A welcome to Wallowa County

When the editor position at the Wallowa County Chieftain came open (former editor Scot Heisel headed over the hill to work at the Lewiston paper) I quickly offered my services for the transition. December in Wallowa County — with the snow piling up and the temperature falling and the steelhead making their way upstream — sounded like the perfect way to say goodbye to 2016 and hello to the new year.

My day job is as an editor of East Oregonian newspaper in Pendleton, a sister paper of the Chieftain. And while I love Pendleton, the thought of some time in the mountains was too much to pass up. So I packed my car with my fishing gear, my downhill and my cross country skis, my ice skates and snow boots and a bag full of long underwear. All the stuff to do all the things! Except, of course, that I forgot the essentials: a winter hat and gloves.

Still, I arrived safe and sound and my extremities have not frozen off in this first week. Until that happens, I will hold down the fort here at the Chieftain for the long-term employee who will soon take over from me. I hope you’ll indulge me during my short stay at the helm, and help me make the newspaper useful for you in these next weeks.

My knowledge of the area is relatively limited. I’ve fished the Wallowa River downstream from Minam State Park with a religious devotion, hiked up Hurricane Creek during late summer and made a few treks up the Lostine and into the Eagle Caps. I’ve had beers and buffalo burgers at Terminal Gravity, been regaled in the dusty sun of Chief Joseph Days, even witnessed a Wallowa County record number of alpenhorns during Alpenfest. I’ve helped drag elk meat off Zumwalt Prairie, stayed in Jon Fogerty’s old cabin in Troy, stared in disbelief at Wallowa Lake and rafted down the Snake River from the dam to Pittsburg landing.

I’ve done some fun stuff in your neck of the woods and met some great Wallowa County residents along the way. But I know there is much more than that going on here, and I’d like to get in tune with the important issues lying beneath this recreational playland.

I’m all ears, open to hearing stories and following leads. And I’m curious — like all good journalists should be — about your stories. If there’s something you think the newspaper should cover, email me at editor@wallowa.com or call 541-426-4567. If there is an event we can’t miss, let me know. If there is a neighbor that shovels everybody out after each big snow, let me know. If there is something going on at your school, your city government or your irrigation district that you want to know about, tell me. And if you have any fishing tips, definitely call — I’m willing to beg for those.

Thanks, already, for your hospitality, and your wide selection of hats and gloves.

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Tim Trainor is fill-in editor of this newspaper.