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GO! Magazine Serving Baker County since 1870 • bakercityherald.com
September 2, 2015
Your guide to Labor Day weekend events around the region
>N >H>s aD>i'>oN:L ocal • Business @AgLife • Go! magazine $ < QUICIC HITS
Good Day Wish To A Subscriber
BAICER SCHOOL DISTRICTENROLLMENT
HowBaKerConnty's Biggest BlazeAmects Ileer, EIK,BighornSheep
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A special good day to Herald subscriber Betty Gilman of Baker City.
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More mosquitoes testpostive for West Nile virus
anin
Two more groups of mosquitoes trapped in Baker County have tested positive for West Nile virus, bringing the summers total to four. There have been no human cases of the virus in the county this year. One infected group of mosquitoes was trapped Aug. 24 near OldTrail Road about one mile north of Baker City. The other was trapped Aug. 25 in Keating Valley. The two other infected pools were trapped earlier in August near the Highway 203 exit along 1-84.
By Chns Collins ccollins©bakercityherald.com
Baker School District enrollment has dropped slightly from September 2014 compared with preliminary figures compiled today. The numbers are expected to change during the year said Ellen Dentinger, confidential secretary and receptionist at the District Office. Last year's September enrollmenttotaled 1,721 compared with this year's 1,692.5 total. See Pupils/Page 8A
Kathy Orr /Baker City Herald
BRIEFING
Fiddlers playing in Sumpter The Blue Mountain OldTime Fiddlers will play two shows in Sumpter during the flea market on Saturday, Sept. 5. The performances start at1 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the old white schoolhouse on the hill above the gas station. Admission is $5 per person, free for ages 12 and younger, or $4 for members of the BMOTFA. The fiddlers will also play Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. at the Elkhorn Grange in Haines. Admission is $5 per person, free for 12 and younger or free for members of the BMOTFA.
Steak Feed at Richland The annual Eagle Valley Grange Steak Feed is set for Saturday, Sept. 5. Steak and all the trimmings will be served from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Eagle Valley Grange Community Park in Richland, Renece Forsea, Grange member, said in a press release. The cost is $18 per person.A$5 hot dog meal is available for children.
First Friday with
Bill Harvey First Friday with County Commission Chairman Bill Harvey is scheduled for this Friday, Sept. 4, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the CommissionChambers at the Courthouse, 1995 Third St.
WEATHER
Today
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The Cornet/Windy Ridge fire burned most of the range for a herd of bighorn sheep that roamed on the north side of the Burnt River Canyon, forcing the sheep to move to areas along the river and to the south.
County to assess burned properties
By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com
The biggest wildfire in Baker County history might not prove disastrous for wildlife that live in the burned areas. But having said that, Brian Ratliff, the state's lead wildlife biologist in the county, emphasizes that he doesn't diminish the damage resulting from the 103,000-acre Cornet/ Windy Ridge fire in southern Baker County. "It's a large area— to say there aren't going to beeffectswould be putting your head in the sand," said Ratliff, the district wildlife biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's
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Photo by Jim Young
Bighorn sheep displaced by the Cornet/Windy Ridge fire have taken refuge along the Burnt River Canyon Road between Durkee and Bridgeport.
iODFWl Baker City offrce. numbers, he said, but "But I really don't believe the impacts are going to be tremendous." Ratliff said it's likely that ODFW will have to reduce the number ofhunting tags for buck deer in the Sumpter unit starting in 2016 due to the temporary loss of winter range for the animals. It's too early toestimate
Baker County property owners who lost structures to fires could see lower tax bills this fall. County Assessor Kerry Savage said Tuesday that he and his staff plan to reappraiseabout 20 properties where structures, mainly outbuildings, were burned during the Cornet/Windy Ridge and EagleComplex fi res.The work could start next week. The purpose, Savage said, is to lower the appraised valuesofthoseproperties to account for the burned structures, which in turn will reduce the owners' tax bills.
again he doesn't foresee dramaticdecreasesin tags. The fire's size notwithstanding, the acreage still amounts to just about 10 percent of the Sumpter unit, the only hunting unit that was burned. "It will be interesting to see what happens," Ratliff sald. He said the fire's effects
on elk and on bighorn sheep should not be as significant as for deer.
Mule deer Ratliff cites a couple reasons for his optimism. First, the fire, originally a pair of fires sparked by lightning Aug. 10 that grew together several days later, didn't burn intensely across the whole of the
103,000 acres. "Insome areasitpretty much cooked everything, but in others it burned more as a mosaic," Ratliff sald. In thelatter areasthere are still unburned trees and places where the flames mainly stayed on the ground, he said.
SeeTaxeslPage 6A
100-foot cellphone
See Wildlife/Page 6A
towers
eam ocusesonsaeaccessto
grivate an wit in ire oun ary By Jayson Jacoby llacoby©bakercityherald.com
Among the Forest Service's top priorities, as the Cornet/Windy Ridge fire continues to cool, is to ensure that private landowners can get to and from theirproperties safely. To achieve that goal the agency might do such things as install bigger culverts to handle the glut of runoff likely if heavy rain
falls on scorched ground, said Larry Sandoval, the natural resources staffofficer for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. The concern is that cloggedculvertscould cause roads to wash out, potentially leaving residents in places such as Stices Gulch stranded, Sandoval sard. He's one of nine members of aForest Service team
that spent most of three days last week touring the 103,000-acre fire, the largest in Baker County history. It's called a BAER team. That stands for Burned Area Emergency Response. The team's goal is to find possible threats to public safety related to the fire, Sandoval said.
Cornet/Windy Ridge Fire • 103,791 acres • 56,800 acres public land • 46,911 acres private land
pl"oposed Verizon Wireless wants to build two 100-foot-tall cell towers in Baker City. The company, represented by Acom Consulting, has applied for conditional-use permits for the towers, which would be taller than the city allows without a permit. The city Planning Commission will consider the company's requests during a public hearing Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 1655 First St.
SeeSafety/Page 6A
SeeTowers/Page 8A
Partly cloudy
Thursday
T ODAY
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Issue 50, 32 pages
Business... ........1B & 2B Comics.......................3B DearAbby..... ..........10B News of Record........2A Senior Menus...........2A Calendar....................2A C o m m u nity News ....3A Hor o scope........BB & 7B O b i t uaries..................2A Sp o r ts ........................5A Classified............. 4B-9B C r o ssword........6B & 7B L e t t ers........................ 4A O p i n ion......................4A We a t her ................... 10B
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