ENTERPRISE — The Wallowa County Board of Commissioners agreed to give a bit more autonomy to the committee managing the East Moraine Community Forest at its meeting Wednesday, March 12.

“In the past, (former) Commissioner (Todd) Nash questioned how we were doing some things,” Commissioner John Hillock said. “And so we went through and talked about how that was done, how it was established in the original management plan. … We wanted to make it perfectly clear so that the management team … has a certain amount of authority to do management without coming back to the county commissioners. It would be too cumbersome to, you know, be like me signing every check for you. It doesn’t make sense. So that’s what that clarification was with what Todd had brought up last year.”

Katy Nesbitt, county director of natural resources and economic development, updated the commissioners on the management team’s recent actions. 

“The East Moraine Community Forest management committee met Feb. 6, and as our guidelines dictate, our executive committee meets to manage the day-to-day activities on the moraine, and over the course of some months, we’ll gather items that need review of the larger committee,” Nesbitt said.

She said Nils Christofferson, the chair of the committee, distilled a 100-page document on how the property is managed down to a more readable form so “at a glance, someone can take a look and see how this is managed, but it’s all from the management plan. It’s just a bit of a summary.”

Hillock and fellow Commissioner Lisa Collier agreed that it wasn’t necessary for the management committee to bring small expenditures before them, such as $500 worth of fence repair or grazing permits. It was just the “big things,” Hillock said, that should come before the commissioners.

“I think we’re in good shape to go forward with another year, and I don’t see any reason why we can’t adopt this management plan going forward,” he said. 

The forest is a parcel of 1,824 acres formerly owned by the Ronald C. Yanke Trust. It was purchased by the county for about $6.5 million in January 2020. When the management plan was adopted by the commissioners in December 2022, it was agreed it would be a “working document” that could be updated as needed. A smaller plot was received from the Oregon Parks Department near the south end of Wallowa Lake. To ensure the land remained pristine and open for the public, a management plan was put together that included public comment.
Nesbitt reminded the commissioners and the public present that the four primary stakeholders in the forest are the county (the principal owner), the Wallowa Land Trust, Wallowa Resources and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The U.S. Forest Service also donated considerable funds, she said. Minor stakeholders include the Oregon State University Extension Service, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Department of Forestry.

For more information about the forest, visit https://co.wallowa.or.us/east-moraine-community-forest/ or email Nesbitt at knesbitt@co.wallowa.or.us.

Another matter the commissioners dealt with Wednesday was the approval of a contract with the Veterans Administration for local services. Collier noted that Ted Thorne, the local veterans services officer, was going to be present but had another appointment. So Collier brought in Nic Powers, CEO of Winding Waters Clinics.

Collier said that since last fall there’s been concern the VA is going to pull its clinic out of the county and veterans would be required to either go to Walla Walla or make use of the ATLAS (Accessing Telehealth through Local Area Stations) virtual clinic. She said it appears the local clinic will pull out in April, so the county wants to be proactive and beef up veterans services before that time.

Powers said the Wallowa County Education Service District building has a space that would meet the VA’s needs with minimal staffing. 

“It doesn’t mean veterans would have to go to Winding Waters,” Powers said. “They can go anywhere.”

He said all the office would need is a greeter who could direct veterans to the proper office where they could link up with their provider.

“Then you could still be referred to a local person and do your follow-up work to that teleconference locally, instead of having to travel to Walla Walla,” he said. “That’s my understanding.”

Overall, the plan is to improve connections with specialists from a local level, he said.

After listening to Powers’ discussion of the new service, the commissioners voted to approve the new VA contract.

Other business

In other business, the commissioners:

• Heard a report from Hillock, who responded to Mike Eng’s concerns that the Wallowa County Planning Department had not insisted on setting a time frame for addressing traffic-control concerns at the new Dollar General store at Wallowa. Hillock said he has worked with Planning Director Franz Goebel and gotten through to Dollar General at its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, and a representative there agreed to get going on the traffic-control concerns. Hillock was still unsure when any work would be done.

• Collier gave an update on the measure she is promoting in the legislature to give locals a priority at the Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicles Services office for taking driving tests. She said the measure has become a House bill.

• Approved a memorandum of support for the Wallowa Valley Golf Foundation, which is hoping to solicit grants to improve the local golf course.

• Approved an easement requested by Avilion Zokovsky of Ziply Fiber for an underground conduit for fiber optic cable on Allen Canyon Loop off Highway 82 near Wallowa.

• Approved a no-spray zone as requested by Susan Brun for Airport Lane at Joseph.

• Approved intergovernmental agreements between the county assessor’s office and the city of Lostine and the county Extension Service.

• Added approval of the Feb. 26 Oregon-Idaho border move meeting to the list of public meetings approved in the consent agenda. Collier said this was so it could be posted online rather than waiting until the next such meeting, when it would be six months old.

• Approved two employee actions: for Kenny Lathrop, a separation of service from public works, and for Nicole Lathrop, a salary change in the assessor’s office.