NEWS
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
HeRMIsTOnHeRald.COM • A7
Contributed photo by IMesd
Students from the Milton-Freewater Unified School District explore river habitat at Outdoor
School in May 2019.
IMESD receives grant for
Outdoor School improvements
Wildfire risk picks
up in parts of NW T
HERMISTON HERALD
By BRAD CARLSON
CAPITAL PRESS
estern
wildfire
risk is increasing
in spots following
a slow start to the season,
the National Interagency
Fire Center reported. An
exception is Alaska, where
fires are already active.
“From what I am hear-
ing from the field, the fine
fuels across the Great Basin
are now cured and able to
support fire activity should
it occur,” said Bryan Henry,
NIFC
Predictive
Ser-
vices acting national fire
weather program manager.
“The higher elevations are
delayed still. The only sur-
prise out there nationally
is how wet the Northern
Rockies have been and con-
tinue to be.”
Much of the North-
west has normal risk, NIFC
reported. But areas west
of the Cascade Crest in
Washington and Oregon,
and north along the Cana-
dian border, likely have
above-normal risk as heavy
fuels remain drier than
usual.
Moderate to severe
drought remains across
much
of
Washington
and
Oregon,
particu-
larly in western portions.
Above-normal
tempera-
tures are expected espe-
cially west of the Cascades,
W
where below-average sum-
mer rainfall is likely. Pre-
dicted above-average pre-
cipitation for the Rocky
Mountains and Great Basin
may extend into Eastern
Oregon and Washington.
In the Northern Rock-
ies, NIFC expects nor-
mal significant large fire
potential, except across the
northern Idaho panhandle
and northwestern Montana,
where the potential should
be above normal through
early September in part
because of continued mod-
erate drought. Temperatures
likely will be above average
in much of the region.
Lower elevations in
the Great Basin have seen
grasses cure in most areas
below 5,000 feet except in
northeastern Nevada and
parts of eastern Idaho and
western Wyoming. Boi-
se-based NIFC said fine-
fuel loading is well above
normal in many lower ele-
vations, though some brush
is yet to dry; when that live-
fuel moisture drops, large-
fire potential will increase
quickly in July. The region
has above-normal poten-
tial for large fires in August
and September at lower ele-
vations in western Nevada,
and
normal
potential
elsewhere.
Northern California has
above-normal July potential
for significant large fires,
except in the higher-eleva-
tion Mendocino National
Forest near the central coast.
NIFC said factors include
dead and down fuels in the
northern Sacramento Val-
ley, heavy brush growth
and a robust, mostly cured
crop of fine fuels. Rainfall
was well above average in
the 2018-19 season. Risk
likely is below normal in
the Northern Sierra above
6,000 feet. High-elevation
snowpack was above aver-
age entering July. Snow-
melt likely will conclude
by late July, though soil and
fuel moisture should linger.
Conditions that are warmer
and drier than average are
expected through October.
Alaska’s season began
slowly but by mid-June
intensified
on
contin-
ued drying and numer-
ous fire-igniting lightning
strikes. NIFC’s July-Oc-
tober National Significant
Wildland Fire Potential
Outlook said the warm, dry
pattern at the end of June
“suggested that the state
will continue to be active
well into July before the
season begins to wind down
with the arrival of late-sum-
mer rains in August.”
Much of the state likely
will have above-normal
risk of significant fires, with
burned acres exceeding
the 10-year median, until
September.
Presence of ICE confirmed
in the Hermiston Area
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
S
ome Hermiston res-
idents are still on
high alert follow-
ing sightings of Immigra-
tion and Customs Enforce-
ment agents in the area this
weekend.
Last Friday, President
Trump reported that ICE
was planning raids across
the country to arrest thou-
sands of undocumented
immigrants.
“It’s a major operation.
So if the word gets out, it
gets out. It starts on Sun-
day,” Trump told report-
ers. “And they’re going to
take people out, and they’re
going to bring them back to
their countries, or they’re
going to take criminals out
— put them in prison or put
them in prison in the coun-
tries they came from.”
Since
then,
CNN
reported people in major
cities across America have
been unable to confirm
many reports of ICE activ-
ity. No details about arrests
are currently available,
but Hermiston residents
reported sightings on social
media.
A sergeant from the
Hermiston Police Depart-
ment who spoke with an
ICE officer was led to
believe that there was a
small operation occurring in
the Eastern Washington and
Oregon area, HPD Chief
Jason Edmiston said.
“We cannot enforce
immigration law and will
not. Our involvement will
only be to assist an officer
that is in need of immediate
help due to distress. This is
something we would do for
[any] entity or agency,” he
stated.
Zaira Sanchez, exter-
nal communications direc-
tor with the grassroots orga-
nization Raices in Umatilla
County, said the organiza-
tion had received reports
of sightings in the area last
week and this weekend.
She said on Monday or
Tuesday, ICE officers had
been spotted questioning
people in a van outside of
Lorena’s on 11th Street in
Hermiston.
“That invoked a lot of
fear,” Sanchez said. “Peo-
ple were quick to check in
on family members in vans
that day.”
Sanchez said that the
Portland Immigrant Rights
Coalition
hotline
had
received eight calls from
the Hermiston area recently.
The hotline (888-622-1510)
takes reports of sightings
and interactions with ICE in
Oregon, and has volunteers
trained to verify those sight-
ings and provide resource
referrals.
“ICE does not conduct
sweeps or raids that target
aliens
indiscriminately,”
stated Tanya Roman, a pub-
lic affairs officer for ICE.
“ICE’s enforcement actions
are targeted and lead-driven.
ICE conducts targeted
immigration enforcement
in compliance with federal
law and agency policy.”
Sanchez said Raices
hopes to form a rapid
response team for immigra-
tion rights, but that the orga-
nization currently lacks the
capacity.
Stuck in a payday loan?
Know before you owe
he InterMountain Education Service
District will make improvements val-
ued at $30,000 at its Outdoor School
location, Buck Creek, this summer.
The agency received a $20,000 grant
from the Gray Family Foundation. The
IMESD will contribute $10,000 worth of
labor to accomplish several projects.
The biggest project is abatement of
asbestos-containing materials in the cook-
house, including flooring and countertops.
The cookhouse will also be painted, and
new appliances will be installed. Other sum-
mer improvement projects are construction
of new campfire benches and picnic tables,
a new water heater in the shower house,
grounds/brush cleanup and new signage.
“Everybody loves the historic Outdoor
School buildings, but there comes a time
when deferred maintenance really needs to
be addressed,” said Larry Glaze, IMESD’s
director of operations and facilities.
“Accomplishing these projects will
really update and improve the facility.”
School districts throughout the region
have been taking part in Outdoor School
at Buck Creek since the early 1970s. The
IMESD has leased the 654-acre Outdoor
School property from the U.S. Forest Ser-
vice since 2001.
Pendleton’s Kiwanis Club held the prop-
erty lease for the first few decades. The
location can accommodate up to 120 stu-
dents at a time and is used by several East-
ern Oregon school districts. In spring 2019,
almost 500 students participated in Outdoor
School there.
The Gray Family Foundation is located
in Portland and “is founded on the belief
that fostering an understanding and appre-
ciation of our natural world is a crucial part
of a child’s education.”
Hermiston School District wins
financial accountability award
was used and recorded for
the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
Saul said that the metrics
make it easier for HSD to
compare its expenditures to
that of other school districts
in the area. Saul has been
working at HSD since 2009,
and has been the director
of business services since
2016.
“Saul and her team are
responsive and make sure
everyone is engaged, which
fosters a culture of account-
ability,” Superintendent Tri-
cia Mooney said in a recent
press release.
The district first submit-
ted to the GFOA after the
2004-2005 school year, and
has won the award 13 times
total.
“It just really goes to
show the consistency of the
district being mindful of the
taxpayers’ funds,” Saul said.
District.
“While this is an award
that looks at just one finan-
cial document, it’s really
a culmination of the entire
school and fiscal year,”
Director of Business Ser-
vices Katie Saul said. “Not
just the business office, but
the entire district. Every-
body within the district
takes financial responsibil-
ity very seriously.”
The CAFR Program,
established in 1945, assesses
transparency and disclosure,
rather than financial health.
Last year’s results named
over 4,000 different public
entities nationwide that won
the certificate.
The district’s financial
reports, debt management
practices, per-student fund-
ing, and reimbursed spend-
ing were some of the metrics
used to examine how money
By JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITER
ermiston
School
District
recently
received the Certif-
icate of Achievement for
Excellence in Financial
Reporting from the Govern-
ment Finance Officers Asso-
ciation for the 12th year in a
row.
The certificate was issued
for the Comprehensive
Annual Financial Report
for the fiscal year that ended
June 30, 2018.
Public entities can elect
to submit their financial
information to the GFOA
to seek review and become
eligible for the certificate,
which is the highest rec-
ognition for government
accounting and reporting,
according to a press release
from the Hermiston School
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E
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Mark Sargent, DVM • Brent Barton, DVM
Eugenio Mannucci, DVM, cVMA • Jana von Borstel, DVM, cVMA
Small and Large Animal Care
Mon: 8-6
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Sat: 8-12
Emergency Service
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