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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
Klamath Basin Weather
Road Conditions
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Lake of the Woods Hiway 140
Greensprings Drive at Hiway 97
Doak Mountain looking east
Chemult, Oregon
LaPine, Oregon
Bly, Oregon
Medford at I-5 -Biddle Road & Crater Lake Parkway
Today’s Headlines
The Klamath County Public Health Air Advisory is Green until noon today.
With the help of $430,354 in federal funding for two major water efficiency projects Klamath Irrigation District is making preliminary steps toward implementing an irrigation pipeline.
The irrigation district is one of 54 recipients of a total of $40.99 million in WaterSMART Water and Energy Efficient Grants from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Oregon groups received a total $700,000 in funding.KID anticipates water savings for both the Klamath Project – a total of 664 acre feet – as well as a way to provide more water for the refuge.
KID manager Gene Souza said this is really a piping project that reduces water loss to evaporation and to seepage and allows them to more precisely deliver water along that canal system without necessarily putting additional water at loss.
Reclamation awarded KID two separate grants to pipe and line the A Canal and convert it to a buried pipeline.
The chair of the Sage Community School board of directors spoke to the Klamath County School Board about efforts toward dissolution of the school.
Ruth Schaffer provided official notice of the dissolution process to the KCSD board, and further explained the time line of the school’s closure and the impact it has had on board members.
The school closed down on Jan. 31, due to staffing issues. Approximately 48 students were transferred to Chiloquin Elementary or to Great Basin Home School, or elsewhere.Schaffer said a team of four or five people are removing what was left behind when the school closed down.Schaffer said there is still paperwork finish and inventorying materials to provide to ODE before official dissolution can occur.
A class D recycled water project is being proposed by Klamath Falls’ South Suburban Sanitary District in order to help meet new regulations put in place by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
But the proposal has been met with a good deal of opposition recently from numerous Klamath Falls residents, many of whom have organized to form the group United Neighbors Against Wastewater Intrusion.The recycled water project would mean the construction of a 95 acre storage reservoir and a six-mile, 18-inch pipeline to carry recycled water from the treatment facility to the reservoir.
The recycled water would be used to irrigate approximately 550 acres of fodder crops, like alfalfa and hay. The properties subject to irrigation with the recycled water are located east of Highway 39, north of Short Road, east and west of Reeder Road and south of the OC&E Trail, according to the Klamath County Planning Department.
The proposed recycled water project was prompted by new “total maximum daily load” requirements put in place by the DEQ, specifically related to temperature.
Around the state
On Sunday Oregon State Troopers and emergency personnel responded to the report of a single vehicle crash on Interstate 5 southbound near mile post 23.
Preliminary investigation revealed that a white 1996 Chevrolet SUV, driven by Craig McRae (70) of Vacaville, CA. was southbound on Interstate 5 when for unknown reasons went off the roadway, rolled over, and landed in a nearby field off the shoulder off the freeway.
McRae sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased.
Interstate 5 was reduced to one lane for approximately 2.5 hours following the crash. OSP was assisted by Talent PD, Jackson County Fire, Mercy Flights, and ODOT.
Spring chinook salmon could return on the Columbia River in the second lowest numbers in 21 years, according to Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This year’s forecasted return of 81,700 upriver spring chinook is up 12% from last year’s return of 73,100, which was the lowest since 1999, the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, reported Sunday.The record low return was just 12,000 fish in 1995.The projected return this year is just 43% of the 10-year average for chinook returning to hatcheries and spawning areas upriver from the Bonneville Dam.
Poor ocean conditions continue to play a significant role in lower projected returns, said Ryan Lothrop, Columbia River policy coordinator for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
U.S. Interior Department officials are seeking to bolster their case for easing restrictions on energy development, mining and grazing in Western states inhabited by a declining bird species.
A federal judge in Idaho blocked the Trump administration plans last year over concerns that they could harm greater sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird.Assistant Interior Secretary Casey Hammond says a new set of environmental studies published Friday clarifies the steps the government will take to conserve the bird’s habitat.
The Interior Department opened a 45-day public comment period on the studies that cover millions of acres of public lands in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and California.
The PacificSource Foundation for Health Improvement and PacificSource Health Plans recently committed $400k in joint funding to support the Fostering Hope Initiative (FHI), from Catholic Community Services (CCS) of the Mid-Willamette Valley and Central Coast.
The PacificSource Foundation for Health Improvement provided $325k in grant funding with PacificSource Health Plans providing the remaining $75k.
FHI is a neighborhood-based, collective impact initiative bringing together partners to ensure every child and youth in every neighborhood lives in a safe, stable, nurturing home, is healthy, succeeds at school, and goes on to financial self-sufficiency. FHI works within high-poverty, high-need neighborhoods to connect families with wraparound supports and community partner networks.
…For complete details on these and other stories see today’s Herald & News. Wynne Broadcasting and the Herald and News…stronger together to keep you informed.
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