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WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2021
HermistonHerald.com
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DECADES
OF WORK
East Improvement District dedicates
$50 million East Project
By BEN LONERGAN
STAFF WRITER
More than six decades after reg-
ulators fi rst documented ground-
water declines in Umatilla and
Morrow counties, the East Proj-
ect irrigation system was dedicated
before a crowd of about two dozen
along the Columbia River on Tues-
day, May 11.
The more than $50 million proj-
ect aims to provide farmers with
river water in lieu of pumping from
the ground in an eff ort to recharge
depleted aquifers and allow farm-
ers to grow higher value crops.
“It wouldn’t be possible unless
there was a lot of people supporting
it, and then the benefi ts are going
to be broad,” said Carl St. Hilaire,
president of JSH Farms in Hermis-
ton. “Just as the support was broad,
the benefi ts will be broad in terms
of economic benefi ts for the entire
community.”
St. Hilaire is the district chair-
man of the East Improvement Dis-
trict, the public entity created to
build and operate the East Proj-
ect. The district was created by 13
landowners and spans 26,500 irri-
gated acres.
“I think the main thing is it’s
kind of a miracle that the stake-
holders could get together and
agree on promoting a project,” St.
Hilaire said.
While the improvement dis-
trict was founded to take advan-
tage of $7 million in state fund-
ing, that left the landowners on
the hook for the remainder of the
projected $46 million price tag.
With no credit history in the dis-
trict’s name, landowners commit-
ted the remainder of the funding
in equity and debt service.
“I think 75 to 80% of our bud-
get was fi nanced and therefore we
need to use the water over as many
acres as possible so we can keep
our debt service cost down and get
things paid for,” St. Hilaire said.
Despite the fi nancing woes,
St. Hilaire said he and others are
excited for the opportunity to be
done with construction and focus
on the farming and water mitiga-
tion aspects of the project.
“The issue for farming opera-
tions is we need the water but we
don’t need the distraction of a con-
struction project,” said St. Hilaire.
”The other issue is we want to fully
utilize the asset, so that means
we’re going to pursue a full set of
mitigation water.”
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
East Improvement District Chairman Carl St. Hilaire, left, and Rep. Bobby Levy unveil a plaque during the
dedication of the East Project on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.
Decades in the making
Among those who spoke at the
dedication was Rep. Bobby Levy,
R-Echo, who used the opportunity
to outline the decades-long process
that led to the East Project. Levy,
whose husband’s farm is among
those in the East Project’s distribu-
tion area, explained that in 1954,
just one year after she was born,
the Bureau of Reclamation made
a determination that the irrigable
land in the Umatilla River water-
shed exceeded available ground-
water supply. She went on to out-
line various milestones that led to
the East Project.
“What makes this project so
unique is the level of commitment
and decades of collaboration, trust
building and compromise that lead
to our ability to be here today,” she
said.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
See Project, Page A8
East Improvement District chairman Carl St. Hilaire, left, and Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo, cut a ribbon during the
dedication of the East Project along the Columbia River on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.
Migrant Education Program celebrates graduating seniors
By BEN LONERGAN
STAFF WRITER
The sound of music spread
across the lawn at the Eastern Ore-
gon Trade and Event Center, as stu-
dents in the InterMountain Edu-
cation Service District’s Migrant
Education Program celebrated
graduation on Saturday, May 15, in
Hermiston.
The event, in its second year,
off ered recognition to graduating
high school seniors, preschool stu-
dents entering kindergarten and
their families, according to the
IMESD’s Director of Migratory
Education and Assessment Eric
Volger.
“It’s just to give a little bit of
extra recognition for some of the
challenges that are faced when
being mobile,” he said. “Many
of these students transfer multi-
ple times in their school career so
picking up in a diff erent school,
trying to catch up — much less
graduate — is a pretty awesome
accomplishment.”
As Umatilla High School senior
Jennifer Rincon sat with her family,
she refl ected on her last two years
at Umatilla High School.
When Rincon and her fam-
ily moved to Umatilla from Por-
terville, California, two years ago
she didn’t know many people and
was struggling to adjust to the new
school. However, two years later
the 18-year-old high school student
is preparing to graduate high school
and attend Oregon State University
next year.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Umatilla High School senior Jennifer Rincon, left, takes a selfi e while waiting for the the start of the InterMountain
Education Service District’s Migrant Education Program graduation ceremony at Eastern Oregon Trade and Event
Center in Hermiston on Saturday, May 15, 2021.
“EVEN AFTER GRADUATING COLLEGE I
WANT TO ALSO BE INVOLVED IN THE
MIGRANT PROGRAM TO HELP OTHER
STUDENTS LIKE THEY HELPED ME.”
Umatilla High School senior Jennifer Rincon
INSIDE
A2 Inland Northwest Musicians
return to performing after
pandemic hiatus
A3 Oregon Health Authority
provides updated mask mandate
A3 The Maxwell Market returns
to downtown Hermiston on May 27
“When I got here, I only knew
one girl from the whole school
and I didn’t know anyone else,”
she said. “Once I found out about
the Migrant Education Program, I
was more comfortable being in the
school and I didn’t feel as left out.”
Rincon credits the IMESD’s
Migrant Education Program, and
a similar program she took part in
while living in California, with her
success as a student.
“It’s really opened doors for
me,” she said. “It’s made me more
comfortable asking for help from
teachers and my counselor.”
Not only has the program
inspired Rincon to talk to her teach-
ers, but when she starts at OSU next
fall she plans to study secondary
education and Spanish, a decision
she says was directly a result of her
experience as a migrant student.
The decision to pursue educa-
tion is a result of her love for chil-
dren and a dream to someday be
able to help migrant students in the
way the program helped her.
“Even after graduating col-
lege I want to also be involved in
the Migrant Program to help other
students like they helped me,” she
said. “They were able to help me
pass my classes and motivated me
to continue with my stuff .”
Through Rincon’s time in the
Migrant Education Program, she
worked closely with the program’s
graduation specialist, Brenda
Flores, who was once a member
of the program herself, is a 2014
graduate of Stanfi eld High School
See Grads, Page A8
A6 Umatilla Chamber of
Commerce is searching for a new
executive director