NATIONAL AGRICULTURE DAY| PAGE A6-A8
PULSE MAGAZINE| INSIDE
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
153nd Year • No. 12 • 18 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
Grant County
seniors
log worst
vaccination
rate in the state
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant County is at the bottom
of the list in terms of vaccinating
seniors for COVID-19.
Oregon
Health
Author-
ity reported last week that Grant
County has the lowest rate of
COVID-19 vaccinations for people
in the 65 and older group than any
other county in the state.
Kimberly Lindsay, the county’s
public health administrator, said she
anticipates Grant County’s num-
bers will improve once they report
a backlog of second doses, but she
wanted to convey to the community
that all seniors in Grant County who
want the vaccine can get it.
As of March 18, 31.8% of those
65 and older in the county had
received the vaccine, according
to OHA data. Meanwhile, in Har-
ney County, 46.3% of people 65
and older received the vaccine. In
Lake County, 43.2% rolled up their
sleeves. In Umatilla, 46.8%; Mor-
row, 45.7%; Union, 49.5%; Baker,
76.3%; and Malheur, 48.4%.
Lindsay said the county received
800 new vaccine doses and 100
booster doses in a Sunday press
release.
On Monday, she said, the county
immunized those in eligible groups
and those on the county’s waitlist.
She said the county is fi nish-
ing up groups one through seven
of phase 1A. Lindsay said, per state
regulations, the county cannot move
beyond phase 1B, including adults
over 18. For now, she said, they are
eligible to be on the waitlist.
Lindsay said Oregon Health
Authority reported the county
would receive 300 fi rst doses and
200 second doses of the Moderna
vaccine this week.
She said, assuming the county
receives the planned doses, they
will hold a vaccine clinic on March
29 and vaccinate those in eligible
groups.
Lindsay said the county still
plans on scheduling vaccine clin-
ics in Monument, Dayville, Long
Creek and Seneca in the future.
Eagle fi le photo
Rebekah Rand, director of emer-
gency management at Blue
Mountain Hospital District, fi lls
a syringe with the COVID-19 vac-
cine at a January vaccine clinic at
the Grant County Fairgrounds.
Contributed photo/Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center
The Lionshead Fire is shown burning Sept. 6 on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.
Warm Springs evaluates carbon
sequester project in wake of wildfi re
natural disasters. Each forest project contrib-
utes 10-20% of its total credits into the buff er
account, which acts as a sort of insurance.
The project area on Warm Springs that
burned, known as ARC260, is located on the east
By Michael Kohn
side of Mount Jeff erson. The area will be evalu-
EO Media Group
ated for damage, said Brunoe, as not all areas of
a forest burn the same — parts of a forest may
ive years ago the Confederated Tribes
have a light or heavy burn, or no burn at all. In
of Warm Springs set aside 24,000 acres
addition, a burned area is not necessarily out of
of forestland for a project to sequester
the carbon project as a standing snag can still be
carbon and reduce greenhouse gases.
counted as carbon.
Last summer more than half of that
The verifi ed estimate of current carbon stocks
forest went up in smoke in the devastating Lions-
must be completed by a third party within 23
head Fire.
months, accord-
Now
tribes,
ing to the Califor-
Air Resources
which earned mil-
“THE EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE FIRE IMPACT TO THE nia
lions of dollars
Board.
Much
of
from the Califor-
WARM SPRINGS CARBON PROJECT REMAINS UNKNOWN
the area where
nia Air Resources
AND WILL BE UNDER EVALUATION FOR THE NEXT YEAR
ARC260
is
Board for the proj-
located
is
cur-
ect, are hard at
AND A HALF, INVOLVING DETAILED FOREST INVENTORIES rently inaccessi-
assessing
work
ble due to deep
just how much was
AND MODELING.”
snow, said Bru-
lost. Bobby Bru-
—Bobby Brunoe, general manager for the tribe’s Branch of Natural Resources
noe, so research
noe, general man-
is expected to
ager for the tribe’s
start in earnest
Branch of Natural
Resources, so far calculates that 15,000 acres of fi nancial incentive to keep the forest intact and in spring.
“The extent and severity of the fi re impact
the project area were lost in the fi re. Overall, the increase its carbon intake capacity. But wildfi res
Lionshead Fire burned 204,000 acres, of which like Lionshead throw a wrench in those inten- to the Warm Springs carbon project remains
96,000 acres are on the Warm Springs Indian tions as the burned trees reverse carbon seques- unknown and will be under evaluation for the
next year and a half, involving detailed forest
Reservation.
tration, sending carbon into the atmosphere.
inventories and modeling,” said Brunoe.
Warm Springs, located 70 miles north of
Buff er pool protection
Once the evaluation of the forest damage is
Bend, sells carbon credits earned through Cali-
The California program is protected from complete, a determination will be made on how
fornia’s Cap-and-Trade Program, by protecting
its forests so they can continue to capture carbon. wildfi re events through its “buff er pool” of car- much to reduce the buff er pool.
The program is a market-based form of regula- bon credits, which are available to use in case
See Wildfi re, Page A18
tion that sets an upper limit, or “cap,” on carbon forest carbon is lost through wildfi re or other
Half of project forest
burns in Lionshead Fire
F
emissions produced by companies in California.
The carbon off set projects can be located
outside of California, a policy that opened
the door to participation by Warm Springs.
Around the country, there are 136 forest
off set projects.
According to the agreement, Warm Springs
will maintain and build carbon stands within
its project area for 100 years. At Warm Springs,
the area considered for protection was zoned as
“conditional use,” a designation that allowed the
tribes to log it if they so desired, although it had
not been logged before.
Entering the Cap-and-Trade Program was a
Grant County reports second COVID-19-related death
81-year-old woman dies
in Bend hospital
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
COVID-19 has claimed another
life in Grant County.
The Grant County Health
Department reported Sunday that
an 81-year-old woman with under-
lying conditions who resided in
Grant County died at St. Charles
Medical Center in Bend on March
19 after testing positive for
COVID-19.
According to the health depart-
ment, with 42
cases so far in
March, the county
is in the midst
of
community
spread.
In
a
Fri-
day email, Grant
County
Public
Health Adminis-
trator
Kimberly
Lindsay said, if
the county’s case
counts continue to increase, the
state will move Grant County into
the “moderate” risk category.
According to the Oregon Health
Authority’s web page, at-home
social
gather-
ing
restrictions
would move from
10 to eight peo-
ple in the moderate
category.
Indoor
din-
ing would still be
allowed. However,
the state would
mandate
restau-
rants and bars close
at 11 p.m. instead
of midnight. Restaurants and bars
would also go from a maximum of
eight to six per table.
Lindsay said each county
gets a “warning week.” She
said the state typically pub-
lishes the “warning week” on
Tuesdays.
“A warning period means
that you should move up in
the metrics, but you get a two
week ‘stay of execution’ and
we will stay in the low level,”
she said.
She said the new metric level
would go into effect on April 9.
If the numbers go below 30
new cases for a two-week period,
the county would stay in the low
category.
But, she said, if they go above
30, then the county would go to
moderate.