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
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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.
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