BUSINESS & AG LIFE
THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2021
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B
DROUGHT: ‘Almost every year we end up dumping a lot of water’
Putting water
to use
Continued from Page 1B
County not as bad
as others
He said he told the FSA,
“You guys can read what-
ever map you want, but
we’re in a critical spot
right now.”
The higher the “D”
rating, the more federal
funding is available. Also,
regulations can be eased,
such as allowing emer-
gency grazing on Con-
servation Reserve Pro-
gram land that is otherwise
set aside to not be used
agriculturally.
Nash said he’s aware
Wallowa County isn’t in
as poor shape as some
Oregon counties. He said
he is aware that producers
in Umatilla and Morrow
counties are grazing on
CRP land because of the
drought conditions there.
“They were in tough
shape. It was just brutal
dry over there,” Nash said.
“We’re still in better con-
dition than almost any
county in the state, but
it’s not good (here). The
guys who are taking water
out of Wallowa Lake are
already on a rotation. It
hasn’t been warm enough
early enough and then they
started pulling out of the
lake earlier than normal
so it never had a chance to
HOMES
Continued from Page 1B
“We’re working on
purchasing land before
summer so that it can be
developed and ready in
two or three years to actu-
ally put kids on a con-
struction site, as part of
their capstone course in
that pathway,” said La
Grande High School Prin-
cipal Brett Baxter.
Hendrickson noted
the program’s inaugural
year still will off er man-
ufacturing classes, such
as project-based wood-
working and traditional
furniture building.
While the goal of
building a home in La
Grande is years down the
road, engaging interest in
careers is a valuable factor
that students can take
away from the program.
“There is defi nitely a
defi cit with general con-
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
A wheelline irrigates a fi eld just off Eggleson Lane south of Enterprise Thursday, June 3, 2021. Irrigators are watering their fi elds a bit earlier
than usual due to drought conditions in Wallowa County.
back up.”
But Dan Butterfi eld,
president of the Wallowa
Lake Irrigation District,
said he’s confi dent the
lake will stand up to any
drought.
“We are in what I would
consider to be a really
lucky situation because we
have a reservoir,” he said,
adding that an engineering
fi rm the district contracts
with is giving positive
assurances.
“We’re set to fi ll the
tractors right now nation-
wide,” Hendrickson said.
“So it does help to fi ll
that void if there are kids
that choose to go into that
career choice.”
nity to earn industry cer-
tifi cations that can help
toward careers in trades.
Career paths
Working hands-on in
the construction pathway
allows students to gauge
career interests, whether
they plan on attending
higher education or
working in the fi eld out of
high school.
“There’s some kids that
are taking these pathways
that are still planning on
going to college,” Hen-
drickson said. “They’ll
still have those options to
learn some skills to maybe
fall back on or utilize later
in their life if they change
careers or do something
diff erent.”
For the students looking
at careers out of high
school, the construction
pathway off ers technical
training and the opportu-
lake by July to our max-
imum levels,” he said.
Last week the lake
showed a 2-inch increase.
Butterfi eld said it needs to
fi ll another 5 feet to reach
it maximum level.
He agreed that many
irrigators turned on the
tap May 1 — the earliest
allowable date — which
was two to three weeks
early.
“Last year we got 10
inches of rain and didn’t
irrigate too much,” he said.
Butterfi eld said this
year the district will be
putting that water to use.
Farmers are both irrigating
from ditches that run from
the lake and from pipes
installed to keep water from
evaporating, making that
water more effi cient.
“Right now, we’re using
our water instead of sending
it out of here muddy to the
ocean,” he said. “Almost
every year we end up
dumping a lot of water.
With the fact that people
have started irrigating, we
may not have to dump as
much.”
But the commissioners
remain concerned. Nash
and fellow Commissioner
Susan Roberts agreed there
needs to be rain along with
the warmer temperatures.
“It isn’t the same as
when you have snow and
then you get rain up there to
bring the snowmelt down,”
Roberts said.
“It’s kind of double-jeop-
ardy,” Nash added. “If it
warmed up and then it
rained at the same time,
they wouldn’t be pulling out
of the lake for all they’re
worth and it’d be accumu-
lating in the lake. I think
we’re going to see this thing
just keep going to where we
don’t get caught up.”
Pathway funding
Student enrollment,
education credits and
industry-recognized cer-
tifi cations dictate how the
school district funds the
pathway programs. The
state awards schools for
giving students enough
credits in those pathways
courses.
The more students
involved in a program,
then, the more funding
that can go back into that
same program. Addition-
ally, the revenue from
the sale of a traditional
house or smaller dwelling
in La Grande could be
instrumental.
“We’d be able to give
back to the community,”
Freeman said. “It ends up
being something that we
can sell and we can use
that funding to put back in
the program.”
Dick Mason/The Observer, File
Island City Elementary fi fth-grade teacher Darren Hendrickson leads the fi rst cohort of the students in
his class to the front of their school Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020. Hendrickson will serve as the full-time
construction teacher at La Grande High School in the fall of 2021.
COVID-19: Brown asks to lift
masking and distancing protocols
Continued from Page 1B
to challenge and violate
that guidance, while pro-
tests against COVID-19
restrictions spread across
the state. Oregon OSHA
received record levels of
complaints when the pan-
demic fi rst began.
Following the
announcement, Brown
contacted OSHA and
requested it lift its work-
place masking and dis-
tancing requirements once
the benchmark is reached
and review other policies.
They were most recently
updated on May 4.
WORK
Continued from Page 1B
While it’s understandable
to task them with smaller
duties at fi rst, they will
quickly lose interest as they
Oregon OSHA said
June 7 it will be reviewing
COVID-19 workplace reg-
ulations and determining
if they should also be
lifted. That includes reg-
ulations on businesses
that provide employee
housing, employee noti-
fi cations when a work-
place COVID-19 exposure
has occurred, the posting
of COVID-19 safety
signs, and requirements
that employers cover the
cost of workplace-related
COVID-19 testing.
Other rules that are up
for review target specifi c
types of businesses — like
wine and beer tastings at
brewpubs and distilleries.
“Because it is not pos-
sible to assign a spe-
cifi c time for that deci-
sion, Oregon OSHA will
consult with the Oregon
OSHA partnership com-
mittee, the Oregon Health
Authority, the two infec-
tious Disease Rulemaking
Advisory Committees, and
other stakeholders,” the
agency’s latest COVID-19
policy says. Oregon OSHA
initially said the policy
review would begin in July
at the latest, but now plans
to hold their initial meeting
the week of June 14.
are interested in being part
of the bigger picture.
Regardless of whether
employers choose to recruit
individuals from Genera-
tion Z right now, they will
soon be a major part of the
global workforce. Under-
standing their strengths
and preferences will be
important for businesses to
succeed.
———
Greg Smith is the director
of the Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity Small Business
Development Center, La
Grande.
Now Open for Dine In
Family Friendly Location
Delivery no longer available
New Menu!
Bar Bites, Wood Stone Pizza
and More!
MON-TUES CLOSED
WED-SAT 11-9 • SUN 11-7
1106 Adams Avenue Suite 100 • 541 663-9010 • tapthatgrowlers.com
The Observer, File
Signs at Bella Mercantile in La Grande Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, advertises requirements for COVID-19 hy-
giene to protect shoppers, employees and the community.
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:
www.LaGrandeObserver.com
Still running
unsupported
Windows 7?
We’ll help you
avoid critical
issues by installing
Windows 10!
Computer not
running as
fast as when
it was new?
Let us install
lightning-fast
solid state drive!