PROGRESS 2019: CELEBRATING ACHIEVEMENTS IN OUR COMMUNITIES INSIDE
The
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
Grant County’s newspaper since 1868
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
151st Year • No. 26 • 18 Pages • $1.00
MyEagleNews.com
Mitchell woman dies in head-on collision near Dayville
By Angel Carpenter and Richard
Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
A woman from Mitchell died
in a two-vehicle crash at about
1:05 p.m. on June 20 on Highway
26 just west of the Dayville city
limits.
According to Oregon State
Police Sgt. Tom Hutchison, who
responded to the scene, an east-
bound Kia Soul compact car with
a single occupant crossed the cen-
ter line causing a head-on colli-
sion with a Suzuki Vitara compact
SUV carrying two occupants.
Donna Rose Foster, 86, of
Mitchell, a passenger in the west-
bound vehicle, suffered fatal inju-
ries and was pronounced deceased
at the scene.
Timothy N. Townsend, 64, of
Mitchell, the driver of the west-
bound vehicle, and Graham W.
Gebhardt, 21, Bend, the driver of
the eastbound vehicle, sustained
injuries and were transported to
Blue Mountain Hospital in John
Day for treatment.
Oregon State Police, Grant
County Sheriff’s Offi ce, John Day
ambulance and Dayville Volun-
teer Fire Department responded to
the scene.
A man and woman, both 42
and from Salt Lake City, Utah,
came upon the scene and tried
to assist before fi rst responders
arrived.
Hutchison confi rmed that the
deceased and the driver of the
eastbound vehicle were wearing
seat belts.
Townsend told the Eagle that
he was wearing his seat belt.
A police crash reconstruc-
tionist responded to diagram
the scene. The investigation is
continuing.
CRITICAL MIDDLE FORK
HABITAT EXCHANGES HANDS
Warm Springs
Tribes will continue
conservation on
1,200-acre Dunstan
Homestead Preserve
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
C
ritical habitat along the Middle Fork
of the John Day River changed hands
this spring, but visitors to the Dun-
stan Homestead Preserve should not
see any change in management.
The Nature Conservancy transferred own-
ership of the 1,200-acre holding with nearly 3.5
miles of river frontage to the Confederated Tribes
of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon.
“The land’s critical fi sh and wildlife habi-
tat will remain under perpetual protection and
stewardship as a result of important partnerships
between The Nature Conservancy, the Tribes and
the Bonneville Power Administration,” according
to a BPA news release.
The homestead includes riparian and upland
Contributed photo/Bonneville Power Administration habitats, with ponderosa pine, mixed conifer for-
The Middle Fork of the John Day River near Boulder Creek and the Dunstan Homestead Preserve. The Nature Conservancy ests, savanna and open meadows. Regulated pub-
transferred ownership of the homestead’s 1,200-acre holding with nearly 3.5 miles of river frontage to the Confederated Tribes of f lic access to the land will continue, including lim-
the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon.
ited hunting.
The upper reaches of the Middle Fork near the
homestead provides important habitat for spawn-
ing and rearing chinook salmon.
“The river’s wide valley bottoms, gentle gradi-
ent and multiple side channels support one of the
state’s healthiest populations of wild spring chi-
nook salmon,” the BPA said.
The Dunstan family, which owned the land
since 1899, sold the homestead to The Nature Con-
servancy in 1990, which worked with neighbors,
local partners and the Tribes to restore habitat and
advance research, monitoring and land manage-
ment on the property and surrounding lands.
The acquisition by The Nature Conservancy
was accomplished through private fundraising,
special projects manager Allie Gardner told the
Contributed photo/Rick McEwan
Contributed photo/Rick McEwan Eagle. The Nature Conservancy then donated the
The Dunstan Homestead Preserve along the Middle Fork The Dunstan Homestead Preserve along the Middle Fork of the John
of the John Day River today.
Day River in 1898.
See Habitat, Page A18
Climate bill lacks votes to pass
Senate Republicans seeking
assurances cap and trade is
dead before returning
to Capitol
By Claire Withycombe, Aubrey Wieber
and Mark Miller
Oregon Capital Bureau
Seven minutes.
That’s all it took for Senate President Peter
Courtney to thrust the already-tense Capitol
into sheer chaos Tuesday.
Senate Republicans have vacated the Cap-
itol in protest of landmark legislation to cap
the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, mak-
ing the building a tinderbox sensitive to tiny
political sparks.
Senate Democrats can’t vote on the
bill — which passed the House last week
— unless at least two Republicans are
present.
Courtney, an old-timer Democrat from
Salem who has led the Senate since 2003,
stepped up to the dais Tuesday morning with
a remarkable declaration: House Bill 2020, a
landmark proposal, did not have the votes to
pass the Senate.
“No one has told me to say this,” Courtney
said. “There is no strategy to what I’m about
to say. There’s just Peter. House Bill 2020
does not have the votes on the Senate fl oor.
That will not change.”
Some of his fellow Democrats in the
chamber — who are divided on the bill —
appeared caught off guard.
See Capitol, Page A18
Oregon Capital Bureau/Claire Withycombe
Senate President Peter Courtney looks out over empty desks
in the Oregon Senate June 20. Senate Republicans have
not returned to the Capitol as of Tuesday afternoon, but
Courtney announced Tuesday the cap and trade bill did not
have the votes to pass.