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W EDNESDAY , N OVEMBER 4, 2015
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O N THE TOWN
www.MyEagleNews.com
Rehab begins in
Canyon Creek
Area burned
by devastating
wildfires
By GEORGE PLAVEN
For the Blue Mountain Eagle
Mt. Vernon
State park, active groups,
stately community center
among town’s varied assets
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Blue Mountain Eagle
M
T. VERNON – “The people here are great.”
That’s Tami Kowing’s feeling about the citizens of
Mt. Vernon.
Kowing ought to know – as Mt. Ver-
non’s city recorder, she is the one who has the most fre-
quent contact with them.
Mayor Andy Anderson echoed that sentiment, saying,
“We appreciate the willingness of people here to coop-
Mayor
erate in city matters, and the attitude and patience of the
Andy
people here toward items on the calendar.”
Anderson
One topic on the town’s agenda is an upgrade to the
town’s wastewater system. Residents were surveyed recently to get
their input on the issue.
See TOWN, Page A3
Above: Karen Hinton,
owner of the Shiny
Thimble Quilt Studio in Mt.
Vernon, looks over fabric
choices in her shop.
Top: Phil Boyd Park in Mt.
Vernon is the site of many
events in town including
the annual Easter Egg
Hunt, organized by the Mt.
Vernon Fire Department.
It’s been nearly three
months since a major wild-
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Creek south of John Day,
and helicopters continue to
buzz over the charred and
blackened hills of the Mal-
heur National Forest.
Only now, instead of
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choppers are dumping thou-
sands of pounds of wood
mulch along the ridgetops to
slow down soil erosion and
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and winter months.
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started work to rehabilitate
the landscape devastated by
the Canyon Creek Complex
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Though the blaze has
been mostly contained since
September, the chief con-
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rushing down Canyon Creek
into Canyon City and John
Day. Without enough veg-
etation to soak up rain and
snow, runoff threatens to
sweep down the barren hill-
sides as if it were poured
onto concrete.
Putting down mulch can
help keep the ground sta-
ble and limit the speed that
water drains into the creek,
said Todd Gregory, depu-
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National Forest. Helicopters
have already treated more
than 140 acres around Vance
Creek south of Canyon City,
and will turn their attention
next to Rattlesnake Ridge
Photo contributed by Malheur
National Forest
A helicopter dumps
2,500 pounds of wood
mulch over areas
burned by the Canyon
Creek Complex in
order to prevent soil
erosion and potential
flooding in the Malheur
National Forest near
John Day.
later this week.
Mulching is one proj-
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Area Emergency Response
plan, or BAER, developed
by Malheur Forest staff and
local landowners. Grego-
ry said they hope to treat
between 1,000-1,500 acres
with mulch before the snow
falls too heavily.
See FIRE, Page A5
Biologists: Delist
Oregon’s wolves
By Steve Tool
and Eric Mortenson
EO Media Group
The John Day River flows through Mt. Vernon, offering sparkling scenery and peaceful respite right in town.
Local agency awarded Healthy
Families program contract
Work aims
to improve
kindergarten
readiness
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY – Families
First Parent Resource Cen-
ter of Grant County has been
awarded a contract to admin-
ister the newly formed re-
gional Frontier Healthy Fam-
ilies Oregon program, which
serves both Grant and Harney
counties.
Families First executive
director Teresa Aasness, who
is also the program’s coordi-
nator, said Healthy Families
Contributed photo
Frontier Healthy Families Oregon program staff
includes Ramla Richardson, left, Teresa Aasness,
Jessica Perry and Katrina Randleas. The ladies
stand outside Families First Parent Resource
Center in John Day.
promotes positive parenting
as well as healthy growth
and development for families
expecting or parenting new-
borns who need, and accept,
extra support.
See FIRST, Page A7
The wildlife biologists
in charge of Oregon’s gray
wolf recovery program be-
lieve wolves should be tak-
en off the state endangered
species list.
The
recommendation
goes to the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife
(ODFW)
Commission,
which will decide Nov. 9
whether to delist wolves.
Livestock producers, espe-
cially those represented by
the Oregon Cattleman’s As-
sociation, favor delisting.
The Grant County Court
agreed to support the del-
isting of wolves statewide
and will deliver a letter of
support when Judge Scott
Meyers attends the meeting
in Salem.
Todd Nash, Wallowa
County rancher and chair-
man of the Oregon Cattle-
men’s Association Wolf
Task Force, considered
the announcement a step
forward, although he said
it barely affects the way
livestock producers inter-
Courtesy of ODFW
The Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife
Commission will decide
Nov. 9 whether to delist
wolves.
act with wolves, which is
governed by the Oregon
Wolf Management Plan. He
said, however, that delisting
wolves would hamper the
litigation prospects of wolf
advocate groups that have
used the Endangered Spe-
cies Act (ESA) to litigate in
the past.
“Once the commission
votes to delist — and I have
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— then it’s an appealable
decision,” Nash said. “We
fully expect the groups to
appeal it. Then it will be up
to a judge to decide. Hope-
fully the outcome is a pos-
itive one, but it’s a process
we have to go through if we
See WOLF, Page A5
S TUDENT ART
Landyn Lewis
Kindergarten
Prairie City School
‘Painted fish’
Teacher: Becky Sharp