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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 26, 2015)
INSIDE Blue Mountain Eagle 2015 Wednesday, August 26, WEDNESDAY August 26, 2015 The Hunt Photographs of locals and their kills Wildlife move oXt of ¿ re torched areas Taking down The Speth house before and after the Canyon Creek Complex fire. TEAM SPIRIT Area coaches, sports community rally around wild¿ re victims By Angel Carpenter and Eric Singer Blue Mountain Eagle CANYON CITY — As coaches, it’s easy to make enemies with other teams, coaches and players along the way. But when the house owned by Grant Union High School coaches Steve and Shae Speth was destroyed in the Canyon Creek Com- ple[ ¿ re, other area coaches tossed aside their rivalries to help out. Basketball coaches Brian Pickard (Weston-McEwen), Mitch Thompson (Irrigon), Jeremy Rosenbalm (Hep- pner) and Brennan Whittaker (Culver) have teamed up to put together a relief effort to help the Speths get back on their feet. It included coordinating donation drop-off locations in each of their towns for clothing and other necessi- ties for Steve, Shae and their two sons Eli and Trejan; the Speths also have a grown daughter, Caity Bellamy, of Omaha, Neb. Steve coaches boys bas- ketball at Grant, and Shae coaches volleyball there. For a few of the coaches, there was no second thought on what to do after hearing the news. “I saw Steve’s Facebook post (after the ¿ re), and I immediately thought we should do something,” said Thompson. “I texted Brian (Pickard), and he said the same thing.” Aside from donations of clothing and necessities, two Go Fund Me accounts have been set up to gather mon- etary donations, one at Go- FundMe.com/JohnDaywild- ¿ re. These accounts have already received more than $7,000. Donations also may be made to Old West Federal Credit Union, to the Speths and other ¿ re victims. Pickard said people have been constantly con- tacting the organizers and wanting to help in any way they can. “It sorta snowballed into what it is now,” he said. “It’s just one of those things, to do whatever we can to help out.” Shae said her family was grateful for the new cloth- ing. While they received Contributed photos The Speths enjoy a family trip earlier this summer to the I-80 Lincoln Memorial near Laramie, Wyo. From left, Trejan, Eli, Steve and Shae. more than enough pants and shirts, etc., they still need some shoes. They contributed the ex- tra clothing received to the donation center in John Day for ¿ re victims, located at the old Blue Mountain Junior High School library. The Speth family has found a house to rent in John Day while deciding where to live permanently. “We’ve just been over- whelmed and humbled by all the support we have re- ceived, both material and otherwise. We are just trying to get some sense of home and normalcy for the boys,” Shae said. To inquire about how to help the family with shoes or other items, contact Shae or Steve at speths@century- tel.net. Hunting season remains open in western Murderers Creek unit By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle CANYON CITY — Deer, elk, bears and other wildlife have moved out of the areas burned by the 74,744-acre Can- yon Creek Complex ¿ re. Oth- ers, however, didn’t make it out. The ¿ re also will affect hunts, mainly in the Murderers Creek unit. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife district wildlife bi- ologist Ryan Torland said his of- ¿ ce has received several reports of elk that died in the Canyon Creek ¿ re. He said the sheriff’s of¿ ce also had reports of deer on the side of the road that had been killed by the ¿ re. The extent of wildlife killed by the ¿ re isn’t known at this time, Torland added. “With the severity of the ¿ re and how fast it has moved, it’s likely we had more mortality of wildlife than a normal wild¿ re, due to the extreme nature of the ¿ re — fast-moving and spotting ahead,” he said. “There are going to be short- term losses to wildlife,” Tor- land said, but he expects green growth to return that will make good deer habitat. Whether the ¿ re was hot enough to sterilize the ground, Torland didn’t know. “Generally, within a few years, grasses and shrubs start moving back in,” he said, add- ing it usually takes deer “a few more years to move in.” In a small sample of deer he’s followed, including one collared deer, the animals have stayed close to the ¿ re perime- ter. A black bear that had raided a chicken coop was shot by the property owner, whose home is outside city limits, south of Can- yon City. “Their food source has been removed,” Torland said, adding this particular bear had been seen by the landowner previ- ously. Torland said the hunts will stay open during hunting sea- son. Currently, archery season is open. But hunters who consider camping within the closure area of the ¿ re need to be aware of the boundary, Torland said. “It’s (closed) for a safety concern.” He said there was no reason to close hunting season due to the ¿ re. “There are lots of other areas to hunt,” he said. The ¿ re is within the eastern portion of the Murderers Creek unit, but hunters can take ad- vantage of the western portion, he said. “Buck riÀ e season starts Oct. 3 through 14 and at this time, we’re not planning any changes to the hunting season,” he said. “They still have the western por- tion.” Camp¿ res, including char- coal briquette camp¿ res, are prohibited with Phase C in place on the Malheur National Forest. Smoking is permitted inside enclosed vehicles, buildings and designated recreation sites. Other restrictions include no offroad/off-trail vehicle travel, no internal combustion engines and no chainsaw use. There are still areas to hunt in the West Grant County muzzle- loader season, Oct. 17 through 23, in the Beulah unit. For the ¿ rst season bull for Murderers Creek, Oct. 28 through Nov. 1, hunters will still have the western portion of the Murderers Creek unit. “The one we are concerned about is East Murderers Creek second season elk hunt, from Highway 395 South, east of the highway on Nov. 7 through 15. “It’s still a ways off, and, obviously, right now every- thing is under a closure. We may have some changes to that hunt — we’ll be watching it closely,” he said. He said people with more questions may contact him at the Canyon City ODFW ¿ eld of¿ ce at 541-575-1167. “We’d like hunters to be safe out there and be respectful of the closure areas and closure or- ders,” he said. “They’ve put that in place for a reason.” Grant County teams are ready for competition By Angel Carpenter Blue Mountain Eagle A melted glass, basketball hoop still stands next to where the Speth’s home was. JOHN DAY — Warm up those clapping hands and ¿ ne tune the cheers — fall sports are on the way. On this week’s schedule of events, Grant Union will host an invitational volleyball tourna- ment, beginning at 8 a.m. Satur- day, Aug. 29, with Prairie City, Dayville/Monument, Baker and Crane among the nine invited teams. The games will be in the new and old gyms of Grant Union Junior-Senior High School in John Day. This will be Grant Union’s second time on the court; an- other game will be on Friday in Crane. Shae Speth is Grant Union’s head coach with assistant coach- es Rhonda McCumber, Shanna Northway and Steve Speth. Prairie City’s volleyball team is coached by Louanne Zweygardt and assistant coach Lance Zweygardt. The team will host the Prairie City Tour- nament, Saturday, Sept. 5. Dayville/Monument has a new athletic director, Tiffnie Schmadeka, who also coaches the co-op volleyball team with Kristi Emerson. Long Creek has a co-op vol- leyball team with Ukiah, led by head coach Melinda Scarlett. Area football teams are back on the grid with season games next week. Grant Union, led by head coach Jason Miller and assis- tants, have a game on the road in Athena on Friday, Sept. 4, against Weston-McEwen. Prairie City/Burnt River, coached by Darrel McKrola and assistants, will host Spray/ Mitchell, Sept. 4. Dayville/Monument, coached by Nathaniel Ashley and assistants, will travel Satur- day, Sept. 5, to the Dufur Classic in Dufur. Cross country teams start their season this week. Monument’s team, with coach Chuck Thomas, will at- tend the La Grande XC Time Trials at 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28. Grant Union, with coach Son- na Smith, will attend the Sunday, Sept. 6, Runner’s Soul XC Festi- val at 10 a.m. in Hermiston. Brothers Run gets canceled Blue Mountain Eagle The Speths survey the aftermath of the Canyon Creek Complex fire that destroyed their home south of Canyon City. From left, Shae Speth and her sons, Eli and Trejan. JOHN DAY — The 2015 Brothers Run, planned for Satur- day, Sept. 12, has been canceled, according to the organizers.