Pendleton’s Rock Camp returns to in-person | COMMUNITY A6
Fireworks silhouette a
mother and daughter
Sunday evening, July
3, 2022, at the Walmart
parking lot in Pendleton.
Yasser Marte/East Oregonian
TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2022
146th Year, No. 84
$1.50
WINNER OF 16 ONPA AWARDS IN 2021
WILDFIRE SEASON
Fireworks explode in the
night sky Sunday, July 3,
2022, over Pendleton to
celebrate Fourth of July.
Survey
fi nds fears
eased after
spring rains
Photos By Yasser Marte/
East Oregonian
By MICHAEL KOHN
The Bulletin
Pendleton lights up the night
Left: The Lopez family gets their chairs and sparklers out Sunday evening, July 3, 2022, at the Walmart parking lot in Pendleton for the town’s
Fourth of July fi reworks show. Right: The Perkins and Erickson family get ready Sunday evening, July 3, 2022, to watch Pendleton’s Fourth of July
fi reworks show from the Walmart parking lot.
PORTLAND — Significant
rainfall this spring noticeably
greened up the Oregon country-
side and appears to have calmed
nerves across the state, according
to a survey about wildfi re danger
conducted in June by the Oregon
Values and Beliefs Center.
The survey, conducted June
2-11, found 60% of respondents felt
wildfi re was a threat to their local
communities. In May 2021, that
number was 68%.
The wildfi re perception survey
interviewed 1,446 Oregon residents
18 or older. The survey sought to
gauge how concerned Oregon resi-
dents are heading into what offi cials
have warned could be a dangerous
wildfi re season.
In mid-May, Gov. Kate Brown
warned this year’s fire season
could be extreme due to drought
and climate change. But May and
June were relatively cool and wet
in the Pacifi c Northwest, lowering
drought levels across the region.
Oregon’s only remaining swath
of exceptional drought — the high-
est level of drought according to
the U.S. drought monitor — is in
an area straddling Crook and Jeff er-
son counties.
“Considering the extremely wet
spring, it is not a major surprise
that when asked about their area of
Oregon, Oregonians’ concern for
wildfi re has decreased a bit since
May of last year,” according to a
statement from the polling group.
See Wildfi res, Page A9
Red dresses call attention to the missing
Wildhorse Pow
Wow recognizes
thousands of missing
indigenous women
By ANTONIO ARREDONDO
East Oregonian
MISSION — After two days full
of dancing and drumming at the
26th annual Wildhorse Pow Wow,
the many indigenous tribes gathered
in the area took a moment to recog-
nize those who are missing.
The pow wow is a Native Amer-
ican tradition where many tribes
gather together to celebrate their
culture as well as compete in diff er-
ent events. One of the events at this
year’s Wildhorse Pow Wow was the
Red Dress Competition.
“It’s a newer movement to raise
awareness for the missing women
from Canada and the United States,”
Pow Wow Master of Ceremonies
Thomas Morning Owl said. “It
started in Canada but has moved
down here.”
The REDress Project displays
red dresses in public spaces to show
the number of missing Indigenous
women. Since 1980, thousands of
indigenous women have gone miss-
ing, with most cases left unsolved.
Morning Owl highlighted several
cases in the Yakama tribes as well
as some farther north in the Seattle
area as regional examples.
Antonio Arredondo/East Oregonian
A woman watches as participants dance to the beat of the drum Sunday,
July 3, 2022, at the Wildhorse Pow Wow in Mission.