2A — BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2021
What A Month
The snowpack in
Northeast Oregon took a
major leap ahead during
February. Below are
the snow-water content
changes for several
measuring sites (snow-
water content is a more
accurate refl ection of the
snowpack than snow
depth).
B AKER C OUNTY C ALENDAR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10
■ Baker County Board of Commissioners: 9 a.m.;
Work session to discuss the Special Transportation Funds
and Special Transportation Improvement Funds with
Community Connection. Commissioners will also review
the county’s travel policy. Due to COVID-19 restrictions,
residents are encouraged to attend via Zoom. A link will be
available on the county’s website, www.bakercounty.org
Moss Springs
FEB. 1
9.0 inches
106% avg.
T URNING B ACK THE P AGES
50 YEARS AGO
from the Democrat-Herald
March 6, 1971
The absence of Baker County delegates to the District
13 Governor’s Commission on Youth plan for a youth care
center has raised questions whether their “lack of commit-
ment” extended to the whole plan.
MARCH 1
13.8 inches
119% avg.
Schneider Meadow
U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service
FEB. 1
21 inches
107% avg.
MARCH 1
29.5 inches
117% avg.
The map shows the snow-measuring stations listed in the box at right.
High Ridge
FEB. 1
MARCH 1
15.5 inches 32.1 inches
96% avg.
150% avg.
25 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
March 6, 1996
SALEM — When Baker tipped off against Junction City
today at 3 p.m. in the fi rst round of the Class 3A State Girls
Basketball Tournament at the Salem Armory it marked the
Bulldogs’ fi rst visit to state since 1993.
Bourne
FEB. 1
8.6 inches
77% avg.
MARCH 1
16.0 inches
114% avg.
Eilertson Meadow
FEB. 1
8.1 inches
103% avg.
10 YEARS AGO
from the Baker City Herald
March 7, 2011
Turns out an early symbol of how record-high gold
prices might affect Baker County isn’t a miner’s pick or a
dredge.
It’s a snowplow.
Baker County commissioners last week heard about
plans to plow deep snow from two forest roads near
Sumpter to give miners access to a historic mining district
that’s virtually impassable for about half the year except by
snowmobile.
MARCH 1
13.1 inches
142% avg.
Gold Center
FEB. 1
8.5 inches
116% avg.
MARCH 1
14.6 inches
162% avg.
Taylor Green
FEB. 1
MARCH 1
14.1 inches 26.7 inches
97% avg. 148% avg.
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
ONE YEAR AGO
from the Baker City Herald
March 7, 2020
Oregon’s two U.S. senators have endorsed a plan to
rebuild a road through Baker City’s watershed as part of a
logging project designed to reduce the risk of wildfi re in
the 10,000-acre area in the Elkhorn Mountains about 10
miles west of town.
In a letter to Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen,
senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, both Democrats,
support the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest’s request for
almost $1.3 million through the agency’s Capital Improve-
ments Project fund to improve the Marble Creek Pass road.
“Funds from the Capital Improvements Project and
the subsequent restoration work would provide greatly
needed access for hazardous fuels reduction treatments to
reduce impacts from a large fi re,” the senators wrote.
Those impacts could include ash and mud fouling the
streams and springs from which Baker City obtains its
drinking water.
City offi cials have worried for more than two decades
that such a blaze could force the city to build a fi ltration
plant for its water, at a cost likely exceeding $10 million.
“Your support for this project would be greatly ap-
preciated and signifi cant for this small, rural community,”
Wyden and Merkley concluded in their letter to Christian-
sen.
O REGON L OTTERY
MEGABUCKS, March 3
6 — 9 — 30 — 36 — 45 — 47
Next jackpot: $2.7 million
POWERBALL, March 3
21 — 40 — 44 — 50 — 55 PB 16
Next jackpot: $138 million
MEGA MILLIONS, March 2
4 — 8 — 13 — 34 — 64
Mega
18
Next jackpot: $55 million
WIN FOR LIFE, March 3
46 — 53 — 60 — 72
PICK 4, March 4
• 1 p.m.: 8 — 9 — 3 — 6
• 4 p.m.: 3 — 3 — 9 — 2
• 7 p.m.: 3 — 2 — 0 — 3
• 10 p.m.: 4 — 5 — 1 — 0
LUCKY LINES, March 4
2-7-9-13-20-21-26-32
Next jackpot: $32,000
S ENIOR M ENUS
■ MONDAY: Pork tips with gravy, fettuccine noodles, roll,
peas and carrots, macaroni salad, lemon squares
■ TUESDAY: Chicken cordon bleu, rice pilaf, Capri
vegetables, roll, ambrosia, cheesecake
■ WEDNESDAY: Hot meatloaf sandwich, mashed potatoes
with gravy, cottage cheese with fruit, bread pudding
■ THURSDAY: Boneless country style spareribs, scalloped
potatoes, green beans and tomatoes, roll, Jell-O with fruit,
cinnamon roll
■ FRIDAY: Beef pot roast, red potatoes, green beans, roll,
coleslaw, cookies
Public luncheon at the Senior Center, 2810 Cedar St., 11:30
a.m. to 12:30 p.m.; $4.50 donation (60 and older), $6.75 for
those under 60. Meals must be picked up; no dining on site.
C ONTACT THE H ERALD
1668 Resort St.
Open Monday through Friday
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Telephone: 541-523-3673
Fax: 541-833-6414
Publisher
Karrine Brogoitti
kbrogoitti@lagrandeobserver.
com
Jayson Jacoby, editor
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Advertising email
ads@bakercityherald.com
Classifi ed email
classified@bakercityherald.com
Circulation email
circ@bakercityherald.com
Snow-draped pondersa pine trees near Sumpter on Feb. 27.
Tipton
SNOWPACK
FEB. 1
9.0 inches
106% avg.
Continued from Page 1A
Although the depth
increase was impressive, a
different statistic — snow
water content — is the one
that matters most in gauging
snowpack.
Water content, as the
term implies, measures the
amount of water that will
trickle away when the snow
melts this spring and sum-
mer.
To calculate the water
content, snow surveyors such
as Petrucci and Albert thrust
an aluminum tube into the
snow until it hits the ground.
The tube measures the snow
depth, and more importantly,
by weighing the cylinder of
snow within the tube the sur-
veyors can derive the water
content.
In that respect February’s
feat wasn’t quite as notewor-
thy. The water content rose
from 13 inches at the start
of February to 22.6 inches at
the end.
But that’s still a signifi cant
jump. The water content was
18% below average when
February began, but it was
32% above average when the
month ended.
This was the second Febru-
ary in the past three years
that reversed a relatively
moribund snowpack in the
Elkhorns.
In February 2019 the snow
depth at the meadow near
Anthony Lake increased by
37 inches, to 83 inches at
month’s end.
This year’s fi gure of 89
inches is the fi fth-deepest,
at the end of February, since
snow surveys started there
in 1936.
The top four:
• 109 inches, Feb. 23, 1965
(this is the deepest snow ever
measured at the site, at any
time; in many winters the
snow depth peaks around
April 1)
• 96 inches, Feb. 24, 1956
• 95 inches, Feb. 27, 1949
• 92 inches, Feb. 28, 1972
Although the onslaught
of storms that distinguished
February dissipated with the
arrival of March, Petrucci
said this week’s mainly sunny
and milder weather can
potentially have a benefi t for
the summer water supply.
The daily cycle, with the
snow surface thawing dur-
ing the day and refreezing
at night, creates ice layers.
Those layers will slow the
melting of the snowpack this
spring, Petrucci said.
“We like it to ice up,” he
said.
Jeff Colton has the same
feeling about a snowpack that
disappears gradually rather
than rapidly.
Colton manages the Baker
Valley Irrigation District,
which supplies irrigation wa-
ter, stored in Phillips Reser-
voir between Baker City and
Sumpter, to more than 30,000
acres of farmland, mostly in
Baker Valley.
Colton said he was “getting
a little bit scared” during
January, when storms were
scarce.
February’s series of storms
was welcome.
“I’m thankful for every bit
of it,” Colton said. “Things are
looking up.”
Which is not to say Colton
is completely confi dent about
this year’s water supply.
Phillips Reservoir was
severely depleted during the
2020 drought. As of today, the
reservoir is holding just 10%
of its capacity.
And although February
bolstered the snowpack, the
measuring site that Colton is
most interested in has lagged
behind.
That’s near Bourne, in the
headwaters of the Powder
River, the biggest source of
water for Phillips Reservoir.
The water content at Bourne
improved from 23% below
MARCH 1
13.8 inches
119% avg.
average at the start of Febru-
ary to 14% above average at
month’s end.
But the latter fi gure is the
fi fth-lowest, based on percent-
age, among 15 sites around
the region.
Colton attributes this to
a microclimate that brings
comparatively less snow to
Bourne when the trajectory of
storms favors places such as
Anthony Lakes and the west-
ern part of the Elkhorns.
The measuring site near-
est Bourne, at Gold Center
along the Sumpter-Granite
Highway, is just 8 miles or so
away. But it’s on the west side
of a ridge that casts a rain
shadow in the Bourne area.
The water content at Gold
Center is 62% above average.
Although snowpack is vital,
Colton said another factor
can have an outsized effect
on how far Phillips Reservoir
rises — spring rainstorms.
“Those are godsends,” he
said.
If enough rain falls during
spring, when crops begin
growing, Colton doesn’t have
to release as much water
from the reservoirs for irriga-
tion, allowing more melting
snow to stay in the reservoir.
O BITUARY
Lanny Flynn
and “the man in the door.” He earned a
Vietnam service medal, a Vietnam cam-
Lanny Mack Flynn, 77, of Baker City, paign medal, and a national defense
died on March 1, 2021, at his home.
service medal. Mack also earned air
There will be no services.
medals with the fi rst, second, and third
Lanny, or more commonly known as OLC; he never wanted to speak about
Mack, was born on July 1, his time in Vietnam.
1943, at Bedford, Indiana,
Mack owned a concrete and construc-
to Jesse and Gladys (Cov- tion business in Indiana for 20 years
ey) Flynn. He received his before retiring in 1993, and on June 10,
schooling in Indiana, and 2000, Mack married Carrie Lee Grider
after school, Mack served in Baker City.
Lanny
one tour in Vietnam with
He loved horses and woodworking,
Flynn
the United States Army.
he also enjoyed mushroom hunting,
He was a helicopter chief
but he would not eat them. Mack was a
Baker City, 1943-2021
Christian and a lifetime member of the
VFW.
Mack is survived by his wife, Carrie
Flynn of Baker City; two daughters and
three stepdaughters; eight grandchil-
dren and eight great-grandchildren.
Memorial contributions in Mack’s
honor may be made to Heart ’N Home
Hospice or to the local VFW Post No.
3048 by making a check out to the orga-
nization and sending it to Gray’s West
& Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey
Ave., Baker City, OR 97814.
To leave an online condolence for the
family, go to www.grayswestco.com
N EWS OF R ECORD
ISSN-8756-6419
Serving Baker County since 1870
Published Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays except Christmas Day by the
Baker Publishing Co., a part of EO Media
Group, at 1668 Resort St. (P.O. Box 807),
Baker City, OR 97814.
Subscription rates per month are
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are $8.25.
Postmaster: Send address changes to
the Baker City Herald, P.O. Box 807, Baker
City, OR 97814.
Periodicals Postage Paid
at Pendleton, Oregon 97801
Copyright © 2021
POLICE LOG
Baker City Police
Arrests, citations
FIRST-DEGREE THEFT: In
the 2400 block of Birch Street,
between March 1 and March 4;
Alvah Ingraham, 66, of Baker
City reported the theft of three
guns.
Baker County Sheriff’s
Offi ce
Arrests, citations
CONTEMPT OF COURT, three
counts, (Baker County Justice
Court warrant): Alexander Harold
Wise, 19, 2:48 p.m. Thursday, at
the Baker County Jail where he is
being held on other charges.
THIRD-DEGREE CRIMINAL
MISCHIEF and SECOND-DEGREE
DISORDERLY CONDUCT (Baker
County Justice Court warrant):
Raleigh David Rust, 46, of Baker
City, 2:57 p.m. Thursday, at the
Baker County Jail where he is
being held on other charges.
CONTEMPT OF COURT (Baker
County Justice Court warrants):
Joshua Milton Thomas, 31, of
Baker City, 3:05 p.m. Thursday, at
the Baker County Jail where he is
being held on other charges.
“You’ll love the work we do. I guarantee it.” - JR
225 H Street • East of I-84 • 541-523-3200 • grumpysrepair.com