LOCAL A2
STATE A3
LOCAL A5
Tips for dealing with a
common noxious weed
Morrow County installs
water fi lters for residents
Lumber mill reopens
in Prairie City
Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
IN THIS EDITION: LOCAL • HOME & LIVING
QUICK HITS
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Good Day Wish
To A Subscriber
BHS expecting more than 30 foreign students
A special good day to Herald
subscriber Diane Bloomer of
Durkee.
Oregon International School program
bringing students from Ukraine,
Cambodia, Thailand among others
BRIEFING
—————
Biologist to talk about
beavers, grazing,
water supplies Aug. 3
BY SAMANTHA O’CONNER
soconner@bakercityherald.com
Carol Evans, a retired biolo-
gist from the Bureau of Land
Management, will talk about
livestock grazing management,
and how it can attract beavers
to streams, during a free pre-
sentation Aug. 3 at the Baker
County Library, 2400 Resort St.
The presentation, sponsored by
the Powder Basin Watershed
Council, will start at 6 p.m.
Evans’ presentation, “How to
Move Mountains and Make it
Rain!,” discusses projects in Ne-
vada in which grazing changes
spurred the growth of stream
side plants, which led beavers
to colonize the areas and, by
building dams and storing wa-
ter, increased water supply.
A variety of accents will be
heard during conversations
in the hallways at Baker High
School starting this fall.
The Baker School District
has enrolled 43 foreign stu-
dents through its Oregon In-
ternational School (OIS) char-
ter school program.
Ten of those students, from
the Isle of Jersey in the English
Channel between England
and France, will spend about a
month in Baker City this fall.
A group of Baker High
School students, and one staff
member, will travel to Jersey
to study there for a month.
The remaining 33 foreign
students are enrolled at BHS
for the entire school year, said
Lindsey McDowell, public
information and communi-
cations coordinator for the
school district.
Students are from the
following countries:
• Ukraine, nine
• Cambodia, seven
• Thailand, six
• Italy, six
• Spain, four
• Taiwan, one
Mark Witty, former school
district superintendent who
now works as executive di-
rector for the International
School, a one-third time posi-
tion and one of four OIS staff,
said the Ukraine students,
whose country has been roiled
by the invasion of the Russian
army, are getting their F-1 vi-
sas approved in Poland.
See Students / A3
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald, File
The Baker School District bought this historic home, at 1706 Wash-
ington Ave., for $295,000 in March 2022 as housing for visiting stu-
dents attending Baker High School through the district’s International
School program.
Better news for some
BAKER
BIGHORNS
Sign up for Baker
Bulldog Football Camp
Signup for football camp
has started, kicking off on
August 15-18 at the Baker High
Memorial Stadium, hosted by
the Baker High School coaching
staff and players.
Grades 7-8 will play from
10:30 a.m. to noon and can
sign up at class registration.
Grades 3-6 will play from
4:30 to 6 p.m. and can sign up
at Les Schwab’s or the YMCA.
At the end of the camp
schedule they will host the
Quarterback Club BBQ at 6:30
p.m.
Signup fee is 20 dollars,
including the meal and an
event shirt. All funds go toward
the local high school football
program.
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2022 • $1.50
Nick Myatt/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, File
A bighorn ram photographed in the Burnt River Canyon in 2011.
Lamb survival improves for some groups of sheep
plagued by recurring bacterial infection
“Things are not dismal but not great. ...
We’ll see what happens in early winter,
when they start mingling.”
BY JAYSON JACOBY • jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
aker County’s biggest herd of bighorn
sheep, plagued for more than two years by a
bacterial infection that leads to fatal pneu-
monia, seems to be thriving in some places, but
the situation is much less promising in others.
The difference is dramatic, said Brian Ratliff.
He’s the district wildlife biologist at the Ore-
gon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (ODFW)
Baker City office.
Ratliff has been tracking the bacterial out-
break in the Lookout Mountain bighorn herd, in
far eastern Baker County, since February 2020.
The herd is not only Baker County’s, but it has
also been Oregon’s largest herd of Rocky Moun-
tain bighorns.
B
— Brian Ratliff, biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
Baker City office, about herds in the region
WEATHER
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Today
97/60
Clear
Wednesday
101/65
See Bighorns / A6
Mostly sunny, very hot
Full forecast on the back
of the B section.
The space below is for a postage label
for issues that are mailed.
A group of bighorn sheep,
including a lamb, in the Lookout
Mountain unit in eastern Baker
County on June 20, 2020.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald, File
Eastern Oregon employers struggle to find workers
Economic developer
says pool of potential
employees is small
BY MARK BOGART
For the Baker City Herald
Eastern Oregon, like much of the
country, is facing a severe shortage of
workers. Baker County’s official sea-
sonally adjusted unemployment con-
tinued at a record low of 4.0 percent
in May.
What does that mean for employers?
TODAY
Issue 32
12 pages
The Oregon Employment Department
reported 225 open job listings in the
first week of June for the county.
However, Bryan Tweit, Baker
County’s economic development di-
rector, estimated the total to be about
400 jobs when listings from other
sources, including social media, were
added in. Tweit said just 62 people
were receiving unemployment bene-
fits at that time.
“That’s a very small pool to hire
from,” Tweit said.
On the supply side, most of the pan-
Classified ....................B2-B4
Comics ..............................B5
Community News.............A2
Crossword ...............B2 & B4
Dear Abby .........................B6
Home & Living ........B1 & B2
demic-related factors which reduced
the workforce have been reversed as
health risks have subsided to a signifi-
cant degree. In addition, record levels
of pay and of inflation have added even
more incentive for returning to work.
One group that hasn’t returned to
work to a large degree is the record
number who retired in 2020 and 2021,
leaving a dent in the workforce.
The bigger issue is demand for work-
ers, as most businesses have resumed
and schools have reopened. Consum-
ers here and across the country have
Horoscope ..............B3 & B4
Lottery Results .................A2
News of Record ................A2
to buying, traveling and using some of
that pent-up energy and savings from
the prior two years of restrictions.
As a result of the changing ratio of
jobs to available workers, both em-
ployers and communities are look-
ing for ways to compete for the small
number of potential workers in al-
most all fields. Employers are increas-
ing pay and benefits, offering flexible
schedules and working arrangements,
as well as advertising available jobs on
many platforms.
Opinion .............................A4
Oregon ..............................A5
Senior Menus ...................A2
See Workers / A3
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Turning Backs ..................A2
Weather ............................B6