WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2022 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM
PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
Researchers find toxin that
tainted drinking water in ’18
Cassandra Profita
OPB
A new study pinpoints the type of toxic algae that
bloomed in Detroit Lake in 2018 and made the drinking water
in Salem potentially hazardous for some people to drink.
Theo Dreher, emeritus professor of microbiology at
Oregon State University, led an effort to collect sam-
ples from 10 lakes that face the risk of harmful algae
blooms. The blooms produce toxins that can cause
health problems for people, dogs and wildlife.
Dreher and fellow researchers analyzed the genet-
ics of the microscopic cyanobacteria, also known as
blue-green algae, in the samples.
The results, published this month in the journal
Harmful Algae, revealed new information about exact-
ly which cyanobacteria organisms produce specific
toxins.
“And that’s sort of important, because once you
know that organism you can study it in isolation and
start to look at the factors that lead to its massive
growth in a bloom,” Dreher said. “You really can’t get to
the bottom of why these blooms are being produced
without specific information.”
Dreher said knowing which organisms to study will
be key to learning how to prevent harmful algal blooms
in the future.
His study found two types of cyanobacteria in Ore-
gon’s Detroit Lake that were producing two different
toxins. One of the toxins is known as cylindrosper-
mopsin and the other is an uncommon form of micro-
cystin, a recognized liver toxin.
In 2018, both toxins were found in Salem tap water.
Authorities issued health advisories to alert vulnera-
See TOXIN, Page 3A
A new study found two cyanobacteria
created toxins found in Detroit Lake in 2018.
BRIAN HAYES / STATESMAN JOURNAL
US adds $103M for
wildfire hazards,
land rehab
Keith Ridler
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kroc Center lifeguard Tyler Rogers, 18, watches the pool on Monday, June 13 at the Kroc
Center in Salem. ABIGAIL DOLLINS/STATESMAN JOURNAL
‘Turned on its head’
Teenagers have never had a better job market
Edith Noriega | Salem Statesman Journal
T
he first official day of summer is less than a week away, and that
means thousands of local high school and college students will be
looking for jobs. h In summer 2022, teens who want to work are in
the driver’s seat like never before. With the unemployment rate near
a 50-year low and businesses desperate to find workers as the economy re-
bounds from the pandemic, teens are finding more openings and better pay. h
The Salvation Army KROC Center in Salem is gearing up for its busiest season
this summer, but just like the rest of the country, it’s been dealing with a short-
age of lifeguards to hire.
See JOBS, Page 2A
Evictions are rising in Oregon, but
an eviction notice isn’t the end
Bill Poehler
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Andrew Kamis opened the front door of his West
Salem apartment one morning in July 2021 and a
piece of paper was taped to it. It was a 10-day notice
of eviction.
Oregon’s freeze on evictions had expired days ear-
lier. Kamis paid part of that month’s rent before the
notice, but was struggling to come up with the rest. He
went to Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action
Agency seeking financial help, but was referred else-
where. After days of scrambling, he gave up on finding
the few hundred dollars he owed.
Eight days after the notice, Kamis decided he
didn’t want to cause problems and vacated his
See EVICTIONS, Page 3A
Online at SilvertonAppeal.com
News updates: h Breaking news h Get updates from
the Silverton area
Photos: h Photo galleries
Andrew Kamis poses for a portrait at Geer Park in
Salem on Jan. 21. Kamis moved out and became
homeless after receiving one eviction notice.
BRIAN HAYES/SALEM STATESMAN JOURNAL
Vol. 141, No. 28
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Area Since 1880
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BOISE, Idaho – The U.S. is adding $103 million this
year for wildfire risk reduction and burned-area reha-
bilitation throughout the country as well as establish-
ing an interagency wildland firefighter health and
well-being program, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland
announced Friday.
Haaland made the announcement following a brief-
ing on this year’s wildfire season at the National Inter-
agency Fire Center in Boise, which coordinates the na-
tion’s wildland firefighting efforts.
The U.S. is having one of its worst starts to the wildfire
season with more than 30,000 wildfires that have
scorched 4,600 square miles. That’s well above the 10-
year average for the same period, about 23,500 wildfires
and 1,800 square miles burned.
About $80 million will be used to speed up work re-
moving potential wildfire hazards on more than 3,000
square miles of Interior Department lands, a 30% in-
crease over last year. Another $20 million will be used to
bolster post-wildfire landscape recovery.
The money is coming from the $1 trillion infrastruc-
ture deal President Joe Biden signed late last year.
“As wildfire seasons become longer, more intense and
more dangerous, President Biden’s Bipartisan Infra-
structure Law is bringing much-needed support to com-
munities across the country to increase the resilience of
lands and better support federal wildland firefighters,”
Haaland said.
The firefighter well-being program that includes the
Forest Service will address physical and mental health
needs for seasonal and year-round wildland firefighters,
and will include post-traumatic stress disorder care. The
fire center in recent years has started making efforts to
encourage firefighters to seek mental health help after an
increase in wildland firefighter suicides.
“Wildland firefighters work in incredibly stressful
environments that can take a significant toll on their
overall health and well-being, as well as on those who
love them,” Haaland said. “Standing up a targeted in-
teragency effort to provide trauma-informed mental
health care is critical.”
The Interior Department’s program will establish
year-round prevention and mental-health training for
wildland firefighters. The Interior Department’s Office of
Wildland Fire will help create a new system for trauma
support services that emphasizes early intervention.
About $3 million will be used for climate-related
research that includes landscape resiliency, pre-
scribed fire, carbon storage and greenhouse gas and
smoke emissions.
Some of the money will be used to continue developing
a wildfire risk mapping and mitigation tool that’s being de-
veloped by the Forest Service and the National Association
of State Foresters. That tool could help identify high-risk
areas and make them a priority for treatment.
“We work with fire years now – it’s no longer a fire
season,” said Jeff Rupert, the Interior Department’s di-
rector of the Office of Wildland Fire, who took part in Fri-
day’s announcement. “That means that we have to do
the hard work of reducing fire risk and recovering after
fires at the same time that we’re responding to fires.”
With the latest financial support, “we’re investing in
all of these phases,” he said.
Haaland also visited the U.S. Geological Survey in
Boise, where scientists are working to better understand
the sagebrush steppe in the U.S. West that has been
plagued with giant wildfires in recent decades as inva-
sive species, notably cheatgrass, have moved in. Scien-
tists want to make the areas more resistant to wildfires
and help them recover.
“The science is ongoing,” Haaland said. “I want
you to know that all of us – all of the departments,
the bureaus, the offices at the Department of the In-
terior, of which the USGS is one – we’re all working
together to make sure that the science compliments
the work that the firefighters are doing.”
Wildfire seasons have become increasingly longer
as climate change has made the West much warmer
and drier in the past 30 years, and scientists have
long warned that the weather will get wilder as the
world warms.
“One thing is profoundly clear,” Haaland said. “Cli-
mate change will continue to make fires in the West larg-
er, and we must continue to invest in conservation of our
ecosystem. Nature is our greatest ally in our fight against
climate change.”