Backers of an initiative petition to amend the Hood River City Charter to require authorization from voters before municipal parkland could be sold has turned in more than the required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot.  Kim Kean at the Hood River County elections’ office says 1,245 signatures were collected, well over the 762 needed to reach the November ballot.  Signatures must still be verified.  The petition, filed by Brian Carlstrom and Tracey Tomashpol, would amend the City of Hood River’s charter to require an authorization by the city’s voters before city parks could be sold or transferred for any purpose not related to public recreation. 

Wasco County road crews will begin work on several pavement preservation projects in the City of The Dalles.   This work has been scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and Monday.  The chip seal projects will require short duration road closures between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at each location on the date the work is scheduled to take place.  Detours will be in place during work hours.  For locations, go to thedalles.org/transportation

Pacific Power will be presenting its updated wildfire mitigation plan to the Oregon Public Utility Commission on Tuesday, including provisions for what is termed a “Public Safety Power Shutoff” in areas that have been identified at high risk of fast-spreading wildfires, and portions of the Hood River-Mosier area are among them.  Pacific Power Senior Vice President of External Affairs Scott Bolton says the shutoffs would ensure fires can’t be started by electrical equipment, and he called them a “last resort” measure that would require conditions beyond a simple Red Flag Warning for very high temperatures and winds.  Bolton says they are in the process of updating their information to determine what parts of their Hood River service area would be impacted, but he indicated it would not include downtown Hood River and most of the City, but it would include a few outlying locations where they have circuits that would interface with a higher-risk fire area.  Bolton says part of their discussions with emergency managers around the state is developing channels of notification on how to most effectively provide notice of a shutoff.  He emphasized a shutoff would only take place in an extreme fire danger situation, noting weather data for the Hood River area indicates they would not have used this measure in the last eight years.  Pacific Power’s wildfire mitigation plan includes more aggressive vegetation management around its facilities…increased inspections of those locations, and training employees to be able to respond to fire when they see something happen.

The Oregon House of Representatives has passed a bill that would create new fees on oil train cars to pay for spill prevention and planning in the state.  The House passed the bill on a 55-3 vote, sending it to the state Senate for consideration.  Along with the fees, which would go to the state fire marshal and the state Department of Environmental Quality, the bill would require train operators to carry more insurance when operating the trains, to help pay for spill cleanup.  It would also require railroads that own or operate “high hazard train routes” to develop detailed safety and environmental response plans and demonstrate the ability to respond to and cover the cost of an oil spill.  The fees, which would go into effect this coming January 1, would raise about $1 million every two years before expiring in 2027.

Hood River fire crews were kept busy on Interstate 84 just west of the city over the weekend.  On Saturday morning, crews responded to a reported fire near the train tracks at Mitchell Point on milepost 58, closing a westbound lane of the freeway for a time and putting out the fire by early afternoon.  Later Saturday evening, they dealt with a car fire that kept eastbound I-84 shutdown for about an hour.  And on Sunday afternoon the fire at the Mitchell Point location restarted, sending firefighters there to quell the flames again, which they did in a fairly short period of time.  A recreational vehicle was destroyed in a fire Friday night in The Dalles.  According to Wasco County emergency dispatch reports, the fire occurred shortly before 11 p.m. Friday at 13th and Shearer.  The RV was a total loss, and another parked vehicle and a nearby home were damaged in the fire.

Work on the environmental impact statement for replacement of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge continues, with project manager Kevin Greenwood saying they are about 30% complete and on track to finish by the end of 2020.  The EIS is required under the National Environmental Policy Act.  Greenwood says the EIS is a big component to be able to move ahead toward bridge replacement, providing the documentation that paves the way toward finding funding sources.  Greenwood notes there are numerous different technical reviews that must be done in the EIS evaluating the impacts of bridge replacement on issues like noise, visual effects, endangered species, and the historic nature of the bridge in the area.  Those wishing to follow progress of that project can do so at portofhoodriver.com.

Summer time is about a week away, but there is evidence of increased tourist traffic in The Dalles.  The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Lisa Farquharson says the numbers for spring have been good, and started to pick up as April started. Farquharson does say they do get calls from potential visitors worried about the possibility of fires in the area.  She says they are trying to educate tourists about current conditions, and how to be safe when visiting the area.

Columbia Gorge Community College has become the first institution in the Pacific Northwest offering “Trusted Operator Program ‘Level One’” certification training for commercial Unmanned Aerial Vehicle pilots.  “Level One” is the first of three certification levels established by the Association for Unmanned Vehicles International, a global non-profit dedicated to the advancement of autonomous systems and robotics.  Pilots holding Level One certification have demonstrated their competence to fly UAVs for certain commercial purposes.  CGCC will be seeking Level II certification as a service provider by late summer of this year, in which certificate holders demonstrate the ability to operate in more demanding conditions.  Ultimately, the college hopes to achieve Level III certification, for pilots who demonstrate their ability to pilot UAVs for very specialized, industrial applications such as inspection of high-voltage transmission lines and wind turbine blades.

Maryhill Museum of Art’s Exquisite Gorge Project is underway, with eleven artists slated to work in communities along the Columbia River from the Willamette to the Snake River this summer to create a 66-foot woodblock print.  The collaborative printmaking project will connect artists and communities as they explore their assigned stretch of river and carve images on 4 x 6 foot wood panels.  Each completed panel will then be connected end-to-end and printed using a steamroller at Maryhill on August 24.  Events associated with the project are planned, including artist Neal Harrington talking about it at The Dalles Farmers Market in City Park on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  A full list of events is available at maryhillmuseum.org.

One Community Health’s annual Cherry Harvest Migrant Farmworker Food Drive had a record year, raising $3,400 in donations.  The money was delivered to the Columbia Gorge Food Bank, which in turn purchased 12,240 pounds of food that is being distributed to migrant farmworkers and their families as they arrive in the Gorge to pick cherries for a number of orchards.  A One Community Health spokesperson says the workers arrive to the region without enough money to support themselves and their families until the first paycheck arrives, and the food drive strives to address the need.  One Community Health will be rolling out its migrant farmworker outreach program, connecting with farmworkers and their families in the orchards to provide critical health education and health screenings.  The non-profit health center will also have special walk-in hours for the workers.