
Nash said. “The bottom line is
we’ll have a half-million dollars
in our general fund that we didn’t
have before, and it doesn’t do harm
to our Road Department. It’s a
win.”
Roberts said that under the new
district — for which the com-
missioners would be the board of
directors — nothing would change
in how the Road Department oper-
ates or is funded.
“What it’s going to do is put a
little more than a half-million dol-
lars (in PILT money) in the general
fund, which will allow us to fully
staff the sheriff ’s offi ce and that
would continue each year rather
than us losing half of that money
due to that formula,” Roberts said.
She agreed that the commission-
ers will have to make it clear what
voters are being asked to approve.
“We’ll need to explain why it’s
on (the November ballot),” Rob-
erts said. “It doesn’t change any-
thing. The Road Department will
operate exactly as it always has.
See County, Page A7