A10
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
HEAT
Continued from Page A1
“Since then, there’s
been a handful of fish each
week that have died on the
Middle Fork, from Camp
Creek toward Bates,” said
Smith. The latest count
since the beginning of July
was about 120 fish that
have perished under the
extreme summertime con-
ditions.
Cooler temperatures ac-
companied by rain helped
the situation earlier in July.
Water temperatures came
down about six degrees,
according to Smith, while
water levels rose with the
rain. However, with a re-
turn of warm, dry weath-
er, area river levels have
receded, and with another
heat wave this past week,
the prognosis was for more
dead fish.
While the die-off is a
concern, Smith said the
expectation is there will be
an ample number of fish in
the streams this fall when
spawning season begins.
“It’s not dire straits,” he
said, having gone through
this before. “It’s the third
die-off since I’ve been
here. It’s a small water-
shed, and there’s not a
lot of ground storage or
riparian cover,” which
would help keep stream
temperatures on the cooler
side.
Similar salmon die-
offs occurred in 2007 and
2013 with high tempera-
tures being the main cause.
In addition to the Mid-
dle Fork’s lack of ripari-
an vegetation, a wide and
shallow channel exposes
much of the river to direct
sunlight, which can cause
quick rises in water tem-
perature.
The underlying cause,
said Smith, is “we’re in the
middle of a drought and
there isn’t a lot of snow
pack.”
Smith said he expects
to see additional salmon
mortalities for the rest of
the summer until spawning
occurs in early September.
If ODFW staff discover
a significant number of
more dead fish as a result
of last week’s heat wave, it
will likely warrant another
survey of streams to deter-
mine the extent of the die-
off.
As for the John Day ba-
sin as a whole, it is seeing
a strong salmon return so
far this year. Summer rains
in mid-July brought some
relief, but summer is far
from over.
02414
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
FAIR
Continued from Page A1
Other entertainment includes
Brady Goss, piano and vocals;
magician Hart Keene; and the
Blue Mountain Fiddlers.
• Hands-on Legos: While
a Legos creation has been dis-
played in past years at the fair,
this year kids will have their
own space to be creative with
the small interlocking building
blocks. The activity was made
possible with a $500 grant giv-
en to the fair.
• Future feature: Although
it won’t be available at the fair
this year, a new public address
system may be ready for next
year’s fair, according to fair
manager Mary Weaver.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Julia Davis decorates the ceramics booth at the
Grant County Fairgrounds pavilion in John Day.
During the past four years,
$121,000 has been collected
through donations and grants
for the system and for an
electronic reader board. Just
$42,000 shy of the goal, Weav-
er and the fair board are seeking
grants from the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture and from
the Oregon Community Foun-
dation for the remainder.
Without the public address
system, it is dif¿cult to alert
those attending events at the
BIKE
Continued from Page A1
herding the cows together in
the road. And they were right
in the middle of the road as
we drove by on our bikes.”
That’s not something you
see everyday in Chicago,
where DiVito is from. He’s
part of a growing trend in
bicycle tourism. The luxury
Bicycle Adventure trip costs
$3,595 per cyclist. That in-
cludes stays at local hotels
and meals at pubs, like the
1188 Brewing Company in
John Day. The group spent
several hundred dollars there
on one dinner during the trip.
“It’s a huge benefit,” said
pub owner Jeremy Adair. He
said he sees several cyclists
a day come through for beer
or food. “That’s one of the
reasons why my wife and I
and our other two partners
opened the pub here. It’s
Contributed photo
A cyclist makes his way along a scenic bikeway
near John Day earlier this summer.
something unique and dif-
ferent for John Day.”
Jennie Shaw runs the His-
toric Hotel Prairie in Prairie
City. She estimates that cy-
clists make up 50 percent of
her bookings. “It’s de¿nitely
our bread and butter,” Shaw
said.
“When we very first start-
02158
ed out, it was weird. It was
like we were motorcyclists
over cyclists, and then the
second to third year it was
like we hardly saw any mo-
torcyclists. It was all just cy-
clists,” she added.
Part of that business boon
is because Prairie City lies
along the state-designated
Old West Scenic Bikeway,
a three-day tour in Eastern
Oregon. Unlike the cyclists
traveling with Bicycle Ad-
ventures, many cyclists plan
their own trips. Shaw said
she fields calls from cyclists
who have questions about
the Old West route.
Here’s how it works:
Local community mem-
bers propose a scenic bike-
way route to the state. They
show where there’s support
for cyclists, including wa-
ter stops, restaurants, hotels
and camping options. Only
about half of the routes qual-
ify, according to the state. If
the route is designated, then
local communities benefit
from the promotion and state
support.
“Once you get that des-
ignation, it brings in a lot of
resources to promote your
fairgrounds about emergencies,
such as the need to evacuate in
case of ¿re, windstorm or light-
ning attack. The system also
might make it easier to ¿nd lost
children during a large event,
Weaver said.
The reader board would help
those who are hard of hearing
to follow speakers onstage.
The Grant County Fair
and Rodeo receives no tax
dollars, according to Weaver.
Admission for everyone on
Wednesday is free. Beginning
Thursday, it will be $5 a day or
$10 for the full four days. No
admission will be charged for
children 5 and younger, and se-
niors 65 and older. Leaders and
members of 4-H also will be
admitted free, with permission
from the Oregon State Univer-
sity Extension of¿ce.
community, and in doing so,
the small communities make
additional money from cy-
cling,” said Mike Cosgrove,
a retired teacher and volun-
teer for the bikeways pro-
gram, who worked to get the
Old West route designated.
“With cycling, we’ve been
able to maintain some of the
businesses that were on the
fringe of being profitable.”
But while dollars from bi-
cycle tourists are welcome,
some rural leaders point out
that their economic benefits
are relatively minor.
“It’s a scenic bikeway,
not an economic bikeway,”
said Boyd Britton, Grant
County commissioner.
“They come here because
it’s beautiful! But so far as
economic activity? Ranch-
ing, farming and logging.
That’s where we’re going to
stay healthy,” Britton said.
“We love for people to come
and visit, but we want them
to come and learn about us,
not just cruise through.”
Gordon’s group of Bike
Adventure cyclists rode
many other roads, which
are not designated as scenic
bikeways during their nine-
day tour. But he said his cli-
ents enjoy knowing they’re
riding a scenic bikeway.
“That’s just the icing
on the cake,” said Gordon.
“When you see a sign like
that, it really helps to drive
in that it’s a bike-friend-
ly area. It’s one more way
to make the day’s ride that
much more special.”
Amanda Peacher is a
multimedia
reporter/pro-
ducer covering central and
eastern Oregon. She started
at Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing in 2011 as the Public
Insight journalist. She lists
cycling among her favorite
pastimes.
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