NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Buffalo Flats project aims to reduce ice jams
By DICK MASON
EO Media Group
UNION — The ominous
sight of ice jams on Cather-
ine Creek and Little Creek
just east of Union may
someday be less frequent.
Mike Knutson, a hydrau-
lic engineer for the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation, said
formation of ice jams on the
two creeks will be reduced
if the proposed Buffalo
Flats Restoration Project
becomes a reality.
Knutson said the proj-
ect would widen portions
of both Catherine and Lit-
tle creeks to help reduce ice
jams. The work along Cath-
erine Creek would remove a
section of Medical Springs
Highway and replace it with
a reconfigured roadway.
Such a step would allow a
narrow portion of Catherine
Creek’s channel to expand.
He noted the creek would
push large ice blocks into
this floodplain, reducing
pressure in the creek.
“They would melt in the
floodplain,” said Knutson,
the engineer for the pro-
posed Buffalo Flats project.
This would reduce the
chance of winter ice jams,
such as a 120-yard jam
that formed on Catherine
Creek in January 2014 east
of Union. The jam posed a
serious threat to Union, but
EO Media Group file photo
Ice jams along Highway 203, such as this one in 2014 on Catherine Creek outside of Union,
present the danger of flooding. A new project to widen Catherine Creek and adjoining Little
Creek would help to eliminate the jams.
fortunately did not cause
any major flooding.
Knutson said when water
backs up behind an ice jam,
it causes pressure, and when
the water breaks through
all at once, it can cause
flooding.
The Union Soil and
Water Conservation District
would lead the project in
collaboration with Buffalo
Peak Land and Livestock,
whose owners want to help
restore Chinook salmon,
steelhead and bull trout
habitat while continuing to
have a viable ranching oper-
ation. Andrea Malmberg,
land manager of Buffalo
Peak, said at the meeting
if agriculture is practiced
correctly it can improve
the habitat of many spe-
cies, including those which
are endangered. Chinook
salmon, steelhead and bull
trout are listed as threatened
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Cloudy and breezy
Intervals of clouds
and sunshine
Mostly cloudy,
windy and cooler
Chilly with some
sun
Partly sunny
55° 46°
55° 38°
60° 48°
60° 41°
50° 30°
44° 27°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
50° 32°
52° 34°
49° 27°
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
51/46
44/37
59/37
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
52/46
Lewiston
52/48
59/46
Astoria
52/47
Pullman
Yakima 48/32
52/45
51/44
Portland
Hermiston
55/48
The Dalles 60/48
Salem
Corvallis
55/47
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
47/41
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
55/47
50/38
46/40
Ontario
52/42
Caldwell
Burns
53°
35°
45°
29°
61° (1967) -10° (1989)
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
55/48
0.03"
0.03"
0.17"
0.27"
2.21"
1.45"
WINDS (in mph)
52/43
48/33
0.95"
1.26"
0.23"
3.28"
2.86"
1.61"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 45/38
55/48
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
55/46
56/47
46°
33°
44°
28°
65° (2015) -12° (1989)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
52/45
Aberdeen
40/31
43/36
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
53/46
Today
Fri.
Boardman WSW 12-25
Pendleton WSW 10-20
Medford
57/37
WSW 8-16
WSW 8-16
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
52/25
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
New
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Feb 8
Feb 15
Feb 23
Mar 2
ward legislators back.
Boquist said during a TV
interview that Brown should
“send bachelors and come
heavily armed.” He also
made remarks on the Senate
floor directed at Courtney,
saying “If you send the state
police to get me, Hell’s com-
ing to visit you personally.”
His remarks drew formal
complaints to the committee.
In turn, Boquist complained
that he had been denied due
process. He also requested
documents from the Office
of Legislative Administra-
tion about the complaints
against him and a related leg-
islative probe.
In July 2019, Boquist,
representing himself, sued
Courtney in Marion County
Circuit Court alleging that
documents were withheld by
legislative staff, in violation
of the state’s public records
law.
On Feb. 3, Marion County
Circuit Court Judge Dan-
iel Wren issued a legal opin-
College Place man found dead
last week killed by gunshot
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The College
Place man found dead last week at the mouth
of the Walla Walla River was killed by gun-
shot, officials said in a release Tuesday.
Arcane J. “AJ” Wilkinson, 20, was
reported missing “under suspicious circum-
stances” to College Place police in mid-De-
cember 2019.
He was identified as the dead man on
Jan. 29 by the Walla Walla County Sheriff’s
Office. After Tuesday’s autopsy, a sheriff’s
office release announced they were investi-
gating the case as a homicide.
“This is the only information we are able
to release at this time,” the release stated.
Wilkinson apparently had ties in Wash-
ington, Oregon and Louisiana, according to
his family.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
ion disagreeing with Boquist
after holding hearings ear-
lier. In the opinion, which
will later be formalized in a
judgement, Wren wrote that
legislative employees were
justified in redacting infor-
mation identifying the per-
son who filed a complaint
against Boquist.
Wren wrote that disclos-
ing the person’s name would
“indeed have a chilling effect
on other complainants com-
ing forward to report inap-
propriate behavior or work-
place conduct.” He said other
documents were confidential
because of attorney-client
privilege.
Courtney’s
office
declined to comment and
Boquist wasn’t immediately
available for comment.
Last month, a federal
judge dismissed a related
lawsuit by Boquist that
alleged his civil rights had
been violated by legislative
leaders. He has appealed the
ruling.
BRIEFLY
First
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 86° in Immokalee, Fla. Low -35° in Daniel, Wyo.
SALEM — Senate Pres-
ident Peter Courtney and
legislative employees didn’t
improperly withhold public
records requested by state
Sen. Brian Boquist, a Marion
County Circuit Court judge
has determined.
The judge’s decision is
the latest in an ongoing feud
between the Dallas Repub-
lican and one of the state’s
most powerful lawmak-
ers that started during last
year’s combative legislative
session.
In June 2019, the Senate
Conduct Committee received
a complaint over remarks
Boquist made during the
session that were consid-
ered threatening. As Repub-
licans threatened to walk out
of the Oregon Capitol to pre-
vent a vote on a greenhouse
gas-reduction bill, Gov. Kate
Brown said she would send
state troopers to bring way-
7:11 a.m.
5:08 p.m.
2:14 p.m.
5:20 a.m.
Last
the stream.
Webster said the Buf-
falo Flats project would pro-
tect young steelhead and
salmon, providing pools
with hiding cover for juve-
nile fish to stay when there
are high flows. This would
prevent fast water from
pushing the fish down-
stream too quickly. Webster
said when young fish move
out of their rearing habi-
tat on Catherine Creek too
soon, they are more vulner-
able to predators because of
their small size.
Developing a plan for
the Buffalo Flats project
could take the conserva-
tion district another two
years. After Buffalo Peak
Land and Livestock gives
approval for the plan, the
district would seek fund-
ing for it from the Bonne-
ville Power Administration
and the Oregon Water-
shed Enhancement Board
with the help of the Grande
Ronde Model Watershed.
Jesse Steele of the
Grande
Ronde
Model
Watershed said at the meet-
ing the Buffalo Flats project
would likely cost between
$4 million and $6 million.
Should a plan for the
Buffalo Flats Restoration
Project obtain that fund-
ing, Webster said it would
take between two and three
years to complete.
Judge rejects state Sen. Brian
Boquist’s public records lawsuit
By JAKE THOMAS
Oregon Capital Bureau
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
45° 29°
under the federal endan-
gered species act.
The Buffalo Flats project
would restore segments of
Catherine and Little creeks
so they would meander as
they did before their chan-
nels were straightened many
decades ago for agricultural
reasons. It would involve a
1.5-mile portion of Cather-
ine Creek and 1.4-mile seg-
ment of Little Creek. The
stream segments would
encompass a 240-acre area
belonging to Buffalo Peak.
Knutson said widen-
ing the creeks would not
expand the floodplain onto
property outside the Buffalo
Peak land, noting the plan
calls for measures to ensure
that does not occur, such as
installing terraces and pos-
sibly elevating the recon-
figured stretch of Medical
Springs Highway.
James Webster, conser-
vation district manager, said
if large pieces of ice were
swept from the floodplains
to stream channels it would
not cause problems due to
the new meander. Web-
ster explained if ice were
pushed into a stream chan-
nel, momentum from the
new curvature of the creek
soon would push it back to
the floodplain.
Allen Childs, a biol-
ogist with the Confeder-
ated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation, said the
tribes completed a similar
restoration project two years
ago in a stretch of Catherine
Creek about 4 miles east of
Union. He said the South-
ern Cross project is having
a positive effect on young
salmon and steelhead.
Childs also said in 2019 this
stretch of Catherine Creek
had the highest density of
juvenile salmon and steel-
head of any he sampled in
A kayaker told author-
ities he saw a body at
8:11 a.m. on Jan. 29 near an
inlet where the Walla Walla
River meets the Columbia
River and led authorities to
the spot at about 8:40 a.m.,
Wilkinson
Walla Walla County Under-
sheriff Joe Klundt said.
Sheriff’s office deputies, Columbia Basin
Dive Rescue and Walla Walla County Fire
District 5 crews pulled the body from the
river.
Wilkinson hadn’t communicated with
family and friends for several weeks. Fam-
ily members also said he had left behind his
possessions. College Place police released
information on his disappearance on Jan. 8.
Those with information can call the sher-
iff’s office at 509-524-5400.
— Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
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rain
20s
flurries
30s
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cold front
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