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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 2018)
FOURTH OF JULY EVENTS The — PAGE A9 Blue Mountain EAGLE Grant County’s newspaper since 1868 Get a Taste of Eastern Oregon special section — Inside W edNesday , J uNe 27, 2018 • N o . 26 • 18 P ages • $1.00 www.MyEagleNews.com Elevated fire danger forecast for region Continuing trend of hot, dry summers By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle H eavy smoke that blew into the John Day Valley last week from several fires in Central Oregon may be a sign of what is to come as forest officials prepare for elevated fire danger this season. The Boxcar Fire 1 mile southeast of Maupin, the Jack Knife Fire 5 miles northeast of Kent and the Graham Fire 15 miles north of Sisters near Lake Billy Chinook were all caused by lightning. By June 26, the Boxcar Fire covered 99,500 acres, the Jack Knife Fire covered 14,700 acres and the Graham Fire covered 2,100 acres. The Boxcar Fire was 60 percent contained, and the others were 80 percent contained. The wildfire forecast for the Grant County area this summer is about the same as for the past few years, officials said, as continu- ing hot and dry conditions are expected in July and August. See WILDFIRE, Page A18 Eagle file photo A tree burns during the Canyon Creek Complex fire in 2015. Elevated fire danger is forecast this season. As of June 20, more than 200 wildfires were reported on lands protected by ODF across Oregon, burning about 200 acres. More than 80 percent of the fires were human caused. Eagle file photo Clinton Shaver, with the Molalla Rural Fire District, watches as a tree goes up in flames on the Canyon Creek Complex south of John Day in 2015. This year could bring another severe fire season. Revised forest plan Kill permit issued for to be released Friday Wallowa County wolf Blue Mountain Eagle The long-awaited revised forest plans for the Malheur, Umatilla and Wallowa-Whit- man national forests will be released Friday. Updating the current plans drafted in 1990, the new 15- year plan has the potential to support up to 2,820 jobs and $113.6 million in labor in- come annually, according to the Forest Ser- vice. “We have been listen- ing to diverse perspectives,” said Pacific Jim Peña Northwest Re- gional Forester Jim Peña. “The revised Forest Plans honor the many years of input provided by the pub- lic, local governments, states, tribes, federal agencies and other stakeholders. Togeth- er, we are working to make our forests more resilient to change while also supporting rural prosperity.” The revised plans pro- vide a framework for future site-specific decisions and have the potential to add 1,173 new jobs and $59.5 million See PLAN, Page A18 Backers drop gun storage initiative for now By Claire Withycombe Capital Bureau Citing time constraints, supporters of an initiative peti- tion to impose new storage re- quirements on gun owners say they won’t try to put the issue before voters this year after all. Supporters of Initiative Pe- tition 44 are withdrawing the petition, they announced last week. They plan to refile for the 2020 ballot and lobby the legislature to pass the measure in next year’s long legislative session. Supporters of the petition said they didn’t have enough time to collect the 88,184 sig- natures required to get the measure on the ballot by the July 6 deadline. “We are not discouraged and look forward to working with legislators to pass this important measure in the 2019 session,” Henry Wessinger, one of the chief petitioners on the measure, said in a prepared statement. Another petition that would place restrictions on what types of firearms Oregonians can own — Initiative Petition 43 — faces the same deadline. Its ballot title is still caught up in the courts, so the petition can’t be circulated for signa- tures yet. See GUNS, Page A18 State could update management plan before year’s end By George Plaven EO Media Group State wildlife officials will allow a northeast Ore- gon rancher to kill one wolf on privately owned pasture near Joseph Creek in Wal- lowa County following a string of gruesome attacks on livestock. The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife issued a kill permit June 21 for RL Cattle Company, based in Enterprise, after confirming the wolf depredations June 13-14. According to the inves- tigative reports, a wolf — or wolves — injured three calves in three days on the same private pasture within an area of known wolf activ- ity in the Chesnimnus Unit. ODFW counted three wolves in the area at the end of 2017. None are wearing a radio tracking collar. It is not certain whether the wolves are remnants of the Chesnimnus pack or new animals that have moved Contributed photo/Oregon Cattlemen’s Association A wolf or wolves injured three calves within a few days on a private pasture near Joseph Creek in Wallowa County. Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife officials have issued a kill order for one wolf on the pasture and an adjacent public land allotment through July 10. into the territory. Under Phase III of the Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, ODFW may consider killing wolves in Eastern Oregon found to prey on livestock at least twice. The agency last is- sued a kill permit in April for two wolves from the Pine Creek pack in Baker County. But first, ranchers must demonstrate they have tried using nonlethal deterrents and cannot leave bone piles or carcasses that would oth- erwise attract wolves. In this case, RL Cattle routinely monitored for wolves, main- tained a human presence around cattle and removed injured livestock from the pasture. See WOLF, Page A18
