GO! EASTERN OREGON MAGAZINE INSIDE
Wednesday, July 7, 2021
153rd Year • No. 27 • 16 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
HIGH AND DRY
WHAT IS A
DROUGHT?
Contributed photo
Young Marvin stands in front of plants. The tiny kitten was taken
in by Hope 4 Paws and eventually adopted out to a loving home.
There is no specifi c
defi nition of a drought.
The consensus is that it
is a period of dry weather
that occurs long enough
to impact water supplies,
farming, livestock opera-
tions, energy production
and other activities.
Hope 4 Paws
nately, Marvin liked the
supplements he took to over-
come the virus, according to
Church.
Church said when she fi rst
By Rudy Diaz
got Marvin, he was a tiny,
Blue Mountain Eagle
needy kitten, but he started
interacting with her other
Whether it be a cat pets and became a normal
alone at a barn or a lost dog house cat as he got older.
reunited with owners after
“He was never feral-feral
months away from home, because he was tiny when I
Hope 4 Paws continues to got him, and he didn’t know
help the furry friends in being wild,” Church said.
Grant County.
After several months,
Susan Church, a volunteer Marvin was adopted in
at Hope 4 Paws that focuses March 2020 by a friend of
the feline eff orts,
Church,
Kati
said someone
Dunn.
last year found
“He’s got a
an orange and
really cute per-
white kitten in
sonality,
and
their barn and
he’s really play-
looked for its
ful,” Dunn said.
mother to no
“Once
he’s
avail. The lit-
tired from play-
tle orange kitten
ing, because he
named Marvin
doesn’t
want
was alone and
to bother with
Contributed photo aff ection when
hungry.
“When a kit- Cats Bithers and Mar- he’s
playing,
ten is starv- vin, who were adopted he’s very aff ec-
ing, their face through Hope 4 Paws, en- tionate
and
becomes a nar- joy time with their adop- sweet.”
row,
little tive owner Kati Dunn.
Dunn said,
pointed
face,
when it was
which is what he
time to get Mar-
had,” Church said.
vin, Church recommended
The people who found the she get a friend for him when
cat brought him to the vet she is away at work. Dunn
clinic where they called him walked away with two cats
Starvin’ Marvin due to his that day: Marvin and his best
malnourished state.
friend Bithers, a grey tabby.
The vet called Hope 4
“Starvin Marvin was kind
Paws, and Church fostered of depressing name, so I felt I
the tiny kitten. She soon should call him Marvin after
began bottle feeding Mar- Marvin Gaye and keep the
vin until he was ready to eat soul singer theme and name
wet food mixed with KMR, the other cat Bithers after
a milk replacement powder.
Bill Withers,” Dunn said.
“Marvin was a very fussy
When Dunn gets home
eater, and he wouldn’t eat from work, she is greeted
that,” Church said. “I had to by an abundance of aff ection
continue bottle feeding him a from both cats. She said they
little longer.”
have a great bond and pro-
Marvin had an upper vide lots of laughs.
respiratory infection as well,
“Hope 4 Paws does
which Church said is a com- incredible work,” Dunn said.
mon affl iction in feral cats. “I’ve heard of a lot of stories
She said it’s a virus that of kittens with rough begin-
aff ects a cat’s eyes, breath-
See Paws, Page A16
ing, ears and nose. Fortu-
Helping four-legged
friends around
Grant County
The U.S. Department of
the Interior points out
that drought has different
meanings depending on a
person’s perspective.
For a farmer, a drought is
a period of low precipita-
tion that affects the crops.
For example, a two-week
dry spell can stress many
crops during specifi c
growing periods.
Grant County experiencing
historic drought conditions
expensive supplemental feed and pasture.
Local producer and biologist Shaun
Robertson, who is president of the Grant
Grant County is in the grip of a severe County Farm Bureau, said every rancher
drought of historic proportions.
he has talked to told him that this is the
Gov. Kate Brown’s July 1 emergency worst they’ve ever seen.
drought declaration for Grant County
“Most are saying this is also the short-
comes amid the driest year the county has est water year that they can remember
seen in over a century.
(including testimony from an 87-year
It’s the driest
old rancher from
it’s been in 127
Fox),” he said.
years with 2-2.5
Robertson
fewer inches of
said he could
rain on average
remember
at
this year, accord-
least one year
ing to the National
being this bad
Integrated
within the last 20
Drought Informa-
years ago, which
tion System.
began as bad as
The
multi-
this year. How-
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell ever, he said,
agency drought
monitoring sys- Grant County Watermaster Eric Julsrud in his the county was
tem reports that offi ce Tuesday at the Grant County Courthouse. “bailed out” by
over half of the
late rain, but he
county,
roughly
does not anticipate
65%, is currently under extreme drought that happening this year.
conditions.
Eric Julsrud, Grant County’s water-
master, said the worst year on record in
How bad are the drought
his experience was 2001. He said this year
conditions in Grant County?
may be worse.
Most of Grant County is in extreme
According to the national drought sys-
drought — the second to worst category in tem’s historical data, at the start of July of
the U.S. Drought Monitor system. In these 2001, 100% of the county was in severe
regions, pastures are brown and barren, drought but never went into extreme levels
hay yields are low, prices are increasing
See Drought, Page A16
and producers are selling cattle to avoid
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
On the other hand, a me-
teorologist would defi ne
drought as a prolonged
period when precipitation
is less than average.
From a water manager’s
perspective, Eric Julsrud,
Grant County’s watermas-
ter, said that drought is
when the region’s water
supply is defi cient and
impacts water availability.
The U.S. Drought Monitor
system, a fi ve-category
system, begins at ab-
normally dry conditions,
a precursor to drought
conditions, moving up-
wards to moderate (D1),
severe (D2), extreme (D3)
and then exceptional (D4)
drought conditions.
According to the NIDS
website, the categories
show experts’ assess-
ments of conditions
related to dryness and
drought. The analysis in-
cludes their observations
of how much water is
available in streams, lakes
and soils in a specifi c
region compared to the
average for the same time
of year.
Under extreme drought
conditions, reservoirs
and lakes are shallow
compared to an average
year in normal conditions.
Additionally, wildfi re risk
is high, and there is an
inadequate level of plant
growth.
Families celebrate the Fourth
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Contributed photo/Kalli Wilson
Everleigh Schmadeka, left, gets an escort from Tiff nie
Schmadeka Sunday during Dayville’s Fourth of July parade.
Evie and her horse Cocoa Puff rode away with a fi rst-place
ribbon in the kids category and another for Best of Parade.
Pam Woodworth, left, Prairie City’s
Independence Day parade grand
marshal, waves at the crowd Sunday.
See more Fourth of July coverage in
next week’s edition.
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Levi Brown, an Iraq War veteran and member of Prairie City
American Legion Post 106, and his two children, Rev, 5, and
Ranger, 7, get ready for Prairie City’s Fourth of July parade Sun-
day. The American Legion had two fl oats in the parade.