James Monteith, Eastern Oregon Legacy Lands chairman who supported Nez Perce Tribe acquisition of the 148-acre Hayes Ranch, gazes across the farm’s historic landscape. The property, purchased by the Nez Perce Tribe on Dec. 9, 2020, holds great cultural and historical significance for the tribe.

Back from the brink, Oct. 7, 2020

JOSEPH — It was a tragic accident that nearly cost him his life — or at least a leg — but Joseph Charter School cross-country runner Keelan McBurney isn’t letting it keep him down by any means.

It was May 15 when McBurney, then 15, had gone to visit a friend who lived about three miles south of Joseph on the back side of the west moraine. He decided to keep the friend, who was the same age and has since moved out of the area, anonymous.

“About 45 minutes later,” said his mom, Chantay Jett, “I get a call from his friend who is so distraught that he’s not able to speak on the phone. I could hear Keelan in the background and he said, ‘Mom, I’ve been in an accident. I think I broke my leg. It’s really bad, you need to come immediately.’”

Jett said that the two had driven the friend’s mom’s car down the driveway to the mailbox and upon returning, McBurney was guiding the friend into a parking spot at the house when the friend thought he had the car in reverse, but it was in drive. The friend hit the gas, panicked and hit the gas harder and pinned McBurney to the house, crushing his left leg.

“The license plate of the vehicle actually severed Keelan’s leg and the impact broke the tibia and the fibula and dislocated the fibula, as well, and cut the femoral artery,” Jett said. Another artery and a ligament that connects to the knee also were severed.

County OKs support of 21-inch rule change, Oct. 14, 2020

ENTERPRISE — A letter in support of the proposed 21-inch rule was approved by the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners at its Wednesday, Oct. 7, meeting pending further review by Commissioner Todd Nash, who didn’t receive the documentation on it until just before the meeting.

The rule has proven controversial among environmental and forest groups who differ as to the benefits of being able to log larger trees.

Katy Nesbitt, in her capacity as Natural Resources Advisory Committee director, explained to the commissioners just what the letter consists of.

“What we are supporting is that the maximum DBH (diameter at breast height) go from 21 inches to 30 inches for fir species — Douglas, white and grand — and the 21-inch rule would remain for tamarack and Ponderosa pine,” Nesbitt said. “This is to do something the Forest Service called ‘preserve late and old structure.’ So, we get to take out some bigger trees while maintaining some good, old trees, and those are good to provide seeds for future generations of forests.”

Experts discuss forest management on moraine, Oct. 21, 2020

WALLOWA LAKE — Nearly a dozen people gathered at the south end of Wallowa Lake on Wednesday, Oct. 14, to learn more about forest management in the area, particularly on the East Moraine.

The East Moraine is largely a 1,791-acre parcel acquired by Wallowa County in January from the Ronald C. Yanke Family Trust. More recently, another 33 acres were donated to the county by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, bringing the total to 1,824 acres. The northern end is mostly grassland, while the southern end is forested.

It’s the forested end that was the focus of those attending the Oct. 14 walking tour and the forest experts hosting it.

Enterprise woman joins up, Oct. 28, 2020

ENTERPRISE — “You’re in the Army now. …” That’s what Hailey Collier could sing starting Monday, Oct. 26, when she left for basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for a stint in the Army National Guard.

The 21-year-old Enterprise High School graduate will have an eight-year commitment, six years active and two reserve, as she continues a family tradition of military service. Her uncle also served in the Army and both grandfathers were in the Navy.

Nez Perce Tribe invests in lodge conservation easement, Nov. 4, 2020

WALLOWA LAKE — A long-held dream of reintroducing sockeye salmon to Wallowa Lake is one step closer for the Nez Perce Tribe.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, the tribe secured a conservation easement on the 9.22 acres at the head of the lake and along the Wallowa River owned by Wallowa Lake Lodge, LLC. The move guarantees that sockeye spawning and rearing habitat will be ensured for posterity.

“The main reason we have wanted this easement is for protection of the inlet for sockeye salmon and protecting the waters and the habitat around that area expressly for sockeye reintroduction and for the fisheries,” said Shannon Wheeler, Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee chairman. “The other reason — it’s a place that’s very meaningful to the tribe.”

The area is known to the Nez Perce as Waakak’amkt, or “where the braided stream disappears into the water,” Wheeler said.

Korean War vet remembers ‘forgotten war,’ Nov. 11, 2020

ENTERPRISE — It may have been dubbed “the forgotten war,” but 90-year-old Bill Norman has never forgotten it.

“We didn’t think so, the ones who were there,” the Wallowa County Senior Living resident said. “Nobody who was in Korea has forgotten it, that’s for sure. You were in a country where you got worms. … There was a lot of man-made disease.”

While World War II a few years earlier may have been bigger and Vietnam a decade later was more controversial, veterans of the “police action” in Korea, as then-President Harry S. Truman dubbed it, always remember. The war ran from June 1950 to July 1953 in what was the hottest of the early Cold War conflicts.

“We haven’t forgotten it,” the Marine Corps veteran said.

And that’s not to mention the combat.

“You’ve heard of ‘Frozen Chosin’? We were trapped up there,” Norman said. “We had to fight our way out of there when it got down to 50 below. We lost a lot of guys whose fingers and toes were frozen. We had no trucks to haul the wounded. But that’s all we could bring out because we didn’t have enough trucks to bring everyone out. So we got the wounded out, and then got up on the mountain there.”

He was referring to the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, where United Nations troops were nearly surrounded in a fight that lasted from late-November to mid-December 1950.

Protecting from predators: County couple gets Kangal shepherd guard dogs, Nov. 18, 2020

ALLEN CANYON — In an area where predators are far from uncommon, what’s the best defense? Dogs, says one couple, who recently acquired two Kangal shepherd puppies to replace their aging rottweilers.

“They’ll protect all the animals and your children,” said Jan Hileman, who with husband, Benny, lives along Allen Canyon Loop southeast of Wallowa. “That’s what they’re bred for.”

The rare guard dogs are native to Turkey. Not so much herding dogs, they’re more to keep an eye on their territory — and those in it — and protect what’s there.

“We’re griping about cows getting killed, and I think it’s time people find out there is something that can really help,” Jan Hileman said.

The Hilemans have nine dogs total — five they regularly let outside and four that are more indoor dogs. In addition to the two Kangals, they have two rottweilers, an old border collie, two chihuahuas, a Boston bull terrier “and a fuzzy dog” mutt, Benny said.

‘Chaos’ wins People’s Choice at Josephy Center, Nov. 25, 2020

JOSEPH — Denise Elizabeth Stone, of La Grande, was voted winner of the People’s Choice Award at the “Hello From Lockdown” art exhibit that ended Wednesday, Nov. 18, at the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture in Joseph.

Stone’s winning entry was a mixed-media collage called, “When Chaos Becomes Creation.”

It is a watercolor batik on tissue paper that also included acrylics, said Megan Wolfe, program coordinator at the center.

Nez Perce Tribal Fisheries, Wallowa Resources garner grants, Dec. 2, 2020

ENTERPRISE — The Meyer Memorial Trust has awarded Nez Perce Tribal Fisheries in Joseph and Wallowa Resources in Enterprise grants totaling more than $280,000.

The funds will enhance natural resources and management in Wallowa County, and are among only 150 grants awarded nationwide by the trust in this year’s Funding Opportunity Awards.

Nez Perce Tribal Fisheries in Joseph was awarded $138,824, from the trust’s Healthy Environment portfolio to integrate tribal knowledge into Wallowa Lake management and explore reintroduction of sockeye salmon to the lake.

Wallowa Resources will receive $144,750 from the same portfolio to expand the rural “Stewardship Economy” model in eastern Oregon through land management collaboratives, community land ownership, workforce training programs and partnerships with community-based organizations.

New chamber chief ‘excited to be back home’, Dec. 9, 2020

ENTERPRISE — Enterprise native Jennifer Piper started this week as the new executive director of the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce and is “excited to be back home,” she said in an interview Friday, Dec. 4.

“Now I’m back home in the best place in the world,” said Piper, who was born here and spent her childhood here.

Piper, who began Monday, Dec. 7, and replaces the now-retired Vicki Searles, is eager get to know local business owners and help them make it through the coronavirus pandemic that has plagued so many. Until Friday, she had been unaware of the more than a half-million dollars the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners is doling out in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds, but she’s eager to jump right in and help local businesses apply to claim their share.

Nez Perce Tribe acquires historic Hayes Farm, Dec. 16, 2020

JOSEPH — On Wednesday, Dec. 9 the Nez Perce Tribe completed the purchase of the historic Hayes Farm just west of Joseph and south of the Chief Joseph Days rodeo grounds on Airport Road.

The 148-acre property holds great cultural and historical significance for the Nez Perce. According to a press release, the property includes 3/4 of a mile of Wallowa River frontage that may be important in future fisheries management, according to Eastern Oregon Legacy Lands Chairman James Monteith.

Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee Chairman Shannon Wheeler and Secretary Rachel Edwards were there to complete the paperwork.

“This has been a project in the works for some time, and there were several people involved in making this purchase a reality,” Wheeler said. “This purchase is a wonderful step in the reestablishment of a Nez Perce presence in the homeland of our people. We know our ancestors are smiling to see us returning home.”

‘Weed Warrior’ honored by Wallowa County, Dec. 23, 2020

JOSEPH — Joseph-area rancher Karl Patton has been honored for his work to eradicate noxious and invasive weeds in the area by being named the first-ever Wallowa County Weed Warrior of the Year, said Andy Marcum, manager of the county’s Vegetation Department.

“Karl has been battling noxious weeds his whole life,” Marcum said. “He’s doing it on his property and sites he sees elsewhere. He’s active in educating the community” about weeds.

Marcum said this is a new effort by the Wallowa County Weed Board to recognize efforts to rid the county of weeds that interfere with agriculture and wildlife. Although Patton is the only weed warrior recognized this year, there may be more in the future.