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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2019)
REGION Tuesday, December 3, 2019 East Oregonian A3 Diving robots help with McNary Dam maintenance By KATY NESBITT For the East Oregonian Photo courtesy of the CTUIR The members of the CTUIR Youth Leadership Council will be sworn in on Dec. 4. CTUIR Youth Council elects new members By ANTONIO SIERRA East Oregonian MISSION — The Con- federated Tribes of the Uma- tilla Indian Reservation’s Youth Leadership Council elected 21 new members to its senior and junior groups at a summit Nov. 24. According to a CTUIR press release, Pendleton High School freshman Lindsey Pasena-Littlesky will chair the senior council while Sky Smith will chair the junior council. To demonstrate her excite- ment for the new councils, newly elected Vice Chair Latis Nowland referenced a quote by Mahatma Gandhi: “The future depends on what we do in the present.” “This quote reminds me of this year’s newly elected boards,” she said. “But this quote kind of talks about the words and the prom- ises made and me saying it is kind of a way of saying I hope that this new board we can make things happen.” Each candidate was inter- viewed by Corinne Sams and Jill-Marie Gavin, mem- bers-elect to the CTUIR Board of Trustees, and Julie Taylor, director of the tribes’ department of children and family services. Tribal youths also heard speeches from Sams, Tay- lor, and Thomas Joseph, a climate change activist from the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in California. The rest of the offi cers on the senior council are Treasurer Bryson Spino, Secretary Malaya Stanger, Publicist Gorgie Hoising- ton, and Cultural Ambas- sador Nizhoni Toledo. The members-at-large are Jae- Dean Looney, Muriel Jones, Chris Minthorn, Izabelle Sigo, Keyen Singer, Sum- mer Wildbill, and Alyric Redstone. Beyond Smith, the junior council also elected Vice Chair Lillian Watchman, Treasurer Ella Stewart, Sec- retary Siddalee Baker, and Cultural Ambassador Bryson Red Crane. The members-at- large are Waptas Brockie, Sunhawk Thomas, Amari- ana Willingham, and Nicolas Alexander. The youth council mem- bers will be sworn in along with the General Council and Board of Trustees at a cere- mony at the Nixyaawii Gov- ernance Center at 9 a.m. on Dec. 4. BRIEFLY Boardman crash injures St. Paul superintendent BOARDMAN — The superintendent of the St. Paul School District was injured in a two-vehicle crash on Interstate 84 out- side Boardman on Satur- day afternoon. According to a state- Wehrli ment from the St. Paul Middle and High School principal, Patrick Schrader, Joseph Mark Wehrli was on the way home from the OSAA football state championships at Hermiston High School. A commercial truck and trailer driven by Liviu Aurel Czegledi, 44, of Portland, was slowed in the right lane for traffi c caused by a previous accident near mile- post 162 when a Ford pickup, driven by Wehrli, collided into the back of the trailer at highway speed, according to the Oregon State Police. Wehrli was incapacitated at the scene, and was fl own by LifeFlight to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Kennewick, Washington, with serious injuries. The accident blocked the freeway for 2½ hours. No citations were issued. Wehrli has broken bones in his left leg and hip, according to Schrader. His dog was in the truck at the time of the accident and did not suffer from any injuries. Highway 11 crash sends two to the hospital Saturday morning WESTON — Two people were injured Saturday morning in a crash just north of Weston. Fire Chief Tiffanie Andrews-Rost, of East Umatilla County Fire and Rescue, said there were two cars involved in the crash that happened just after 9 a.m. at the inter- section of Highway 11 and Winn Road. Andrews-Rost said the vehicles were damaged badly, but the intersection was not blocked during the two hours of cleanup. It was not known if the injured people were in one car or in both cars. Both people were transported to Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla, Washington. Oregon State Police is investigating the crash. Youth snowmobile safety class offered TOLLGATE — The Tollgate Trail Find- ers will sponsor a Youth Snowmobile Safety Class on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Tollgate Trail Finders club- house, 62369 Highway 204, mile post 18.8, next to the Alpine Outpost. Lunch and bev- erages will be provided. The class is designed for ages 8-16. All persons operating a snowmobile on public property and trails open to the public are required to possess a valid motor vehicle operator’s license or a snowmobile opera- tor permit. The snowmobile operator per- mit will be issued upon successful comple- tion of this class. This class is free with current Tollgate Trail Finders ($50) or Oregon State Snow- mobile Association ($35) membership. Memberships will be available the morn- ing of the class at the TTF clubhouse. To register, contact Brandon Chris- tensen, Tollgate Trail Finders president, at brandon@christensenusa.com or call 509- 830-3706 with the class attendee’s name, address, phone number, date of birth and email address. For more information about the class, contact instructor Andy Millar at 541-377-9735. Attendees must dress for outdoor snow weather, as they will be expected to operate a snowmobile for a practical exam. Tollgate Trailfi nders Snowmobile Club (TTF) is an all-volunteer organization that maintains hundreds of miles of groomed snowmobile trails on private and public land. The TTF works with private land- owners as well as the U.S. Forest Service to ensure access for winter recreation in the Tollgate Area of the Blue Mountains. The TTF has activities throughout the year and welcomes owners of snowmo- biles, snow bikes, tracked side-by-sides and tracked ATVS. To become a member, or for more information, visit www.tollgatetrail- fi nders.org or like Tollgate Trailfi nders on Facebook. — EO Media Group and wire services WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Balancing hydro- power and salmon popula- tions is a delicate balance. To safely detect underwa- ter maintenance needs at McNary Dam, the Army Corps of Engineers uses diving robots in the early winter, a slow time for migrating juvenile salmon. According to Army Corps spokesman Joe Saxon, the majority of dives by remotely operated under- water vehicles and humans is between Dec. 15 and March 1 to minimize the effect on migrating fi sh. He said all diving work is coor- dinated with other agen- cies like NOAA and the EPA to assess environmen- tal impacts on the river and endangered species. “The in-water work win- dow is the time span that has minimal effect on endan- gered species like steel- head, bull trout, so it is a better time for us to per- form dive work,” Saxon said. “An example would be the installation of sensors on the turbine intake and spill- way gates that are used in fi sh research projects.” The robots also inspect damage to trash racks — wide metal grills stacked on top of each other in front of the dam’s intake gates that stop debris from being sucked into the tur- bines and damaging them. For the safety of divers and robots, Saxon said when divers or robots are inspect- ing the trash racks the tur- bine intake gates are locked out to mitigate the differen- tial pressure danger, suction caused by turbines as water fl ows through the dam. If the intake gates are not locked, the pressure could pull in an ROV or diver, trapping them. Army Corps of Engineers Photo Portland District Dive Coordinator Todd Manny pilots a remotely operated underwater vehicle. The Army Corps of Engineers uses diving robots in the early winter to safely detect underwater maintenance needs at McNary Dam. “ROVs are the most cost-effective way to inspect underwater structures, so we try to use them as much as possible when no con- struction or repair work is required,” he said. One of the most vital inspections by the robots are of vertical barrier screens in front of every turbine, Saxon said. “These screens protect juvenile fi sh from going through the power house and direct the fi sh up into a collection channel where they are sent to the juvenile fi sh facility,” he said. “The juvenile fi sh facility either discharges the fi sh below the dam or sorts the fi sh by species, and collects the fi sh and transports them below Bonneville Dam.” The fi sh also go through passive integrated transpon- der tag detectors where data of origin is collected. If any of the screens are found to be defective, the turbine is taken out of service and the screens must be repaired or replaced with a spare, Saxon said. The trash racks are cleared with a rake attached to a crane throughout the year, but especially in the spring during high water runoff that carries logs downstream. Saxon said robots are used as an initial inspection tool when there is an issue with equipment below the waterline and out of sight, and used in conjunction with sonar that helps locate structures in deep, dark, murky, turbid water and to take a look at structures from a greater distance. “If the sonar shows an area where something looks out of place, we can move the ROV in closer for a more detailed look,” Saxon said. Some examples he listed are inspecting wire ropes anchored to the bottom of the river — some as deep as 120 feet — and the under- water condition of cof- fer cells, piers and other structures below the water surface. “The ROV provides us with a safer means of col- lecting data and is a more cost-effi cient way to gather this data,” he said. While robots are safer, more effi cient and cost effective, Saxon said human divers are used when there is a need for cutting, weld- ing, cable installation, con- crete work or underwater placement of equipment. Stepping into care. 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