A16
NEWS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Weeds
Continued from Page A1
clusters of yarrow, a native plant with a
similar white fl ower that grows in simi-
lar areas to the hoary alyssum, like fi elds,
rangelands and pastures.
Pettingill applied for a state grant
through the Oregon Watershed Enhance-
ment Board to help identify where the
weed had spread. He was awarded
$9,500 in July of 2021, paid for by Ore-
gon lottery dollars, which supported
on-foot surveys that confi rmed hoary
alyssum’s spread in Baker County.
He also sent a letter to 82 landown-
ers informing them about the new weed.
Although 2020 was the fi rst sight-
ing, Pettingill said he didn’t know when
the weed actually arrived in the county
and how long it went unnoticed — its
modest appearance might have allowed
it to spend years growing and spreading
under the radar in Baker County.
According to the state’s noxious
weed profi le, hoary alyssum was already
widespread in the Northeastern United
States by the 1890s after it was origi-
nally transported to North America from
Europe as a seed contaminant. It’s listed
as a noxious weed in several other West-
ern states.
But hoary alyssum isn’t wide-
spread in Oregon. Other than the recent
Baker County infestation, two isolated
patches of the plant exist: one in Wal-
lowa County near the town of Wallowa
and a dense infestation near Sisters in
Deschutes County.
Pettingill said he doesn’t know
exactly how the weed spread into Baker
County, and that he initially underesti-
mated its local prevalence.
“We didn’t know how vast it was,”
Pettingill said.
He discovered that the weed wasn’t
only in pastures near Haines, but also in
higher elevations in the foothills of the
Elkhorn Mountains. Pettengill said he
wasn’t aware last summer that the weed
had also spread to the pastures near
South Rock Creek Road.
He said he believes the weed started
in the hills and then moved into the pas-
tures. Pettingill applied for another state
grant of the same amount to continue
fi ghting the weed in 2021 and 2022.
Over a third of the grant went to buying
herbicides, enough to treat 300 acres of
hoary alyssum.
He said he’s already sprayed that
amount this year.
He said the amount of the grant
is “unfortunate, based on how many
Hospital
Continued from Page A1
hardly unique. The Oregon
Association of Hospitals and
Health Systems, a nonprofi t
trade association, reported that
the bleak hospital fi nancial pic-
ture from 2021 only worsened
in the fi rst quarter of 2022.
A surge in COVID-19 hos-
pitalizations from the omicron
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
acres we found. We need to try to write
another one this winter to supplement
somehow.”
Since the state has classifi ed hoary
alyssum as “noxious,” property owners
who fi nd it on their land are required to
take some kind of action — either them-
selves or through Pettingill’s program —
to control it.
Landowners can also participate in
a cost share program, separate from the
hoary alyssum grants, where the county
will reimburse owners for half the cost
of herbicide and then train the owners
Clayton Franke/Baker City Herald
with weed-spraying practice.
Pettingill said he needs as much help Pettingill’s spraying system — which is attached to the back of an ATV — allows
as he can get from landowners because him to spray weeds on uneven terrain.
he’s had trouble hiring a weed control
staff to help him with spraying projects. containment possible.”
to build proteins, essentially starving the
The Baker County Weed Control team is
Along with the landowners, that con- weed’s growth.
made up of Pettingill and his black Lab, tainment is largely up to Pettingill.
However, the eff ectiveness of Pettin-
Jack, who is probably more likely to
gill’s herbicidal mixture also depends on
Chemical warfare
spread weeds than control them.
timing — to catch hoary alyssum in the
Although Pettingill has a degree in right stage of its life cycle — and a weak-
“We’re defi nitely outnumbered by
biology, sometimes his job requires him ness of the herbicide itself: hot weather.
weeds,” Pettingill said.
to become a chemist.
Like other annuals, hoary alyssum
A threat to hay
Some noxious weeds can be fought drops its seeds into the soil in late fall,
Pettengill peers out the window of with biocontrol, by introducing bugs or where they overwinter and then sprout
his truck at a hay pasture west of Haines. plants to combat the weed. That’s not the in the spring. It’s a prolifi c seeder, some-
It’s recently been cut.
case with hoary alyssum — herbicides times producing up to 2,600 seeds per
“Now I’ve gotta track down that are the best bet.
plant.
hay,” he said.
And for his new enemy, Pettingill
Pettingill said the ideal time to spray
Last time he saw the fi eld, bunches of has a particularly potent concoction. Just the weeds is when they fi rst bust through
white hoary alyssum fl owers were stick- 1 ounce of Telar, the herbicide used for the soil in the spring or early summer.
ing out among the grass. He suspects the hoary alyssum, can treat an acre of weeds. Too much sunlight and the herbicide will
weeds were cut, baled and shipped out
“It’s like spraying a shot glass over a degrade quickly and lose potency, while
with the rest of the hay. The weeds could football fi eld,” Pettingill said.
hot soils culture natural bacteria that also
be on their way to Pendleton or Hermis-
Pettengill mixes the Telar — a brown, degrade the herbicide.
ton, or anywhere, for that matter.
granular substance that’s as “safe as table
Once the yellow fl owers fully bloom
On a local level, it’s most common salt for humans” — with water in an old at the top of the plant above the cluster of
for the weeds to spread on tractors and Powerade bottle, leaving the herbicide small, oval seeds, it’s probably too late to
equipment, Pettingill said. But it can suspended in a mixture that looks a lot spray, Pettingill said.
travel greater distances when buried in like chocolate milk. In this state, he said,
But it was another herbicidal weak-
a hay bale.
water droplets and herbicide droplets ness that prevented Pettingill from
Not only that, but the weed lowers exist separately.
attacking hoary alyssum at the optimum
the nutritional value and productivity —
“When it’s suspended, you might time this year.
and ultimately the profi tability — of hay have fi ve droplets that are just water and
An unusually damp spring left excess
crops it grows in.
one droplet with the herbicide in it,” Pet- water on the weeds, which can dilute the
Hoary alyssum contains toxic chem- tengill said.
herbicide, preventing Pettengill from
icals. Pettingill said animals will gener-
This mixture would work to a certain spraying. That left time for the sprouts to
ally eat around it, but once it’s in hay, extent, but just one addition drastically grow into full-size weeds and take over
they aren’t so picky. Cows that eat hoary changes its eff ectiveness.
pastures and rangelands, leaving little
alyssum-fi lled hay are usually OK, but
It’s at this point in the process that room for native plants on properties like
when consumed by horses it can cause Pettengill’s truck bed looks something the one Pettingill visited near the Elk-
fever and depression.
like a high school chemistry classroom. horns on Tuesday.
In 2020, hay production value for all He adds a third element to the mixture
He said a herbicide application now
of Oregon totaled $569,160,000, accord- — professional-grade ammonium — could still make the seeds less viable,
ing to the Oregon Agricultural Statistics that turns the bottle translucent brown, but he prefers to wait until the fall for a
and Directory.
dissolving the herbicide, essentially more eff ective spray, as he’ll do with this
According to the Oregon State Weed spreading it out through the mixture.
property. That way, the off spring of these
Board, hoary alyssum is classifi ed as a
He also adds a surfactant, which helps plants will encounter the herbicide in the
target species, and as an “A list” species the herbicide soak into the plant faster.
spring.
because it’s “of known economic impor-
Now, “everything that touches the
“All the seeds that are gonna try to
tance and occurs in the state in small leaf has herbicide in it,” he said.
germinate will germinate, but they’ll
enough numbers to make eradication or
The herbicide limits the plants ability die,” Pettingill said.
wave and rising labor and other
costs combined to produce a
dismal fi scal quarter that saw
58 percent of Oregon’s hospi-
tals post a negative margin.
Additionally, according to
the fi rst quarter report, Ore-
gon hospitals’ median operat-
ing margin saw a 2.5% decline.
However, the report noted, the
drop was below those seen
in the earliest stages of the
pandemic.
In a nutshell, the report
noted that hospital revenue in
Oregon is not covering the cost
of patient care.
Nonetheless, Price empha-
sized that Blue Mountain Hos-
pital is not looking to reduce
staffi ng or services. The only
cuts to labor costs, he said,
will come from eliminating
— where it is possible — con-
tracted clinical labor. In addi-
tion, he said this year’s bud-
get includes more funding to
recruit talent into the area and
retain those who are here.
He said the hospital district
has set aside $22 million for
labor costs that includes money
for recruitment and retention
bonuses.
“Those dollars will help the
local economy rather than con-
tinue to invest in travelers who
may spend a little bit while
they’re here, but mainly goes
back to wherever their home-
front is,” he said.
In the interim, Price said,
the hospital is watching for fed-
eral grant opportunities to help
ease the current fi nancial strain.
“Nothing is defi nitive,” he
said, “and we are continuing to
work on things.”
In addition to Blue Moun-
tain Hospital, the district oper-
ates the Strawberry Wilder-
ness Community Clinic, Blue
Mountain Care Center and a
hospice and home health ser-
vice. It employs around 250
people.
Pool
Continued from Page A1
bonds fail their fi rst time on
the ballot and that voting for a
bond measure more than once
isn’t abnormal.
Both also said that the
opposition’s “redo not brand
new” campaign in the previous
election was inaccurate and
that the phrase cannot be used
in November because there
is nothing to redo this time
around.
JDCC Parks and Recre-
ation District Chair Zach Wil-
liams said previous state-
ments that Parks and Rec had
no plans to put the pool bond
back on the ballot were accu-
rate when they were made in
the runup to the primary elec-
tion, but eff orts by the PAC as
well as the tie in May forced
the board to look at putting the
measure up for a vote again.
“None of us envisioned
going through the process
again,” Williams said. “I don’t
think anyone thought about
an actual tie in the voting.
Another thing we as a board
discussed was that many part-
ners had worked very hard
on this and we needed to get
together with them and look
at next steps. The PAC’s per-
sistence was also a part of
relooking.”
Williams also expressed
the hope that the city would
be a better partner to Parks and
Rec if the bond makes it onto
the ballot again. Both Williams
and the board made it clear that
while Parks and Rec would
potentially put forward the
bond measure, the city would
also have a stake in the out-
come and should provide sup-
port for the measure.
The city has received a $2
million state grant to go toward
construction of the $6 million
aquatic center project, but the
grant will expire if the money
isn’t spent by a certain date.
Another concern is the
potential for competition from
a long-rumored law-enforce-
ment bond, although the Grant
County Court has not yet dis-
cussed putting such a measure
on the November ballot. Wil-
liams said he isn’t sure a law
enforcement bond would nega-
tively aff ect the pool bond, but
he imagines it could play into
people’s minds when they vote
on Nov. 8.
Parks and Rec is slated to
have a joint meeting with John
Day City Council on Tuesday,
Aug. 9, to discuss putting the
bond measure on the ballot for
the November election. The
meeting will be held at 6 p.m.
at the John Day Fire Hall, 316
S. Canyon Blvd.
Coffee Break!
CLUES ACROSS
1. Female parent
5. NY city
10. Israeli diplomat
Abba
14. Surrounded by
15. Car part
16. Simple aquatic
plant
17. Tough skin
of fruit
18. Finnish lake
19. Composition
20. Very willing
22. One and only
23. Cluster cups
24. Famed Holly-
wood director
27. Score perfectly
64. Popular type of
shoe
65. The territory
occupied by a
nation
66. Tattle
67. Chop up
68. Actress Zell-
weger
69. Romanian city
CLUES DOWN
1. Female of a
horse
2. Bowfin
3. Chinese dynasty
4. Small venomous
snake
5. Global news
agency
6. Common
fractions
7. American state
30. Important
45. Color at the end 8. Tired
lawyers
of the spectrum 9. Boxing’s GOAT
31. Undivided
46. Actress Ryan
10. Made less
32. Part of the foot 47. Digital audio-
severe
35. Spun by
tape
11. A group of
spiders
countries in spe-
48. Expression of
37. Married woman
cial alliance
creative skill
38. Reagan’s Sec- 49. Scientific
12. God of fire
retary of State
(Hindu)
instrument
39. Instruments
13. Northeast
52.
Dog-__:
40. The A-Team
Indian ethnic
marked for later
drove one
group
55. Israeli city __
41. Short-tailed
21. Anchor ropes
Aviv
marten
23. They __
42. Oil organization 56. Fencing sword 25. Apprehend
43. Predecessor to 60. Turkish title
26. Autonomic
61. Wise individ-
the EU
nervous system
uals
44. “Hotel Califor-
27. A theatrical
nia” rockers
performer
63. Cold wind
28. 2-door car
29. Partner to
flowed
32. Pair of small
hand drums
33 Former Houston
footballer
34. Discharge
36. Former wom-
en’s branch of
the military
37. Partner to
cheese
38. Witch
40. Live in a dull
way
41. Satisfies
43. Snakelike fish
44. Consume
46. Type of student
47. Erase
49. Instruct
50. Girl’s given
name
51. Spiritual leader
of a Jewish
congregation
52. Every one of
two or more
things
53. Indian city
54. Greek letters
57. Weapon
58. Geological
times
59. Cycle in
physics
61. Soviet Socialist
Republic
62. Witness
Be our exclusive Coffee
WORDS
ART
CHILDREN
CIRCLE TIME
CLASSMATES
CUBBY
CURRICULUM
DESKS
FIRST
FLASHCARDS
FRIENDS
INTRODUCTION
KINDERGARTEN
MANIPULATE
NERVOUS
PLAY
READING
RECESS
SCHOOLING
SIGHT
STUDENT
SUPPLIES
TABLES
TEACHER
VOCABULARY
Break
Reach over 2000 print and
digital subscribers each week in
The Blue Mountain Eagle
sponsor!
Call
Kim Kell
today at
541-575-0710
for more
information
on this
new weekly
feature!