KWSO News for Mon., Dec. 2, 2024

CTWS Tribal Council this week

Warm Springs Tribal Council will be in session today and tomorrow. On the agenda today are updates from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Trust Funds Administration and Realty, plus a legislative update conference call with federal lobbyist Matt Hill and state lobbyist Mike Mason. Later this afternoon they will hear updates from Tribal Attorneys.

On the Tuesday agenda is the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund, the Cascade Renewable Transmission Project, ECE Compliance and Tribal Council Priorities.

White Buffalo basketball starts this week

Winter sports contests are set to get underway this week at Madras High School. The Madras girls’ basketball teams will kick things off on Wednesday when they host Caldera in non-league action. JV and JV2 teams will play at 4:00 and 5:30, and Varsity tips off at 7. The Wilman and Ted Viramonte are back as well for live play-by-play of all Madras White Buff home varsity basketball games on KWSO.

Eastern Oregon Blue Mountains revision kicks off with public meetings next year

Federal officials have pushed back meetings to discuss updating forest plans for the Blue Mountains in Northeastern Oregon.

These plans provide guidelines for the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests — including rules around grazing, logging and wilderness protections.

The U-S Forest Service planned to hold public meetings this year, but it has pushed them back to February. The agency plans to go over a list of vulnerable species and wildlands that could see some additional protections.

The Blue Mountains forest plans have not been updated since 1990 — even though federal law requires them to be revisited every 15 years.

This would be the Forest Service’s second attempt at updating them. It pulled its last draft plan in 2019 after public backlash.