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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2024)
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon In the Tribal Court of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs (Note: All proceedings, except Probate as de- scribed below, are held at the Tribal Courthouse.) PROBATE In the matter of the es- tate of Roy D. Jackson, W.S., U/A, deceased. Es- tate no. 2024-PR33. Notice if hereby given that Rod D. Jackson, who at the time of his death last known residence was 4309 Tommie St., Warm Springs OR, died on the 2 nd day of June, 2024 and the court appointed Valerie Squiemphen as public admin- istrator. In the matter of the es- tate of Dorina D. Surface, W.S., U/A, deceased. Es- tate no. 2024-PR35. Notice is hereby given that Dorina D. Surface, who at the time August 7, 2024 of her death last known resi- dence was 2509 Looksh St., Warm Springs OR, died on the 5 th day of June, 2024, and the court appointed Valerie Squiemphen as public admin- istrator. Apology I am sorry about what I did on July 31, 2023, and know the decision I made was wrong and put me at risk, and also the commu- nity. I have learned from my mistake. Mathew B. Garcia. Area fires bring smokey air Late last weekend, t h u n d e r s t o r m s m ove d through parts of the re- gion, bringing strong wind and lightning. Several new wildfires were reported including the Elk Lane Fire, located seven miles northwest of Madras. The Jefferson County Sheriff ’s Office said two ar- eas were given level 3 Go- Now evacuation orders. Those levels of evacuation were in place into early Mon- day morning. Belmont Lane northwest of Madras was shut down from the PGE gates to S.W. Columbia. And people were asked to avoid Mountain View Drive for fire appara- tuses. The Red Cross set up a temporary shelter at the Jefferson County Fair- grounds. The Bennett Fire was northeast of Antelope, burning across several hun- dred acres. There was a Go- Know evacuation order for the city of Antelope. These and other fires in the region have created some smokey conditions. Around Indian Country Heatwave, drought deadly for fish in Yakima Basin An unsettling discovery by U.S. Geological Survey staff gathering gear in the Yakima Delta in July of- fered a harsh reminder of the dangers fish face due to this summer’s heat and drought. Warm water lacking in oxygen killed at least 75 sockeye salmon, according to a report, and photos show some of the dead fish floating on their backs near the shore. Yakama Nation Fisher- ies Manager Joe Blodgett said it’s likely many more sockeye died while waiting for an opportunity to swim up the Yakima River to spawn, reminiscent of large- scale die-offs caused by similar conditions in 2015 and 2021. “By the time we got out there, we don’t see anything going on now, but we do know this is definitely something to be concerned about,” Blodgett said. “This year it’s even more frustrating be- cause it’s a record return for adult sockeye in the Colum- bia Basin.” U.S. Geological Service fish biologist Toby Kock said water temperatures in the 80s have approached record- highs in the lower Yakima River, creating a thermal bar- rier for any salmon and steel- head trying to swim in or out of the Yakima Basin. Predation concerns and low flows from the second year of a statewide drought add to the challenge of pro- viding safe passage for fish on their long journey be- tween the ocean and spawn- ing habitat. Biologists truck Snake River sockeye to cooler Idaho waters On the banks of the Snake River in far eastern Washington, sockeye salmon have had a rough summer. The water behind the last major concrete dam they have to swim past is way too hot. California wildfire could spell the end of threatened salmon California’s fifth-largest wildfire has encroached on some of the last strongholds for imperiled salmon, poten- tially devastating a species already on the brink. The Park Fire spread into the Mill and Deer Creek wa- tersheds in Tehama County, Calif. The Mill and Deer creeks are two of the three remaining creeks where wild, independent populations of spring-run Chinook, a threat- ened species, still spawn in the Central Valley. If the Park Fire climbs to higher altitudes, federal and state officials said it could strike the final death blow to the region’s spring-r un salmon, which are already at risk of extinction. “It’s really concerning. It’s really sad. Spring-run Chi- nook populations have taken such a hit over the past few years, and they’re just at a critically low point,” said Howard Brown, senior policy adviser with the Central Val- ley office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast fisheries region. “The emo- tional toll of seeing a fire like this hit such an important place, with (critically at-risk) populations that are suffer- ing so bad, it just feels like the cards are stacked up deeply.” Experts are anxiously awaiting the wildfire’s next move, hoping that it doesn’t spread farther into higher el- evations. That’s where adult salmon wait in cool pools for water temperatures to drop and flows to rise so they can spawn and where year-old ju- veniles gain strength before migrating to the ocean. “We’re kind of at the mercy of the weather and wind to see if these fires creep along doing beneficial to less-severe things, or if we see a big run that really cooks the watershed,” said Matt Johnson, a senior environ- mental scientist with the Cali- fornia Department of Fish and Wildlife Northern Re- gion Anadromous Fisheries Program. “The species is at real risk of extirpation or blinking out. We hope that doesn’t happen,” he said. Flames are not the pri- mary, immediate threat. The spring-fed streams are mov- ing so fast that ash in the water will quickly wash away, according to wildlife offi- cials. Instead, firefighting efforts could pose a direct threat to the waterways, in- cluding the use of fire re- tardant, which is toxic to fish, though experts say it’s a necessary tradeoff. “The important thing right now is to just try to stop it on the head, so it doesn’t burn up these really precious watersheds,” Brown said. “The next few days will be pretty telling.” The most severe damage could come later this year— if heavy rains wash ash, chemicals and sediment from the burn scar into the creeks. Too much sediment can smother the eggs and baby fish or spark a microbial bloom that sucks oxygen from the water. Larger de- bris flows also could scour the waterways and fill in holding pools. Page 7 Around Indian Country Fish passage restored at former Oregon dam site Crews broke the final obstruction enclosure at a Southern Oregon dam site, returning the river to its historic path, and restoring fish passage in that reach of the Klamath River. The JC Boyle Dam is one of the four dams slated for removal as a part of the Klamath River dam removal project. It is the only dam to be removed in Oregon as part of the project. Th event was joined by representatives and elders from the Klamath Tribes and Modoc Nation to view the moment the river broke through the coffer- dam, the watertight enclo- sure that allowed the con- struction work. “While there is still work to be done, today is a his- toric day for this reach of the Klamath River,” said Mark Bransom, chief ex- ecutive officer of the Kla- math River renewal Corpo- ration. “It was an honor to be able to witness this reach of river coming back to life alongside area tribes. Each milestone brings the river into a healthier state.” JC Boyle Dam was an earth-fill dam with a con- crete spillway. The earthen portion of the dam ex- tended over the original path of the river, while the concrete portion was con- structed outside the river’s path. Courtesy KRRP Area of Klamath River where dam was breached. The reser voir waters were drained back in Janu- ary. Since that time, con- struction crews used the cof- ferdam to route the river through the base of the spill- way while the earthen por- tion of the dam was deconstructed. Crews fin- ished the removal of the earthen portion last week, allowing them to break the cofferdam, restoring the river in that reach to a free- flowing state that will allow volitional fish passage. Crews will continue deconstructing the concrete spillway in the coming weeks. Once that is com- pleted, they will restore the natural slope on the river’s left side and conclude con- struction activities related to JC Boyle Dam removal. Tribal advocates The removal of four Kla- math River dams, the larg- est dam removal in U.S. his- tory, is on track to be com- pleted by November and re- portedly ahead of schedule. The $450 million removal project strives to restore the river and its ecosys- tem to its pre-dam condi- tion with a focus on re- turning salmon, Chinook and coho. If the reintroduction of salmon is successful, then it will provide once again an ancestral food source to the tribal com- munities that relied on the annual fish returns in the river as one of their first foods. The Klamath Tribes voiced the need for the dam removals for de- cades, and now that the project is nearing comple- tion, Klamath tribal lead- ership and employees in the Natural Resources and Ambodat Depart- ments are working with various state and federal agencies and the Klamath River Renewal Corpora- tion, which is overseeing the project, to assist in the many restoration projects such as revegetation, wet- land restoration and the reintroduction of salmon.
