A8
NEWS
Wallowa County Chieftain
Managing rivers to be
resilient to climate change
Steve Lundburg
For Wallowa County
Chieftain
CORVALLIS, Ore. –
New strategies for river
management are needed
to maintain water supplies
and avoid big crashes in
populations of aquatic
life, researchers argue in
a perspective piece pub-
lished today in Nature.
“The world’s rivers are
facing tough times,” said
the editorial’s lead author,
Jonathan Tonkin, who just
completed a post-doctoral
appointment in Oregon
State University’s College
of Science. “Iconic spe-
cies like the Murray cod,
the largest freshwater fi sh
in Australia, are in danger
of vanishing. In a 2018
heat wave in Germany
and Switzerland, thou-
sands of fi sh died. The
multiyear drought in Cali-
fornia has restricted water
supplies and wreaked
havoc on wetlands, ripar-
ian forests, fi sh and other
aquatic life.”
Tonkin and his co-au-
thors outline a four-part
plan for an “adaptive”
approach to river manage-
ment – moving beyond
simply monitoring eco-
systems to understand-
ing the biological mecha-
nisms at play.
“We need to develop
forecasting tools that
project how key species,
life stages and ecosystems
respond to environmental
changes,” said co-author
David Lytle, professor
of integrative biology in
the OSU College of Sci-
ence. “We can’t just track
things like species diver-
sity and population abun-
dance and compare them
to historical averages –
often by the time nega-
tive trends are detected,
it’s too late to turn them
around.”
The answer, the authors
assert, is developing “pro-
cess-based” models that
can track and predict how
ecosystems change when
conditions – like smaller
river fl ows – change. The
models can be tailored to
life stages of populations,
whole communities of
species and sequences of
events, enabling tipping
points to be identifi ed.
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HOURS:
Monday - Friday
7:00am to 7:00pm
Saturday
9:00am to 1:00pm
2019
JULY 12th - 13th
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Lostine and Wallowa river confl uence
Ellen Morris Bishop
The Lostine and Wallowa Rivers meet on the Wolfe Ranch east of the town of Wallowa.
Ponderosa Pine ‘tree’ sprouts near Flora
By Ellen Bishop
and Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
If you are heading north
on Highway 3 toward Lew-
iston, just before you get to
the RimRock Inn you might
notice a really, really big
pine tree towering above
the other ponderosas and
Douglas fi rs off to the left.
Its branches are a little short
and a little stiff. It’s diame-
ter at breast height is about
eight feet. And although
at fi rst glance it looks like
a world-class old-growth
yellow pine has sprouted
almost overnight, it’s really
not a tree at all.
Don’t worry. You haven’t
traveled through a time warp
to a Lewis Carroll or Dr.
Seuss tale. Nor is this a tree
that timber fellers spared.
It’s one of many styles of
Stealth Cell towers, which
now are frequently disguised
as trees, lighthouses, water
towers, light poles, and even
church steeples to help them
blend into their surrounding
“habitat.”
The county’s planning
commission approved a
conditional use permit at
the 261-acre site, which is
owned by Donald and Bar-
bara Ward, at its February
2019 meeting. The project
needed a CUP because it is
placed in a Timber/Grazing
zone.
Surprising to some, per-
haps, the commission did
not receive a single dissent-
ing call or letter. In fact, at
the February meeting, the
commission revealed that
the proposed tower received
41 letters of support.
The commission con-
fi rmed it’s fi ndings at it’s
meeting in the following
month, and general con-
tractor, Doug Snyder, began
building the stealth tower in
April. It went online May 28.
Built by Sky-Comm,
Inc, of Vancouver, Wash-
ington for U.S. Cellular, the
180-foot tower transmits 4G
data streams and voice LTE,
Ellen Morris Bishop
NOT A DR. SEUSS TREE — this stealth tower, somewhat disguised as a super-gigantic
Ponderosa pine, is a U.S. Cellular tower located off the North Highway near the Rimrock Inn.
The tower, which became operational in May, will provide badly needed cell service to the
northern portion of Wallowa County.
or VoLTE, signals. It relays
those signals it collects to
Tollgate via a microwave
antenna that looks like a
strange, giant, metallic pine
cone growing out of its west
side.
The tower will provide
cell coverage for much of
the North End of Wallowa
JOIN US,
Joseph State
Airport (KJSY)
lowa County
l
a
W
Fly-In
County, including Troy and
Flora through US Cellular
service or, for many (but not
all, including Verizon) other
carriers, extended service.
OK!
Jon Cleary & the Absolute Gentlemen
OK Theatre
Centennial
Celebration
and Airshow
Ural Thomas
& The Pain
Dinner on Main Street &
How the West was Dun
a western melodrama and dinner
Friday July 12
Banquet at 5:30pm
Saturday July 13
Admission: $5. / Time: 7am-2pm
Airshow, Static Displays and
Educational Hangar
Pancake Breakfast
$ 10. + Admission / Time: 7-10am
(10 and under entry/eat FREE)
Bart Budwig
Dom Flemons
For more information
about the event visit:
WallowaCountyFlyIn.com
541-263-2793
North East Oregon Aviation Foundation
Advancing Aviation Education in Wallowa County Schools
Show Your Support by Donating Online Today!
Caleb Klauder Country Band
Kory Quin
Buy Tickets Online!
Friday July 12th • Tickets $50
Party on Main Street!
$25 per person or $50 per family!
Tickets available at:
eventbrite.com, theoldok.com or by
calling 541-263-0941
Party like it’s
1919!
208 W. Main Street, Enterprise, Oregon