KWSO News for Tue., Jul. 5, 2022

In Warm Springs, the CTWS Tribal Council has approved the Willamette Falls eel resolution. It’s expected the falls will be in fishable conditions the week of July 10^th and the regulations are: Tribal Members wishing to take eels for ceremonial and subsistence purposes must carry tribal enrollment cards to fish under claim of treaty rights, Harvest is allowed through August 15^th 2022, is allowed at Willamette falls by hand or with hand powered tools. Harvest is open 7 days per week of each month unless limited for conservation measures with fishing hours of sunrise to sunset. This is a subsistence fishery as defined by Tribal Code 340.100. Branch of Natural Resources personnel shall monitor and enforce the fishery with regard to Warm Springs members participating in the 2022 fishing season at Willamette Falls. Harvesters will allow Warm Springs Branch of Natural Resources personnel to creel lamprey catch and will offer creel data collected to the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife at the end of the harvest season. Incidental harvest of salmon, steelhead or trout may be kept for ceremonial or subsistence use. Any questions you can call 541-553-2042.

In Warm Springs, Road Construction work continues on Highway 26 as crews are working at Milepost 69 where they will stripe, place barrier and move traffic onto new detour route next to the bridge with single lane closures and up to a 20 min delay with flagger control. Watch for trucks going in and out of work zone as they have narrowed lane widths and a speed reduction to 40 MPH in place. This project is expected to be completed by December 2022. The highway 3 pedestrian project continues as they have delays and are working to put in sidewalks and street lights from the Warm Springs Industrial park to Highway 26. Project completion could end within the next few weeks.

Visitors to one of Oregon’s most popular caves will need to make an advance reservation starting in August. Lava River Cave south of Bend draws about seventy thousand visitors every year. Its popularity has led to long lines of cars spilling onto the roadway as people wait an hour or more to get into the parking lot. Jean Nelson-Dean with the Deschutes National Forest says she hopes visitors will experience shorter wait times and a better caving experience with the timed entry program. “It makes it safer for people on the road, so that they won’t be sitting on the roadway, and it’s safer for our employees as well.” The waterfall corridor on the Historic Columbia River Highway in the Gorge launched a similar permit system earlier this year. People can make reservations to visit Lava River Cave online at Recreation dot gov.

Oregonians aren’t required to report positive COVID-19 test results to the state. So some researchers are saying state officials should make it easier for people to self-report. [[OPB’s]] April Ehrlich reports. “For every positive COVID case reported in Oregon, there are likely 30 more unaccounted for because people did their tests at home, according to the Oregon Health Authority. University of Oregon professor and researcher Benjamin Clark recently co-authored a study on COVID-19 in Oregon. He says many people don’t have the time or energy to report their test results. CLARK: Do you want to spend 45 minutes to fill out a survey that has a tremendous amount of information, potentially personal information? That just seems pretty irrelevant to most Oregonians. Clark says self-reporting SHOULD take less than 2 minutes. OHA officials say many of the questions they ask — like race, disability status, and gender identity — are optional. And, nowadays, they rely more on hospitalization numbers to gauge COVID’s impact.”

Four major dams on the Klamath River could start coming down as early as next year. But firefighters use the reservoirs behind those dams to battle wildfires. Mark Bransom is the C-E-O of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation. He says infrastructure will be put in place to get water to firefighting teams. “We will install pipelines that will be permanently placed into the river in deep pools that will be available even under low flow conditions.” New mapping will also make it easier for aerial teams to find the water they need. And Bransom says the renewal corporation will provide equipment that residents and agencies can use to manage potential wildfire fuels on their properties.

U.S. officials are testing a new wildfire retardant after two decades of buying millions of gallons annually from one supplier, but watchdogs say the expensive strategy is overly fixated on aerial attacks at the expense of hiring more fire-line digging ground crews. The Forest Service says tests started last summer are continuing this summer with a magnesium-chloride-based retardant from Fortress. Fortress contends its retardants are effective and better for the environment than products offered by Perimeter Solutions. That company says its ammonium-phosphate-based retardants are superior. The Forest Service used more than 50 million gallons of retardant for the first time in 2020 as increasingly destructive wildfires plague the West.