Field reports: Fire destroys Wallowa’s center

FORESTS – The log building that housed the U.S. Forest Service visitor center and ranger district offices in Enterprise for the popular Wallowa Mountains region of northeastern Oregon burned to the ground on Monday.

The 20-year-old, 20,500-square-foot log building housed the Eagle Cap and Wallowa Valley ranger districts of the Wallow-Whitman National Forest and was a popular stop for hikers heading into the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

The agency’s first priority will be to create a temporary visitor center to serve holiday crowds coming into Wallowa County for the July 21-25 Chief Joseph Days, officials said.

Staff and wire reports

Wolf pups emerge in Washington

WILDLFIE – A new crop of six gray wolf pups has been documented in the Diamond Pack of Pend Oreille County, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department confirmed on Thursday.

Also included in that pack are the parents and at least four of the six pups born last year in the pack’s first litter, said Harriett Allen, Department of Fish and Wildlife endangered species manager.

The status of the Lookout Pack in the Methow Valley, Washington’s first documented wolf pack, is being investigated.

The female is known to have produced pups, but her radio collar has stopped working and she and the pups have disappeared while the male and at least one other wolf are being tracked.

Agency biologists also are tracking credible reports of two other possible wolf packs in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness and near Ross Lake.

Rich Landers

Black Canyon access blocked

FORESTS – Bridge construction is blocking through traffic on the popular Black Canyon section of Forest Road 250 as well as access to Hidden Creek Campground through Aug. 6, says the Clearwater National Forest.

The construction area is along the North Fork of the Clearwater River starting about 9 miles north of Kelly Forks Work Center.

Rich Landers