KWSO News for Fri., Apr. 8, 2022

As part of the Deschutes Public Library’s, A Novel Idea, Gabriann Hall from the Klamath Tribes will be doing a presentation on Native American Boarding Schools today in Bend.  The presentation is “Truth and Reckoning – Indian Boarding Schools”, where you can learn about 100 years of Native American boarding school history in Oregon.  Gabriann is a part-time instructor at COCC in the World Languages Department.  She teaches Native American Studies as well as Ethnic Studies.  The event begins at 12pm at the Downtown Bend library. The link for today’s presentation is here.   https://www.deschuteslibrary.org/calendar/event/65634

Warm Springs Telecom has been working on major network updates since last weekend. The update is to address the internet/broadband “dropping” issue that so many customers have reported and have found it difficult to stream movies and enjoy online gaming the past few months. This update also includes more bandwidth, which telecom has been limited due to the restrictions of old equipment. Telecom General Manager Tim York advised yesterday afternoon that they made a major breakthrough as they updated Miller Tower and it worked. They were pushing the final update out to all towers and that customers could experience outages while it updates. Customers should notice a greatly enhanced internet experience. If there are any issues, please contact the Telecom office, phones are now working.

As conditions become favorable, the Barlow Ranger District plans to implement the South Rock prescribed fire west of Wamic over the next several weeks.  Prescribed burns are critical tools used to restore healthier, more resilient fire-adapted forests. They reduce the potential for large wildfires, remove excess vegetation, and increase community and firefighter safety.  Depending on the weather, fire personnel may start ignitions as early as April 9 on the South Rock prescribed fire unit. The burn unit is located approximately 3 miles SW of Pine Hollow and 5 miles west of Wamic. Up to 400 acres are planned for burning this spring. Fire personnel are planning for up to three days of ignitions.

A bill that could provide millions of dollars for Oregon and Washington to protect vulnerable wildlife is one step closer to becoming law. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act on Thursday passed out of a U-S Senate committee. If passed, Oregon and Washington could receive more than 20 million dollars each year to ramp up conservation efforts for species not yet on the Endangered Species List. Zach Schwartz is Oregon program manager for Wildlands Network. He says wildlife is increasingly facing threats from climate change and urban sprawl. “The more money we can put toward planning and adapting to those changes, the better.” Next, the U-S House and Senate versions of the bill will head to a floor vote.