MCC GIRLS BASKETBALL: Dawgs outlast Kamiakin | SPORTS, A8
E O
AST
REGONIAN
TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2020
144th Year, No. 62
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2019 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Census materials rest on a display table
during a meeting of the Umatilla County
Complete Count Committee at the Pend-
leton Convention Center in October.
Umatilla County
is ready for a
complete count
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation Board of Trustees pose with attendees and
speakers at the groundbreaking for the Walla Walla Spring Chinook Hatchery on Friday afternoon.
BREAKING GROUND
Tribes begin work on new Milton-Freewater salmon hatchery
By JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
ILTON-FREEWATER —
Spring Chinook salmon
haven’t swum in the Walla
Walla River basin since the
1900s, but the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
just broke ground on a long-awaited
hatchery that could change that.
During a ground-breaking event
at the South Fork Walla Walla Chi-
nook salmon spawning facility
outside Milton-Freewater on Fri-
day afternoon, CTUIR Board of
Trustees Vice Chair Jeremy Wolf
M
explained that the spring Chinook
hatchery, a more than $20 million
project funded by the Bonneville
Power Administration, is antici-
pated to open in the spring of 2021.
It could bring more than 2,000
adult salmon back to the Walla Walla
Basin by 2025, he said. According to
the BPA, it could eventually return
5,000 adult salmon to the basin each
year.
“This is going to benefi t the
entire system of Walla Walla, and
the whole state,” Wolf said.
It’s a project that has been a part
of an overall comprehensive pro-
gram related to the health of fi sh
and water in the Walla Walla Basin
for more than 30 years now. The site
already has a spawning facility for
salmon and steelhead released into
the Umatilla Basin, and the addi-
tion of an onsite hatchery will allow
the tribes to localize the egg-rearing
process.
Gary James, Fisheries Program
manager for the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation, remembers sitting down in
the late 1980s during the initial con-
versations about opening a hatchery
at South Fork Walla Walla.
James can recount how devel-
opment in the 19th and 20th centu-
ries resulting in reduced streamfl ow,
habitat destruction and structural
passage problems along the Walla
Walla River contributed to the dis-
appearance of the spring Chinook
See Hatchery, Page A7
The South Fork Walla Walla Chinook salmon
spawning facility, pictured here last Friday, is used
to harvest and fertilize eggs before they are trans-
ported to the Umatilla hatchery. The spawning fa-
cility operates throughout the summer months.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Federal dollars and
the chance at a new
congressional seat are
fueling local census efforts
By JESSICA POLLARD
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY — Portland
State University’s 2019 population esti-
mates identifi ed an increase of 395 peo-
ple in Umatilla County from 2018. But
offi cials working to pin down a complete
population count don’t think growth will
end there.
“I’m optimistic,” said Umatilla
County Board of Commissioner George
Murdock. “If we do our due diligence,
I think we’ll fi nd there are more people
here than we think there are.”
Since 2018, dozens of local leaders
have been brainstorming ways to get
the word out about the 2020 U.S. Cen-
sus through the Umatilla County 2020
Complete Count Committee — one of
the fi rst committees of its kind in the
nation, according to Murdock.
Come April, census takers will hit
the ground to track down those who
have yet to respond to census correspon-
dence via phone, mail or email.
Aside from yielding data that will
impact where millions of federal dol-
lars will go, it’s predicted that Oregon
could gain a sixth seat in the U.S. House
of Representatives due to an increase in
population since 2010.
“That won’t really have much impact
on us out here, but will I think it might
help the state as a whole,” Murdock said.
According to Murdock, each person
counted in the census across the county
carries a price tag of $4,000 in program
funding for public programs revolv-
ing around human services, health and
housing.
It’s estimated, Murdock said, that
about 70% of people will willingly fi ll
out the census this year. The remaining
30% are considered members of differ-
ent “hard-to-count” populations.
“It’s the young preschoolers, differ-
ent ethnic groups and people that for
one reason or another are anxious to be
found,” he said.
In a county with an estimated popu-
lation of 81,160, according to Portland
State’s most recent fi gures, that means
See Census, Page A7
UFO reports drop in Eastern Oregon but tick up statewide
Orange orb over
North Powder and
massive craft near
Milton-Freewater
among reports
By PHIL WRIGHT
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — The
National UFO Report-
ing Center reported more
accounts of unusual aerial
phenomena in Oregon in
2019 than 2018, but accounts
from Eastern Oregon almost
fell out of sight.
The center in Davenport,
Washington, totaled 109
reports last year of unidenti-
fi ed fl ying objects over Ore-
gon skies, 10 more than in
2018, according to the cen-
ter’s online database.
Eastern Oregon viewers
generated nine reports in
2018, but in 2019 the reports
dipped to fi ve, including a
July 11 sighting near North
Powder.
The witness reported
seeing a bright orange object
morph between an orb and
oblong shape over the span
of three hours.
According to the report,
the witness was a passenger
in a car heading south on
Highway 237 about 5 miles
northeast of North Pow-
der at about 9:50 p.m. on a
“dark, mainly clear” night.
“Being an avid stargazer,
I looked up to the sky to
watch the stars pass by. To
the southwest from the pas-
senger’s front seat I saw a
strange bright orange light
in the sky hovering around
the moon.”
The light was no star
or planet, according to the
account, and did not seem
like any aircraft the witness
was familiar with. Nor was
there a jet trail or other obvi-
ous signs of propulsion.
“I began to get an uneasy
feeling in my stomach,” the
witness stated in the report.
“As I watched the object,
the light elongated into an
See UFO, Page A7
EO fi le photo
Patricia Barnes-Green, left, Grady Green and Virgil Bates
watch an object hover in the air off of Southwest Nye Avenue
on July 11, 2018, in Pendleton.