We may be experiencing cooler temperatures and occasional rain showers in the Gorge, but that doesn’t mean fire season is over. Kiel Nairns of the Oregon Department of Forestry’s The Dalles Unit says this has been a nice reprieve, but it will be at least another month before fire season can be declared over. A heavy rain event will be needed to have fire season declared over. As of Wednesday morning the ODF has reduced the hours of restriction for the mowing of dried grass, chainsaw use, and welding and cutting of metal on lands it protects in Hood River and Wasco counties to between the hours of 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. The current burn ban in the two counties remains in effect.
A windmill transformer headed for a windfarm in Goldendale will be the largest commercial load recorded in Washington state history. The Washington State Patrol Commercial Vehicle Division was set to weigh the transformer Wednesday when it is removed from a train at Sundale Road off Highway 14 at milepost 28. It’s estimate to weigh 1,034,000 pounds, and is 21-feet high and 360-feet long. After it’s weighed, troopers will escort the trailer and transformer up Highway 14 to milepost 100. It will then travel up Highway 97 to milepost 3 and break overnight. On Thursday evening the load will make its way from milepost 3 to Hoctor Road, and then carry on to the Goldendale windfarms. Drivers who travel on Highways 14 and 97 should be aware that because of the transformer’s significant size and difficult terrain, both highways will have traffic impacts Wednesday evening from 10:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.
With fall Chinook salmon returns to the Columbia River tracking well below preseason predictions, fishery managers announced Tuesday the Columbia River from the mouth at Buoy 10 to the Highway 395 Bridge near Pasco will close for angling and retention of all salmon and steelhead at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. As of Monday only 75 percent of the expected adult fall Chinook have passed Bonneville Dam based on pre-season forecasts. The upriver bright Chinook return, which includes ESA-listed Snake River fish, are currently projected to return at 69 percent of expectations which means if left open fisheries could exceed the allowable harvest rate. ODFW Columbia River program manager Tucker Jones says if the return continues on its current pace, this could be the lowest fall Chinook return to the mouth of the Columbia since 2007. Except for upper Columbia sockeye most runs will come in at 30 percent or less of pre-season forecast.
The Dalles City Council on Monday heard about Columbia Gorge Community College’s planned ask for three-point-five million dollars in enterprise zone funds from the Google projects to help build a skills center and on-campus housing. CGCC Community Outreach Director Dan Spatz outlined the project, which has seven-point-three million dollars in state funding provided a local match can be provided by January, noting the need for flexible space to train workers in various trades that the skills center would provide, while building campus housing has qualified for part of the project match. The College board has approved taking on three-point-eight million dollars in debt for part of the match, and wants the City and Wasco County to approve use of the enterprise zone funds. The Dalles Mayor Steve Lawrence says when payments on the third Google agreement begin coming in, they will be at least one-point two million dollars annually for 15 years, and felt the best way to accomplish the project is for the College to sell bonds and have the enterprise zone funds pay them off over that time. CGCC will have a similar discussion with the Wasco County Commission on September 19, and Spatz noted they have not given up on seeking other forms of funding.
The Klickitat County Emergency Medical Services District is seeking a new six-year operating levy of 50 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value to put the five-year-old district on a solid financial footing. District interim operations manager Bruce Brending says the district, which was established by a vote in 2013 to provide EMS services throughout the county, has found that the current levy of 30-cents-per-thousand is not enough to effectively operate the service given the low rates of reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid, the number of bills they can collect on, outstanding debt, and increased costs of doing business. Brending says the levy replacement will allow them to keep up with equipment replacement, provide a competitive wage to retain employees, resume operation of a fourth ambulance, provide required trainings, and outfit a mass casualty incident trailer. The levy is on the November ballot.
Wasco County officials continue to seek assistance opportunities for those impacted by wildfires this summer. County Commissioner Steve Kramer says the County has been working with Nate Stice from the state’s Regional Solutions program to gather as many resources as possible. Kramer says they are talking with federal officials on a nearly daily basis as more data on fire-related losses come in. The County has a post-fire resources guide available on its website, wascocounty.org. County Commissioners will hold a town hall Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. at Dufur City Hall.
A 44-year-old man from Lake Oswego died as the result of a motorcycle accident on Highway 218 near Antelope on Sunday afternoon. According to the Oregon State Police, an investigation revealed two motorcycles were traveling together northbound on Highway 218 near milepost 11 when one of the motorcyclists, Gabriel Spaccarelli, became distracted and traveled off the roadway and into an adjacent field. The OSP says Spaccarelli sustained fatal injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency personnel responded to the accident at about 1:05 Sunday afternoon.
A 22-year-old Parkdale man died in a single vehicle accident early Saturday morning on Highway 281. According to the Oregon State Police, an investigation showed a pickup truck driven by James Tickner was southbound on Highway 281 when the vehicle left the roadway, went through a ditch and then struck an embankment before crossing over Blackburn Road and coming to rest. The truck then caught fire. The OSP says Tickner sustained fatal injuries in the crash and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gorgeworks, the community-based internship program rolled out this past year, is gearing up for a bigger second round. Kathy Ursprung of the Port of The Dalles says they are currently seeking employers as they try to get ten or more internship offerings next summer. Businesses interested in being part of the Gorgeworks internship program can contact Ursprung through the Port of The Dalles.
Adblock Detected
We have detected that you are using an adblock in your browser’s plugin to disable advertising from loading on our website.
Your Experience is very important to us, and your Ad Blocker enabled will cause our site not to perform as expected. Turn off the Ad Blocker or add our site to your exceptions. After you turn off or add exception please refresh the site or click ok.
Please note: Clicking OK below will NOT disable your ad blocker. You will need to make that change within the ad blocker's settings.
