REGION
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
East Oregonian
A3
Umatilla National Forest temporarily closes portion of FSR 54
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — The
Umatilla National Forest on
Friday, June 10, announced
in a press release it tempo-
rarily reclosed a portion of
Forest Service Road 54 due
to road damage from recent
rainfall and fl ooding.
FSR 54, also known
as Pearson Creek Road,
is approximately 10 miles
southeast of Pilot Rock. The
closure begins at mile post
1.5, near the intersection of
East Birch Creek Road, south
to the installed gate just east
of the intersection of Forest
Service roads 54 and 5411.
Closure barriers and signs
will be on the ground and visi-
tors can take alternative routes
into the area, including FSR
54 north from Highway 244
near Ukiah or FSR 5427 near
Indian Lake. Detailed closure
maps and updates on fl ood
repair activities are available
on the Forest website and at
any Forest offi ce.
FSR 54, which is a popu-
lar access route into the
North Fork John Day Ranger
District of the Umatilla
National Forest, was initially
damaged in the May 21, 2020,
fl ood event. The North Fork
John Day Ranger District
temporarily closed 13 miles
of FSR 54 following the
fl ooding. Between 2020 and
the recent fl ooding the past
few weeks, Forest Service
offi cials restored access on
4.5 miles of the road through
two phases of contract work.
Road repairs in early 2021
restored road conditions in
the residential portion of
FSR 54 between East Birch
Creek and milepoint 0.6. The
second phase of road repairs
restored access to milepoint
4.5 within the Umatilla
National Forest.
Forest Service staff are
assessing on-the-ground
damage to develop repair
plans for reopening FSR 54.
The Umatilla National Forest
will share updates as work
progresses and lift road closure
as repairs are complete.
With continued rain in the
forecast, Forest Service offi -
cials advise the public to use
caution when traveling in the
Umatilla National Forest as
washouts or obstructions,
such as rocks or boulders,
could aff ect roads and trails.
“Forest conditions can
be dynamic this time of
year and likely to change
throughout the day and
week,” according to the press
release. “Visitors should
plan ahead and contact their
local ranger district prior to
starting their trip.”
Many places in the Blue
Mountains have limited
or no cell phone coverage.
Forest visitors should be
prepared to spend the night
in the forest with warm
clothing, food, personal
hygiene items and plenty of
water. The public can moni-
tor the Umatilla National
Forest Facebook page and
website, www.fs.usda.gov/
umatilla, for updates on
forest conditions and fl ood
repair activities.
Part 3: Much abuzz at
Pendleton’s UAS range
Editor’s Note: This is
the conclusion of a story
Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing produced on the Pend-
leton Unmanned Aircraft
System Range. The fi rst and
second parts ran in previous
print editions of the East
Oregonian. The entire story
is online at www.eastorego-
nian.com.
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
A.C. Houghton Elementary School in Irrigon, here June 2, 2022, is the oldest building in the
Morrow County School District. Dirk Dirksen, MCSD superintendent, said it is in need of
upgrades, which would have happened if voters passed the recent school bond.
Superintendent: Irrigon schools in need
By KRISTIAN
FODEN-VENCIL
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Kristian Foden-Vencil/Oregon Public Broadcasting
Stability is not growth
During the last 20 years,
Umatilla County has had
a remarkably stable econ-
omy with a level of 28,000
non-farm jobs. But that
stability masks turmoil. For
example, hundreds lost work
when the Umatilla Chemical
Weapons Depot near Herm-
iston closed. At around that
same time, hundreds of others
found work, as the nearby
Wildhorse Resort & Casino
on the Umatilla Indian Reser-
vation expanded.
Twenty years of stability
may be comfortable, but it’s
not growth. Pendleton lead-
ers would very much like
to grow by attracting drone
manufacturers. Dallas Frid-
ley, the state economist, said
he thinks the airport is on the
right path.
“They are setting them-
selves up for the future by
doing this, because we’re
looking at the fi rst phase of
development in drone tech-
nology and who knows what
it’s going to be like in 10
years,” he said.
Pendleton Mayor John
Turner said he thinks that
given time, some drone
companies will start manu-
facturing locally. He points
out that to start with, they
only came to the airport for
a week. Then they started to
stay for a few months. Now
many have a permanent pres-
ence and some are starting to
bring-in parts to assemble.
“We think the next logical
step would be manufacturing
of some kind,” Turner said.
Local labor force
remains a question
He said he thinks manu-
facturing in Pendleton makes
sense because costs are lower
than in places like Silicon
Valley. The city has invested
in the kind of infrastructure
— state-of-the-art hangars,
Pendleton Mayor John Turner said he thinks that given time,
some drone companies will start manufacturing locally.
high-tech lathes, 3D printers
and fast internet connectivity
— necessary for more.
Stan Springer, the retired
Air Force colonel who runs a
drone pilot training facility in
Pendleton, agreed the airport
has done a good job attract-
ing businesses such as his.
But he’s not sure attracting
manufacturers is as simple as
saying: “Build it and drones
will come.”
“There has to be an invest-
ment in people capital, on
top of the physical capital to
really see a spike in employ-
ment,” Springer said.
Springer’s company, Vola-
tus Group, trains dozens of
people a year to maintain and
fl y drones that check power
lines and survey farmland.
They can start at $60,000 a
year and make upwards of
$150,000 over time
Springer said he believes
there is a good chance some
manufacturing will come to
Pendleton, largely because
the barriers to entry are low.
For example, drones are
small, relatively cheap and
easy to design and manu-
facture. Plus there are a lot
of inexpensive high-tech
sensors and probes that can
be attached.
Springer said he thinks
the sector still is at the stage
where a couple of people in
a garage can break through.
But there’s always one ques-
tion companies ask before
moving to an area: “What’s
the local labor force?”
The city of Pendleton
knows skilled labor is an
issue and has taken steps
to grow the supply. For
example, Blue Mountain
Community College now
offers drone operator and
maintenance courses, and
Pendleton High School has
a talented robotics team.
If Pendleton can increase
its supply of drone experts,
Springer said it doesn’t need
to worry about competing
with overseas labor, such
as in China. That’s because
national security concerns,
overseas supply chain
constraints and intellectual
property issues are now driv-
ing many Western companies
to relocate manufacturing
in the United States again,
particularly in the high-tech
sector.
The fact that Pendleton is a
small rural town, isn’t a prob-
lem either, he said.
“Because aerospace is a
fever,” Springer said. “Once
you get it, you don’t get out,
and you’ll go to about any
place in the world to do some-
thing cool.”
By ERICK PETERSON
East Oregonian
IRRIGON — It’s time
to go back to the drawing
board, according to Dirk
Dirksen, Morrow School
District superintendent.
A $138 million bond to
modernize and improve the
district’s schools was on the
May 17 primary ballot, and
it failed by roughly 37% to
63% — 884 votes to 1,480.
This loss changes plans
throughout the district, Dirk-
sen said. It’s impact on Irri-
gon schools is just part of the
disappointment.
“The plan for Irrigon
High School was to update
safety and security, remodel
classrooms and add a compe-
tition gymnasium,” he said.
According to the superin-
tendent, these improvements
would have created separa-
tion between junior high and
senior high school students.
Not getting those things,
the school will continue the
status quo, he said — though
this means continuing with
“safety problems” and build-
ings that are in “desperate
need of repair.”
“In Irrigon specifi cally,
the building that needs the
most repair is A.C. Hough-
ton Elementary,” he said.
He added that it is the oldest
building in the district, as
a section of it is around 70
years old.
Fortunately, he stated,
these Irrigon schools are not
growing; enrollment is not
surpassing capacity. Other
schools within the Morrow
School District are growing,
however, Dirksen said.
“In Boardman, there is
growth,” he stated. “And
there’s a lot of homes that
are going in, in Boardman.
That’s going to become a
problem down the road, with
overcrowding.”
He said that some Board-
man schools could be over-
crowded as early as the next
school year.
Meanwhile, the district
will consider next steps.
Likely, Dirksen added, there
will be “listening sessions”
in which the district solicits
public opinions.
“We’ll see what people
are OK with, or not,” he
said. “We got a pretty clear
message. The last bond was
too large.”
He said he is unsure
about the date of the next
bond, though he expressed
his feelings that one would
be necessary.
One gap remains
There is one thing Pend-
leton needs that has yet to be
built and that’s a drone incu-
bation center, a place where
garage tinkerers can share
ideas and get advice from
experts.
The airport has picked
out a location for just such an
incubation center, but it’s still
trying to fi nd the money.
In 2020, the airport
received $16.8 million in
CARES ACT funds from the
Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration to help recover from
the eff ects of the pandemic.
Pendleton used the money to
improve airport infrastruc-
ture and build new hangars.
Meanwhile, unlike Pend-
leton, the skies above most
American cities remain rela-
tively drone-free. Federal
Aviation Administration
rules continue to restrict
airspace. But those rules are
constantly being updated as
businesses push for new ways
to fi t drones into the economy.
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