Page 8A
East Oregonian
FISH: 62 hatchery
programs are funded
under the Mitchell Act
Continued from 1A
vancy argues hatchery-raised
¿sh are actually harming
endangered salmon, steelhead
and bull trout and their habitat
by competing for resources,
while spawning with wild ¿sh
and genetically inÀuencing
future generations.
The conservancy wants the
government to take a closer
look at hatcheries before going
ahead with payments under
the Mitchell Act. Shortly
after the suit was ¿led, the
Columbia River Inter-Tribal
Fish Commission — which
represents the Umatilla,
Yakama, Warm Springs and
1ez Perce tribes — ¿red
back, saying hatcheries are a
valuable tool for ¿sh recovery
and calling the conservancy’s
challenge a “distraction.”
Paul Lumley, executive
director of CRITFC, said the
tribes are working toward
hatchery reform, and believes
they’ve made positive strides
over the year that have helped
restored ¿sheries in rivers
where salmon and steelhead
were once depleted — such as
the Umatilla River.
“Hatcheries themselves
are not pushing these runs
toward extinction. It was
because they were pushed
toward extinction that we
have hatcheries,” Lumley
said. “This litigation puts all
hatcheries into one program
that demonizes them, when in
fact many are bene¿cial.”
There are 62 hatchery
programs funded under the
Mitchell Act, which Lumley
said were promised to the
tribes to mitigate impacts
from building the Columbia
River dams. Historically, the
river had 17 million returning
adult salmon. Those numbers
are now somewhere around 2
million.
To quit producing hatchery
¿sh would have reverbera-
tions throughout the basin,
Lumley said.
“I think it would have a
huge effect on ¿sheries both
along the Coast and up and
down the Columbia River for
tribes and non-tribes alike,”
he said.
The Wild Fish Conser-
vancy, however, argues the
programs knowingly harm
native ¿sh and their habitat,
from structural failures at the
hatcheries themselves to the
loss of genetic diversity from
outbreeding to increased risk
of disease, competition and
predation.
Earlier this year, a study
by Oregon State University
on steelhead showed hatchery
and wild ¿sh are, in fact,
different at the '1A level.
Outbreeding caused rapid
genetic changes in juveniles,
even after just one generation.
Researchers are still working
to determine just what those
differences are.
Yet, with few exceptions,
the 1ational Marine Fish-
eries Service hasn’t issued
updated biological opinions
on the programs since 1999,
according to the lawsuit.
Section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act requires agencies
make sure hatchery operations
aren’t jeopardizing ¿sh before
they can authorizing funding.
“It’s been 17 years;
1MFS needs to step up,
initiate consultation and
put the needed solutions in
place,” said Kurt Beardslee,
executive director of the
Wild Fish Conservancy on
March 31. “We are investing
millions of state and federal
dollars every year on salmon
recovery, and at the same time
spending millions of public
dollars on hatchery programs
that are compromising that
investment.”
Mike Matylewich, ¿sh-
eries management director
for CRITFC, said the lawsuit
paints all hatcheries with the
same brush when the tribes
have made a careful point of
genetic analysis and selecting
the right broodstock to avoid
diminishing ¿tness of the ¿sh.
Some hatcheries have
experimented with new
designs intended to train juve-
niles before they are released
into the wild. The Yakama
1ation is seeing positive
results so far from work at the
Cle Elum hatchery in Wash-
ington, Matylewich said, as
well as the 1ez Perce Tribal
Hatchery in Idaho.
According to a previous
report, the 1ez Perce Tribal
Hatchery attempts to mimic
stream beds to help juveniles
develop better camouÀage
from predators. Sunken
logs and river rock bottoms
promote food and hiding
areas beneath the water’s
surface, which prevents them
from becoming “like shiny
nickels” to king¿shers and
mergansers.
By shutting off funding
from the Mitchell Act,
Matylewich said it would shut
off practices that are proving
to recover ¿sh runs.
“The people who did
destroy habitat then get off the
hook, so to speak,” he said.
Lumley said critics need
look no further than Umatilla
River spring chinook to see
how hatcheries have played
an important role in reestab-
lishing salmon that were once
totally decimated. 1ow, he
said people ¿sh side by side in
downtown Pendleton.
Jeremy Wolf, CRITFC
chairman and Umatilla tribal
member, said the conser-
vancy’s lawsuit is “based on
Àawed logic that hatcheries
caused the decline of wild
salmon abundance.”
“The tribes have demon-
strated with their own
successful programs how
carefully managed hatcheries
can rebuild abundant naturally
spawning runs in our rivers
and streams,” Wolf said in
an earlier statement. “Those
truly interested in recovery
are better served by putting
their efforts into restoring the
wild rivers that salmon need.”
———
Contact George Plaven at
gplaven@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0825.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
OFF PAGE ONE
BRONZES: Travel Pendleton will maintain the trail
Continued from 1A
audio narrative featuring
voice actors that will play
the historical ¿gures and talk
about the historical context
in ¿rst person.
Pat Beard, Travel Pendle-
ton’s event recruiter, said the
trail would be a boon to the
city’s tourism industry.
“Once we have this tool
and that statue tells you its
story while you’re standing
there, they become living,
breathing things as opposed
to an inanimate piece of art,”
he said.
Beard said the attraction
will keep tourists in town
longer and contribute to the
city’s lodging taxes.
He added that Travel
Pendleton will maintain
the trail and make updates
pending arts committee
approval.
Because half the money
was derived from the urban
renewal district, the council
needed to approve that
allocation as the Pendleton
Development Commission.
The
commission
approved the allocation
5-1, the lone opposing vote
coming from Councilor
1eil Brown, who preferred
that the entire appropriation
come from the arts fund.
Councilors John Brenne, Al
Plute and Tom Young were
absent.
Later during the city
council meeting, the council
unanimously approved the
appropriation from the arts
fund.
The council also decided
to postpone a decision on
a 5-year lease with Blue
Mountain Community to
continue using the baseball
¿eld on the former Blue
Mountain Recover Center
property.
The city of Pendleton
became the landlord for the
baseball ¿eld when the state
turned over control of the
BMRC property earlier this
year. Under the terms of the
lease, BMCC covers rent
by maintaining the baseball
¿elds and paying the insur-
ance.
The point of contention
for some councilors was that
the city couldn’t opt out of
the agreement unless BMCC
defaulted on the lease.
The state agreed to clear
the shuttered mental health
facility from the property so
the city could use the land for
industrial development.
If a company approached
city of¿cials about obtaining
the property and clearing out
the baseball ¿eld, councilors
argued, the city would have
no way to accommodate the
potential employer.
Diane Drebin, BMCC
vice president of student
affairs, attended the meeting
and said the prospect of
forcing BMCC off the ¿eld
on short notice would create
uncertainty in the baseball
program and hurt recruiting
efforts.
“To have only 180 days to
¿nd a new ¿eld, that doesn’t
do well for the program,”
she said. “It could bring a
program to its knees.”
Instead of the standard
180 days, Drebin said BMCC
would need 2-3 years notice
to give the program time to
¿nd a new ¿eld.
While many councilors
were amenable to a longer
notice period, Paul Chalmers
said a prospective industrial
company may not want to
jump through too many
hoops.
“If you got somebody
looking for a place to
site, they’re looking for
shovel-ready sites,” he said.
“That’s the reality of it. Port
of Morrow has 12,000 shov-
el-ready acres ready to go.”
The council ultimately
decided to table the issue
while staff renegotiate the
contract with BMCC.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
ECHO: Has amenities, but still lacks a grocery
Continued from 1A
like Christmas light contests and tree
giveaways.
It hasn’t brought a grocery store or
gas station to town, or allowed the few
Main Street businesses to open more
than two or three days a week. But it has
gained Echo a reputation as a “hidden
gem” of Eastern Oregon, complete
with vineyards, tasting rooms, a golf
course, camping, a museum, antique
store, highly rated eateries and a truly
historic downtown.
“People come here and they rave,”
Berry said.
Arguably the biggest partners with
the city in developing Echo’s down-
town have been Lloyd and Lois Piercy.
The pair, who own Echo West Vineyard
and Sno Road Winery, have renovated
several of Echo’s historic buildings and
are in the process of restoring more.
Their projects — past and present —
include the old one-room schoolhouse,
the former grocery store, a downtown
garage, the historic Koontz building
and the former Echo Hotel. They also
hold several events each year that
draw tourists in, including the Red 2
Red bike race across their land and an
annual car show that bene¿ts the high
school shop class.
“We love Echo, we love the histor-
ical aspects of Echo, and it just kind of
snowballed from there,” Lois said.
She said preserving the buildings’
historical aspects while also adapting
them to modern — uses like the winery
— take a lot of time and money. But
the Piercys enjoy hearing from past and
present Echo residents who remember
the buildings in their glory days.
“I love the memories and the
nostalgia that just pour in,” Lois said.
The Piercys also love the rich soil
around Echo, which Lois said has
produced “wonderful” grapes in the
vineyard.
In addition to being good for
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The historic Koontz has been
restored and transformed into the
Sno Road Winery.
growing grapes, Echo has also
proved fertile for trees and Àowers.
The city regularly wins awards from
the America in Bloom and Tree City
U.S.A organizations, some of which
are almost unheard of for a town so
small.
“We’ve played on that and tried to
build up community pride,” Berry said.
One of the many events focused on
building up that community pride was
Wednesday afternoon at the Echo Tree
Fair. It seemed to be working, too. As
elementary school students played leaf
identi¿cation bingo, answered ques-
tions about trees and made rubbings
of bark, they demonstrated a sound
knowledge of trees and a pride in
Echo’s beauty.
“Trees are used to make lots of
things,” fourth-grader Abby Gaede said
in answer to a question about why it’s
good for a city to have trees. “We’ve
actually won Tree City U.S.A.”
Echo School ¿fth grade teacher
Rick Thew, who on Wednesday was in
the city hall ballroom teaching students
about the effects of forest ¿res, said
those types of community events were
one of the things he enjoyed about
Echo.
“I like the small-school community
aspect, where everyone is watching out
for everyone,” he said.
Thew doesn’t actually live in Echo,
however, because when he began
working for the school district he and
his family couldn’t ¿nd a house in Echo
that ¿t their needs. 1ow they commute
to the school every day from Stan¿eld.
Thew’s living situation points
to one of the ironies of Echo: It’s a
“bedroom community” with a scarcity
of bedrooms.
Berry said some people don’t
like hearing Echo categorized as a
bedroom community, but the fact
that the majority of its residents are
either retired or working in a different
community means it’s “just a fact of
life.”
However, Echo isn’t really seeing
new housing development other than
a new house or two a year on Echo
Heights, north of the city. That means
people like Thew — attracted to Echo
for its beauty, amenities and small-
town vibe — can ¿nd themselves out
of luck when looking for housing that
¿ts their needs.
Fortunately, Berry pointed out,
Stan¿eld is less than ¿ve miles away
and Hermiston is about a nine-minute
drive in good conditions.
It’s a good thing, because even
though Echo residents can get a bottle
of Cabernet Sauvignon from Echo
Ridge Cellars or duck gnocchi from the
Wheat & Barley Pub, there’s nowhere
in town to buy an egg or a chicken
breast.
Peggy Haines, an Echo resident
who shops at the Main Street Market
in Stan¿eld, said as much as she loves
Echo’s quaint, small-town feel that’s
the one thing she would like to see
change about it: a market or grocery
store.
“It would be nice if you’re cooking
and need some Àour or sugar to just run
to the store,” she said.
———
Contact Jade McDowell at
jmcdowell@eastoregonian.com
or
541-564-4536.
COUNCIL: Marks voted for a
permanent ban on marijuana sales
Continued from 1A
South Hill and Riverside.
During a series of inter-
views between the East
Oregonian editorial board
and city council candidates,
Marks and Tibbets were the
only candidates that discussed
marijuana.
Marks was one of four
councilors to vote for a
permanent ban on marijuana
sales twice, before she and
other pro-ban councilors
relented and agreed to put
the issue up to a ballot refer-
endum in 1ovember.
Marks still has her doubts
about allowing marijuana
sales if voters reverse the ban,
questioning the logistics of
running a business that can’t
put money in the bank and
marijuana’s legality under
federal law.
“We still have an issue
around federal regulations. I
would again say to (voters),
‘Would you really want me
to break the law?’ Please,
honestly. 1ot that your vote
isn’t important, and not that
your voice isn’t important.
It is. Righteously so. But
your voice is saying to me:
‘Break the law.’”
Tibbets took the opposite
tact, saying that marijuana
sales needed to be embraced
by the city
“I was hearing something
about a change in the state
law where a city would be
able to assess something like
3 percent tax on it,” he said.
“Exploit that. Work with the
people in your community
and work out some good
regulations that keep every-
body safe and everybody
happy.”
Although new to politics,
Tibbets ¿rst garnered atten-
tion when he was convicted
of a hate crime in 2010.
Tibbets earned 45 days in
jail and ¿ve years probation
for head-butting a man and
using an anti-Semitic slur
during the downtown wiener
dog races.
Tibbets said his crime is a
matter of public record, and
if a voter looked at his record
since the incident, it would
show that he has stayed free
of criminal activity since then.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
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