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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2017)
A8 News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, August 30, 2017 Amateur radio operators help during eclipse Blue Mountain Eagle Approximately 50 FCC-li- censed amateur radio operators provided multilayered support to the community of Grant County during the eclipse. The city of Portland sent a communication van along with a team to staff it. Multnomah County ARES (Amateur Ra- dio Emergency Service) sent a six-person team of FCC-li- censed amateur radio operators to help out with communica- tion. The Grant County Amateur Radio Club provided equip- ment and personnel to assist the Grant County emergen- cy manager with incoming and outgoing messages and information. The Portland team pro- vided the 10 members of the Oregon National Guard with portable radios supported by a temporary repeater installed in Canyon City. During the dura- tion of the Multnomah County ARES visit, they repaired and programmed several radio in- stallations for different govern- ment agencies including Burns Paiute Tribal Police, Prairie City Volunteer Fire Department and the Prairie City ambulance. Local amateur radio opera- tors in Dayville, Canyon City, John Day, Monument, Mt. Ver- non and Prairie City staffed a 16-hour-per-day communica- tion network on four different frequencies and kept in contact with the approximately 50 FCC licensed amateur radio oper- ators who either live in Grant County, came to assist with communications or were visit- ing to view the eclipse and vol- unteered to help. Beyond keeping commu- nications channels open, there were three smoke reports and approximately 38 traffic re- ports that flowed through this network. There was also a hit-and-run reported by an amateur radio operator on Highway 395 south near mile marker 60. There is no cellphone coverage in the area. Because of his report, the driver was arrested after only 20 minutes. Three amateur radio opera- tors were involved in this inci- dent: the California driver who reported it, a resident of John Day who first took the call and one resident of Burns who no- tified dispatch from his post in the Harney County Emergency Operations Center. Contributed photo Amateur radio operators staffed a communication network in Grant County during the eclipse. ODFW to kill Meacham wolves By George Plaven EO Media Group The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife has au- thorized killing two more wolves in northeast Oregon, this time from the Meacham pack in Umatilla County following a string of four at- tacks on cattle over the last eight days. All four attacks happened to calves owned by the same livestock producer on the same private pasture in the Meacham area east of Pend- leton. The latest incident was confirmed Aug. 19 by ODFW. On Thursday, the agen- cy approved killing two wolves from the Meacham pack to limit further preda- tion. Wildlife officials have already killed three wolves this summer from the Harl Butte pack in Wallowa County after repeated con- flicts with cattle. Curt Melcher, ODFW director, said it is important to limit wolf-livestock prob- lems, and lethal control is a needed tool when non-lethal deterrents are not enough. “While it’s dishearten- ing for some people to see ODFW killing wolves, our agency is called to manage wildlife in a manner con- sistent with other land uses, and to protect the social and economic interests of all Or- egonians while it conserves gray wolves,” Melcher said. The recent decisions to kill wolves in Umatilla and Wallowa counties have been controversial on both sides of the debate, for very dif- ferent reasons. Conserva- tion groups criticize ODFW for signing off on kill or- ders while at the same time lacking transparency and dragging its feet on a long overdue update of the state’s Wolf Management and Con- servation Plan. Ranchers, on the other hand, want to see ODFW kill entire packs that are causing them trouble on the range. ODFW was asked to re- move the entire Meacham pack, which had seven members at the end of 2016. Instead, the agency has opt- ed for a more conservative, incremental approach. “I am authorizing only incremental take in an ef- fort to take as few wolves as possible while still address- ing wolf-livestock conflict,” Melcher said. “Following these actions, the situation will be reassessed to see if the goal of reducing depre- dations has been achieved.” The Meacham pack was first identified in 2014 and is believed to have at least four pups this year. No pups will be killed as part of this order. ODFW staff may kill the wolves, or the livestock pro- ducer has also been issued what’s known as a “limited duration wolf kill permit.” That permit allows the pro- ducer to kill two adult or sub-adult wolves without having to first catch the predators in the act of biting, wounding or killing cattle — in other words, they can be shot on sight. The permit is limited to the 4,000-acre timbered pasture where livestock pre- dation has occurred. It still requires the producer to use non-lethal deterrents and re- move all attractants such as bone piles. Roblyn Brown, ODFW acting wolf coordinator, said the producer has already spent years implementing extensive non-lethal con- trols and working to deter wolves on the landscape. “Unfortunately, this year their increasing preventa- tive efforts have not been successful in limiting wolf depredation,” Brown said. “We believe lethal control is warranted in this situation, but this action will only be in place as long as cattle are still at risk. We will use in- cremental removal and le- thal control activities will be stopped as soon as the cattle are removed from the pas- ture.” Normally, the pasture would be used until Octo- ber. However, 90 percent of the cattle have already been moved, according to ODFW. The producer has also acted quickly to remove dead live- stock or weak animals that could attract wolves, and employed a range rider five days a week to monitor the pasture. Finally, for the past two years, the producer has cho- sen not to use their sheep grazing allotment on nation- al forestland adjacent to the pasture to avoid potential wolf conflicts. Todd Nash, wolf commit- tee chairman for the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and a Wallowa County rancher, said ODFW is being dis- ingenuous about resolving wolf attacks by only killing only a few wolves, and not the entire pack. “In order to be effective, you have to take out at least half the pack population, and in most cases the entire pack will need to be taken out,” Nash said. Nash added that the in- creased density of wolves in northeast Oregon means 06065 that certain non-lethal tools are no longer effec- tive, since ranchers cannot haze wolves away from one area without pushing them into another pack’s territo- ry where they are not wel- come. “There are places wolves are not going to be success- ful, and this is probably one of them,” he said. ODFW noted it has docu- mented four new wolf pairs raising pups in northeast Or- egon this summer, including one new pair south of Inter- state 84 in the Starkey and Ukiah wildlife management units. However, conservation groups are quick to point out Oregon’s overall wolf population of 112 known animals at the end of 2016, which was largely stagnant over the previous year. Amaroq Weiss, West Coast wolf advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, blasted ODFW’s plan to kill wolves from the Meacham pack, even after most of the affected cattle have been moved off the pasture. “That doesn’t sound like a decision to conserve wolves or protect live- stock,” Weiss said. “That just sounds like revenge.” Sean Stevens, director of Oregon Wild, said ODFW has no business killing wolves while working under an outdated wolf plan. He also said the agency is lack- ing transparency and clarity when it comes to decisions on lethal take. “In this instance, the live- stock owner could be doing everything possible, but we just don’t know,” Stevens said. “I think it’s a bad omen for Oregon wolf recovery.” County seeks natural resource consultant Work on Title III projects initiated By Rylan Boggs Blue Mountain Eagle Grant County is seeking a natural resource consultant to advise the county court. County Judge Scott Myers said he hoped the person fill- ing the position could foster better relationships between the county and other agencies. He said the position should provide “a bridge between where we are now and where we want to be.” The consultant would work with other land management agencies and provide recom- mendations to the court. The position will be open to both individuals and firms, Myers said during a Grant County Court meeting Aug. 23. During the meeting, the court also authorized Grant County Economic Develop- ment Coordinator Sally Bart- lett to proceed with several Title III projects for which the county received $85,000. Roughly $40,000 will sup- port, implement and assist Firewise communities and activities. Roughly $30,000 will be used to update com- munity fire plans, and roughly $10,000 will go to search and rescue operations. The court also: • heard a presentation from Malheur National Forest Su- pervisor Steve Beverlin on a draft of the travel manage- ment map where he urged the public to provide the Forest Service with feedback regard- ing what forest roads they wish to remain open. • approved a request from Grant County Regional Air- Eagle file photo Grant County Judge Scott Myers speaks during a Grant County Court meeting. port Manager Haley Walker to attend an Oregon Aviation Industries summit on Sept. 19 in Tillamook. • approved a request from Walker to pay $4,600 to Sum- mit Power Systems to repair the airport’s weather observa- tion system. • spoke with property maintenance specialist Nate Hughes about painting the L-building next year. • approved a contract with the Northwest Professional Rodeo Association for a ro- deo at the Grant County Fair- grounds Sept. 8-9. • approved budget resolu- tions moving funds within de- partment budgets. • approved an amend- ment to an intergovernmental agreement between the coun- ty and the Oregon Health Au- thority to extend a contract for financing the county health department into September. • signed a contract between Oregon State University and the county to allow a county em- ployee access to OSU services. • authorized a request from the district attorney’s office to expend money from a Victims of Crime Act grant to pur- chase two iPhones, a tablet and a laptop. 06033