BUSINESS & AG LIFE
THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 2021
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B
Tribes open fi rst commercial fi shery of 2021
Summer chinook,
sockeye, steelhead
will be harvested
The Observer
PORTLAND — Nez
Perce, Umatilla, Warm
Springs and Yakama tribal
fi shers are making their
way to the Columbia River
after the tribes announced
that the fi rst commer-
cial gillnet fi shery of 2021
opened on Wednesday, June
16, according to a press
release from the tribes.
The tribes will harvest
summer chinook, sockeye
and a small number of steel-
head that will be available
for purchase by the general
public through the summer
and fall.
“The tribal fi shery on
the Columbia River is
a long-honored custom
that can be traced back
to ancient times when the
rivers ran wild,” said Aja
DeCoteau, interim exec-
utive director for the
Columbia River Inter-
Tribal Fish Commission.
“Whether people come
to the river to enjoy fresh
Columbia River-caught
fi sh or engage tribal fi shers
directly, the commercial
fi shery allows the public to
enjoy a taste of history.”
Fisheries managers
currently estimate that
115,600 sockeye and 78,000
summer chinook will return
to the Columbia River
over the next few weeks.
The peak runs will occur
around the end of June and
the abundance may drop
quickly, the release said.
Due to the pandemic, a
number of guidelines and
recommendations have
been made both to the tribal
fi shers as well as those
interested in buying salmon
directly in an eff ort to pre-
vent the spread of the virus.
Those planning to visit
the river to buy a salmon
are encouraged to wear a
mask and should expect to
see fi shers make social dis-
tancing accommodations.
Many fi shers now accept
credit cards or mobile pay-
ment to avoid handling
cash.
As a population that is
extremely at-risk for devel-
oping complications from
COVID-19, the tribes have
been particularly cautious
and they encourage fi sh
buyers to help in this eff ort
to protect not only them-
selves, but the tribal com-
munity, as well.
Both treaty and non-
treaty fi shery catches have
been agreed to as part of
the U.S. v. Oregon Manage-
ment Agreement and will
be adjusted throughout the
season as the run sizes are
updated. Besides chinook
and sockeye, limited num-
bers of steelhead are avail-
able during the summer
period. The tribal fi shery is
protected under treaties the
Yakama, Warm Springs,
Umatilla, and Nez Perce
tribes signed with the fed-
eral government in 1855.
These treaties reserved their
right to fi sh for ceremonial,
subsistence, and commer-
cial uses at all usual and
accustomed fi shing places
in the Columbia Basin.
COFFEE
Continued from Page 1B
them,” Hayes said. “My
nieces are little entrepre-
neurs. They do all kinds
of little businesses. We’ve
got earrings and neck-
laces hanging there that
my oldest niece, Parker,
makes. She’s already sold
three pairs of earrings in
the past couple of weeks.”
She said her broth-
er-in-law, Jerry Hayes,
did the graphics and sign-
boards for the truck.
“It’s a family aff air all
around,” she said.
Like many busi-
nesses across the country,
All-American Coff ee was
hurt by the coronavirus
pandemic. They planned to
get it started in early 2020,
but then the restrictions of
the pandemic hit.
“We thought we’ll just
table this for a little while
and see how things play
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
From left, All-American Coff ee owner-operators Alicia Hayes and Stefany Magera serve the fi rst drink of
the morning Wednesday, June 9, 2021, to their mom and “silent partner” Susan Roberts. The new coff ee
truck can be found where it’s announced on Facebook and other social media.
out,” Hayes said. “This
past January, we were
talking and said it just
feels right, so we did. We
pooled as much money as
we could and Mom pooled
Continued from Page 1B
FIRE
Continued from Page 1B
The study’s results will
be used to craft future pre-
scribed fi re policies and
incentives.
“We totally support the
concept of more prescribed
fi re on the landscape,” said
Kyle Williams, director
of forest protection at the
Oregon Forest and Indus-
As a result, Roberts
is being included in the
workforce.
“That’s why she’s
hanging around all the
time. Mom’s our ‘silent
partner,’ I guess,” Hayes
said. “I’m slowly training
her for our big events.”
She already has plans
for the “big events.”
“When we do events,
Mom will be with us,”
Hayes said. “Our fi rst
event we’re going to do
is the (Mountain High)
Broncs and Bulls (June
26). That’ll be our big test
to see how we handle the
big events. It should be
exciting.”
There are still a couple
improvements they want to
make to the truck. As Rob-
erts noted, they need a new
generator.
“The generator’s really
loud. They need a new
generator — a quiet one,”
she said. “This’ll get all
the people out of the motel.
It’s why the motel invited
them over. Not to wake the
people up, but so they’d
have something when they
do get up.”
Where they’re located
each day is usually
announced on social
media.
“Facebook and social
media have been amazing,”
Hayes said. “We put there
where we’re going to be
and people come. Or, some
see the truck and follow us
until we park, so it works
out pretty good.”
But the sisters aren’t
worried about business
slowing too much.
“It has been fantastic,
absolutely fantastic,”
Hayes said. “Everywhere
we’ve gone, even up to
the marina — we have a
contract with the marina
for the summer — people
are, like, ‘Oh, there’s
coff ee. Let’s get some.’
So it’s been overwhelm-
ingly wonderful.”
Federal funds available
for drought-stricken states
BEER
“We’ve always felt the
connection to Oregon as a
brewery being in Wallowa
County,” Nelson said. “It is
just a beautiful area to be.
We feel lucky to be in Wal-
lowa County and in Oregon
in general. We thought it
was a cool project. And a
lot of our customers are
outdoorsy people who
enjoy backpacking, hiking,
skiing. That is who our
customer base is a lot of
times. It felt like we were
in a good place to support
the project and get the word
about the projects that our
customers might connect
with and relate to.”
TG’s typical brewing
rotation largely features
India pale ale, English ales
or German ales.
But COLT asked for a
beer inspired by Oregon,
according to Nelson, so
the TG team looked in its
own backyard for inspira-
tion, and selected an addi-
tion from a popular North-
eastern Oregon pass time
— huckleberry picking.
“Since so many of our
employees like picking
huckleberries,” he said. “It
made sense to make a beer
with huckleberries in it,
make it a sour (beer), and
not something we always
do. It excites our brewers to
make new stuff .”
Enter the Huckleberry
Sour Ale, a beer brewed
with wheat and huckleber-
ries, and one that didn’t
take many attempts to
perfect.
“We did one brew in
our pilot system — which
is basically one barrel,
out of her retirement
to give us the extra we
needed to get the truck.”
MORE INFORMATION
Direct-to-public sales locations can be found at:
• Cascade Locks in Marine Park and under Bridge of the Gods
• Celilo Park
• North Bonneville (one mile east of Bonneville Dam on the Washington
side)
• Other locations along the river may be off ering salmon sales, so look for
road signs
When purchasing fi sh from tribal fi shers:
• Wear a face mask and keep a six-foot distance from the seller and other
customers.
• Use hand sanitizer.
• Pack a cooler with ice to keep your purchase fresh.
• Sales generally run from 10 a.m. to dusk every day. The best selection is
available early in the day.
• Price is set by individual fi shers and is determined at the point of sale.
• Many fi shers accept credit cards or mobile cash payments but be pre-
pared with cash just in case.
• Request a receipt.
• Ask fi shers on topics such as freshness and preparation.
The public should call the salmon marketing program at (888) 289-1855
before traveling to the sales locations to fi nd out where the current day’s
catch is being sold. More information on purchasing fi sh can be found
on CRITFC’s salmon marketing website www.critfc.org/harvest. Regular
salmon sales updates are also found on CRITFC’s social media platforms
such as Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/critfc/) and Twitter (https://
twitter.com/CRITFC).
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
Grady Nelson/Terminal Gravity
The Huckleberry Sour Ale was created by Terminal Gravity as part of
a collaboration with the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts.
which gives you about two
kegs,” Nelson said. “We do
it on a small scale fi rst. We
did just one brew on the
pilot system, liked it, but
tweaked it.”
After adding just a bit
more huckleberry, “we felt
like we had a recipe that
made the beer we wanted.”
He added it’s a lighter
beer, one that could result
in people trying a sour ale
who may not otherwise.
“It’s just a really light
and refreshing sour — I
think a sour lover would
love it,” he said.
Nelson said it not only
gave TG an opportunity to
help COLT, but also to pro-
mote eff orts made by the
Wallowa Land Trust.
“We want to highlight
Wallowa Land Trust and
the work they do. It felt
like an opp to highlight the
work they do around here
with the moraine project,”
he said. “We really love
what they do. It’s cool we
have a local land trust like
them.”
Terminal Gravity, in
fact, is donating 10% of the
beer’s package sales at the
pub to the East Moraine
Stewardship Fund.
Beamer said the collab-
oration was seen as a way
to draw in a younger group,
too.
“The audience we want
to engage more is younger
people. The majority of
land trust members are
over the age of 60,” she
said. “This would be a great
engagement point. … It was
about reaching a younger
audience, and probably
reaching an audience that
hadn’t heard about what a
land trust was. We (can)
connect them to our maps,
connect them to our places
(and) inspire them to visit.”
A virtual happy hour
will be held on June 25,
with each of the eight brew-
eries sharing the story
behind their individual
brews and work with their
local land trusts.
As for the Huckleberry
Sour Ale itself, it will be
available in Northeastern
Oregon only at TG pub,
which produced enough
for only 100 cases and a
handful of kegs for the tap.
“We’re always open to
re-brewing things,” Nelson
said. “That’s to be deter-
mined, but for now that is a
one-off .”
tries Council. “So, we did
voice support for (House
Bill) 2571 to start those
conversations. To ask those
questions about liability is
important.”
But Williams has some
concerns about changing
the liability standard
because it’s important to
him that burners should
also get voluntary “rock-
solid” burn training.
A separate Oregon
bill still moving through
the Legislature, House
Bill 2572, deals with this
concern.
That bill, if passed,
would create a program
to train private citizens to
become burn bosses.
If Oregon changes to
gross negligence standard,
experts say the lower stan-
dard would likely only be
off ered to people trained as
certifi ed burn managers.
PORTLAND — As
drought conditions deepen
across the West, farmers
and ranchers in four states
can apply for $41.8 mil-
lion in federal aid to pre-
serve the health of their
working lands.
Funding is available in
Oregon, California, Colo-
rado and Arizona through
the USDA Environmental
Quality Incentives Pro-
gram, or EQIP, which
helps producers pay for
conservation projects to
protect natural resources
and improve drought
resilience.
Applications are due
July 12.
EQIP is the agency’s
fl agship conservation pro-
gram, administered by
the Natural Resources
Conservation Service.
Projects may include air
and water quality, soil
GOING ONLINE
For more information about
EQIP, or to apply for funding
through Conservation Incen-
tive Contracts, visit www.nrcs.
usda.org.
health, protecting wildlife
habitat and wildfi re pre-
vention and recovery.
The $41.8 million in
targeted funding will be
off ered through Conser-
vation Incentive Con-
tracts, a new EQIP option
created in the 2018 Farm
Bill to address high-pri-
ority conservation and
natural resources con-
cerns — including
drought.
Contracts run from
5 to 10 years, with pro-
ducers sharing the cost
to implement conserva-
tion practices, such as
forest stand improvement,
brush management, pre-
scribed grazing, pasture
and hay planting, live-
stock watering systems
and cover crops.
NRCS announced it is
setting aside $11.8 mil-
lion directly for drought
mitigation.
“As ongoing drought
conditions in Oregon con-
tinue to worsen, we knew
we needed to increase
our support to farmers
and ranchers dealing
with drought and pre-
pare for the challenges
of tomorrow,” said Ron
Alvarado, NRCS state
conservationist in Oregon.
Alvarado said the
Conservation Incentive
Contracts will strengthen
producers’ existing
eff orts to protect their
land during times of
extreme drought.
While the contracts are
only available now in a
few select states, NRCS
says it will roll out the
program nationwide in
fi scal year 2022.
BRINGING QUALITY
PRODUCTS AT
AFFORDABLE
PRICING TO
EASTERN OREGON
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541-523-6404