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NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Saturday, December 28, 2019 Pacific Northwest volcano is forecast to erupt United Way of Eastern within four years (but it isn’t in the Cascades) Oregon to cease operations By JES BURNS Oregon Public Broadcasting SALEM — Scientists are forecasting that the Pacific Northwest’s most active vol- cano will erupt sometime between 2020 and 2024. The volcano isn’t one you’ll see driving along the Cascade Range; instead, you’d have to look 1.5 miles deep in the ocean to find it. It’s called the Axial Sea- mount and it’s located about 300 miles due west of Asto- ria at the edge of the Juan de Fuca plate. If the volcano were on land, it would be one of the taller mountains in Oregon’s Coast Range. Oregon State Universi- ty’s Bill Chadwick made the eruption forecast at a scien- tific meeting this month. His forecast is based on mea- surements taken on the sea- floor around the seamount. “One of the ways that volcanoes are monitored around the world is to look for changes in their shape, like if the ground is being uplifted or sub- siding,” Chadwick said. “What you’re interested in is magma moving in or moving out, or is it just slumbering?” Axial Seamount has changed quite a bit over University of Washington Photo via OPB The Axial Seamount is the most active volcano in the Pacific Northwest. ipate when the next eruption might be,” he said. Chadwick says making such a straightforward and public forecast is its own kind of experiment. “We’re just kind of doing this forecasting … to see if it works. In my mind it’s more honest and more of a test to see if it’s really use- ful to do it before something happens, because it’s easy to kind of fool yourself in hindsight or spin it a certain way,” he said. Other scientists in the Pacific Northwest are also monitoring the seamount for signals of eruption. University of Washing- ton’s William Wilcock stud- ies earthquakes at Axial Seamount. The seismic activity gives indications of the last decades, with the surface gradually rising between eruptions, then suddenly dropping back down. “It’s erupted three times in the last 21 years. That’s more than Mount St. Hel- ens and any of the volcanoes in our neighborhood. So it’s gotten a lot of our attention and we’re trying to learn as much from it as we can,” he said. An expansive sea- floor monitoring net- work installed in 2014 has allowed Chadwick to mon- itor Axial Seamount in real time. Over the past few years, he’s watched the vol- cano slowly grow. “We’re using that repeated pattern of inflation and deflation to try to antic- what’s happening inside the volcano. “Immediately after an eruption, there are very few earthquakes, and then the number of earthquakes steadily increases as the vol- cano inflates,” he said. “So after the eruption in 2015, the number of earthquakes that we recorded went down to just a handful and it’s now up to maybe 50 a day.” Wilcock says he believe that Bill Chadwick’s fore- cast is in the right ballpark. “My personal view is it’s probably more likely in 2022 to 2024. But I think there’s some uncertainty,” he said. Unlike the eruption of land-based volcano, like Mount St. Helens, the erup- tion of the Axial Seamount won’t cause any problems for humans. “For the size of eruptions we’ve seen in the last 20 years … if you were on top of it on a boat, you would never know it,” OSU’s Chadwick said. But the forecast eruption does pro- vide a unique opportunity scientifically. “There’s a lot of interest in trying to set up experi- ments, to basically observe more of (the volcanic pro- cesses) as it’s happening,” Wilcock said. SUNDAY MONDAY Periods of clouds and sunshine Mostly cloudy 38° 29° 36° 29° TUESDAY Times of sun and clouds WEDNESDAY Rain and drizzle in the p.m. Mostly cloudy PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 38° 27° 49° 42° 42° 38° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 38° 31° 38° 30° 41° 28° 52° 41° 40° 37° OREGON FORECAST 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 46/42 34/28 35/30 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 36/29 Lewiston 46/41 37/32 Astoria 48/43 Pullman Yakima 35/30 46/40 38/32 Portland Hermiston 47/40 The Dalles 38/31 Salem Corvallis 44/38 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 37/29 PRECIPITATION John Day Eugene Bend 46/39 45/32 40/31 Ontario 38/26 Caldwell Burns 40° 22° 39° 27° 63° (1955) 6° (1983) 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 44/39 Boardman Pendleton Medford 45/32 Trace 0.13" 1.28" 5.08" 7.62" 9.75" WINDS (in mph) 37/27 34/21 Trace 0.75" 1.39" 12.33" 10.22" 12.86" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 35/28 45/39 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 38/29 40/33 44° 23° 39° 25° 63° (1980) 6° (1924) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 46/39 Aberdeen 33/27 32/28 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 47/43 By SABRINA THOMPSON EO Media Group LA GRANDE — United Way of Eastern Oregon will close its doors the last day of 2019. Alex McHaddad, interim president of the La Grande- based charity, explained a number of factors played roles in pushing the orga- nization’s board to vote to end operations, including the structure of United Way of Eastern Oregon. Rather than have a specific focus or cause, he said, United Way of Eastern Oregon served as the collection point that passed contributions to other charities and service organi- zations in Union and Baker counties, including Baker City Backpack program, Mount Emily Safe Center and Shelter From the Storm. “Today people aren’t as familiar when funding is generalized,” McHaddad said, and thus less likely to give to a clearinghouse type of model instead of directly to organizations and causes they value.” United Way of East- ern Oregon on its 2016 tax filing reported total rev- enue of $78,011 and total expenses of $53,157, leaving an excess of $24,854. But the following year’s tax fil- ing shows revenue dropped to $73,482 and expenses leaped to $104,654, putting the organization more than $31,000 in the hole. The organization on its 2018 tax filing shows revenue plum- meted to $52,777. Total expenses dropped as well, to $60,814, but that still left a deficit of $3,539. “We lost some sources of revenue in 2017, but we didn’t make changes to the budget,” McHaddad said. Changes in federal tax law made charitable dona- tions less appealing for corporations, he said, and United Way of East- ern Oregon in recent years lost some major corporate sponsors, including The Observer, which contrib- uted to the charity’s annual September golf tournament. But the real hit to the bot- tom line, he said, came from Oregon’s change that nixed employee payroll contributors. The charity’s board noti- fied partner agencies on Oct. 25 about shutting down, but did not reveal the decision to the public until last week. BRIEFLY Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY Number of issues lead to decision to end operations Today Sun. NNE 3-6 NNW 4-8 NE 3-6 NNE 4-8 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 40/24 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Women charged for robbing, intimidating witness Yakama Nation gets $400K for fish recovery projects WALLA WALLA, Wash. — Two Wash- ington women have been charged for allegedly robbing and intimidating a wit- ness, after another woman told police they two took her cellphone and threatened to assault her. Records state Mollie R. Janson, aka Mollie Alexander, 30, of College Place, and Karlee A. Phillips, 22, of Walla Walla, began harassing a woman on Sunday while the three were riding in Janson’s van. They were headed to a home where a man — against whom the alleged victim was to testify in trial — had been on house arrest. The woman told police she gave Janson her phone to “avoid any problems,” records stated. And when the three arrived at the North Palouse Street home, the alleged victim explained to the other two that the man had new charges in which she wasn’t involved, but Janson and Phillips continued threaten- ing, pushing and shoving her, records stated. The woman ran to Safeway on Rose Street, with one following her in the van and the other on foot, where employees called police. Janson and Phillips left before officers arrived, records stated. Janson and Phillips were arrested Sun- day night; on Monday, they appeared in court and were charged with second-degree robbery and intimidating a witness. Their bonds were set at $75,000 each. YAKIMA, Wash. — A Native Ameri- can tribe in Washington state has received a state grant to fund recovery projects aimed at improving the conditions of threatened steelhead trout species in the region. The Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board awarded $414,000 to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation for three habitat resto- ration projects, the Yakima Herald-Repub- lic reported Wednesday. The projects include adding logs in the waterways to give fish a place to rest, feed and hide from predators, board officials said. There are also plans to plant native trees and shrubs whose shade would cool the water and whose roots would stop soil from entering the water, officials said. City growth has destroyed many of the places salmon used to live and has contrib- uted to declining steelhead populations, officials said. The fish are part of the Yakama Nation’s cultural history, tribal officials said. Project funding was part of $26.1 mil- lion awarded by the board in December to county-based projects led by water- shed-based groups, including tribes, local governments, organizations and citizens, officials said. — Walla Walla Union-Bulletin and Associated Press 7:35 a.m. 4:18 p.m. 9:39 a.m. 6:55 p.m. First Full Last New Jan 2 Jan 10 Jan 17 Jan 24 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 86° in Immokalee, Fla. Low -20° in Antero Reservoir, Colo. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY 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 50s ice 60s cold front E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. 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