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White Salmon Man Dies After Fall

Posted on by mbailey

The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office says a White Salmon man died after falling about 40 feet while doing trail maintenance on private property near Bear Creek Road north of Carson.  According to a Sheriff’s Office statement, 73-year-old Daryl Hoyt was with a group of several individuals when the accident happened.  Emergency personnel responded, and due to the steep terrain rope rescue teams were used.  But once crews were able to reach Hoyt, it was discovered he had succumbed to his injuries.  Skamania County EMS and Search and Rescue personnel were able to retrieve Hoyt’s body from the location.  The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office determined Hoyt’s death was accidental.

 

 

Westside & Wy’east Fire To Receive Engines In State Program

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Both the Westside and Wy’east fire departments will receive new Type 3 fire engines as part of the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s $25 million Engine Program Across Oregon.  Seventy-six fire service agencies in the state were selected to receive a new type 3, type 6, or water tender to boost firefighting capacity.  The OSFM Engine Program is a part of the agency’s Response Ready Oregon initiative, launched in 2021 and funded by the wildfire omnibus bill passed by the Legislature.  The initiative is part of a multi-pronged approach to prepare, prevent, and respond to wildfires, with a goal of attacking fires while they are small and keep them away from communities.  Award recipients will enter into a contract with the OSFM to support mobilizations, boosting local, regional, and state response.  The OSFM anticipates deliveries to begin in 2023 through the first two quarters of 2024. 

LINK Will Add New Stops

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The LINK Public Transportation says it will be adding new stops to its Red and Blue Deviated Fixed Routes in The Dalles starting on April 17.  Both circle The Dalles on a one-hour loop on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The bus operates along a route with a regular schedule but is called a “deviated” fixed route because it can also leave the route to accommodate requests for “off-route” drop-offs or pick- ups.  Riders can get on stops at The Dalles Transit Center, Foley Lakes, One Community Health, The Dalles City Park, The Dalles High School, DMV, Water’s Edge, Mid-Columbia Medical Center, The Next Door, and the Veterans’ Service Office downtown, along with other locations.  Rides are $1.50 each way, or you can purchase the GOrge Pass, good for the rest of the year, for a price of $40 for adults and $20 for kids under 17.  Purchases can be made at The Dalles Transit Center located at 802 Chenowith Loop Road.  As an incentive to encourage the community to try out the modified routes, all rides are free for the first week, beginning April 17 through April 22.

ODFW Sets Regulations For Hood River Spring Chinook Fishery

Posted on by mbailey

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has set regulations for a spring Chinook fishery on the Hood River.  The ODFW says the Hood will be open for adult hatchery Chinook from April 15 through June 30 from the tips of jetties at the mouth to mainstem confluence with the East Fork, and the West Fork from the confluence with the mainstem upstream to the angling deadline 200 feet downstream of Punchbowl Falls.  The catch limit is one adult hatchery salmon per day, and five hatchery jack salmon per day.  All wild Chinook salmon must be released unharmed.  Fishery managers are predicting a good return of about 1,240 adult hatchery fish for the Hood River, which is similar to last year’s actual return.  There will be no season for spring Chinook on the Deschutes River for 2023 due to another year of predicted poor returns of wild fish.  ODFW fish biologist Jason Seals says the Hood River fishery is one of the few places a bank angler has a good chance of catching a Columbia River spring Chinook.  Seals said the run usually peaks in late May due to colder water temperatures in the Hood River. 

 

MCEDD Releases Strategy Update

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The Mid-Columbia Economic Development District has finished the regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy update for 2023.  The report, which MCEDD updates annually, provides a framework to support economic vitality for the Mid-Columbia region, which includes Klickitat and Skamania Counties in Washington and Hood River, Wasco, and Sherman Counties in Oregon.  The strategy includes analysis of regional economic data, establishes regional goals and strategies, develops an implementation plan, and identifies investment priorities and funding sources.  This year’s plan provides an updated regional project priority list, one for each state.  In Oregon, this list is topped by replacement of the Hood River-White Salmon Interstate Bridge and strengthening of the Bridge of the Gods, housing issues, and the effort to establish a Columbia Gorge Child Care Center spearheaded by the Columbia Gorge Educational Service District.  The top three in Washington are the Goldendale Energy Storage Project, the Port of Skamania’s Cascades Business Park Development, and Stevenson’s Cascade Avenue improvements.

The Next Door Hosts Community Baby Shower Donation Drive

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The Next Door Inc. is hosting a Community Baby Shower donation drive this month to support local families.  The organization will be taking monetary donations at nextdoorinc.org, or contributions of new, unwrapped gender-neutral items to help parents nurture their newborns.  Needed items include diapers, wipes, onesies, swaddlers, bibs, pacifiers, teethers, baby carriers, front packs, wraps, and white noise machines.  New items or cash gifts can be dropped off at the offices of The Next Door located at 965 Tucker in Hood River and 1113 Kelly Avenue in The Dalles.  For more information about Family Services programs at The Next Door, visit nextdoorinc.org/family-services.

Snowpack High; But Water YTD Short Of Normal

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The latest numbers from the Natural Resources Conservation Oregon Snow Pack Survey has the Hood/Sandy/Lower Deschutes basin at 157% of normal snowpack in terms of snow water equivalent, but the water year to date is only at 86% of normal.  Survey supervisor Matt Warbritton says the storms in the fall, which is the start of the water year, brought more snow than rain.  And he says that means soil moisture content did not get a boost going into the winter, particularly east of the Cascades’ crest.  Warbritton adds that’s all the more reason it’s important the snowpack is above normal numbers.

Dam Spills To Begin

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Federal water managers will begin spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of water over spillways instead of through turbines during annual “spring spill” operations at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dams on the lower Snake and Columbia rivers.  The operations, which primarily benefit juvenile fish, start today on the lower Snake River and next Monday on the lower Columbia River. It’s intended to decrease the time it takes juvenile salmon and steelhead to move through the system of dams to the Pacific Ocean as well as provide a non-turbine passage route past the dams.  Spill levels vary at each of the eight dams, but all projects have an upper limit that protects water quality such as total dissolved gas, or TDG.  Bonneville, McNary and Ice Harbor dams will spill up to the 125% TDG levels 24 hours per day.  The Dalles Dam will spill 40% of the river over the spillway, equivalent to 2022 spill level.  The John Day Dam will spill 16 hours per day up to the 125% TDG levels and reduce spill for up to eight hours to performance standard spill levels or 32% of the river.

Johnson Named Interim TD Art Center Director

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The Dalles Art Center Board has hired Sally Johnson as its Interim Executive Director.  In a statement by the board, they say Johnson will help advance the strategic plan initiated by the board and help prepare the organization for a permanent Executive Director.  Johnson comes to The Dalles Arts Center with over 12 years of experience managing programs, teams, and departments at for-profit and non-profit organizations. Most recently, she was the Director of Business Development for the non-profit organization, Oxbow Farm & Conservation in Carnation, Washington.  Board member Philip Mascher says Johnson brings experience scaling non-profits with diversified financial plans that include grants, donations and other revenue generating programs.  She also has a background as a visual artist and musician.  Johnson will be at the opening gala for the Gorge Artists Open Studio Tour show on April 6th at 5 p.m.  The Art Center says it is in reach of meeting its fundraising goal of $3,500 in committed monthly donations.