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.