A2 THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2022
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B
Biden picks Wight to be
Oregon’s U.S. attorney
BY MAXINE BERNSTEIN
The Oregonian
President Joe Biden has nom-
inated Natalie K. Wight, who
is deputy chief of the organized
and violent crime sec-
tion of Oregon’s U.S.
Attorney’s office, to
serve as the top federal
prosecutor in the state.
Wight, a 1992 gradu-
ate of Portland’s Cleve-
land High School, has
been working in the
Wight
District of Oregon
since 2012 and with the U.S. De-
partment of Justice since 2003.
Wight, 47, was selected out
of three finalists chosen from a
pool of seven candidates who
applied for the job.
“We strongly support Presi-
dent Biden’s nomination of Na-
talie Wight to be the next U.S.
Attorney for Oregon,” said a joint
statement from Oregon’s U.S.
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merk-
ley. “She brings an outstanding
combination of leadership, integ-
rity, independence and commu-
nity connections to this crucial
post. We look forward to ad-
vancing her through the Senate
confirmation process.”
Wight is one of five U.S. at-
torney nominations announced
Monday by the Biden adminis-
tration. The nominations now
go to the Senate Judiciary Com-
mittee for confirmation.
“These individuals
were chosen for their
devotion to enforcing
the law, their profes-
sionalism, their expe-
rience and credentials,
their dedication to
pursuing equal justice
for all, and their com-
mitment to the inde-
pendence of the Department
of Justice,” said a news release
from The White House.
Biden said he expects the
new chief federal law enforce-
ment officers to play key roles
in helping support his effort to
prosecute gun traffickers, put
more police on the street and
bolster community violence
prevention programs.
Wight has supervised and
prosecuted Native American
tribal cases with a specialized
focus on child exploitation in-
vestigations.
She was one of the prosecutors
who handled the trial of Jason P.
Schaefer, who was sentenced to
40 years in prison in 2019 for ig-
niting a cigarette pack filled with
explosive material as he was cor-
nered in his car by members of
the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task
Force. The Oct. 11, 2017, blast
blew off two fingers on Schaefer’s
left hand and left Washington
County Sheriff’s Detective Jer-
emy Chedester, a member of the
task force, with vertigo, ringing
in his ear and a concussion.
Before working as a federal
prosecutor in Oregon, she was
an assistant U.S. attorney in the
Northern District of California
from 2008 to 2012. Wight also
was an attorney at the Federal
Bureau of Prisons from 2003 to
2008. She received her law de-
gree from the University of No-
tre Dame Law School in 2003,
masters in science from Califor-
nia State University in 2000, and
bachelors of science degree from
the College of Idaho in 1996.
She also was inducted into
the Portland Interscholastic
League Hall of Fame, after serv-
ing as captain of the woman’s
soccer team and women’s bas-
ketball team and running track
at Cleveland High School. In
recent years, Wight has served
as the high school’s mock trial
coach.
LOCAL BRIEFING
New principal hired for La Pine Middle School
Bend-La Pine Schools has hired La Pine Middle
School’s new principal, according to a news release issued
Monday.
Brian Barringer, a principal at Big Pic-
ture Learning College and Career Acad-
emy in Denver will serve in the school’s
lead role starting July 1, the news release
said. He follows Principal Matt Mont-
gomery, who has retired.
Superintendent Steven Cook said,
“Barringer has great experience as a
principal at a small school setting and is Barringer
known for building strong relationships
with staff, students and the broader community.”
Barringer previously served as an assistant principal for
three years, a middle and high school teacher for six years,
and as an athletic director.
COVID-19 community levels for Central Oregon
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moni-
tors community levels of COVID-19 to help communities
decide what prevention steps to take based on the latest
data. Levels can be low, medium or high and are deter-
mined by looking at hospital beds being used, hospital
admissions and the total number of new COVID-19 cases
in an area.
The CDC listed the following levels for Central Oregon:
Deschutes County: Medium
Crook County: Medium
Jefferson County: Low
Precautions the CDC recommends for communities
with low levels:
• Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines.
• Get tested if you have symptoms.
Additional precautions for communities with medium
levels: If you are at high risk for severe illness, talk to your
health care provider about whether you need to wear a
mask and take other precautions.
— Bulletin staff reports
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Sakari Farms near Tumalo keeps
Indigenous plants going strong
with going in this year know-
ing that there’s less water or no
The pond is full again at
water,” Schreiner said.
Upingaksraq Spring Alaska
Schreiner is Inupiaq, a
Schreiner’s High Desert farm.
member of the Valdez Native
It’s a welcome sight for
Tribe of Alaska and Chugach
Schreiner, who owns Sakari
Alaska Native Corporation.
Farms, northwest of Tumalo
Her tribal name is Upingaks-
on U.S. Highway 20.
raq, which means “the time
Last summer, as drought
when the ice breaks.” She
punished Central Or-
opened Sakari Botan-
egon, Schreiner’s
icals in 2012 and
irrigation district
Sakari Farms in
stopped deliver-
2018 to bolster
ing water. She
and restore ac-
watched as the
cess to tradi-
pond gradually
tional foods
disappeared,
for Indigenous
leaving a mud
people locally
puddle behind.
in Central Ore-
“I cried last year
gon and across the
when I walked
Bradley W. Parks/OPB
country.
Hopi red amaranth
through the dry
Native people
canal,” Schreiner
grows in starter trays will send seeds
told Oregon Public
to Sakari, which
in a greenhouse at
Broadcasting. “I was
means “sweet.” The
Sakari Farms.
pissed. I was like,
farm will grow the
‘There’s nothing we can do.’”
plants, collect the new seeds
Schreiner has rights to a
and send them back, keeping
little over 2 acre-feet of wa-
Indigenous plant varieties go-
ter, which makes its way to
ing strong. Sakari also hosts
the farm from the Deschutes
farm education, tribal cooking
River through a series of pipes classes and tribal community
and canals.
events.
She only got a fraction of
Water has sustained that
that amount last year.
vision to this point, but now
This year is looking worse.
Schreiner knows that water is
Gov. Kate Brown has al-
no longer a guarantee.
ready declared drought emer-
“All I can do is implement it
gencies in 16 Oregon counties, practically,” she said.
including Deschutes. That’s
She’s channeling the frus-
the most ever for this time of
tration she felt last year into
year, and Oregon farmers like
solutions.
Schreiner are on edge.
On a hill behind the farm-
“I’m not sure how to cope
house are four old chain-link
BY BRADLEY W. PARKS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
fence panels surrounding a
bare patch of dirt. Beneath the
surface is an elaborate pattern
of squash seeds, beans and
corn — the three sisters.
Schreiner won’t water the
plot, but said she’s hoping seed-
lings will soon emerge from the
dirt. She said the moment will
surely bring her to tears.
“It’s literally your ancestors
telling you thank you for try-
ing this,” Schreiner said.
The hilltop plot represents
one of the best hopes for Sa-
kari’s future. Indigenous peo-
ple, particularly the Hopi,
have practiced dryland farm-
ing for thousands of years
in semi-arid regions, relying
solely on rain and snowmelt to
grow crops.
“It’s imperative that we look
for guidance from Indigenous
people on fire management,
climate change, water usage,
how we grow our crops, when,
why,” Schreiner said. “No one
asks us how to do things. They
just kinda push us in the corner.
And that’ll bite them, I think.”
Schreiner is also installing
more drip irrigation at Sakari
and securing grant money to
implement new technologies
like weather stations and water
sensors on-farm to improve
efficiency.
She said she’s learned lessons
Courtesy of Sakari Farms
Sakari Farms owner and Indigenous agriculturalist Upingaksraq
Spring Alaska Schreiner. Schreiner grows traditional crops, and
during the drought, she’s trying dryland farming.
on what not to do by watching
other farmers fail. For example,
Schreiner won’t truck in wa-
ter from elsewhere if her pond
goes dry again this year.
“I’m still promoting all the
farmers to grow as much food
as they can and extend the
seasons,” Schreiner said. “But
it’s not natural, so that’s where
we’re going to be ahead of the
game.”
Sakari is almost fully
planted and will only plant
once this year. Farm work-
ers Harrison Hill and Kobe
Stites were busy putting bean
starts in the ground on a hot
Wednesday in late May.
“The water that we did have
to start out the season isn’t al-
ways going to be here,” Hill
said. “We’re going to have to
learn how to use it most effec-
tively.”
Schreiner said if the water’s
shut off again, she’ll cut off the
farm plot-by-plot and seek fi-
nancial relief for failed crops.
Still, the plants’ resilience
and that of the people who
have grown those plants since
time immemorial give Sch-
reiner confidence — even in
the face of Oregon’s drier fu-
ture.
It’s
Hummingbird
Season!
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