KWSO News 5/23/19

The Boil Water Notice for the Warm Springs Water Treatment Plant was lifted Wednesday, which means normal consumption of treated water has resumed. The Water and Wastewater department took necessary steps to repair the 14” main line break and completed two rounds of testing for bacterial contamination with all results returning negative.

A change in the platform and hook & line fishery will affect Zone 6 fishing beginning this weekend.  The run size prediction has been lowered to 75,000 spring chinook which puts the tribal fishery near its harvest rate limit.  Due to this change there will be a temporary, emergency closure starting Saturday at 6 pm.  The Fish and Wildlife Committee will re-examine catch figures and the run size Wednesday next week to determine if the fishery can re-open.

The Warm Springs Hemp Grow Operation will be delayed until 2020. The Board’s decision is due to the USDA’s announcement that it will not have hemp regulations in place until January.  Ventures Board Chairman Jerry Prescott explained in the press release that Tribal Law does not permit hemp production on the Hemp Code until the Warm Springs cannabis Commission adopts regulations and the USDA approves the Tribe’s production plan. Since there are no regulations yet developed for hemp, all production operations must be conducted under the 2014 Farm Bill. This also causes banking issues. All other project development will continue in preparation for next year.

The work by Warm Springs Community Health nurses with the IHS medical and nursing teams to keep children and adolescents healthy is being nationally recognized with the 2019 IHS Area Director’s Award—Fostering Relationships. The award presentation will be in June. The adolescent immunization rate in Warm Springs exceeded the Healthy People 2020 goals for all required immunizations.

The Warm Springs Ichishkiin and Wasco language teams made great showings at the 2019 Language Bowl. The first place team was Wanapam, from Priest Rapids; while second- through fourth places went to Warm Springs teams. The Warm Springs Language Program took a total of eight teams.