RACING
‘ROUND THE
ROUND-UP
GROUNDS
SPORTS/1B
WEEKEND EDITION
MODEL, ARTIST, ARCHITECT
LIFESTYLES/1C
SPICER RESIGNS NATION/9A
JULY 22-23, 2017
141st Year, No. 200
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2017 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
DAM NEAR GONE
HERMISTON
School district
to tap interim
superintendent
on Monday
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
An excavator with a air-chisel attachment demolishes a section of the Dillon Diversion Dam on Wednesday in Echo. The
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is removing the irrigation diversion dam to improve fi sh passage and due to the high
cost of maintenance.
Crews begin work removing fi sh impediment
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
395
207
It took 20 years of planning,
studies and grant writing, but
removal of the Dillon Diversion
Dam is fi nally underway on the
Umatilla River.
A pair of excavators rumbled
over the dry, rocky riverbed
Wednesday morning two miles
downstream of Echo, while
project managers watched from
a clearing along the stream bank.
One of the backhoes, fi tted with
a massive air chisel, moved into
position and sliced into the aging
concrete like a hot knife through
butter.
“I’ve been on a lot of
construction projects, but never
a deconstruction,” said Michael
Ward, executive director of
the Umatilla Basin Watershed
Council.
Ward, who was hired by
the watershed council last
November, is the third director
to help carry the project across
the fi nish line. His predecessors,
Cold
Springs
Res.
E Loop Road
Hermiston
Feedville Road
Umatilla River
395
Stanfield
Dillon Dam
slated for
removal
rail
on T
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Oreg
Concrete from the removal of the dam will be used to fi ll the
old Dillon irrigation ditch, west of the old dam.
Greg Silbernagel and Jon Stal-
dine, also played key roles in
applying for funds and rallying
local partners.
Work offi cially began July 13
to tear out the dam, which had
been identifi ed as a fi sh-blocking,
water-clogging burden. Not only
did the structure pose a barrier to
salmon, steelhead and lamprey,
but due to its location gravel bars
would routinely wash over the
irrigation headgate during high
fl ows, leaving ranchers to clean
up the mess.
Crews will have until Sept. 15
to fi nish the job, which is around
the same time fall chinook
84
Echo
d
Roa
N
1 mile
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
usually start making their way
back up the river to spawn.
Fish passage is, of course a
major theme of the project, Ward
said. But that’s not the only perk
to removing the dam.
See DAM/13A
“Our fi sh come a long way to spawn. Let’s make it as easy as possible for them.”
— Rick Christian, Umatilla Basin habitat project leader for the CTUIR
A current Hermiston School District
employee, a retired Hermiston High
School principal and an Arizona consul-
tant are fi nalists for the district’s interim
superintendent position.
The district announced Friday it will
interview Tricia Mooney, Philip “Buzz”
Brazeau and Richard Rundhaug on
Monday, followed by a school board
meeting at 6:30 p.m. to make a fi nal
selection.
The interviews will take place from
2-6:30 p.m. in the district’s boardroom,
305 S.W. 11th St. Staff and community
members are encouraged to stay through
the entire process and provide written
feedback on all three candidates.
One of them will be selected to fi ll
in for superintendent Fred Maiocco for
the next 12 to 18 months as he takes a
leave of absence to serve a tour of duty
in Europe with the U.S. Army Reserves.
Mooney is the district’s assistant
superintendent of human resources.
From 2009 to 2016 she worked for Pend-
leton School District, fi rst as director of
human resources and then as assistant
superintendent. She started her education
career in 1995 as a teacher for Herm-
iston School District and later served as
principal at Rocky Heights Elementary
School and Armand Larive Middle
School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in
elementary education from Northwestern
College in Iowa and a master’s degree in
educational leadership from Washington
State University and is currently working
on a doctorate degree.
Brazeau was principal of Hermiston
High School from 2007 to 2012 and
assistant principal there from 2004 to
2007. He recently retired as superinten-
dent for Central School District 13J in
Independence and earlier in his career
was assistant principal for North Medford
High School. He was one of the original
board members for the Eastern Oregon
Trade and Event Center. He has a bach-
elor’s degree in physical education from
Washington State University, a master’s
degree in education from Southern
Oregon University and an administrator’s
license from Portland State University.
Rundhaug has been a consultant for
A+ Educators in Phoenix since January
2015. He served as superintendent for
Willcox Unifi ed School District from
June 2008 to June 2014 and assistant
superintendent for Coolidge Unifi ed
School District before that. He has a
bachelor’s degree in diversifi ed general
studies from Hope International Univer-
sity, a master’s degree in educational
leadership from Northern Arizona
University, master’s in business analysis
from Webster University and a doctorate
degree in educational leadership from
Capella University.
Shooting migratory birds fl ies in face of federal law
Ferruginous hawk killed
in Coombs Canyon
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Raptors sit on a perch in a fl ight pen at Blue Mountain Wild-
life on Friday in Pendleton. The red-tailed hawk on the left and
the Harlan’s hawk on the right were both brought into animal
rehabilitation center with gunshot wounds.
The sight sent a jolt of horror through
bird watchers June Whitten and Diana
Dillenburg.
On a rock face in Coombs Canyon, a
ferruginous hawk lay dead, near where
the women had seen him at a nest only
a few weeks prior. The nest was now
empty and there was no sign of his mate.
Sadness washed over both women.
“We were about in tears,” Whitten
said. “It was an emotional thing.”
Ferruginous hawks are the largest
hawks, about the same size as osprey.
The birds sport rusty backs, a white
underside and feathers all the way to
their feet. The women, though they
travel around the county on weekly
birdwatching expeditions, don’t often
see this type of hawk.
Dillenburg climbed the steep hill
carrying a scoop shovel, a plastic bag
and a pair of gloves and collected the
carcass. They delivered the decom-
posing raptor to Lynn Tompkins, execu-
tive director at Blue Mountain Wildlife,
who took an X-ray. The image showed
bullet fragments and a leg broken in two
places.
“It either starved or bled out,” she
said.
Tompkins sees plenty of gunshot
birds at her rehabilitation facility. The
majority come in alive, but the odds are
slim the birds will stay that way.
“Most of them get euthanized,” she
said. “They are too damaged. We just
can’t fi x them.”
See BIRDS/13A