Business AgLife
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Thursday, June 4, 2020
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Some businesses see rebound as restrictions lift
J
Some things might start getting back to normal
By Sabrina Thompson
EO Media Group
UNION COUNTY — Some
local businesses are feeling an
upswing as Union and Wallowa
counties near the end of the 21-day
Phase 1 of reopening.
For many restaurants, Phase
1 meant reopening their dining
room with modifications to allow
for proper social distancing. Can-
dace Vaughn, supervisor of Sub
Shop 21 in La Grande, said the
ability to do dine-in has increased
the amount of people eating from
the establishment. Prior to Phase
1, the sandwich shop remained
open for takeout and delivery.
“We were affected financially,”
Vaughn said. “But, now that
everything is calming down, get-
ting back to dine-in has helped us
with financial stability.”
The Steakhouse at Cove also
opened its doors to dine-in. While
the restaurant did takeout under
Gov. Kate Brown’s executive order
in March that prohibited dining
in restaurants and bars, owner
Robert Hasse said he had to lay
off some employees. The ability
to seat people has helped, he said,
and restaurant is is at 75% of what
it was before having to close.
Not all businesses, how-
ever, reopened during Phase 1,
including Main Street Grill in
Wallowa.
Owner Katrina Frei said the
establishments limited space pre-
vented spreading out more than
four tables. Frei said she will wait
until the diner can use a majority
of the tables to reopen completely,
and in the meantime will continue
to do offer takeout as an option.
Peak Lifestyle Studio in down-
town La Grande is utilizing the
reopening and the digital options
from quarantine to bring their
businesses back.
Owner Colleen McIntosh said
people are excited to come back to
classes in person, but having the
Hawkins Sisters Ranch keeps ag tradition alive
By Bill Bradshaw
EO Media Group
WALLOWA — The Haw-
kins Sisters Ranch continues a
family tradition stretching back
to the 1870s.
Sisters Jenny, Mary and Nora
are the fourth generation to
raise food on the ranch outside
Wallowa along Bear Creek, and
they produce chicken and rabbit
meat. The Oregon Department
of Agriculture lists 14 licensed
poultry-processing facilities,
but the Hawkins ranch is the
lone facility in Eastern Oregon.
The chickens and rabbits
on the family operation eat no
genetically modified organ-
isms but only crops grown in
Wallowa County fields, such
as wheat and field peas, Mary
Hawkins said. The animals also
get protein and mineral supple-
ments but no corn or soy. She
said you can taste the differ-
ence compared to commercial
chickens.
“They taste better,” she said.
“They have better flavor, better
texture and have more moisture.
Also, the nutritional content is
better.”
The Hawkins chickens are
“beyond free range,” Mary
Hawkins said. “They’re fed out-
side each morning on pasture
and allowed to roam.”
She also said the operation
mixes the chicken manure with
wood chip litter from Integrated
Biomass Resources in Wallowa
to create a useful compost.
“It’s piled with straw and
other waste to generate a fertility
amendment ready for adjacent
fields and local gardens,” she
said. “It’s a way of adding value
to an abundant wood product.”
See, Ranch/Page 3B
By Michael Kohn
EO Media Group
Photo by Bill Bradshaw/EO Media Group
The Hawkins sisters, who own and operate Hawkins Sisters Ranch just outside of Wallowa, sit on the
deck of their processing facility Friday, May 22, with their children. From left are Mary, Anna, James,
Myrna and Nora.
WHERE TO GET
HAWKINS SISTERS
RANCH MEATS
Hawkins Sisters Ranch, 70249
N. Bear Creek Road, Wallowa.
Phone: 541-398-0004, email:
mary@hawkinssistersranch.
com, online at www.hawkinssis-
tersranch.com
Genuine Wallowa County Pro-
visions, phone: 541-406-0831,
online at https://genuinewal-
lowacounty.com or gwcprovi-
sions.com
Photo by Bill Bradshaw/EO Media Group
Cornish cross chickens wander out to graze at the Hawkins Sisters’
Ranch just outside of Wallowa. When the chickens are 10 weeks old,
they’ll be processed for the freezer or dinner table.
Ruby Peak Naturals, 604½ S.
River St., Enterprise, phone: 541-
426-4042, email: rubypeaknatu-
rals@hotmail.com, online: https://
www.facebook.com/rpn4042/
Photo by Ronald Bond/EO Media Group
Wallowa County Farmers Market off to solid start
JOSEPH — Things are
looking up for the Wal-
lowa County Farmers
Market.
The market will con-
tinue Saturdays from
10 a.m. to 3 p.m. through
Oct. 10. Kimi Starner,
who returned as man-
ager this year after a
hiatus since 2014, said
217 people stopped in
the market Saturday, as
opposed to 313 the week
before.
“That’s pretty good
for it not being a holiday
weekend,” she said. “I
had a couple of vendors
who said that between the
two weekends, they’d had
Forest Service
may end ban
on logging
larger trees
Removing the 21-inch
rule could benefit
harvesters, forests
Construction is underway for
a new Grande Ronde Hospi-
tal Urgent Care Clinic, which
will go into the former Rue 21
building in Island City at 10303
S. Walton Road. Grande Ronde
Hospital provides a few details
on its website about the clinic,
saying it should be open by
early fall. But the update doesn’t
say whether the hospital’s
walk-in clinic on Fourth Street
in La Grande will move to the
Island City location. The update
also states the new clinic also
will provide services such as
radiology.
EO Media Group
See, Rebound/Page 3B
J
Grande Ronde Hospital building new clinic
By Bill Bradshaw
option to do online classes as well
is something people are taking
advantage of. Being able to hold
classes in the studio has helped
bring back customers who had
put their accounts on hold, McIn-
tosh said, a few new people have
signed up for classes.
“Now that we have started
an online option, it’ll never go
away completely,” McIntosh said.
“Some members that signed up
specifically for a virtual option
their best sales ever.”
Six vendors set up
shop the first weekend,
May 23, and seven the
next, Starner said. Among
them was Alder Slope
Nursery with a variety of
vegetable garden plants,
including tomatoes,
cucumbers and herbs.
Beth Gibans brought an
even larger variety of pro-
duce from her Backyard
Gardens as well as robust
vegetables ready to plant
and produce.
“We had spring salad
mix, spinach, baby mus-
tard greens, scallions,
radishes, bok choy,
chives, vegetable and herb
plant starts (lots of vari-
eties of tomatoes, pep-
pers, eggplants), and rhu-
barb, herbs and garlic
scapes from Little Hill
Farm and asparagus from
Milton-Freewater,” she
said, adding she also
prepared foods to high-
light Backyard Gardens’
catering.
Other vendors included
Sally B Farm with goat
milk soap, Annie’s South-
fork Jewelry and Well
Bread with homemade
breads and pastries.
While the main sign
at the county’s largest
farmers market welcomes
all, another sign inside
placed coronavirus-
related limits on atten-
dance. No children or pets
were allowed and only
one person per household
was allowed. Those who
did come were urged to
maintain social distancing
of 6 feet from one another
and from vendors.
“Everybody was ner-
vous because of the
COVID-19,” Starner said.
But that didn’t stop
vendors or visitors. She
said mornings were
largely filled with Wal-
lowa County residents
shopping, while afternoon
visitors included more
people from La Grande,
Pendleton, Portland and
other places.
“I know next week
we’ll see more vegetable
garden plant starts as we
get further from the frost
season,” she said.
The market had the
usual produce, crafts and
jewelry, and Starner is
expecting other types of
items as well. She said
there may be a booth
selling metal work come
Saturday, June 6.
Vendors pay $20 a
week or can pay for the
entire season at $15 a
week. The market accepts
registrations.
For more about the
market, go to www.wal-
lowacountyfarmers-
market.com or the mar-
ket’s Facebook page,
call Starner at 541-838-
0795 or email her at wal-
lowacountyfarmers-
market@gmail.com.
BEND — A rule change
under review by the U.S. Forest
Service could end a long-
standing provision that pre-
vents the harvest of trees greater
than 21 inches in diameter on
six national forests in Eastern
Oregon and Washington.
The limitation on harvesting
trees of that size was put in place
25 years ago under a land-man-
agement plan amendment known
as the Eastside Screens. At the
time the Eastside Screens were
established as a suite of tempo-
rary land management provi-
sions designed to protect water
resources and wildlife habitats.
Land managers needed to take
into account, or screen, the pro-
visions before moving forward
with management activities such
as timber harvests.
What’s under consideration
is revising just one provision of
the Eastside Screens — the limit
on cutting trees larger than 21
inches in diameter, also known
as the 21-inch rule.
The 21-inch rule has come
under scrutiny by the Forest Ser-
vice because of overcrowded
stands of trees that are now
deemed a wildfire hazard. The
proposal to remove the rule
would give managers more flex-
ibility when designing projects,
especially landscape forest res-
toration treatments, said Stephen
Baker, regional media officer
for Forest Service in the Pacific
Northwest region.
“Each of these projects is
unique but in a place like Cen-
tral Oregon, the goal would be to
protect and help more fire-resis-
tant species like ponderosa pine
by removing some younger, fast-
er-growing but less fire-resistant
species that may be encroaching
on or outcompeting species like
ponderosa pine,” Baker said.
Grand fir and white fir are
examples of shade-tolerant spe-
cies that are less resistant to fire.
By contrast, ponderosa pines
develop thick bark that helps
them withstand wildfires. Grand
and white firs are more prevalent
now compared to centuries past
due to wildfire suppression by
humans.
In many areas large, young
conifers, especially shade-tol-
erant firs, have grown larger
than 21 inches in diameter and
are “out-competing” more fire-
adapted species such as pon-
derosa pines. They grow faster
than ponderosas and such growth
can lead to an unhealthy forest
that is more prone to wildfire.
“What land managers are
trying to do is encourage a
healthy mix of tree composition
and density that can help for-
ests better withstand and recover
from disturbances like wild-
fire and drought,” Baker said.
“Removal of some trees larger
than 21 inches, especially large,
young, shade-tolerant species,
may at times be desirable as
part of a larger forest restoration
process.”
Wildfire suppression and past
See, Rule/Page 2B