TRACK ATHLETES POST PERSONAL RECORDS – PAGE B1
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
W EDNESDAY , A PRIL 26, 2017
The Eagle/Rylan Boggs
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
speaks about health
care during a town hall
meeting at Grant Union
Junior-Senior High School
Tuesday, April 18.
Wyden
addresses
health care,
privacy at
meeting
• N O . 17
• 20 P AGES
RAPPELLERS
DESCEND
ON JOHN DAY
Over 100 firefighters
from five states visit
for recertification
By Rylan Boggs
Blue Mountain Eagle
By Rylan Boggs
he John Day Airbase hosted
over 100 veteran rappellers
during a weeklong training
last week.
The training ensured fire-
fighters from five states in the north-
west were familiar with rappelling pro-
cedures by running a number of drills
and live rappels from helicopters.
John Day rappeller Darin Toy said it
was his first year at the recertification
training and that it seemed less intense
than the initial training. Rappellers are
expected to come with a base knowl-
edge of fundamentals.
Toy said he was attracted to rap-
pelling because of the independence
it offers.
“Usually we’re on more remote fi res.
The helicopter inserts you, and you’re
kind of just on your own at that point,”
he said, adding it’s also “just a really cool
way to get to the fi re.”
Toy said the trial runs in the helicopter
were just like the real thing. To stay cer-
tifi ed, rappellers had to rappel once every
two weeks.
Toy said he’s rappelled onto two fi res
in his career, one on the Ansel Adams
Wilderness and one on the Crater Lake
National Park.
Rappellers typically go into a fi re with
food and water for three days, as well as
chainsaws and other survival and mainte-
nance gear.
The mandatory recertifi cation train-
ing determines whether or not rap-
pellers will work during the coming fi re
season.
“With experience comes confi -
dence, so part of this training is
to instill confi dence in the
equipment so that when we
go out and staff fi res in the
summer everything is fl uid
and practiced and precise,” Jer-
emy McIntosh, equipment program man-
ager at the John Day Airbase, said.
Everyone is held to the same standard
during the training.
“Part of what they’re doing is building
muscle memories based on hand signals
given from the spotter to the pilot,” he
said.
Rappellers start on either a 50-foot
tower or a decommissioned UH1 helicop-
ter.
The tower is used to practice rap-
pelling from a fixed position, while the
helicopter hull is used to practice the
use of hand signals with a spotter who
communicates between the pilot and
rappellers.
Once rappellers have successfully
completed both portions, they must
complete three helicopter descents
from as high as 250 feet.
Idaho rappeller Ben Mouser de-
scribed being in the helicopter as
“peaceful,” and rappeller Chandler
Melton said “flying around in a heli-
copter just feels like riding around in
the back seat of a school bus.”
Melton admitted his first time rap-
pelling was a little scary, but he grew
used to it fairly quickly.
“It’s a lot of fun and a great oppor-
tunity,” Melton said. “It’s good train-
ing, so I’m glad to be here.”
T
Blue Mountain Eagle
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-
OR) fi elded a variety of ques-
tions from residents, including
Grant Union students, during a
town hall meeting in John Day
April 18.
He addressed issues rang-
ing from health care to infra-
structure and committed to
making a bipartisan effort to
repair failing infrastructure in
Oregon.
Grant Union students asked
questions about future NASA
funding, foster care and tax
reform. Wyden said he was
in favor of increased NASA
funding and opposed to tax
reform that would only benefi t
the upper class.
He told students about the
Family Stability and Kinship
Care Act which he introduced
to expand services and re-
sources available to keep chil-
dren at home or with another
family member instead of in
foster care.
Susan Christensen, the ex-
ecutive director of the Greater
Eastern Oregon Development
Corporation, called on Wyden
to address failing infrastruc-
ture, for the continuation of
EPA grants and state loan pro-
grams benefi ting rural commu-
nities and to streamline regula-
tory requirements so her offi ce
can spend more time working
and less time dealing with reg-
ulations.
Wyden said improving
roads, bridges and broadband
connectivity was a top priori-
ty of his and said, “Big league
quality of life needs big league
infrastructure.” He urged
Christensen to contact him
with specifi c examples of gov-
ernment regulations that made
her job harder so he could
work to streamline the process.
• $1.00
A rappeller
descends
from a 50-
foot tower
at the John
Day Airbase
as part of
a training
exercise on
April 19.
See WYDEN, Page A10
Eagle photos/Rylan Boggs
Colby Richmond watches a rappeller adjust his gear
inside the hull of a retired UH1 helicopter during a
simulation at the John Day Airbase on Tuesday, April
18. The simulation was part of a recertification class for
firefighting rappellers.
Rappellers coil rope after a successful descent from a
helicopter as part of a Forest Service training exercise.
www.MyEagleNews.com
Commission
reviewing
state’s wolf
management
draft plan
By Eric Mortenson
EO Media Group
Oregon’s wolf manage-
ment plan is up for public re-
view as the ODFW Commis-
sion once again attempts to
balance the restoration of an
apex predator with the havoc
they can cause in rural areas.
The commission took
comments on a draft conser-
vation and management plan
during an April 21 meeting
in Klamath
Falls,
and
will repeat
the process
May 19 in
Portland. The
commission
eventually
will adopt
a fi ve-year
management
plan; no date Contributed photo
OR42, the
is set yet.
R u s s breeding
M o r g a n , female of the
O D F W ’ s Chesnimnus
wolf
pro- Pack in
gram man- northern
ager, said the Wallowa
draft man- County in
agement plan February.
builds
on
what wildlife biologists have
learned over the years. When
the fi rst management plan
was adopted in 2005, there
were no documented wolves
in Oregon. The fi rst pups
were discovered in 2008, and
by the end of 2011 there were
29 confi rmed wolves in Ore-
gon. The state documented 64
wolves at the end of 2013, and
a minimum of 112 by the end
of 2016, including 11 packs
and eight breeding pairs.
Morgan said the plan cou-
ples state data with “tons of
research” that’s been done on
wolves in Oregon and else-
where over the years.
“This plan still maintains
a very active conservation
approach, it doesn’t change in
that regard,” Morgan said.
Oregon classifi es wolves
as a “special status game an-
imal.” The draft plan allows
ODFW to authorize hunters
and trappers to kill wolves in
two specifi c “controlled take”
situations: Chronic livestock
depredation in a localized
area, and declines in wild
ungulate populations, princi-
pally deer and elk. The draft
plan does not allow a general
hunting season, a prohibition
that would hold for fi ve years
after the plan is adopted.
“I can’t predict what will
happen to wolf management
years and years out, but
during this planning cycle,
absolutely not,” Morgan said
of a possible sport hunting
season on wolves.
Livestock producers and
wildlife activists don’t like
aspects of the draft plan.
The Oregon Farm Bureau
and Oregon Cattlemen’s As-
sociation said it makes it hard-
er for ranchers to protect their
animals because it increases
the number of confi rmed at-
tacks required before allow-
ing lethal control of wolves.
The draft plan requires
three confi rmed depredations
or one confi rmed and four
“probable” attacks within a 12
month period. The previous
standard was two confi rmed
depredations or one confi rmed
and three attempted attacks,
with no time period set.
See WOLF, Page A10