FOURTH OF JULY EVENTS
The
— PAGE A9
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
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W edNesday , J uNe 27, 2018
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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