On June 20, 2024, the Wallowa County Board of Commissioners approved an updated version of the county’s Natural Resources Advisory Plan.

ENTERPRISE — The Wallowa County Board of Commissioners have approved an updated version of the county’s Natural Resource Management Plan, intended to provide guidance for how the county will cooperate with federal government and to offer guidelines for sustainable land management.

The action occurred at the board’s meeting on Thursday, June 20; the commissioners met on Thursday instead of their regular Wednesday meeting day because Wednesday, June 19, was Juneteenth, a federal holiday.

The original plan dates back to the 1990s, when Snake River basin Chinook salmon were listed as threatenedere under the Endangered Species Act. The desire to update the plan was discussed as long ago as 2009 to include entire watersheds instead of just focusing on streams and their floodplains and riparian areas.

The updated plan addresses requirements necessary for the county to coordinate with federal agencies, primarily the U.S. Forest Service. It also describes the county’s environment, ecology and culture, and provides a chapter detailing the challenges and opportunities in 20 of the county’s watersheds. Its final chapter includes recommendations for managing natural resources.

The update was a late agenda item that was not on the previously published agenda for the meeting. That concerned Commission Chairman Todd Nash, who had told Commissioner John Hillock that, in the interest of transparency, he preferred that adoption of the updated plan be tabled until it could be published in advance of a regular meeting.

Hillock said he was in favor of getting more public input, but he also agreed with Commissioner Susan Roberts that the plan should be adopted right away.

Roberts said the plan has been thoroughly worked on and it should be approved as soon as possible.

“We want (the public) to have it and we want them to have it now,” she said.

Hillock said there wasn’t anything major in the plan that was changed.

“It was just kind of a modernization,” he said, adding that the old plan was 25-30 years old. “I think they did a good job; it looks professional,” he said. “And it’s totally changeable. If it’’s not up to date next year, we can change it.”

John Williams, who with Bruce Dunn has spent many years on the Natural Resources Advisory Committee working on the plan, said much public input already has been received.

“We’ve gotten lots of input from a lot of different places and … I’d encourage you to adopt it,” he told the commissioners.

Williams said he has been working on such plans since 1993 when he first moved to the county.

Katy Nesbitt, the county’s director of natural resources and economic development, emphasized that the plan is a “working, living document” that the commissioners can change at any time.

At that, Roberts and Hillock voted to adopt the updated plan, which will be included into the county’s Comprehensive Land Plan.

In other business, the commissioners also approved a bid of $494,250 to have rock crushed by Anderson Rock. Roberts said when the county advertised for bids, Anderson was the only one who responded.

The commissioners also approved orders for accepting or transferring funds in the county budget. Approved were an order for unanticipated revenue of a grant for fair funding of $221,445 and orders for intrafund transfers for the Wallowa County Fair of $500,000, $153,861 and $492,746. These last three involved transfers of monies received which must be moved to the correct line items in the budget.

The commissioners also approved an easement for an underground power project on Dunham Road north of Enterprise requested by Maren Tanberg and a governmental services agreement between the Oregon Department of Revenue and the county for map maintenance for the county Assessor’s Office.

Wallowa County Natural Resources Plan

A PDF copy of the Wallowa County Natural Resources Plan is attached to the online version of this story at wallowa.com.