A beech tree on the Hood River Library lawn will be recognized as a City of Hood River heritage tree on Monday, May 16, which is Love a Tree Day.  Hood River Tree Committee members say this particular tree is perhaps the best known tree in the city.   Mayor Paul Blackburn and library director Buzzy Nielsen will tie a ribbon around the beech tree’s massive trunk at 3 p.m. on Monday.  The heritage tree program is one focus of the city’s Tree Committee, which is a citizen advisory committee to the City Council and City staff.  Heritage trees are defined as ones accessible to the public and healthy.  Nielsen says the library’s beech tree “has been there at least 100 years.”

The North Wasco County School District 21 Budget Committee has approved a fiscal plan for 2016-17.  For the most part it is a status quo budget, but Superintendent Candy Armstrong says the district is continuing to incrementally advance advanced placement and career and technical education offerings at The Dalles High School, while also aligning curriculum district-wide.  Armstrong did say concerns about future sustainability remains, with state funding levels for the 2017-19 biennium to be determined by the state legislature next year.  The budget goes to the D-21 school board for a hearing in June.

A planned water line installation on Rand Road between Cascade and Sherman in Hood River has been delayed as plans are adjusted due to the location of the current line.  City Manager Steve Wheeler says often water lines run right down the middle of the street, but this one is offset to the west side of the street, and because of steeply wood slopes on that side staging for the project will probably have to be in the middle of the street.  And that could mean a shutdown of Rand Road of around six weeks rather than the original planned closure of just one lane.  Wheeler says the City and the contractor are working on plans to deal with the problem, including how to accommodate residents of townhomes who rely on access from Rand Road.  He says work will not start until sometime in June.

Long-time Columbia Gorge Community College Board of Education member M.D. Van Valkenburgh has resigned.  The board accepted Van Valkenburgh’s resignation at its meeting on Tuesday night.  Van Valkenburgh had just over one year remaining on his term representing Wasco County on the board.  Applications are now being taken to fill the vacancy on the CGCC Board.  Residents of Wasco County interested in the position should send a letter of interest with qualifications, telephone, and address to the President’s Office at CGCC…400 East Scenic Drive in The Dalles…zip code 97058.  Deadline to apply is May 24.

Baseball Pendleton 3, The Dalles 0:  The Buckaroos take control of the final play-in spot from the Columbia River Conference with the win.  Pendleton and The Dalles are tied for third, but the Buckaroos hold the tiebreaker by winning the season series with the Riverhawks three games to one.  To reach the play-in, The Dalles must beat CRC champ Hood River Valley on Friday at Quinton Street Park, and Pendleton must lose to Hermiston.   Irrigon 3, Sherman 2:  Irrigon goes two games up on the Huskies atop the Class 2A/1A Special District 6 standings.  The two teams finish the regular season with a doubleheader on Friday in Irrigon   SCAC Tournament First Round:  Kiona-Benton 11, Goldendale 1…The Timberwolves will try to keep  their season going Friday in a loser-out game at Cle Elum.   Softball Pendleton 10, The Dalles 0:  The Riverhawks fall into a tie for second in the Columbia River Conference with Hermiston with one game remaining. LaCenter sweeps Stevenson 15-0 and 8-0   Girls Golf The Dalles’ Iliana Telles has qualified for the state Class 5A girls golf tournament with a sixth place finish in the Special District 2 tourney at Indian Creek.  The Dalles finished 11^th as a team, while Hood River Valley was 12^th.   Boys Golf Goldendale finishes second at the SCAC Sub-District at Mount Adams Golf Course.   Boys Lacrosse Hood River Valley 15, Cleveland 5

The Color The Gorge 5K run and walk will take place for the second time in The Dalles on Saturday.  About 1,000 people took part last year in the event that was put on by The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with a national organization, but this year the Chamber has taken it in house.  Chamber CEO Lisa Farquharson says runners are sprayed with a powdered ink at certain locations during the run, leaving their white race t-shirt filled with color when it’s done.  The Mid-Columbia Health Foundation is helping sponsor the event, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Level The Playing Field campaign.  The event begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at Lewis and Clark Festival Park, and to register go to colorthegorge5k.com.  Use the coupon code radio to get a discount on registration.

Klickitat County Commissioners have approved a burn ban for unincorporated areas of the County to begin on June 1.  It will last through September 30, but could be extended if conditions warrant.  The ban will apply to outside burning in unincorporated portions of Klickitat County and prohibits the issuance of burn permits except for authorized agricultural burning.  Attended campfires will be allowed in the Mt. Adams Guler County Park in Trout Lake within a designated eight foot cleared area with steel fire rings.  Residential barbecues will be allowed.

Some residents in Wasco, Hood River, Klickitat, Skamania, Sherman, and Gilliam counties will soon receive a community health survey.  A number of agencies and health organizations have teamed up on the community health assessment, which was last done in 2013.  Hood River County Health Department Director Ellen Larsen says the survey covers a wide-ranging number of topics.  The entities involved will use the assessment results for planning services and to prepare grant applications, among other uses.

After being unable to reach agreement on proposed zoning code definitions and limitations on vacation rentals and hosted home shares, the Hood River City Council has directed municipal staff to prepare an ordinance to put into place a six-month moratorium on new short-term rentals in residential zones.  With only five councilors sitting for the issue after two had previously recused themselves due to having used their homes for short-term rentals, the panel could not get a required four votes necessary for passage of either a municipal planning commission recommendation requiring primary residency be established for homes to be rented out on a short-term basis, or establishment of a cap system for licensing of STR’s.  Existing STR’s in residential zones would not be impacted by the moratorium.  The Council will move forward with an upcoming worksession on May 23 to deal with regulatory aspects of short-term rentals.

The Dalles City Council has approved allowing RV parks in medium- and high-density residential zones with conditional use permits.  Mayor Steve Lawrence says with an expected 500 construction workers needing places to stay in The Dalles during construction of Google’s newest data center, an already existing demand for RV facilities increased dramatically.  By requiring conditional use permits, Lawrence says it will allow the City to review RV park plans on a case-by-case basis, and give neighbors a chance to weigh in before the facilities are approved.