Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Friday, January 18, 2019 U.S. shutdown stalls training, other prep for wildfire season By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press PORTLAND — Just two months after a wildfire wiped out Paradise, Califor- nia, officials are gearing up for this year’s fire season and fear the government shut- down could make it even more difficult than one of the worst in history. The winter months are critical for wildfire managers who use the break from the flames to prepare for the next onslaught, but much of that effort has ground to a halt on U.S. land because employ- ees are furloughed. Fire- fighting training courses are being canceled from Tennes- see to Oregon, piles of dead trees are untended in federal forests and controlled burns to thin dry vegetation aren’t getting done. Although the furloughs only affect federal employ- ees, the collaborative nature of wildland firefighting means the pain of the four- week-long shutdown is hav- ing a ripple effect — from firefighters on the ground to federal contractors and top managers who control the firefighting strategy. State and local crews who need training classes, for example, are scrambling AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File In this Nov. 12, 2018, file photo, a firefighter battles a fire along the Ronald Reagan Freeway, aka state Highway 118, in Simi Valley, Calif. without federal instructors. Conservation groups that work with the U.S. Forest Service to plan wildfire-pre- vention projects on federal lands are treading water. Annual retreats where local, state and federal firefighting agencies strategize are being called off. The fire season starts as early as March in the southeastern United States, and by April, fires pop up in the Southwest. Last year’s most devastating fire lev- eled the Northern California town of Paradise just before Thanksgiving, leaving just a few months to prepare between seasons. “I think a lot of people don’t understand that while there’s not fire going on out there right now, there’s a lot of really critical work going on for the fire season — and that’s not getting done,” said Michael DeGrosky, chief of the Fire Protection Bureau for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. It’s especially important with climate change mak- ing wildfire seasons lon- ger, deadlier and more destructive. DeGrosky was supposed to be teaching a course this Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY Cloudy Mostly cloudy with a little rain Cloudy, a little rain; cooler Times of clouds and sun A thick cloud cover 50° 42° 50° 39° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 41° 32° 44° 33° 49° 41° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 50° 41° 54° 41° 46° 33° 48° 30° OREGON FORECAST 52° 41° ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 49/46 Kennewick Walla Walla 50/44 Lewiston 49/47 51/41 Astoria 51/47 43/37 43/34 Longview 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Pullman Yakima 44/37 49/43 49/40 Portland Hermiston 50/45 The Dalles 50/41 Salem Corvallis 49/47 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 45/38 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 50/47 43/39 45/42 Ontario 47/36 48/38 40/31 0.24" 0.42" 0.70" 0.42" 0.64" 0.70" WINDS (in mph) Caldwell Burns 40° 34° 42° 29° 62° (1974) -21° (1930) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 49/47 through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 42/34 50/47 0.26" 0.38" 0.89" 0.38" 0.79" 0.89" HERMISTON Enterprise 50/42 44/37 35° 30° 42° 28° 64° (1919) -17° (1930) The Daily Astorian/Colin Murphey The Haystack Rock Awareness Program recommends avoiding jellyfish that wash up on local beaches. Jellyfish show up by the hundreds on North Coast By KATIE FRANKOWICZ EO Media Group An incomplete list of things that have washed up on North Coast beaches: a giant octopus, dead whales, pyrosomes, Jap- anese fishing boats, hun- dreds of Humboldt squid, so much bull kelp, so much plastic. And now, earlier this week, moon jellyfish as far as the eye could see around Haystack Rock. Large numbers of stranded jellyfish are not an unusual sight on local beaches, especially after storms or during times of strong waves and seasonal upwelling, the Haystack Rock Awareness Program noted on Facebook. Moon jellyfish are just one type of jellyfish that shows up frequently. Pacific sea nettles, which do sting, are a common find. These jellies are yel- low-brown with a sort of frilled edge when nestled in the sand. Tiny comb jellies will dot the beach, looking like oversized water drop- lets frozen in place. Most years, rafts of Vel- lela vellela — or by-the- wind sailors that float on the water’s surface and are propelled across the ocean thanks to a triangular sail — blow onto the beach and carpet the sand. They bleach white in the sun, send up a briny stink and are munched upon by fool- hardy dogs. In recent years, the North Coast has hosted unexpected creatures like pyrosomes. The little-stud- ied rubbery, tube-shaped, semitranslucent colonies showed up en masse on beaches across Oregon, and especially around Can- non Beach and Ecola State Park, in 2017. More com- mon in warmer waters, pyrosomes confounded researchers and clogged up commercial fishing gear. Oregon researchers continue to study the role of jellyfish in marine food webs and their potential impact on coastal fishing. Jellyfish may drift gracefully and dreamily when in water, but on land they are gelatinous blobs sometimes spiked with intricate colors. They are always a fascinating find for beachgoers and tempt- ing to poke or even pick up. The Haystack Rock Awareness Program noted that moon jellyfish do not sting most people, but jel- lies like the Pacific sea net- tle do wash up and can still sting even after the animal is dead. PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 52/44 Aberdeen 40/35 39/33 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 53/46 week for firefighters who want to qualify for the com- mand staff of a fire manage- ment team. But the class was canceled without instructors from federal agencies. Similar classes were called off in Oregon and Tennessee, and others face the same fate as the shut- down drags on. President Donald Trump and congres- sional Democrats are at odds over funding for a border wall. A dozen senators from Oregon, California, New Mexico, Washington, Colo- rado, Nevada, West Virginia and Michigan sent a letter this week to Trump warning that the shutdown would put lives at risk this coming fire season. Classes necessary for fire incident managers, smokejumpers and hotshot crews are in jeopardy in the near future, the senators said. Smokejumpers parachute into remote forests to bat- tle blazes not accessible by firefighters on the ground and hotshot crews are small groups of elite firefighters trained to battle the most ferocious flames. The winter is also when seasonal firefighters apply for jobs, get the required drug tests and move to where they will train and work. In many cases, there’s no one to answer the phone or process the applications, and some potential recruits may decide to work elsewhere to avoid the hassle. “Even if the shutdown ends and we start hiring peo- ple, we will have missed the cream of the crop,” DeGrosky said. The U.S. Forest Service said in an email that the agency was committed to hiring for temporary and per- manent firefighting positions and would continue criti- cal training “to the extent feasible.” Boardman Pendleton Medford 48/45 Today Sat. SSW 4-8 S 7-14 SW 6-12 SW 7-14 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 40/36 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 7:30 a.m. 4:41 p.m. 2:19 p.m. 4:53 a.m. Full Last New First Jan 20 Jan 27 Feb 4 Feb 12 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 79° in Boca Raton, Fla. Low -21° in Saranac Lake, N.Y. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY BRIEFLY Deschutes County addresses wildfire risk with zoning changes BEND (AP) — Deschutes County has approved new zoning intended to reduce the chance that a major wildfire will hit Bend. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported on Thursday that the county will require new construction on Bend’s west side to be low density and fire-resistant. The idea is that this new zoning area will provide a long buffer between the pine for- ests and one of Oregon’s fastest-growing cities. The zoning will mean 10 times fewer homes in the area than the previous code permitted. Paul Dewey, executive director of Cen- tral Oregon LandWatch, says because of the winds, wildfire will hit those neighbor- hoods first and having fire-resistant zoning is critical. The nonprofit advocacy group has been working with the county and private land- owners for years to get the idea approved. Student removed from North Bend school after online comment about guns NORTH BEND (AP) — Police responded to North Bend High School and contacted a student in the cafeteria after receiving a report that the 14-year-old boy had responded to a discussion about cyber- bullying with “I’ll bring the guns.” North Bend Police Chief Robert Kap- pelman said in a statement that no weapons were found and the student said he didn’t actually intend to bring guns. The student was removed from the school and prosecu- tors are reviewing the case. KCBY reports that the situation started Wednesday evening when a North Bend High teacher learned of an online discus- sion among students about a student who was being cyberbullied School administrators contacted police Thursday morning. Lawyer who represented Saudi men who fled facing threats PORTLAND (AP) — The Oregon attor- ney who represented Saudi nationals who fled the country after their government paid their bail has temporarily closed her law practice because of threats made since the cases were detailed by The Oregonian/ OregonLive. Ginger Mooney, of Hood River, told the newspaper she has received dozens of terri- fying emails and calls with violent and vir- ulent anti-Muslim messages. Mooney has handled at least nine crim- inal cases involving Saudi students across Oregon who were accused of crimes includ- ing sex abuse and harassment. Most ended with the charges dropped or reduced. In at least four of those cases, the men fled the country before trial or com- pleting their jail sentence. The Saudi gov- ernment paid for the bail in three of those cases. Mooney’s lawyer said Mooney acted ethically in her representation of the men. She says the cases represent a fraction of her overall practice. Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s ice 50s 60s cold front E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays EastOregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to EastOregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front high 110s low CORRECTIONS: The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818. Subscriber services: For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1 SUBSCRIPTION RATES EZPay 52 weeks 26 weeks 13 weeks Local home delivery Savings (cover price) $14.50 41 percent $173.67 41 percent $91.86 38 percent $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday Circulation Manager: Bonny Tuller, 541-966-0828 ADVERTISING Regional Publisher and Revenue Director: • Christopher Rush 541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com Advertising Services: • Angela Treadwell 541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com • Grace Bubar 541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Kimberly Macias 541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Classified & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com Business Office Manager: 541-966-0822 COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com
