OFF PAGE ONE
Saturday, July 22, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 13A
DAM: Was rebuilt in 1976 with fish ladders Washington man faces
perjury for using
in-state hunting tags
Continued from 1A
“There’s water savings.
There’s ecological benefits.
There’s economic benefits
for the local irrigation
districts,” Ward said. “This
has all hallmarks of a great
project.”
Mutual interest
Dillon Dam was origi-
nally built in 1915 and now
serves five landowners as
part of the Dillon Irrigation
Company, with water rights
dating back to the 1890s.
Mike Taylor, who owns
the Double M Ranch in Echo
and Stanfield, acts as presi-
dent of the small irrigation
company. He uses Dillon
water to irrigate 1,650 acres
of his own property, where
he and his family raise about
1,300 cows.
It was Taylor’s idea, albeit
jokingly at first, to remove
the dam, which was proving
to be a headache to maintain.
Every year — sometimes
twice a year — he said land-
owners were forced to bring
in their own equipment to
clear out gravel that washed
downstream, plugging up
their headgate and blocking
access to the dam’s juvenile
fish ladder.
Taylor discussed the issue
with Bill Duke, district fish
biologist for the Oregon
Department of Fish & Wild-
life, and Brian Zimmerman,
fish passage supervisor for
the Confederated Tribes of
the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation. As it turns out, there
was mutual interest toward
losing the dam.
Over the course of
multiple
fish
tagging
surveys, Dillon Dam was
pegged as a top offender for
delaying native salmon and
steelhead in the Umatilla
River. Though the dam was
rebuilt in 1976 with fish
ladders on either side of the
200-foot structure, Duke said
they are not always adequate
for passage needs.
“Fall chinook and coho,
they tend to come up to that
obstruction and get delayed
there. They end up spawning
there below the dam,” Duke
said. “It’s not conducive for
rearing juvenile salmon and
steelhead down there.”
During low summer
flows, the ladders are too
steep for juveniles to swim
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A pair of excavators work on removing the 100-year-old Dillon Dam on Wednesday
near Echo.
freely upriver as they try to
seek refuge in cooler water.
Pacific lamprey were also
stonewalled at the dam after
they were reintroduced by
the tribes into the Umatilla
River.
“We’re trying to get
passage for all native fish,”
Duke said.
Point of diversion
Sides agreed they wanted
to see Dillon Dam removed.
The question was how, and
where, irrigators would
receive their historic Dillon
water rights.
The idea remained on the
shelf until 2011, when the
local watershed council got
involved. Silbernagel, who
now serves as the district
watermaster for the Oregon
Water Resources Depart-
ment in Pendleton, was
instrumental in developing a
project feasibility study that
was published in 2014, with
funding from the Oregon
Watershed
Enhancement
Board.
The study recommended
the Dillon point of diversion
be shifted upstream to the
existing Westland Diversion
Dam. From there, a two-mile
pipeline would run along
Andrews Road, bypassing
the dam back into the Dillon
Irrigation Ditch.
Despite some initial
concern about moving
the irrigation diversion
upstream, the pieces soon fell
into place. Silbernagel was
able to secure another grant
from OWEB for $297,383
toward pipeline construction.
Staldine, who succeeded
Silbernagel as watershed
council director, brought
in another $174,400 from
the ODFW Restoration and
Enhancement Board last
year. The rest of the pipeline
funding was provided by
Taylor, Dillon and Westland
irrigators to the tune of
$140,000.
Construction of the pipe-
line was done in February
and March. In addition to
bypassing the dam, Taylor
said the line will help to
improve water efficiency and
will save on system mainte-
nance costs.
Taylor said it will be hard
to imagine the river without
Dillon Dam, a mainstay of
his operation for decades.
“It’s been there as long as
I’ve been here,” he said. “In
the long run, it’s going to be
beneficial.”
Dam removal
With the water diversion
issue settled, all that’s left is
to demolish the old dam.
ODFW crews from John
Day have been brought in to
do the work, which started
last week with several days
of fish salvage and water
pumping from the river. The
dam itself measures approx-
imately 200 feet long, 6 feet
wide and 16 feet deep.
Bonneville
Power
Administration is paying
$600,000 for deconstruc-
tion, using money from the
2008 Columbia Basin Fish
Accords with local tribes,
including the CTUIR.
Rick Christian, Umatilla
Basin habitat project leader
for the CTUIR, began
working on the project
about two years ago. He
said passage obstructions
on the lower river need to
be dealt with to make sure
salmon and steelhead aren’t
expending all their energy
before they can reach prime
spawning ground — what
he described as “pre-spawn
mortality.”
“Our fish come a long
way to spawn,” Christian
said. “Let’s make it as easy
as possible for them.”
Taylor McCroskey, fish
habitat biologist for ODFW,
said the agency has identified
other obstructions that they
would like to remove from
the main stem of the Umatilla
River to further improve
passage, but he remained
tight-lipped on specifics.
“We want to get them up
into the tributaries so they
can spawn in those cooler
headwaters,”
McCroskey
said. “We’re all hoping
that we have a lot less fish
passage delay here, and a lot
more fish moving upstream
faster.”
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
BIRDS: Law allows the shooting of some invasive species
Continued from 1A
In 2016, 42 gunshot birds
came to the facility, including
multiple red-tailed hawks,
a great blue heron and a
pelican. Only five could be
saved.
Several raptors who
likely will never fly free
live in a flight pen on the
premises. Three of the five
suffered gunshot wounds. A
male red-tailed hawk came
to Tompkins after being
shot with an air rifle. A
rough-legged hawk has an
amputated leg — the result
of a bullet. A Harlan’s hawk
suffered two broken wings
from a shotgun blast.
“She holds the record,”
Tompkins said of the
Harlan’s hawk. “She has 21
pieces of lead in her body.”
Tomkins is obligated to
report such human aggres-
sion toward migratory birds.
She emails radiographs of the
injuries to the Department of
Fish and Wildlife, Oregon
State Police and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.
The federal Migratory
Bird Treaty Act of 1918
protects ferruginous hawks
and 1,026 other native bird
species. The law says one
cannot “pursue, hunt, shoot,
wound, kill, trap, capture
or collect migratory birds.”
Bald and golden eagles have
extra protections through
another piece of legislation,
aptly called the Bald and
Golden Eagle Protection Act.
The law prohibits harming
or taking eagles or their
parts, nests and eggs. Even
picking an eagle feather off
the ground is illegal.
Special Agent in Charge
Jim Ashburner, of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service,
said people convicted of
shooting migratory birds
don’t conform to one type.
“They run the gamut
from the 12-year-old with a
BB gun to people trying to
commercially harvest eagles
so they can sell the feathers,”
Ashburner said.
James Brown Walker
beat the rap for lying on his
application for an Oregon
hunting license when
Umatilla County Circuit
Judge Dan Hill dismissed
the case in April.
Come
Monday,
however, Walker faces a
felony charge of perjury
because of what he said
under oath in the case Hill
dismissed.
The Umatilla County
District Attorney’s Office
in 2016 charged Walker,
72, with four counts
of false application for
hunting licenses and tags,
according to court records.
The state accused Walker of
claiming he lived in Oregon
while he actually lived in
Washington. Walker bought
in-state hunting licenses
and tags in June 2010 and
February, April and June
2011 in Hermiston.
Walker ducked the
charges
and
skipped
arraignments for years,
according to court records,
until police finally caught
him in February 2016.
A non-resident hunting
license for 2017 in Oregon
costs $160.50, a tick more
than five times a resident
license, according to the
Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife. Huntings
tags vary depending on the
game. A resident buck deer
tag goes for $26.50, but
non-residents pay $414.
And an Oregon elk tag for
an Oregonian costs $46,
while an out-of-state hunter
would have to cough up
$549.
Unless that hunter lied
about where he or she lived.
The case plodded along
in court until this spring,
when Hunter’s attorney,
Robert Klahn of Pendleton,
filed a motion to dismiss.
He argued the state violated
Walker’s speedy trial rights.
Judge Hill on April 4
heard arguments on that
motion, and the next day
issued a 24-page ruling
that agreed with Klahn
and granted the motion to
dismiss. Hill argued the
state failed in its diligence
to pursue Walker while
there was a warrant for his
arrest.
Umatilla County deputy
prosecutor Craig Russell
filed a 91-page motion on
April 12 asking Hill to
reconsider the dismissal.
Russell argued Walker and
his wife in 2008 bought a
$390,800 home in Pasco.
But in his application for
hunting licenses and tags he
used the address of 84848
Grande Ronde Road, Troy.
According to Russell,
Oregon State Police trooper
Mark Knapp checked out
that address and found a
vacant lot.
And Walker at the April
4 hearing testified that for
years he lived at 250 North
Lucy St., Stanfield. Police
checked that multiple times
after Walker skipped court
in 2012. And just like in
Troy, Russell said the place
turned out to be a vacant lot.
But the real kicker,
Russell
explained,
happened in the moments
after Walker left the Herm-
iston circuit court.
Hermiston police officer
Victor Gutierrez stopped
Walker for using his
cellphone while driving.
Gutierrez asked Walker for
his driver’s license, which
had an address of Mesa,
Washington.
Gutierrez
asked Walker if he still lived
there, and Walker stated, “I
am planning on moving to
Oregon.”
The interaction between
Gutierrez and Walker
lasted seven minutes and
17 seconds, and Gutierrez
captured it on his body cam.
Even with the new
evidence, however, Hill
explained in an April 27
response that he could
not vacate the dismissal
because the court made no
error and the new facts did
not exist at the time of the
hearing.
Less than eight weeks
later, a Umatilla County
grand jury indicted Walker
for perjury stemming from
his April 4 testimony.
Court records show the
district attorney’s office
plans to charge him with
the class C felony Monday
at the Stafford Hansell
Government
Center,
Hermiston, where the
state alleged he committed
perjury in the first place.
———
Contact Phil Wright at
pwright@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0833.
Kushner adds at least $10M
in assets to revised disclosure
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The rough-legged hawk, foreground, was brought into Blue Mountain Wildlife with
a gunshot wound to its wing that require a partial amputation of the wing to save
the bird.
Getting caught harming
migratory birds can be an
expensive proposition.
Last year, a federal
magistrate fined a teenager
in Beaumont, Texas, $25,850
and 200 hours of community
service for shooting two
whooping cranes.
A Virginia man faces a
possible $1,000 fine and a
year in prison after shooting a
bald eagle with a .22-caliber
rifle and finishing the bird off
with a handgun. According
to court documents, he
complained the bird ate fish
from his pond.
Catching someone in the
act is difficult. Authorities
from federal and state wild-
life agencies and other law
enforcement often rely on
reports by members of the
public.
“They are the eyes and
ears for bird conservation,”
said Mike Green, deputy
chief of the USFWS migra-
tory bird program. “We can’t
be everywhere. We rely on
information from the public.”
Though the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act protects most
birds, there are exceptions.
“We allow scientists to
collect birds for scientific
investigation,” Green said.
Also, he said, a farmer
dealing with birds damaging
crops may apply for a depre-
dation permit. Hunters are
allowed to shoot waterfowl
and upland game during
state-controlled
hunting
seasons. Additionally, the
law allows the shooting of
some invasive species such
as starlings and house spar-
rows.
This month, Oregon
State Police and the USFWS
reached out to the public for
help finding a suspect who
they believe shot a bald eagle
north of Gaston in late June.
After someone spotted the
injured eagle, police caught
the bird after following it
through thick brush and a
swamp. An X-ray revealed
metal fragments that indi-
cated a gun had caused the
damage.
Tompkins, at Blue Moun-
tain Wildlife, feels frustrated
every time she sees the result
of bullets or shotgun pellets
tearing through a bird.
“These are intentional
acts,” she said. “The vast
majority of shooters never
get caught.”
Whitten, who spends
every Wednesday bird-
watching with Dillenburg
and two other birdwatching
enthusiasts, laments the
senseless death of the ferru-
ginous hawk and possibly his
mate, too.
“Ferruginous hawks are
beautiful, big, lovely birds,”
she said.
Whitten said she and her
fellow bird watchers from
the Pendleton Bird Club
aren’t seeing as many as they
once did in the county. At one
time, she knew of 10 nests
and now knows of only two.
Green said his quest to
protect migratory birds and
other wildlife is more than
just a job.
“We’re in this game
because we love wildlife,”
he said. “Our overriding
concern is the conservation
of these birds and making
sure they persist over time.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com
or call 541-966-0810.
WA S H I N G T O N
(AP) — President Donald
Trump’s son-in-law and
senior
adviser
Jared
Kushner
“inadvertently
omitted” more than 70
assets worth at least $10.6
million from his personal
financial disclosure reports,
according to revised paper-
work released Friday.
The previously unre-
ported assets were included
in updated financial disclo-
sure reports certified by the
U.S. Office of Government
Ethics on Thursday as part
of the “ordinary review
process,” according to
Kushner’s filing.
Among the new disclo-
sures, Kushner reported
owning artwork worth
between $5 million and $25
million. The new forms also
reflect that Kushner sold his
interest in an aging shop-
ping mall in Eatontown,
New Jersey, and no longer
has a stake in a company
that had held an interest in
property in Toledo, Ohio.
Kushner also clarified
his $5 million to $25
million stake in a holding
company that owns Cadre,
an online real estate invest-
ment platform investors
valued at $800 million that
he co-founded with his
brother, Joshua.
Kushner’s wife and
the president’s daughter,
Ivanka Trump, also filed
new federal disclosures.
She reported assets of
at least $66 million and
earned at least $13.5
million in income last year
from her various business
ventures, including more
than $2.4 million from the
new Trump hotel near the
White House.
The filings reflect the
extraordinary wealth of
Trump and her husband,
who stepped down from
running their companies
and left their Manhattan
apartment to move their
young family to Wash-
ington earlier this year.
A lawyer advising
Kushner said that federal
officials are allowed to
amend their initial financial
disclosures before they
are certified, and stressed
that Kushner had complex
finances.
“Jared and Ivanka
have followed each of
the required steps in their
transition from private
citizens to federal officials.
The Office of Government
Ethics has certified Jared’s
financial
disclosure,
reflecting its determination
that his approach complies
with federal ethics laws,”
said Kushner attorney
Jamie Gorelick. “Ivanka’s
financial disclosure form is
still in the pre-certification
stage, as she began the
process later.”
Clay Johnson, who
served as President George
W. Bush’s director of pres-
idential personnel, said he
was surprised by the sheer
number of updates six
months in.
“The way we ran it ... is
that the general direction
to all nominees is tell us
what we ask for now. We
will then stand behind
you whatever may come
in. But there are to be no
surprises,” said Johnson,
who also served as Bush’s
deputy director of the
Office of Management and
Budget.
The federal disclosures
filed by Ivanka Trump were
her first since taking on an
official, unpaid role at the
White House.