MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
NEWS
Wallowa dam
project delayed
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA LAKE —
Funding delays and rising
costs are pushing back the
construction start date for the
refurbished Wallowa Lake
Dam by a year, but design and
funding progress are under-
way, according to Dan Butter-
fi eld, president of the Wallowa
Lake Irrigation District.
Butterfi eld said Thursday,
Oct. 27, that the groundbreak-
ing on the dam is expected to
take place in fall 2024, after
irrigation season concludes.
The district, which owns
the dam, is but one of the
major stakeholders of the
project. Others include the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife, the Nez Perce
Tribe’s Department of Fish-
eries Resources Management
and the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation. Minor stakehold-
ers also are involved, includ-
ing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, which has jurisdiction
over bull trout; the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration; the Oregon
Department of Environmental
Quality and others.
Funding
Butterfi eld said funding
is coming in. The stakehold-
ers now have access to the $14
million from the sale of state
lottery bonds. They’ve also
received $750,000 from the
ODFW for design and engi-
neering work on the dam and
another $500,000 from ODFW
for design of the consolidated
diversion of the Wallowa River.
Butterfi eld said that diver-
sion will take out four irriga-
tion ditches from the river.
“They need to be rebuilt
and screened so fi sh can’t get
into ditch system anymore,” he
said.
Butterfi eld said that por-
tion of the project is expected
to cost $5-6 million.
In fact, the cost of the entire
project has skyrocketed, what
with infl ation and the increased
cost of construction materials.
What was originally estimated
to be a $16 million project is
now projected at a low esti-
mate of $21 million, he said.
He added that numer-
ous grants have been written
to help with the shortfall and
word is expected in December
on whether those grants come
through and how much they
will be.
“We’re confi dent on grants
that’ve been written and they’ll
help us cross the fi nish line,” he
said. “We have to stay positive.”
But as infl ation keeps driv-
ing up costs, the stakeholders
are even more eager to begin
construction.
“We have to go,” Butterfi eld
said. “We have to get started.”
Fish passage
One of the issues that it took
the stakeholders time to agree
upon was the type of fi sh pas-
sage to be included in the dam.
State law requires including
such a passage and the two
major types considered were a
fi sh ladder and a “trap and haul”
system.
The stakeholders were leav-
ing it up to the engineering fi rm
for the dam to decide on the
type of fi sh passage to include.
McMillen Jacobs and Asso-
ciates of Boise, Idaho, with
Wallowa County native Mort
McMillen at the helm, deter-
mined a fi sh ladder would not
work well at the dam.
Butterfi eld said the consen-
sus among the stakeholders
leaned toward the trap and haul
system, but they’re “still work-
ing out the details that will work
for everyone.”
He said that the constant rise
and fall of the lake level and the
freezing in the winter make a
fi sh ladder impractical. That’s
not to mention the cost.
“It would take more con-
crete to do fi sh ladder than it
would to do the dam,” he said.
“It’s not part of the conversa-
tion anymore.”
The trap and haul system
involves creating a catch basin
at the base of the dam that will
attract the fi sh. From there, the
fi sh are collected, placed in a
water-fi lled truck and hauled to
wherever in the lake it is deter-
mined they should be unloaded.
“It sounds simple but it’s
kind of complicated.,” Butter-
fi eld said. “We’re working out
the details.”
The dam
Refurbishing the centu-
ry-old dam has been a desire
of the stakeholders for nearly
25 years, Butterfi eld said.
The plans include improv-
ing the spillways, the fi sh pas-
sage, adding more concrete for
weight, replacing the fi ve con-
duit gates with new ones and
upgrading the electrical and
instrumentation.
Right now, the dam keeps
adequate water in the lake to
irrigate the Wallowa Valley.
Butterfi eld said Thursday the
lake level was at 9½ feet, or
about 45% of capacity. He said
the dam can allow the lake to
fi ll to about 20.8 feet.
Once the dam is refur-
bished, he said, it will allow
for another 8 feet.
Indeed, there’s light at the
end of the tunnel now.
“We feel pretty good about
where we’re going and it’s
good to have this project
started fi nally,” Butterfi eld
said. “Persistence is going to
pay off .”
Winegrowers toast crop
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
NEWBERG — It has
been a year of twists and
turns for Oregon winemak-
ers like Jessica Mozeico of Et
Fille Wines.
Mozeico grows approx-
imately 22 acres of wine-
grapes in the northern Wil-
lamette Valley. Her family’s
winery in Newberg produces
2,500 cases of wine annually,
including Pinot noir, Char-
donnay, Gamay and Viognier.
The season got off to a
slow start, Mozeico said,
thanks to an unusually cool
and wet spring. Then, just as
some vines began emerging
from dormancy in mid-April,
the region experienced a hard
frost that damaged buds and
threatened to hamstring the
2022 vintage.
“At that time, I thought it
would in particular aff ect the
Viognier, Chardonnay and
earlier-ripening Pinot noir
sites,” Mozeico said. “My
approach was to wait and
see.”
Summer brought a turn
for the better, she said,
with warm and dry weather
extending into October
allowing the fruit to ripen
and develop sugars after fall-
ing behind early.
Though the badly timed
frost did kill some buds,
Mozeico said said her plants
compensated by growing
larger, heavier grape clusters.
She wrapped up harvest on
Oct. 21, with yields “exactly
on target” compared to a nor-
mal year.
“What I learned this har-
vest is that a vine has a max-
imum potential it wants to
achieve,” she said. “If there
are fewer buds at play, the
clusters themselves (grow)
extremely large.”
Other winegrowers from
across the state are reporting
a similar trend.
Harry
Peterson-Nedry,
of Ridgecrest Vineyards in
Yamhill County, said he ini-
tially anticipated a 40-60%
decline in yield due to frost
damage. Instead, harvest
came in closer to 90% of
normal.
“I’m personally very
pleased at this point,” he
said. “What could have been
a disastrous year because of
the freeze is not much diff er-
ent from a normal year.”
Like Mozeico, Peter-
son-Nedry said having an
extended growing season that
lasted into October was help-
ful after the soggy spring.
“We also started with a
lot of water reserves in the
soil,” he said. “That, I think,
was a big thing. It defi nitely
encouraged robust canopy
growth, and the timing of
bloom seemed appropriate to
what we had on the vines.”
Community Health Beat
What's new at BMHD?
Understanding Loved Ones
with Dementia
November
ovember 22nd
10am
0am - 11:30am
Blue
lue Mountain Hospital Conference Room
Back by popular demand- Blue Mountain Hospital is
holding a FREE educational program called
"Understanding Loved Ones with Dementia (Part 2):
Navigating Challenging Behaviors" on Tuesday,
November 22 from 10-11:30 am in the Blue Mountain
Hospital conference room. This program is for friends
and family whose loved ones have dementia or memory
loss. Dr. Robyn Jennings, family physician at Strawberry
Wilderness Community Clinic, and Rod Harwood, Older
Adult Behavioral Health Coordinator at GOBHI, will
present information about dementia, provide training for
family and friends who are caregivers, and share about
on-going resources for Grant County families affected by
dementia. This program is free of charge, and coffee and
refreshments will be served.
Same-Day
ame-Day Appointments
Same-Day Appointment slots available Monday -
Friday for sudden, non-emergent symptoms. If you
wake up feeling under the weather, give us a call! 541-
575-0404
We're Hiring!
Administrator | Care Center - (Full Time)
Activities Director | Care Center - (Full Time)
Certified Medical Assistant - (Full Time)
Certified Surgical Technologist - (Full-Time)
Director of Nursing | Care Center - (Full Time)
Lab Manager - (Full Time)
Nurse Informaticist | Hospital - (Full Time)
Registered Nurse | Labor & Delivery - (Full Time)
Respiratory Therapist - (Full Time)
Speech Language Pathologist - (Full Time)
Many other full-time, part-time & casual positions open,
visit our website for more information & to apply.
Flu Shots now available!
Call for an appointment:
541-575-0404
www.bluemountainhospital.org
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