KWSO News for Fri., Aug. 12, 2022

In Warm Springs, Public Utilities issued a conserve water notice that is effective immediately and doesn’t have a timeline as of yet on how long it will be in effect. The notice affects the Sunnyside, wolfe point, KNT resort, dry creek, west hills, Greeley heights, trailer courts, tenino apts, tenino valley, industrial park area, hwy 26 corridor which includes the casino, eagle crossing, composite products museum and all residents. The water treatment plan rehabilitation project has discovered extreme damages to main components within the water plant. If you have any questions, call 541-553-3246.

The Indian Health Service on Wednesday announced Darrell LaRoche as the new Deputy Director for Management Operations and Capt. Marcus Martinez as the new Director for the I.H.S. Portland Area. LaRoche, an enrolled member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, serves as the principal advisor to the I.H.S. Director for the management of IHS Operations. As the Deputy Director for management operations, he is responsible for providing management direction to IHS program offices, including implementing the IHS mission and agency goals. He is a retired captain in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps with more than 30 years of experience in facilities engineering, safety, health care programs and emergency services with IHS, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. Capt. Martinez, a member of the Spokane Tribe of Indians, as Director of the IHS Portland Area is responsible for overseeing comprehensive health care and environmental health services for American Indians and Alaska Natives throughout Oregon, Idaho, Washington and part of Utah.

The American West faces converging crises of droughts, fires, and climate change. To address those, twenty scientists released a plan this week to restore biodiversity with the help of two keystone species: the beaver and the gray wolf. They argue wolves prey on grazing animals, which will allow more plants to grow, and improve biodiversity. Bill Ripple, one of the scientists who co-authored the paper, says beavers have a similar effect. They’re calling for a massive beaver reintroduction. “And with that, we think the beaver will start to do their work on the streams, which is like magic. The beaver will create dams, create ponds, create wetlands. This will all be really good for biodiversity and climate change.” Ripple says the wetlands and streams created by beavers act as firebreaks that could slow wildfires, another big issue in the west. Ripple says the plan could help accomplish some of the goals of President Biden’s America the Beautiful plan. It calls for conserving and restoring 30% of American land and water by twenty-thirty.

The 7-day weather outlook shows another heatwave on the way for the middle of next week across much of the Northwest. But after that, an analysis of historical temperature records shows the frequency of really hot days around here declines pretty fast. Correspondent Tom Banse reports. “The long-lasting heatwave the Northwest experienced at the end of July got Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond wondering. Nick Bond: “I was thinking like, I’d rather not go through this again. So, what are our chances of getting another heatwave this summer?” Bond dived into the weather archives to examine the frequency of uncomfortably hot days east and west of the Cascades in late summer. The first half of August still has ‘em in spades, but then there’s an inflection point. Nick Bond: “In the last ten of days of August or so, the frequency really rolls off of heat waves.” Bond also ran a comparison of the most recent three decades compared to the three decades before that. This shows we’re getting a few more really hot days in late summer on average nowadays, but most notably, less relief [from the heat] at night. I’m Tom Banse in Seattle.”

A federal court ruling this week has thrown into doubt the future of a valuable commercial salmon fishery in Southeast Alaska. U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle sided with the nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy in determining that the National Marine Fisheries Service improperly approved the troll fishery for king salmon, also known as Chinook, in 2019. The court said the agency failed to fully weigh the fishery’s effect on the endangered killer whales that depend on Chinook for food. The conservation group said the decision is a “bombshell,” while the Alaska Trollers Association said it would “to fight to preserve our fishery and our way of life.”

KWSO Weather for Central Oregon:

• Sunny today with a high near 96 degrees
• Tonight Mostly Clear with a low around 53
• Sunny tomorrow with a high near 92 degrees
• Sunny on Sunday with a high near 94 degrees