Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Columbia Gorge News
www.columbiagorgenews.com
11
School board hears safety exercise report at June 9 meeting
Trisha Walker
■ By Columbia
Gorge News
HOOD RIVER — Catherine
Dalbey, director of human
resources, and Deputy
George Economou, Hood
River County Sheriff school
resource deputy, presented
the results of a multi-agency
tabletop safety drill conduct-
ed May 27 in the Hood River
Valley High School gym.
Tabletop drills are discus-
sion-based sessions where
team members meet in an
informal classroom setting
to discuss their roles and
responses in an emergency.
Economou worked with the
Department of Homeland
Security to find an exercise
that could be used by the dis-
trict and its community part-
ners to practice responding
to a safety threat or other type
of emergency at a school.
Afterwards, participants went
over the exercise to assess
overall strengths and weak-
nesses, and to discuss major
takeaways.
“We’re lucky the Oregon
Department of Education
and ESDs statewide came to
assist,” said Dalbey. “It was
great to have their expertise,
and it was designed to be
our chance to talk through
what we would do, and a safe
space to make mistakes and
ask those hard questions, and
then try to figure out with
our team what our next steps
were going to be.”
Multiple agencies were
invited to participate —
including private schools
in Hood River County and
emergency services in
Wasco County — because
any emergency incident is a
community response, said
Economou. “We did use an
active shooter incident as the
driving exercise, but it could
have been an earthquake or
hazardous materials spill,
and all of these people would
have come to the table,” he
said. “It was a great opportu-
nity to see faces and dust off
the cobwebs, and work that
collaborate muscle.”
Dalbey said the long-term
plan is for agencies to meet
in the fall before school starts
— including this fall — to
maintain and foster relation-
ships, continuously improve
response systems and make
sure that plans coordinate
well.
Economou said the table-
top drills are a way to “crawl,
walk, run.”
“It wouldn’t make sense to
try to do (a live emergency
drill) if we couldn’t give peo-
ple the opportunity to review
(responses),” he said. “… We
wanted to make sure people
left positive and felt more
confidence. It was a good
confidence-building event.”
Board Member Dr. David
Russo asked if the district
practices internal and exter-
nal mass communication
strategies. “How would we
be communicating with our
families, the media and the
public?” he asked.
Dalbey said that each
organization has identified
a public information officer,
who would then work togeth-
er at an information center.
“At the tabletop drill, all of
our public information offi-
cers were able to collaborate
and talk about who’s doing
the communication, what’s
going out, and how can we
partner with the county
emergency management and
the emergency operation
center to quickly set up a
phone bank should we need
to accept a large volume
of calls into the district,”
she said, adding that they
discussed automated calling
and texting to push out a
general message to families
right away.
Board Member Chrissy
Reitz and Vice Chair Julia
Garcia-Ramirez pointed out
that almost any emergency in
the county was going to affect
district families and staff, re-
calling the 2017 Eagle Creek
fire that threatened homes in
Cascade Locks.
“I think it’s great that even
if we’re not at the center of
the incident, we can still have
those relationships so that we
can say … how can we mit-
igate any sort of aftereffects
for our population or even,
what can we do to help you,”
said Reitz.
Dalbey shared that the
district is looking into the
feasibility of putting solar and
emergency power at Wy’east
Middle School that would
serve as a response hub for
emergency services.
“From a resources stand-
point, we have buses and
are able to transport people
Multiple agencies in Hood River and Wasco counties participated in a tabletop safety drill, held at
Hood River Valley High School, in late May.
Stephanie Hoppe photo
to and from an emergency,”
she said. “… We have food in
our kitchens. We have a lot of
resources to be able to assist
if something happens.”
Board Chair Rich Truax
said he was grateful that so
many organizations came to
participate in the drill.
“It’s obviously a big effort
and a big commitment from
a lot of different groups, and
even ESDs across the state,”
he said. “It’s a benefit to the
community.”
Participating agencies
Participating with Hood
River County School District
and Hood River County
Sheriff’s Office were Hood
River Police Department,
Oregon State Police,
Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission, Federal
Bureau of Investigation,
Hood River Fire and EMS,
West Side Fire District,
Wy’East Fire District,
Parkdale Fire and Rescue,
Cascade Locks Fire and
EMS, Hood River 911
Operations, Columbia Gorge
ESD, Providence Hood
River Memorial Hospital,
Mid-Columbia Medical
Center, City of Hood River
Public Works, Hood River
County Public Works, Hood
River County Emergency
Management, Columbia
Gorge Community College,
Wildwood Academy,
Horizon Christian School,
North Wasco County School
District, Wasco County
Sheriff’s Office, City of The
Dalles Police Department,
Wasco County Emergency
Management and Mid-
Columbia Fire and Rescue.
Grants awarded for Fifteen Mile Creek project
Underground water
storage would
help cool summer
stream flows
describe the water available
instream versus the irrigation
water demand for surface
water diversion. Fifteenmile
Creek is over-allocated,
meaning there (typically)
By Mark Gibson
Columbia Gorge News
would not be enough water
left instream if all water right
A pilot project could prove holders were to use their le-
key to the future health of
gal water right the full length
Wasco County’s Fifteenmile
of the summer/irrigation
Creek, which originates in
season.
Mt. Hood National Forest
Watermaster Bob Wood
above Dufur and joins the
“regulates back” (or reduces
Columbia River just east of
use for more junior water
The Dalles. The project will
right holders) users based on
test an underground water
water right priority dates to
storage system designed
meet minimum flow needs.
to increase water flow and
This is called the right of
decrease water temperature prior appropriation. During
in the creek, benefiting fish
high spring flows, ample
and area farmers alike.
water is typically available to
The Fifteenmile Watershed meet water rights and user
Council has secured two
demands. When streamflows
grants from the Oregon
decrease throughout the
Watershed Enhancement
summer, there is less water
Board (OWEB) and a third
instream than the certificated
through Oregon Water
water rights.
Resources Department
With low water levels come
(OWRD) to move forward
hotter stream temperatures,
on a pilot project to provide
which harms or kills salmon
more water in Fifteenmile
and trout that are spawning,
Creek in summer by stor-
rearing or migrating in the
creek — including mid-Co-
ing some of the creek’s
winter and spring flow
lumbia steelhead, listed as
underground.
threatened by the federal
“Fifteenmile Creek often
Endangered Species Act.
exceeds lethal temperatures Stream temperatures in lower
to aquatic species, harming
reaches frequently exceed 65
steelhead and other fish as
degrees during late summer
well as threatening the water months, and have exceeded
source for irrigators and their lethal thresholds in certain
businesses, when flows are
reaches, according to the
low,” said Abbie Forrest of
grant application.
the Fifteenmile Watershed
The Fifeteenmile Creek
Council. “This project will
Watershed Council is
benefit both farmers and
partnering with the Wasco
fish in our basin and we are
County Soil and Water
glad that OWEB and OWRD
Conservation District, which
understood the need for this completed two studies that
project.”
both determined it is feasible
The project will be located to divert cool water from
approximately six miles up-
Fifteenmile Creek during
winter and spring when flows
stream from Dufur, which is
south of The Dalles in Wasco are higher, store it under-
County.
ground and return it in sum-
Surface flows in
mer when flows are low.
Fifteenmile Creek are over-al-
The new funding allows
the council and partners to:
located in summer months.
• Construct a small-scale
Over-allocation is a term to
■
An infiltration basin is shown in cross section. Creek water is diverted into the basin from the left and pumped through an underground
pipe system into a deep basalt well to the right. The water is stored in the well until summer, when it is pumped back into the creek, there-
by increasing summer flow and dropping creek temperatures.
Contributed graphic
Stream temperatures in lower reaches frequently
exceed 65°F during late summer months, and have
exceeded lethal thresholds in certain reaches.
pilot project to test the
underground water storage
idea;
• Identify an owner and
operator for the project long
term, including potentially a
special district;
• Identify funding for the
project’s long-term opera-
tions and maintenance;
• Create initial designs for
the diversion;
• Design a treatment
system to ensure diverted
water meets water quality
standards.
Other fish species that
will benefit from the project
include Pacific lamprey,
cutthroat trout and more.
Additional project partners
include Oregon Department
of Agriculture, Oregon Water
Resources Department and
the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife.
“The council has been
seeking solutions to summer
temperatures and low flows
for over a decade,” said Shilah
Olson, district manager of
Wasco SWCD. “They are
a model for collaborative
conservation and there have
been a lot of thoughtful
conversations leading up to
this point. The district looks
forward to helping the coun-
cil implement these grants
and move the project from
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concept to reality.”
Wasco SWCD is providing
match funding to support the
project through their local
tax base.
About the Fifteenmile
Watershed Council
Fifteenmile Creek
Watershed is a 373 square
mile (238,720 acre) drain-
age area mostly in northern
Wasco County. The City of
Dufur, in the center of the
watershed, encompasses
730 acres. The Fifteenmile
Watershed Council was
formed on March 19, 1997.
The council is made up of
many landowners, agencies
and partners that are focused
on managing irrigation needs
with fish needs.
About the Wasco SWCD
Wasco County SWCD was
formed by a consolidation
of three districts on June 10,
1973 (originally created in
1942). Conservation Districts
are local units of government
consisting of a seven-mem-
ber, locally-elected board of
directors. Through partner-
ships with organizations and
public agencies, the district
promotes a locally led, coop-
erative approach to natural
resource conservation.