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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2018)
A6 News Blue Mountain Eagle Wednesday, July 18, 2018 North Fork restoration projects funded protection on Granite Creek, develops dependable alterna- tive water sources, eliminates invasive weeds and thins up- land juniper.” By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle The North Fork John Day Watershed Council recently received funding that will help them complete three resto- ration projects this year. The awards were announced by the Oregon Watershed Enhance- ment Board. Funding comes from the Oregon Lottery. Desolation Creek Phase 3 of the Desolation Creek Wet Meadow Resto- ration Project was awarded $73,233. The project calls for installing 2.5 miles of fencing to protect 25.5 acres of sensi- tive wet meadow habitat and is expected to take place from June through December. Desolation Creek origi- nates in the Southern Blue Mountains and drains about 69,643 acres with 230 stream miles. The watershed provides critical spawning and rear- ing habitat for mid-Columbia By Mateusz Perkowski The council Bear Creek The Bear Creek Resto- ration Project was awarded $81,200. Work is expected to take place from July through September. The tributary to the Middle Fork of the John Day River is located about a mile downstream from Galena. The project includes ex- cavating a channel through historic mine tailings, placing large pieces of wood in the creek and creating beaver dam analogues in the creek to im- prove fish habitat. “This project will allow migratory fish access to a pre- viously inaccessible drainage while also improving that hab- itat for spawning and rearing of juvenile salmon and steel- head,” project coordinator Jus- tin Powell said. Contributed photo Members of the Oregon Youth Conservation Corps under direction of the North Fork John Day Watershed Council in 2016-2017 placed tree limbs in meadow gullies to slow erosion and capture sediment at the Big Mosquito Project along the Middle Fork of the John Day River downstream of Galena. spring-run chinook salmon, bull trout and mid-Columbia steelhead. Both bull trout and steelhead are designated for protection under the Endan- gered Species Act. The project will take place on a 13,400-acre property purchased by Ecotrust Forest Management Inc. in 2014 for restoration and community investment. The land is most- ly kept open to the public for hiking and camping, with three families leasing portions of the property for livestock. “When landowners partner with the North Fork John Day Watershed Council and the Oregon Watershed Enhance- ment Board, great restoration work can be done,” said Marty Eisenbraun, a natural resource manager with Ecotrust Forest Management. “Critical habi- tat restoration work is accom- plished while still managing timber and range resources.” Granite Creek The Walton: Ritter Land Management Team Granite Creek Restoration Project was awarded $103,687. The work is expected to take place from July through December. Granite Creek is considered an important fish-bearing trib- utary of the Middle Fork of the John Day River. The project will take place near Highway 395 about 2-3 miles north of the Ritter bridge on adjacent properties owned by Paul Wal- ton and Jimmy Walton. Encroaching juniper will be removed on 100 acres and noxious weeds will be sprayed on 50 acres. To allow in- creased livestock management in the area, four springs will be developed to supply watering troughs and about 1 mile of fencing will be installed along Granite Creek. “This project demonstrates that natural resource concerns and private landowner goals can come together to form a mutually beneficial project,” Jimmy Walton said. “This undertaking provides riparian Environmentalists hope to revive 15-year- old grazing lawsuit EO Media Group The North Fork John Day Watershed Council was es- tablished in the mid-1990s to work with agencies and pri- vate landowners to develop upland, in-stream and riparian restoration projects, Execu- tive Director Valeen Madden said. With a staff of five full- time workers, the nonprofit group maintains an office in Long Creek and partners with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon De- partment of Forestry, U.S. Forest Service, Grant Soil & Water Conservation District and other agencies. The council also manages the only Oregon Youth Con- servation Corps crew in Grant County, she said. The 14- to 18-year-old workers are typi- cally hired for five-week ses- sions, Madden said. This year, the crew will remove fencing and plant vegetation along Long Creek, maintain trails in the wilder- ness, help the Eastern Oregon Trail Alliance construct new bike trails in the Magone Lake area and install fencing to pro- tect young aspen stands from elk and deer. Aspen stands provide good habitat for birds and small mammals and aid in water retention, Madden said. After they’ve matured and fencing is removed, the aspen stands will provide important winter hab- itat for elk and deer, she said. For more information on the North Fork John Day Wa- tershed Council, visit nfjdwc. org or call 541-421-3018. Environmentalists hope to resurrect a 15-year-old lawsuit over grazing im- pacts on bull trout in Ore- gon’s Malheur National For- est by appealing a ruling that favored ranchers. In April, U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman dis- missed a complaint initially filed in 2003 by the Oregon Natural Desert Association and the Center for Biologi- cal Diversity, which claimed cattle harm the threatened fish species by trampling egg nests and raising water temperatures. The two environmental groups are now challenging that decision before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap- peals, which takes about 15 months to resolve such cases on average. At this point, the plain- tiffs have simply filed a no- tice of appeal, which doesn’t lay out the arguments for why they believe the judge’s opinion was wrong, said Elizabeth Howard, an attor- ney for ranchers who inter- vened in the case. “It’s hard to know what ONDA’s plans are right now,” Howard said, noting that substantive arguments will be made in the plain- tiffs’ opening brief. EO Media Group was unable to reach Mac Lacy, the attorney for the envi- ronmental groups, for com- ment. “We seek to ensure that the Forest Service collects and appropriately responds to habitat data and makes every possible effort to pro- tect bull trout habitat so this fish isn’t wiped out from these two rivers,” said Dan Morse, ONDA’s conserva- tion director, in an email. The environmental plaintiffs had argued that only 100 bull trout remain in the Malheur and North Fork Malheur rivers, which should each support 2,000 of the fish. The U.S. Forest Service authorized grazing on seven allotments spanning thou- sands of acres even though its own data showed that “riparian management ob- jectives” along the two riv- ers weren’t being attained, the plaintiffs argued. By ignoring informa- tion showing continued degradation of bull trout habitat, such as bank sta- bility and water tempera- ture, the agency violated the National Forest Man- agement Act, according to plaintiffs. The Forest Service coun- tered that the groups were “cherry-picking” problemat- ic “hot spots” even as broad- er conditions across the landscape were improving. Mosman and U.S. Mag- istrate Judge Paul Papak, who oversaw aspects of the case, agreed with the gov- ernment that bull trout hab- itat could be monitored on the “watershed,” rather than “stream by stream,” and that the plaintiffs hadn’t proven grazing had caused the spe- cies’ decline. OWEB awards grant for conservation easement near Painted Hills $3.1 million invested in mid- Columbia region By George Plaven EO Media Group A nonprofit land trust based in Walla Walla, Washington, plans to buy a conservation easement to protect 3 miles of steelhead spawning habitat at a ranch near the Painted Hills in north-central Oregon. Blue Mountain Land Trust recently received a $1.42 million grant from the Ore- gon Watershed Enhancement Board to purchase the ease- ment at Canyon Creek Ranch, on Bear Creek in the John Day Basin. Jason Bulay, conservation director for the land trust, said the easement will ensure Canyon Creek Ranch stays in agricultural production, while also protecting fish, wildlife, upland sage and grassland habitat. “We all benefit, I think, from having healthy popu- lations of fish and wildlife,” Bulay said. “Some of these are very important species, from a cultural and economic stand- Let our family of Pharmacists serve you! point.” In particular, Bulay said they intend to preserve healthy riparian habitat for mid-Co- lumbia steelhead, which are listed as a threatened species. The easement includes 3.1 miles of steelhead habitat in Bear Creek, adjacent to the Painted Hills Unit in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Historically, Canyon Creek Ranch was owned by a land and cattle company which, according to the project appli- cation, caused extensive deg- radation by overgrazing the uplands and allowing cattle unrestricted access to riparian areas. The current landowners, Terrance and Peggy Long, purchased the ranch in 2000. Since then, they have worked with multiple partners, includ- ing OWEB, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Ser- vice, Wheeler Soil and Water Conservation District and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to restore the property. Together, they have cut juniper on more than 665 acres and converted open ir- rigation ditches to pipes. Last year, the Wheeler SWCD installed 21 artificial beaver dam structures along the creek to increase surface flows in streams that otherwise dry up during the summer. The tribes have also committed an addi- tional $500,000 for riparian zone restoration through 2020. Bulay said the land trust was excited to work with such committed landowners. “We like it when we can work with a landowner who shares our goals, and perma- nently protect that land,” he A man wakes up in the morning after sleeping on an ADVERTISED BED, in ADVERTISED PAJAMAS. Give us a call today 541- 676-9158 - Heppner 541- 348-2801 - Condon Advertising is an investment, not an expense. Think about it! 68851 AND THEY SAY ADVERTISING DOESN’T WORK? DON’T MAKE THIS SAME MISTAKE Blue Mountain Eagle MyEagleNews.com Heppner & Condon mid-Columbia region, total- ing $3.1 million. John Keith, executive director of the Ore- gon Association of Conserva- tion Districts, applauded the grants, saying they will help to maintain the Oregon way of life for generations to come. “Oregon is unique for many reasons, and one is the commitment Oregonians have made to conserve what’s left,” Keith said. Other projects funded by OWEB include: • $103,687 to the North Fork John Day Watershed Council for restoration work on Granite Creek, reducing sediment and lowering water temperature flowing in to the Middle Fork John Day River. • $190,176 to the Confed- erated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation for restor- ing the floodplain at Desola- tion Creek south of Ukiah. • $150,000 to the Morrow Soil and Water Conservation District to restore 240 acres of wetlands along the Columbia River between Umatilla and Irrigon. RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY PUBLIC BIDS ACCEPTED He will bathe in an ADVERTISED TUB, shave with an ADVERTISED RAZOR, have a breakfast of ADVERTISED JUICE, cereal and toast, toasted in an ADVERTISED TOASTER, put on ADVERTISED CLOTHES and glance at his ADVERTISED WATCH. He’ll ride to work in his ADVERTISED CAR, sit at an ADVERTISED DESK and write with an ADVERTISED PEN. Yet this person hesitates to advertise, saying that advertising doesn’t pay. Finally, when his non-advertised business is going under, HE’LL ADVERTISE IT FOR SALE. Then it’s too late. We welcome the opportunity to visit with you about our services! said. In the past, Blue Moun- tain Land Trust served four counties in southeast Wash- ington, along with Umatilla and Union counties in north- east Oregon. The organization opened a new John Day region office in July 2017, expanding into Grant, Gilliam, Wheeler and Morrow counties. “It’s a lot of the same re- source concerns that we’ve been dealing with here in the Walla Walla area, as far as the salmon and steelhead spawning streams and the wildlife habitat and the work- ing lands,” Bulay said. “We thought there were a lot of great potential land projects in the area, and landowners to work with.” Bulay said the land trust also received $800,000 in funding from OWEB to pur- chase an easement at the 9,000-acre Bennett Ranch in Baker County to protect sage grouse habitat. The Canyon Creek Ranch easement is just one of 21 proj- ects funded by OWEB in the The public is invited to bid on residential property owned by Community Connection of Northeast Oregon, Inc. in Granite, Oregon. The property will be open for inspection on Friday July 27, 2018, 10am -3pm. Minimum bid is $28,375; deadline for bids is 2pm August 10, 2018 in La Grande Oregon. Contact Rochelle Hamilton at 541-963-3186 for a bid packet. Don’t get left behind, call today! Kim Kell 541-575-0710 46958 CAUTION Old Photos Kids - Famil y - Trophy Wildlife - E tc. HUNTING STORIES NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL YOUR TROPHY WAS or you just want to share a hunting adventure, SEND OR DROP OFF YOUR BEST HUNTING PHOTOS 195 N. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845 • kim@bmeagle.com Your photos will be published in this year’s EAGLE HUNTING JOURNAL Please have them to the Eagle by August 11th. to
