NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, December 2, 2021
EOU, OSU to strengthen ag program, rangeland research
By SIERRA DAWN MCCLAIN
Capital Press
LA GRANDE — Oregon State
University plans to strengthen its
partnership with Eastern Oregon
University and expand opportuni-
ties for rangeland research, classes
and field studies.
Officials say the soon-to-be
expanded agricultural programs
likely will benefit students and the
farming community, especially in
the cattle and dairy industries.
“We’re excited about the show
of support for the program expan-
sion,” said Penny Diebel, associ-
ate professor of applied economics
and director of the Eastern Oregon
Agriculture and Natural Resource
Program.
Since 1985, Oregon State
University has offered some classes
and agricultural majors to students
at Eastern Oregon University in La
Grande. The partnership, which
started with one major, has grown
and changed through the years. In
recent years, students have been
able to dual-enroll in OSU and EOU
for some programs. This allows
students who prefer or need to live
in Eastern Oregon to take in-per-
son OSU classes without moving
to Corvallis.
OSU and EOU now are planning
to take their longtime collabora-
tion a step further by reinvigorating
two programs: the Eastern Oregon
Agriculture and Natural Resource
Program and the Eastern Oregon
Agriculture Research Center in
Union.
The Eastern Oregon Agriculture
Oregon State University/Contributed Photo
Oregon State University operates its Agriculture and Natural Resource Program at Eastern Oregon University,
La Grande. Now the two state universities are expanding their agricultural programs in moves to benefit stu-
dents and farmers.
interaction or collaboration. Now,
OSU plans to build a strong partner-
ship between the programs.
“There have been a lot of conver-
sations about how do we join forces
more, share faculty more, use the
facilities in a better way for faculty
and student research,” Diebel said.
One piece of the expansion
and Natural Resource Program is
the joint-degree program between
OSU and EOU; the Union Exper-
iment Station is where researchers
study rangeland ecology, live-
stock systems, forage crops, forest
management and other topics.
The two programs have histori-
cally operated separately, with little
Forecast for Pendleton Area
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TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Cooler with
variable cloudiness
Cooler with high
clouds
Sun through high
clouds
Increasing clouds
Cloudy with a
passing shower
55° 35°
45° 34°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
47° 40°
49° 37°
46° 38°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
59° 35°
49° 36°
51° 39°
53° 37°
50° 38°
OREGON FORECAST
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Olympia
47/36
49/35
56/29
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
56/37
Lewiston
50/37
61/37
Astoria
49/36
Pullman
Yakima 56/34
48/34
56/40
Portland
Hermiston
53/37
The Dalles 59/35
Salem
Corvallis
54/33
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
54/33
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
55/36
56/37
56/36
Ontario
50/31
Caldwell
Burns
71°
52°
44°
30°
71° (2021) -7° (1985)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Albany
53/33
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47/28
57/26
0.00"
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7.38"
12.26"
11.78"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 51/30
54/36
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
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Last year to date
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
55/35
58/37
68°
48°
43°
30°
68° (2021) -6° (1985)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
49/33
Aberdeen
49/32
52/31
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
47/37
Electric Bird scooters to remain
in College Place until at least 2024
City in April
joined Pendleton
and Hermiston in
using the scooters
By EMRY DINMAN
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Seattle
includes hiring new faculty and
staff. According to Diebel, OSU is
putting together job descriptions for
two new positions that soon will be
posted: an associate director of the
Union Experiment Station and a
rangeland scientist who will have
research and teaching responsibil-
ities. The scientist will work both
at the Union station and on EOU’s
campus.
On the curriculum side, one goal
of the upcoming expansion is to
strengthen the rangeland sciences
degree offered in Corvallis and La
Grande.
On the research side, the goal is
to broaden field research opportuni-
ties for students and faculty.
Bryan Endress, OSU associate
professor of rangeland ecology and
management in the program, said
the hands-on nature of the program
will “help prepare students for the
real world,” whether that means
working on a family ranch, for a
land management agency or else-
where.
“Graduates from our program
will be better prepared to enter the
workforce, which will benefit the
agricultural and natural resource
community across the board,”
Endress said.
Diebel said she thinks making
the Union station a more active
research base will both benefit East-
ern Oregon students and provide
opportunities for Corvallis-based
OSU students to do short-term
research projects and field work.
Since much of the research will
relate to forage, cattle and dairy
systems, Diebel said she expects
many of the research findings from
the expansion will benefit ranchers.
“There will also be ways for
(farmers) to be involved,” Diebel
said, adding faculty plan to use
both public property for research
and rely on private stakeholders,
including area ranchers.
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
54/40
Fri.
WSW 7-14
W 7-14
NE 3-6
N 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
56/26
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:17 a.m.
4:12 p.m.
5:06 a.m.
3:10 p.m.
New
First
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Last
Dec 3
Dec 10
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NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 91° in Chino, Calif. Low 8° in Angel Fire, N.M.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
COLLEGE PLACE —
Electric scooters operated
by Bird, the vehicle-shar-
ing company based in Santa
Monica, California, will
continue to scoot around the
city of College Place until at
least January 2024, the city
council unanimously decided
last week.
The “last-mile” vehi-
cles, useful for students and
short-trip commuters in
College Place, have been on
the city’s streets for about
seven months but already
have been used around 6,700
times, City Administrator
Mike Rizzitiello told council
members Nov. 23.
Most of that travel has
been concentrated along
College Avenue, which runs
through Walla Walla Univer-
sity, with other high-traf-
fic areas around Homestead
Avenue, Meadowbrook
Street near Walmart and the
city’s parks.
When council members
first approved the scooters
within city limits in April,
joining larger cities such as
Pendleton and Hermiston,
Bird delivered 25 scooters
while piloting the program.
There are now 50 scooters
parked around the city, and
the city of Walla Walla is in
talks with the vehicle-shar-
ing company to potentially
bring the electric scooters to
the neighboring city, Rizziti-
ello said.
College Place City Coun-
cil now has renewed its
memorandum of under-
standing with Bird, which
describes the overall agree-
ment between the city and
Greg Lehman/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
Bird electric scooters stand near the Walla Walla University
campus in College Place, Nov. 24, 2021. The College Place
City Council voted the day before to extend using the scoot-
ers until at least January 2024.
Bird and the expectations of
both parties.
The updated agreement
requires the company to
provide educational materi-
als to its riders. These mate-
rials, videos and signs must
promote safe riding and
parking, including informa-
tion specifically related to
parking in or near facilities
compliant with the Ameri-
cans with Disabilities Act.
Scooters improperly
parked on sidewalks or other
areas can impede pedestri-
ans with disabilities, which
has caused issues in College
Place, company represen-
tative Garrett Gronowski
acknowledged during the
council’s Nov. 9 meeting.
“We know we need to do
a little bit better job when it
comes to community educa-
tion when it comes to where
to park the Bird scooters,” he
said Nov. 23.
Resident s who see
improperly parked scoot-
ers can also report the issue,
either by sending a photo of
the infraction to the company
via the free Bird app, or by
calling Bird’s headquarters
at 866-205-2442.
A local Bird contractor
will move the scooter within
90 minutes, and the last
rider of the scooter will be
sent educational materials,
Gronowski said at the Nov.
9 meeting.
While a fine also could
be issued, Gronowski added
the company only would
use those measures as a last
resort out of concern that
complaints on social media
could “spread like wildfire.”
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
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