REGION
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Umatilla plans new footbridge
to replace one floods destroyed
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
UMATILLA —Umatilla
City Manager David Stock-
dale said hangups with the
Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency has delayed a
$7.2 million project to replace
the footbridge the city lost
when the Umatilla River
fl ooded in 2019 and 2020.
“They’ve been great to
work with, but it’s been three
steps forward and two steps
back all along the way,” he
said.
He said the agency has
changed representatives
frequently, leading to misun-
derstandings between it and
the city. Stockdale said his
offi ce has had to submit and
resubmit the same informa-
tion, repeatedly. With the
approval of FEMA, Stockdale
said the city of Umatilla has a
green light, and he announced
a timeline.
Work on the bridge
begins in July, with a demo-
lition crew removing the
demolished bridge from the
Umatilla River. Pieces, which
now exist either in the river or
along the bank, will be taken
from the area.
“That might take a month
in July and August,” he said.
Actual construction, he
added, will start in the winter
of 2022-23, and completion
will be in early fall the follow-
ing year.
FEMA will provide $4.7
million for the project, Stock-
dale said, the state of Oregon
will chip in $500,000 and
the city will take out a $1
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Boaters on Thursday, April 14, 2022, fl oat past the remains of a footbridge in Umatilla. The
city starts work this summer on the $7.2 million project to replace the bridge.
million loan to help cover the
remaining amount.
“We did get some insur-
ance proceeds, but they were
very low, $100,000,” Stock-
dale said.
Fixing a water main that
was part of the bridge adds
another $1 million to the proj-
ect, with $750,000 coming
from FEMA and $250,000
from a state emergency grant
“The new bridge will be a
signifi cant improvement over
the old one,” he said.
It will be about 140 feet
longer in length, as the abut-
ments will be set back farther
on the shoreline than the ones
on the old bridge. The new
bridge also will be higher
than the old one by 8 feet and
have a “slow and steady arch,”
he said.
“If the old bridge was at
this elevation, it would not
have been damaged by fl ood,”
Stockdale said.
A steel-frame bridge, it
will not require a mid-river
pier support. This will remove
a hazard from the river, which
troubled recreationalists and
created a damming effect
during fl oods.
“We’re really excited
about the enhancements,”
he said, which also include
a boat house, benches and
information boards.
Stockdale said the old
bridge was important to
the community. A hundred
students a day crossed the
bridge to get to school. Other
people crossed, too, as they
walked downtown.
More improvements
ahead
Stockdale said more is
planned for both sides of
the bridge.
The city obtained a recre-
ational trails program grant
from Oregon last year and
plans to construct a new trail
that will go from Powerline
Road and loop down and
connect to the new bridge.
“That will go in at the
same time we are building
the bridge,” he said.
Also in the works, thanks
to a grant from the land and
water conservation fund, is
a playground, pavilion and
sidewalks at Nugent Park.
The trail and playground
will meet federal standards
for accessibility.
As the city recently
installed a new restroom
at the park and has made
improvements to the nearby
Little League fi eld, Stockdale
boasted the area is on its way
to being something special.
Hermiston students selected for capital tour
Youth advisors
Gardner and
Doherty look for
more experience in
government
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
HERMISTON — A pair
of Hermiston High School
students is going to the
nation’s capital, thanks to a
Umatilla Electric Coopera-
tive program.
“I’m stoked,” Hailey
Gardner said about the
opportunity. She and a fellow
Hermiston High School
junior, Elizabeth Doherty,
are going on the 2022 Elec-
tric Cooperative Youth Tour
to Washington, D.C.
Leaving in June, Gard-
ner and Doherty will enjoy
an all-expenses-paid, week-
long trip. In Washington,
they will join more than 1,500
other students from across
the country. They will visit
famous historical sites, meet
with Oregon’s congressional
leaders and learn leadership
skills, according to Weston
Putman, UEC manager of
public relations. The students
also will create podcasts and
digital photo projects as they
learn about electric cooper-
atives and current issues in
energy and climate change
legislation.
The Youth Tour had been
suspended for two years
because of the pandemic.
Robert Echenrode, CEO and
general manager of Umatilla
Electric stated in a press
release it’s a program UEC
holds in high regard.
Gardner looks to
gain experience
Gardner said the coming
trip will be a lot of fun and
she looks forward to the expe-
rience.
A youth advisor for the
city of Hermiston, Gardner
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Hailey Gardner demonstrates the use of a 3-D printer
Wednesday, April 13, 2022, at Hermiston High School. The
Umatilla Electric Cooperative selected her to be a youth am-
bassador to Washington, D.C., this June.
attends Hermiston commit-
tee meetings and provides
feedback on city decisions.
As such, she is interested in
government. She said she
looks forward to meeting
political leaders in Washing-
ton. Meeting the president
would be especially interest-
ing, she said.
The architecture and
history of the capital are
exciting to her, too, she said.
“It really spikes my inter-
est,” she said.
She said the Lincoln
Memorial tops her list of
fascinating sights. The gran-
deur of the statue, combined
with her appreciation for
Lincoln, makes the memo-
rial inspiring, she said.
Gardner is a varsity girl’s
swim team captain and track
team member and also is in
the National Honor Soci-
ety and the Family, Career
and Community Leaders of
America. She said her school
participation is probably the
reason why she was selected
to go to Washington.
Doherty hopes
to be inspired
Doherty said she wants to
get something special out of
the trip. Active in school with
LeeAnnOttosen@UmpquaBank.com
UmpquaBank.com/Lee-Ann-Ottosen
FFA and busy at home with
her family farm, she partic-
ipates wherever she can, she
said.
“I’m very excited about
being selected to be one of
the youth ambassadors,” she
said. “It is a great honor, and
I think it’s going to be a great
place to develop leadership.”
She said she is looking
forward to meeting other
ambassadors as well as
government offi cials.
Having once served as
a page for Bill Hansell,
Oregon state senator, she is no
stranger to leaders in govern-
ment. She has met other offi -
cials, too, as her grandfather,
Dennis Doherty, is a former
Umatilla County commis-
sioner. And she said she has
met Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron
Wyden.
“They spurred my inter-
est in politics,” she said,
“because they mainly
portrayed it as a public
service, rather than some-
thing to benefi t themselves.”
Elizabeth Doherty speaks
at a Hermiston City Coun-
cil
meeting
Monday,
April 11, 2022. A Hermiston
High School student, she
will be going to Washington,
D.C., this June on the Electric
Cooperative Youth Tour.
In Washington, she said
she looks forward to meet-
ing Oregon representatives
on a visit to the White House.
She added it would be “really
cool” to meet the president.
The Jeff erson Memorial
and other monuments will be
interesting and educational,
too, she said.
Like Gardner, Doherty is
on Hermiston’s Youth Advi-
sory Committee. She is one of
the select three advisers who
sits alongside the city coun-
cil. She said she is enjoying
it, and she is becoming more
comfortable as she learns
“the language of it all.”
Doherty said she hopes to
return from Washington with
confi dence and understand-
ing that will make her more
vocal at city council meet-
ings.
“It is a leadership confer-
ence,” she said of the upcom-
ing tour. “I’m assuming
it will help develop my
public-speaking ability, as
well as other leadership skills.
East Oregonian
A3
Part of FSR 32 reopens
East Oregonian
PE N DLETON —
Umatilla National Forest offi -
cials have reopened access
on just more than 1 mile
of Forest Service Road 32
along the Umatilla River and
are cautioning visitors about
spring weather conditions in
the forest.
While snow may have
thawed from the foothills,
forest roads still are not
accessible due to mud or
snow, according to a Forest
Service press release Tues-
day, April 12. In addition,
traveling on thawing, satu-
rated and muddy roads can
result in resource damage
and serious safety concerns,
especially if visitors are
unprepared.
“We typically see inci-
dents this time of year where
families head up for the day,
get stuck and end up spend-
ing the night or making a
very long hike out to look
for help,” Shane Dittlinger,
Re c r e at ion P rog r a m
Manager for the Umatilla
National Forest, said in the
release.
This can become a serious
situation quickly, particularly
if travelers are not prepared
for the elements. Many
places in the Blue Mountains
have limited or no cellphone
coverage, so forest visitors
always should be prepared to
spend the night in the forest
with warm clothing, food and
plenty of water.
Forest offi cials also are
encouraging the public to
minimize impacts to natu-
ral resources from travel
on roads that are suscepti-
ble to rutting due to warmer
weather and melting snow-
pack.
“Forest roads are not
constructed to be all-weather
roads, so they can be easily
damaged when wet, espe-
cially during the spring
season,” said Shaun Oliver,
Umatilla National Forest
engineer said in the release.
“Tire ruts that are just an
inch deep can leave lasting
impressions that only grow
with rain and erosion.”
The Forest Service also
warned it is illegal to oper-
ate a vehicle on or off -road
in a manner that damages or
unreasonably disturbs land
and vegetation and urged
people to report resource
damage if they see it.
Some roads and trails are
closed in areas with signifi -
cant fl ood damage from the
2020 February and May
fl ood events. One portion of
the popular Forest Service
Road 32 that fl ooding in 2020
damaged now is reopen.
The Forest Service
recently announced it
reopened the road from
the forest boundary near
Corporation Guard Station
(approximately 8 miles east
of Gibbon) to the bridge
near Umatilla Forks Camp-
ground. With access to this
portion of FSR 32 restored,
forest offi cials plan to reopen
a portion of Umatilla Forks
Campground in late spring
or early summer.
Flood repairs on this
portion of FSR 32 were
completed in the fall of
2021, which included clear-
ing debris slides on the
road, cleaning or repairing
damaged culverts and ditches
and removing trees along the
road that were posing risks
to public safety. Addition-
ally, personnel cleared debris
and removed danger trees at
Umatilla Forks Campground
to reopen nine campsites
later this year. The remaining
campsites will be closed until
further fl ood damage repairs
are completed.
Forest Service staff
continue to work with the
Federal Highway Admin-
istration to develop repair
plans for the remaining
fl ood-damaged sections of
road upstream from Umatilla
Forks Campground.
Forest Service Road 32 is
a popular access route into
the Umatilla River drainage
on the Walla Walla Ranger
District of the Umatilla
National Forest. The road
closure is being lifted as
repairs are complete for
each portion. The Umatilla
National Forest also reported
it will provide updates as
work progresses.
Additional information
about the Umatilla National
Forest is available at www.
fs.usda.gov/umatilla.
H elix S cHool D iStrict
KINDERGARTEN
REGISTRATION
HAVE A CHILD STARTING
KINDERGARTEN IN THE
FALL OF 2022?
Join us for our Kindergarten
Registration event at the
Helix School District!
Come meet the teacher,
complete enrollment paperwork,
and meet other kindergarten
families.
Where: Kindergarten Classroom
at Helix Elementary
When: Thursday, April 28th
Drop in between
2:00-4:30 pm
Who: Parents, guardians, and
incoming kindergartners
*Please bring a copy of your child's
birth certificate and immunization
record. Students who will turn 5
before September 1st, 2022 are
eligible to enroll in Kindergarten.