BAKER CITY HERALD • THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022 A3
LOCAL
Grouse
Continued from A1
April 21, 1943 – July 7, 2022
Alice E. Tucker, 79, of Haines.
Oregon, passed away on July 7,
2022. She was born in Raleigh,
NC, on April 21, 1943, to Jack
and Agnes Estes and graduated
from high school in Roanoke,
VA. She attended Duke Univesity
in Durham, NC, and graduated in
1961 with an undergraduate degree
in Biology.
She worked as a a research assistant in a biochemistry
laboratory in Durham, where she met her future husband,
Vance A. Tucker. After marriage in 1978, she earned
a Master of Library Science degree at the University of
North Carolina and was a reference librarian at Duke
University thereafter.
Alice and Vance lived in Durham until they retired
in 2001, and during this time they traveled extensively
in the United States, Europe and Africa. One or both
of them had visited Baker County several times since
the mid-1950s, and they decided it was the best place
for them. They bought a house in Rock Creek west of
Haines in 2000, and Alice enjoyed the beauty of Eastern
Oregon and its friendly people for the rest of her life.
She loved books, classical music and opera, and
collected them all. She will be remembered as a small
woman who mowed the lawn on a large yellow mower,
drove a dark green Jeep, and later, as Parkinson’s
disease progressed, a small green ATV side-by-side.
She is survived by her husband, Vance.
Online condolences can be shared at www.
tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com
“There’s a lot to learn, es-
pecially there’s been a lot of
events going on,” Hobson
said. “I had the Fourth of July,
then Miners Jubilee, so I hit
the ground running.”
From her own line of work,
Hobson already had the cam-
eras, computers and tools she
needed for the unique job.
She plans to add to the cat-
alog of images showcasing
some of the county’s most
scenic spots.
“We have the Hells Canyon
Byway, Elkhorn Byway, I’m
gonna be working along both
of those to capture what’s
available,” Hobson said. “The
eat, stay, drink, play types of
things. A lot of people love
Hells Canyon and the Elk-
horns.”
She’s composing ads for
placement in the AAA and
1859 magazines, and says
she’s hoping to put Baker
County’s attractions into the
minds of even broader au-
diences. She’s intending to
shine more spotlight on local
wineries, breweries and dis-
tilleries.
“I’m working with the
Travel Oregon global sales
team, hoping to get some
more information where we
can reach outside the states,
internationally,” she said.
Fishing in Hells Canyon,
especially, has some traction
in international tourism. The
state’s Travel Oregon team is
recognized for its “Slightly
Exaggerated” campaign, ad-
vertisements styled in keep-
ing with Studio Ghibli charm.
“I think focusing on all
the towns in the county is a
big priority for me,” Hobson
said. “Baker City is huge and
they do have a lot of help
from other people besides
myself, I’m going to try to
help out smaller communi-
ties. Make sure their events
and businesses are looked at,
get them some good tourist
action.”
With her background in vi-
sual media, Hobson is hoping
to invest in new billboards
and deliver the “wow factor”
with all her advertising. As a
contractor she has obligations
to certain design and expense
criteria, but otherwise has
flexibility in her new role.
The county’s current lodg-
ing tax ordinance, which
dates to 2006, requires that
the county spend 70% of the
revenue for tourism mar-
keting — which includes the
marketing director and op-
eration of a visitors center in
Baker City — and 25% for
economic development. The
county can keep up to 5%
for administrative costs.
The Baker County Cham-
ber of Commerce has the
contract for operating the vis-
itors center.
Bryan Tweit is the county’s
economic development di-
rector.
Hobson will be working
public events with her cam-
era, and business owners who
want to tap the tourism mar-
ket can call her at 541-523-
5855 to set up an appoint-
ment. She has an office at the
Visitors Center, 490 Camp-
bell St.
Justin Michael Rothenberger
January 13, 2006 – July 13, 2022
Justin Michael Rothenberger,
16, of Baker City and formerly of
Huntington, Oregon, passed away on
July 13, 2022, in Baker City, Oregon.
He will be interred at the Huntington
Cemetery in a private family service.
A celebration of life for the public
will be held at 255 Lincoln Street,
Huntington, Oregon, on Saturday,
July 23, 2022, beginning at 2 p.m.
Justin was born on January 13, 2006. Wiley Harding
Jr. and Crystal (Rothenberger) Harding raised him in
Huntington, Oregon, and he attended Huntington Charter
School.
He loved writing music, playing basketball, and
playing video games. Justin also loved being a little
brother to Derrick and Bradley; he loved on them as only
a little brother could.
He is survived by his stepfather, Wiley Harding Jr.
of Huntington, Oregon; mother, Crystal Harding of
Baker City, Oregon; brother, David (Kendra) Hanks
of Huntington, Oregon; sister, Hailey Harding (Broc
Rinkel) of Huntington, Oregon; brother, Derrick (Jocelyn)
Rothenberger of Kaneohe, Hawaii; brother, Bradley
Bowman of Huntington, Oregon. He is also survived
by his grandparents, Rick and Vickie Fields of Baker
City, Oregon, great-grandparents, Dale and Nancy of
Huntington, Oregon, as well as several aunts, uncles and
cousins.
Memorial contributions may be made to a GoFundMe
account at https://www.gofundme.com/f/this-ones-for-
justin; these funds will allow the family time to grieve the
loss of Justin.
To leave an online condolence for the family of Justin,
please visit: www.grayswestco.com.
Michael Immoos
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Alice E. Tucker
Attending events, promoting
the entire county
Hobson has had a busy
July, stepping into the coun-
ty’s busy summer schedule.
She said Bishop left her
some resources, including
contracts and a trove of pho-
tos from local events.
Ian Crawford/Baker City Herald
Jessica Hobson, Baker County’s new tourism marketing director, has her office adjacent to the Chamber
of Commerce at 490 Campbell St. in Baker City.
T
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’S
Monitoring habitat
improvements
Tyrrell said it’s too early to tell,
based on sage grouse numbers,
whether the CCAA program
has boosted grouse populations,
but she believes the program is
“starting to move towards see-
ing that ecological uplift” on
project areas, which might in-
crease populations.
“It’s easy to get overwhelmed
by the large picture and be like
‘sage grouse are doomed,’ ” Tyr-
rell said. “But it’s great when
you’re able to see thousands of
acres and say ‘wow, it can actu-
ally be restored.’ ”
This ecological uplift is due,
at least in part, to the conser-
vation measures that landown-
ers agree to when they enter a
CCAA, which is generally a 30-
year agreement.
And in many cases, she said,
these measures benefit ranchers
as well as sage grouse habitat.
For example, strategically
grazing cattle can reduce fuels
for wildfires that damage graz-
ing land as well as sage grouse
habitat. Livestock grazing can
also reduce the spread of inva-
sive grasses that outcompete
sagebrush and native plants that
both cattle and sage grouse de-
pend on for food.
“It’s helping sage grouse for
sure, that’s the whole point,”
Tyrrell said. “But it’s also in-
creasing the (ecological) value
of their properties. It’s just one
of those things that’s a win-win.”
Tyrrell said other projects
that are included in CCAAs,
such as removing water-loving
juniper trees from sagebrush
habitat, can also help grouse.
Junipers can deplete areas of
sagebrush as well as grasses and
other plants sage grouse depend
on. Cutting junipers frees water
supplies, helping sagebrush and
beneficial grasses thrive.
If the birds return to an area
that’s previously been degraded,
Tyrrell said that’s a good indi-
cation that the overall health of
the ecosystem has improved —
a boon for species other than
sage grouse.
“It’s taken many many years
to get to the degraded states of
places, and it’s gonna take many
many years to get back to where
we want to be,” Tyrrell said.
“You can see it work.”
Landowners can cancel a
CCAA with 30 days’ notice,
which some landowners choose
to do for various reasons, usu-
ally unrelated to the length of
the agreement, Tyrrell said.
When they drop out they no
longer have the protection from
the possible restrictions if the
bird is listed under the ESA.
She replaces Timothy
Bishop, who left the position
in October 2021 to take a sim-
ilar job in La Grande. Bishop
had been the county’s tourism
director for 11 years.
The county’s transient
lodging committee, which
advises commissioners, rec-
ommended Hobson over two
other applicants.
Hobson, a Tualatin High
School graduate, works in the
Churchill School Publishing
Library with her husband
Christopher, inside the for-
mer school turned gallery,
hostel, and music venue at
3451 Broadway St. in Baker
City.
“We do book publishing,
and we have a green screen
here in our space that we
can use to take pictures of
artists, sculptures or paint-
ings to help them put into a
portfolio or a book,” Hob-
son said.
She said that work spurred
her interested in marketing.
When she was contracted
to handle photography for a
local business’ grand opening,
she realized she had stumbled
on a community need she
could fulfill.
“That’s what got me inter-
ested in this position, helping
local businesses, and it was
excellent to be able to capture
that event for them,” Hobson
said.
N
Benefits for landowners
What makes the agreements
enticing for ranchers is that
they won’t be burdened with
additional conservation re-
quirements or land use restric-
tions should the sage grouse
ever be listed as threatened or
endangered under the federal
Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Sage grouse populations are
cyclical.
A 2020 report from the U.S.
Geological Survey found that
sage grouse populations across
their range, which covers 11
western states, had decreased
by 80% since 1965 and by 40%
since 2002.
According to the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wild-
life’s 2021 sage grouse report,
the estimated population of the
birds in Baker County (and a
small part of southern Union
County) in the spring of that
year was 704. That’s a 42.6% in-
crease from the estimate of 494
birds in spring 2020, but the
report notes that this increase
“was likely a result of the analy-
sis methodology used to gener-
ate population estimates.”
The report states that sage
grouse populations in the
county have risen since 2014,
including an average annual
increase of 1.7% in the num-
ber of male grouse at “leks” —
the open areas where the birds
gather each spring and where
the males perform the species’
elaborate courting ritual, which
includes inflating air sacs in
their breasts and fanning their
tail feathers.
However, between 2005 and
2021, among leks that were sur-
veyed in both years, the num-
ber of males present declined
by 81%.
“This area has experienced a
long-term population decline
and has remained stagnant in
recent years,” the report states.
Declining populations,
which have been tied to the
loss of sagebrush habitat from
housing, oil and natural gas
exploration, mining and other
developments, has prompted
environmental groups to peti-
tion the federal government to
protect sage grouse.
The bird became a candi-
date for an ESA listing in 2010,
prompting a movement from
landowners to enroll in CCAAs
or similar agreements in Ore-
gon and elsewhere.
Those agreements intended
to preserve sage grouse habitat
is the main reason the FWS de-
cided in 2015 not to list the sage
grouse as threatened or endan-
gered. The agency cited part-
nerships with over a thousand
ranchers in the West and resto-
ration of more than 4 million
acres of privately owned sage
grouse habitat.
A current federal law, at-
tached as a “rider” to a 2014
budget bill, prohibits the listing
of the sage grouse as an endan-
gered species.
Continued from A1
15 % & 10 %
2
The search started about
6:15 a.m. on Saturday after
Sullivan’s relatives reported
that they hadn’t been able to
find her after searching earlier
that morning and on Friday
night, July 15, McClay said.
Sullivan was supposed to
meet family for an event in
Baker City Friday evening,
but she didn’t arrive.
No one had talked with
Sullivan since Thursday, July
14, when she planned to dis-
tribute salt blocks in the Bald
Mountain area, McClay said.
Director
RD
Continued from A1
After family and friends
were unable to find Sullivan
Friday night or early Satur-
day, they called the Sheriff ’s
Office at 4:17 a.m. on Satur-
day, McClay said.
Sheriff Travis Ash acti-
vated the search and rescue
team at 5:11 a.m. A dozen
searchers, including Ash,
went out with 15 to 20 rela-
tives and friends of Sullivan,
to resume the search.
McClay said Sullivan had
been riding cross-coun-
try when the four-wheeler
rolled. It appeared she had
died on Thursday, July 14.
“It was not the outcome that
we hoped for,” McClay said.
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January 3, 1964 - July 10, 2022
Michael William “Mike” Im-
moos, 58 passed away peacefully at
home on July 10, 2022, surrounded
by his family.
Mike was born on January 3,
1964, to William “Bill” and Mil-
dred “Charlene” Immoos in Baker
City, Oregon. He grew up in Rich-
land, Oregon, and spent his child-
hood enjoying the outdoors and
riding his bicycle all around Richland where he earned
the nickname “Wheelie.” When he was old enough to
drive, he could be heard hot-rodding all around Eagle
Valley, as he went from Wheelie to Hot Rod Mike.
He attended grade school at Richland Elementary and
graduated high school from Pine Eagle High School
in 1982. He met the love of his life, Robyn Masterson,
during high school and made her his wife on February
11th, 1984. Mike and Robyn welcomed two children,
Steven and Ashley. Mike also loved spending his time
hunting. He shared his love for hunting with his chil-
dren and grandchildren.
Mike was a dedicated and faithful husband, father
and friend. He was a man of incredible integrity, who
never met a stranger. He was never afraid of a hard
day’s work, being a forklift driver at Wallowa Forest
products was his favorite job.
Mike is survived by his wife of 38 years, Robyn;
children, Steven (Kayla) Immoos of La Grande, and
Ashley (Marc) Christman of Enterprise; four grand-
children, Pearce and Carter Schnetzky and Caleb and
Sophie Immoos; his mother, Charlene Immoos of Rich-
land; his brother, Scott Immoos of Richland; his sister,
Tammy (Ralph) Graven of Enterprise; his sister-in-law,
Terese (Tony Peterson) Masterson of Prescott, AZ;
and his cat Miss Kitty. Mike was preceded in death by
his father and his grandparents, Lawrence and Aggie
Immoos and Charlie and Babe Whitley.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date.
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