The INDEPENDENT, July 6, 2011
Page 15
Power of the People
By W. Marc Farmer, General Manager,
West Oregon Electric Cooperative
Summer’s Finally
Here!?!
With the continuing cooler
weather and rain it is hard to tell
sometimes, but in other ways
we definitely know it’s here.
Summer is a busy time for us,
and this year is no exception.
Between building projects, tree trimming, pole re-
placements, and getting ready for our Annual Meeting,
we manage to keep ourselves going strong.
The weather has affected the tree and brush
growth tremendously this year. You can almost see
the trees grow, and as a result we are cutting fast and
furious. We have one crew working the problem areas
and the second crew has been working on one of our
transmission lines that continues to have outage prob-
lems due to trees. This line, which serves the Chap-
man area from BPA Warren Substation to the Chap-
man substation, is in one of our worst areas to access
and work on. The terrain is extremely difficult and
there is little to no road access, so we are trimming
this area in as wide a right of way clearing as possi-
ble, to significantly limit and reduce the number of out-
ages on this line. We will then send the crew to other
high outage areas while we can, before fire season re-
duces our tree cutting time. The good side of the
weather, though, is that it puts off fire season for a
while so we can get more tree trimming done.
Another project taking place involves the Mist Sub-
station and Transmission Line. We experienced an
underground fault coming out of the Mist Substation.
In digging up the line, we discovered a design flaw
that left us vulnerable to losing all of the feeder lines
next to the damaged line. We took the opportunity of
having the Substation down to redesign the feeder
lines and create a better separation between them.
We replaced the cable, thus extending the life of the
new configuration as well. We will also use the down
time to replace poles on the Mist Transmission Line
that our pole inspections indicated were at risk.
The new building project continues to progress rap-
idly, and Five Star Builders is pushing to have it done
ahead of schedule so we can hold our Annual Meet-
ing there in August. I have had several members stop
me and compliment the new building and what a nice
asset it is for the Co-op and for the community. They
referred to the building as the Vernonia Lodge. I take
that as a compliment, as well, as that is exactly the
look I was striving for. It represents the area we serve
and doesn’t look like a stark, cold industrial building.
I was also asked just how much we saved in dollars
by cutting our own siding from local trees with local la-
bor, since I didn’t include the specific amount in my
last article. The answer is we saved $44,000 by cut-
ting most of the wood ourselves. To date we have
saved in costs and made cuts to the project of over
$106,000, to keep the project at or under budget. By
being smart, we can still have a beautiful building that
looks more expensive than it is. We have cut our own
wood, we have purchased used shelving for the ware-
house at 50 cents on the dollar, we are reusing doors,
the kitchen, furniture, toilets, sinks, lockers, shelving,
cabinets, water heaters, and more from the existing
building, saving thousands of dollars. We have taken
advantage of new products that look like the real
thing, but are not, so they cost a lot less. This will be
reflective on the outside of the building in the rock
work, and in the flooring and countertops inside the
building. We have combed the internet for items on
sale, used bartering and trading to obtain other items,
and have made use of left-over materials to accom-
plish our goal of having a building that looks really
nice, stays within costs, and will last for 50 plus years.
For example, the left-over wood ends and pieces are
being used in the ceiling in the Board room, which will
enhance the look without adding additional materials
costs, while reducing leftover waste. We selected
flooring in the lobby that looks real but is a composite
that accomplishes the look we wanted, at not only a
reduced cost, but also significantly increased the life
of the floor. It will last for 50 years or more because it
is stronger, easier to maintain, and cheaper than the
real stuff. The roof was changed to metal from the
original design because it would be cheaper in the
long run in maintenance costs, and would last for 50
plus years. Daily I am on the job site and meet week-
ly with the contractors to collectively manage the proj-
ect. Together we have worked out ways to do things
smarter, cheaper where we can, and still accomplish
the end goal of providing a facility that represents the
Co-op and the community very well, is functional and
meets all of the Co-op’s current and future needs for
the next 50 plus years, and does so on schedule and
at or below budget. We are on track to meet all of
these objectives.
Columbia River sturgeon fishing season extended into July
Oregon Department of Fish
& Wildlife (ODFW) Fishery
managers have extended the
recreational sturgeon fishery in
the lower Columbia River and
reopened recreational stur-
geon fishing in the Bonneville
Pool during a joint state hear-
ing of the Oregon and Wash-
ington departments of fish and
wildlife.
The white sturgeon season
from Buoy 10 at the mouth of
the Columbia to the Wauna
powerlines at River Mile 40
was extended to continue sev-
en days a week from June 27
through July 31. Previously, the
season had been scheduled to
close after June 26 and reopen
for several days around the 4th
of July weekend.
Surveys showed that catch
rates had begun to increase in
the days leading up to the
meeting.
Additionally, the states
agreed to reopen Bonneville
Pool, the portion of the Colum-
bia River between Bonneville
and The Dalles dams, to reten-
tion of sturgeon for two three-
day periods. The next three-
day period will be July 7-9.
Then the reservoir will again
close to sturgeon retention for
Three caracal kittens born at Zoo in June
Oregon Zoo caracal Peggy
gave birth to three healthy kit-
tens, two females and one
male, on June 8. According to
keepers, the first-time mother
and her babies are doing well,
with all three kittens nursing
regularly and starting to move
around their behind-the-scenes
nesting box.
“We are very proud of Peg-
gy,” said senior Africa keeper
Asaba Mukobi. “It’s really
amazing to see her do every-
thing she possibly can to care
for her kittens. She’s very pro-
tective, makes sure everyone
is nursing, and sets boundaries
for the kittens now that they’re
moving around.”
Keepers and volunteers
continue to monitor the cara-
cals throughout the day, and
their nighttime activity is
recorded by camera and re-
viewed in the morning.
While Peggy and the kittens
are spending all of their time in
a behind-the-scenes area, the
kittens’ father, Cricket, is still on
exhibit. Cricket was born at the
Lory Park Zoo and Owl Sanctu-
ary in South Africa, and moved
to the Oregon Zoo in winter
2011. Peggy came to the zoo in
2009 from a conservation cen-
ter in Mena, Ark.
The zoo’s caracal habitat,
which was built with the sup-
port of Portland General Elec-
tric, is part of the zoo’s Preda-
tors of the Serengeti exhibit.
The caracals have access to a
heated den and a spacious
landscape dotted with trees,
shrubs, heated rocks and
grassy knolls, all of which are
enriching for the feline resi-
dents.
Caracals live in the wood-
lands and savannas of North
Africa, Southwest Asia and the
See Zoo on page 24
the remainder of the year. This
reopening was possible be-
cause about 400 fish remain on
the Bonneville Pool guideline
from the winter fishing season.