OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Page 8A
HADDEN: Has gathered a fan club of hunters
and hunting companies interested in his exploits
Continued from 1A
or lift a spoon to his mouth,
but a Walla Walla man
named Gary Parson helped
him obtain a contraption that
mounts a rifle, shotgun or
crossbow on his wheelchair
and allows him to sight it and
pull the trigger using puffs of
air from his mouth.
He has been hunting
in the years since, and
has a few sets of antlers
at home to show for it.
In the past, he has had to more
or less park his wheelchair in
one spot and hope the right
animal wandered past. Now
he’ll be able to move through
the forest with other hunters
in a manner more reminis-
cent of when he was younger.
“I grew up in Pilot Rock
and my family, that’s just
something that we did,”
he said. “It’s not just about
taking an animal, it’s about
getting together and joking
and laughing.”
Even when he was stuck
sitting in a blind not too far
from the wheelchair-acces-
sible van, Hadden has had
some adventures. One night
he and his nurse Miranda
Amwoka were sitting in the
blind when a mama bear and
her two cubs walked by. The
mama bear came up against
the side of the blind, stuck
her head in and looked right
in at the two of them. Since
Hadden was strapped to a
wheelchair and Amwoka
didn’t have a weapon, it was
a pretty scary experience for
both of them.
Nels’ wife Betsy said he
has more Twitter followers
than anyone in the family
after he gathered a fan club of
hunters and hunting compa-
nies interested in his exploits.
A couple of them even sent
free game cameras for him
to review. He has more than
40,000 game camera photos
saved on his computer.
Betsy was the one who
found out about the Indepen-
dence Fund, a nonprofit that
gives all-terrain wheelchairs
and other tools to veterans
injured in combat so that
they can resume more of
the outdoor activities they
enjoyed before their injuries.
Hadden wasn’t injured in
combat, but he is a veteran
who served nine years active
duty and he was injured while
acting as a Good Samaritan,
so Betsy convinced him
to take a shot at applying
anyway. He received a letter
saying that usually he would
not be eligible, but there was
a veteran in the area who
had recently given one back
because he only got to use it a
couple of times before he fell
too ill. The group was willing
to give Hadden the used chair
for free.
It wasn’t a simple matter
of moving the chair from
one part of Oregon to
another. Each chair for a
quadriplegic user must fit
them “like a glove” in order
to avoid pressure sores, and
Hadden has even more needs
because of the extent of the
injuries he suffered during
the accident. The chair was
sent to a factory where it
was customized to Hadden’s
measurements and needs, but
when Pete Hedberg of Pacific
Healthcare Associates deliv-
ered it on Tuesday it still took
an hour and a half of small
adjustments before Hadden
was lifted into it using a
sling attached to an apparatus
on the ceiling. Then it was
another hour of adjustments
aided by a tape measure to
make sure his arms were
resting at equal height.
“It takes longer than
normal to sit him because he
had so many bones broken,”
Betsy said.
Still, Hadden was excited
about the long-awaited chair,
which resembles a shiny
red miniature ATV on the
bottom.
“Wow, she’s purdy,” he
drawled as he laid eyes on
the chair. “Pretty fancy.”
He commented on the
lights and turn signals on
the chair, joking, “Wal-Mart,
here we come!”
Hadden doesn’t know the
exact value of his new chair,
but he does know that the
less-fancy one he has been
using cost $40,000. Buying a
new wheelchair would have
cost him more than buying
a new car, he said. He can’t
even begin to express how
grateful he is to receive one
for free.
“You rely on it every day
because without it you’re in
bed,” he said. “It’s basically
like an arm or a leg.”
For more information
about the Independence
Fund, visit independence-
fund.org.
————
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
FIREWORKS: Must reach goal by Feb. or March
Continued from 1A
Imsland said other early
contributors include Pioneer
Title Co., Arne Swanson
of Arne’s Sewer & Septic
Services and Pendleton resi-
dent Rick Rohde.
Imsland said he has
already met with the previous
years’ organizer and is in
contact with the fireworks
company that supplies the
show.
The committee is currently
working on a pledge letter
to send to potential donors
with the goal of raising the
money it needs by February
or March, which is near the
deadline to order fireworks
for next year’s show.
The fireworks show was
sponsored for many years
by the local chapter of the
U.S. Junior Chamber of
Commerce, which used to
count Imsland as a member.
When the Jaycees folded,
various nonprofits took over
the show.
The Fraternal Order
of Eagles was the latest
organization to sponsor the
fireworks, but a lack of fund-
raising nixed the 2016 show.
With the momentum the
Rotary Club has generated
in a short period of time,
Imsland is confident the
committee will reach its goal
for next year’s celebration.
“I have no doubt about it,”
he said.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at
asierra@eastoregonian.com
or 541-966-0836.
MORE WINNERS. MORE OFTEN.
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
STEELHEAD: Study was launched in 2013
Continued from 1A
The five-year average to
date is 19,272.
Fisheries managers in
Oregon and Washington
have approved steelhead
restrictions on the Columbia
River, closing steelhead
retention below The Dalles
Dam for the entire month of
August. Steelhead retention
is closed between The Dalles
and John Day dams during
the month of September,
and from John Day Dam
to the Oregon-Washington
border during October and
November.
Juvenile
steelhead
already face an arduous
journey migrating from the
upper Columbia and lower
Snake rivers. Once they
finally reach the ocean,
Kendall said conditions
right away play a signif-
icant role in determining
total marine survival.
The study was launched
in 2013 as part of the
Salish Sea Marine Survival
Project, a collaboration of
both U.S. and Canadian
scientists. Kendall said the
team analyzed 35 coastal
steelhead runs dating back
to the late 1970s, primarily
from Puget Sound and
lower Columbia River.
“From our research,
it’s conditions in the early
ocean life of steelhead,
shortly after they hit salt-
water, that influence their
total marine survival,”
Kendall said. “They all go
to the same place in the
ocean. That doesn’t seem to
matter.”
In particular, Kendall
said harbor seals, harbor
porpoises and birds seem to
be preying more on juvenile
steelhead due to a reduction
in populations of forage
fish, like herring, anchovies
and eulachon.
Every year since the
project began, Kendall said
researchers have released
between 100-200 tagged
steelhead smolts into the
Green and Nisqually rivers
— which flow into Wash-
ington’s Puget Sound — to
measure predation by seals.
One year, just 6 percent of
the tagged fish made it out
of the Sound. Another year,
the total was 40 percent,
which just so happened
to coincide with a huge
anchovy boom.
“I think this research
looking at predation is
going to be important,” she
said. “The same predation
is taking place down in the
Columbia River on both
juveniles and adult (fish).”
Other parts of the study
focus on migrating fish
that have been infected by
nanophyetus, a parasite
that burrows into juvenile
salmon and steelhead and
attacks their muscle tissue.
Kendall said nanophy-
etus has been documented
much more heavily in the
southern Puget Sound,
though there is concern that
the parasite could spread as
waters continue to warm.
During the 2015 drought,
Kendall said the team docu-
mented nearly 100 percent
of steelhead with nanophy-
etus in the Nisqually River.
River
contaminants
are another concern, with
Kendall mentioning poly-
brominated diphenyl ethers,
or PBDEs, a compound
found in flame retardants.
“There are certain levels
if they get into fish and
other animals that can affect
their health and vitality,”
she said.
All of those factors have
contributed to a decline
in Northwest steelhead
survival over the past four
decades, Kendall said.
Populations that once saw
10 percent returns are
now down to 5-6 percent.
Columbia River steelhead
have fared slightly better
than Puget Sound steelhead,
she added.
Kendall said they are
working with the state of
Washington to fund their
program for the next two
years, which will allow
them to continue refining
their data.
“Hopefully, we can
make better policy and
management recommenda-
tions,” she said.
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
RESTAURANT: Hopes to employ 6-7 people
Continued from 1A
The idea for the restau-
rant came earlier this year,
when Estle met with the
church board to discuss
ideas to create jobs in the
community.
“With this restaurant,
that’s exactly what it’s
doing,” he said. “We’ll try
to employ people on state
assistance, people strug-
gling to get jobs because of
felonies. Those aren’t the
only people we’ll employ,
but the goal is to help people
that need work, and need
to be able to do things to fit
better into society.”
He hopes to employ six
or seven people once the
restaurant opens, but those
working to get it ready for
business are all volunteers.
The restaurant will
largely be furnished by
community
donations,
including dishes, booths and
a salad bar — which Estle
attributes to community
spirit.
“We
opened
the
restaurant with less than
a thousand dollars in the
bank account,” Estle said.
“People have donated from
around the community, not
even really knowing what
they are donating, if that
makes sense,” he said. “The
lady who gave us booths
didn’t even know we were
opening a restaurant.”
Though the restaurant
hadn’t opened yet, Estle said
last week that it was already
achieving the goals he’d
hoped.
“It’s amazing,” he said.
“People working together
— that’s what we’re
hoping we’re building here.
Community.”
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