TUESDAY, JULY 27, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A5
LOCAL & REGION
SCHOOLS
online learning options as well.
As for COVID protocols, the Or-
Continued from Page A1
egon Health Authority and Oregon
After that meeting, district adminis- Department of Education on July 22
trators, including principals, will con- announced recommendations for the
vene to talk about pandemic protocols, 2021-22 school year. McDowell points
McDowell said.
out, though, that those are recommen-
The Baker School Board, which is
dations, not mandates.
slated to meet Aug. 5, also will discuss
The state agencies recommend
the upcoming school year. The district schools require students and staff for
might not announce the policy until af- all grades, who are not vaccinated, to
ter the board meeting, McDowell said. wear face masks while indoors.
The district intends to have a full
But the Baker School District has
schedule of in-person classes for all
used a less strict policy for its Summer
grades — as was the case for the last
Academy programs, McDowell said,
six weeks or so of the previous school
requiring staff and students to wear
year.
masks only indoors and only when K-6
The district will continue to offer
students are present (most of whom
are younger than 12 and thus not eli-
gible to be vaccinated). McDowell said
the district does not plan to enforce
any policy that has different standards
for students or staff based solely on
whether they’re vaccinated.
McDowell said that as of Monday
the district has had only one posi-
tive COVID-19 case in the Summer
Academy.
District offi cials will be considering
keeping the cohort system in place,
which aims to reduce interactions
between groups of students. This
means that a positive case might
require only one group to quarantine
at home, rather than an entire school,
McDowell said.
WOLVES
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Biologists from the agency
confi rmed earlier this month that
wolves from the Lookout Moun-
tain pack twice attacked cattle in
the Manning Creek area north-
east of Durkee.
Wolves killed a fi ve-month-old
calf on a public land grazing allot-
ment around July 13, and injured
a steer, which is about a year and
a half old, several days later on a
private land pasture, according to
ODFW reports.
A possible wolf attack was
reported to the Baker County
Sheriff’s Offi ce about 11 a.m. on
Friday, July 23, in the Durkee
area.
Brian Ratliff, district wildlife
biologist at ODFW’s Baker City
offi ce, said a report on that case
was not available Monday morn-
ing, July 26. Ratliff said he was
investigating a possible attack
on a cow in the same area that
morning.
Ratliff said earlier this month
that the Lookout Mountain pack
consists of an adult male and fe-
male, the breeding pair, two year-
lings that were born in the spring
of 2020, and an unknown number
of pups born in May 2021.
POWER
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Idaho Power set a record
for energy demand on June
30, when the peak load
reached 3,745 megawatts.
On the west side of the
Cascades and in Canada, by
contrast, peak demand tends
to happen during winter,
Colburn said, and the trans-
mission line can move power
in the opposite direction as
needed during that season.
Idaho Power inspects
the transmission line every
year, including by helicopter,
drone and on foot, Colburn
said.
Those annual inspections
usually reveal relatively
minor maintenance tasks,
he said.
But every decade the com-
pany conducts a more com-
prehensive inspection of the
line, including examining
the wooden poles and cros-
sarms, insulators and other
hardware, and the conduc-
tor (the wire that actually
transmits electricity).
Colburn said this once-a-
decade survey also includes
using thermal imaging de-
vices that can detect exces-
sive heat from components,
which can indicate a fl aw or
pending failure.
Idaho Power did the de-
tailed examination of poles,
crossarms and wires in 2017,
followed by a further assess-
Idaho Power Company/Contributed Map
Idaho Power’s 138-kilovolt line (blue line) runs through Baker County.
ment of the poles in 2018.
Following that work,
Idaho Power had to obtain
permits from the Forest
Service and Bureau of Land
Management, federal agen-
cies that manage the public
land through which the line
runs, allowing the mainte-
nance work, Colburn said.
Among the typical jobs
that follow the detailed
inspection are:
• Replacing dilapidated
poles and other wooden
pieces, which deteriorate
over time and can also be
damaged by woodpeckers.
During this year’s project
Idaho Power will replace 29
wooden “H-frame” structures
that suspend the power
lines, and replace one of the
two poles on four other H-
frame structures.
Some structures, in
steeper terrain, have three
poles because they are more
stable, said Sven Berg,
corporate communications
specialist for Idaho Power.
There are 493 wooden
structures on the 70-mile
line, Berg said.
• Replacing cracked or
broken insulators.
• Replacing frayed guy
lines.
Colburn said the Baker
City-John Day line, at 54
years old, is not especially
old, even for its wooden
parts.
The conductor, made of
aluminum and steel, gener-
ally lasts longer than wood,
he said, although crews
will replace sections of the
conductor if needed.
“There’s a lot of hardware
and components in a trans-
mission line,” Colburn said.
In some cases Idaho Power
hires contractors to do work
on transmission lines. But in
this year’s Baker City-John
Day project, the company’s
own employees will handle
the tasks, Colburn said.
Sections of the transmis-
sion line are visible from rec-
reation sites such as Phillips
Lake; the line also crosses
Highway 7 at several places,
including near Old Auburn
Road south of Bowen Valley,
along the Powder River just
downstream from Mason
Dam, and at Larch Summit
south of Sumpter.
Colburn said people
should expect to see Idaho
Idaho Power Company/Contributed Photo
Idaho Power crews will be doing this type of work this
fall on the company’s 70-mile transmission line between
Baker City and John Day.
Power trucks and workers
along sections of the line this
fall.
Although the work is slat-
ed to start in mid-September,
he said the project could be
delayed if the fi re danger is
so severe that the Forest Ser-
vice or BLM prohibits work.
“We’re not going to go in
there unless it’s safe to do
so,” Colburn said.
He said the Idaho Power
crews will have fi re extin-
guishers and water available
in case of a fi re.
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