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Wednesday, May 12, 2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
Wasco to Wyden: Send houses, health and money
Oberst
■ By For Gail
Columbia Gorge News
he said several times during
the hour-long discussion.
After hearing visitors speak,
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden chat- he offered help from his
office to navigate roadblocks
ted live online with Wasco
to success.
County residents May 2,
Many of the challenges in
offering to help with prob-
Wasco County were already
lems that ranged from sup-
present but ramped up by
porting clinics by attracting
the pandemic, residents told
professionals and replacing
expensive medical equip-
Wyden.
ment to housing for low and
Wyden said the federal
middle-income residents.
stimulus funds — $3.2 mil-
The problems — and the
lion to The Dalles, $130,000
to Dufur, $94,000 to Maupin,
solutions — are all connect-
ed, Wyden said.
$89,000 to Mosier, for exam-
Creating anchor industries, ple — will provide a “booster
shot” to Oregon communities
including specialty health
impacted by the pandemic.
care, attracts professionals
and staff, brings wages into
Sue Knapp, a Maupin city
the area, and encourages
councilor and board member
developers to build homes,
on the White River Health
District, talked about the
Wyden suggested.
“I’m all in. Let’s get to it,”
rural community’s attempts
to build a new health clinic
and attract health providers,
especially behavioral, dental
and school-based health
professionals.
Wyden said his office
would help the district’s
Deschutes Rim Clinic gain
status as a Rural Health
Clinic, connecting it to addi-
tional state and federal aid.
David Warden, new
executive director of the
Mid-Columbia Health
Foundation, which helps
support Mid-Columbia
Medical Center, asked Wyden
for help raising money for
$1.3 million in state-of-the
art cancer technology. After
thousands of treatments over
the past 10 years, Warden
said the older equipment
needs to be replaced.
Nate Stice, a community
health and housing advocate,
added the importance of
building affordable homes
for the people who come
to Wasco County to work.
“There’s a growing crisis of
affordability,” Stice said of
Wasco County. He’s unoffi-
cially tracked housing trends
in the area and said prices for
rentals have skyrocketed.
Sharon Thompson
Thornberry agreed that
affordable housing competi-
tion is fierce. She had recently
applied to rent an apartment
that had 43 other interested
renters.
“Units are snapped up
quickly,” Stice said.
Vaccinations are key to
addressing the pandemic
fallout, Wyden said. Next
in importance for Wasco
County is creating economic
anchor businesses — large
projects in medical centers
could draw both developers,
businesses and employees,
as well as the promise of
residents.
“Something like this could
be an economic multipli-
er,” Wyden said, referring
to health clinic and cancer
technology projects.
Lisa Farquharson,
The Dalles Chamber of
Commerce president
admitted there are urgent
challenges, both physical
and financial in Wasco
County. Buildable land is
limited, and the city’s Urban
Growth Boundary may not
soon expand, she said. In
addition, most businesses
are focused on survival and
recovery during the pandem-
ic, which recently resurged
in Wasco County, sending its
restaurant operations back
outdoors. Finding workers
under the circumstances is
nearly impossible.
“We either need to open
the businesses, or get assis-
tance,” Farquharson said.
Wyden asked her to send
his office a list of businesses
on the edge, to help them
with available assistance.
“We’ve been talking about
pieces that are interrelated
— health care, housing, busi-
ness needs, health,” Wyden
said. “This discussion is to be
continued.”
Drought, wildfire risk forecast for Gorge
Mark Gibson
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
Most of Oregon will see
drought conditions and high
fire danger this summer, and
portions of Wasco County
are already in “extreme
drought,” according to a
May 5 report to the Wasco
County board of commis-
sioners by Ed Townsend,
science and weather officer
with National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration/
National Weather Service in
Pendleton.
Hood River County is also
experiencing drought con-
ditions, although with less
severity than drier portions
of Wasco County. Most of
Klickitat County is also in
drought
Drought conditions
expanded in April, with
abnormally dry to extreme
drought conditions in the
county, Townsend said.
April 2021 was the 11th
driest on record, March 2021
the ninth driest, Townsend
reported. Only three out of
the last 16 months saw above
normal precipitation, he
added. “Areas of north central
Oregon, including Wasco
County, have seen below
normal snowpack and below
In Washington state, Klickitat County is also abnormally dry with
areas of moderate and severe drought.
county, noted Angie Brewer,
Wasco County planning
director. She noted the
county has produced a video
presentation, available on the
United States Drought Monitor maps show increasing drought severity in Oregon from May 5, 2020 county website, detailing the
(left) and May 4, 2021. Yellow areas are abnormally dry, with tan areas in moderate drought, orange county's fire risk and encour-
severe and dark purple areas of exceptional drought. Wasco County is experiencing abnormally dry, aging home owners in the
moderate and severe drought.
county to create a “defensible
space” around their homes.
July and August,” he warned. and loans from federal
normal precipitation dating
Brewer noted that in addi-
back through the winter of
“It looks like its going to be a programs.
tion to the video presentation
“This has been rolling
pretty hot and dry summer.”
2020, causing both meteo-
that summarizes wildfire
As a result, Wasco County toward us from the east,
rological and hydrological
rehabilitation and prepara-
prepared a drought declara- and now it’s here,” said
drought.”
tion work done over the last
“Drought is expected to
tion for the second consecu- Commission Chair Scott
year and ways to prepare
Hege.
tive year.
persist through at least July
for wildfire, the county was
The declaration will allow
31,” he said, and little relief
in the process of reviewing
can be anticipated in August. a variety of emergency land
related policies, codes and
Wildfire risk high
“The predicted conditions
and water use changes, and
federal funding, and would
open the door for farmers,
will result in above normal
be returning to the board in
Dry conditions will also
ranchers and orchardists to
potential for large wildland
the near future to consider
spark an increased risk of
receive emergency grants
fires across the area in June,
wildfire throughout the
additional wildfire measures
City seeks Rand
Road comments
HOOD RIVER — Hood
River residents have until
May 20 to participate in a
survey about plans to build
affordable homes and apart-
ments on the city-owned
seven-acre site along Rand
Road, at the west end. The
city will include community
comments in its develop-
ment plans, due for comple-
tion in June.
The survey, in both
English and Spanish, is at
cityofhoodriver.gov/plan-
ning/780-rand-road-hous-
ing-development -strategy.
Once initial preferences
are complete, the city will
seek a developer to pro-
pose specific infrastructure
and housing construction.
Construction could begin as
early as summer 2022.
The council has narrowed
its preferences to four
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alternatives, all of which mix
low-income apartments and
middle-income owner-oc-
cupied homes on the site.
The alternatives also suggest
places for parks and open
spaces, wetland manage-
ment, transit shelters, en-
ergy-efficient construction
and sidewalks. All of the al-
ternatives include 100 rental
apartments. Alternatives
include varying numbers of
town houses and affordable
owner-occupied homes.
The city council’s preferred
alternative No. 4 includes
developing adjacent Hood
River County property at the
same time.
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that could be taken.
“We’ve seen some scary
trends in wildfire risks and
behavior in our county.” Hege
noted. “Now is the perfect
time to prepare for the
wildfire season. Take the time
now, look into these resourc-
es and build this defensible
space. That is what you want,
you want to know there is a
good chance your home can
be defended. A month from
now, its going to get dryer
and scarier.”
Commissioner Kathy
Schwartz noted “there are
a lot of ways to reduce risk
overall,” and also encouraged
community members to
prepare now for the wildfire
season beginning in July.
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