Weekday Wrap: $5M for Wallowa Lake Dam rebuild and Oregon to pause homeowner assistance applications

Tribes awarded $5M towards Wallowa Lake Dam rebuild

Tribes working to revive sockeye salmon habitat in northeast Oregon will obtain $5 million via a federal grant program. The cash will assist the Nez Perce and Umatilla tribes rehabilitate the 100-year-old Wallowa Lake Dam south of Joseph. Including fish passage to the dam will unlock entry to a whole bunch of miles of spawning grounds for sockeye salmon within the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

“The Tribe has had some success in bringing again coho salmon that have been as soon as extirpated from the Snake River Basin and in dramatically rising the return of Fall Chinook salmon within the Snake River Basin, we wish to do the identical with sockeye,” Nez Perce tribal chair Samuel N. Penney stated in an emailed assertion. “We imagine it’s our duty to revive the inhabitants of our homelands if we are able to; they’ve all the time cared for us.”

The plan is to create a catch basin that can appeal to fish, the place they’ll be collected and trucked upstream. However the venture nonetheless faces hurdles. The Wallowa County Chieftain newspaper reported that rising prices and funding delays have stalled the venture till 2024. (OPB Employees)

Oregon to pause home-owner help functions amidst backlog

Oregon Housing and Neighborhood Companies will pause accepting new functions for the Oregon House owner Help Fund Program on Wednesday.

Ryan Vanden Brink, assistant director of House owner Help Packages, stated this pause will permit the company to course of present functions in its pipeline, perform minor system upkeep, and higher venture the quantity of federal cash remaining for owners.

Eligible owners are inspired to use for help earlier than 11 a.m. Wednesday. If an individual has beforehand utilized or begun an software, the pause won’t affect them.

Throughout this pause, owners who’ve fallen behind or are vulnerable to lacking a cost on their mortgage can proceed to get free assist from licensed housing counselors across the state. To serve probably the most at-risk owners throughout this pause, OHCS will proceed to just accept functions submitted by housing counselors on behalf of house owners in particular conditions.

The House owner Help Program acquired about 180 functions throughout a minimal pilot program. Since opening below its third section in June 2022, a further 1,700 functions have been began by Oregon owners. (OPB Employees)

Boise launches investigation into cop with white supremacist ties

The town of Boise has launched an investigation into the invention {that a} retired police captain has ties to a white supremacy group. Retired BPD captain Matt Bryngelson used a pseudonym whereas spouting racist beliefs on-line and dealing as a metropolis officer. He additionally was among the many audio system listed at a convention hosted by a white nationalist group group. Mayor Lauren McLean stated an unbiased investigation will look at whether or not McLean or others within the police division have superior racist ideology, together with a overview of arrest data. (Julie Luchetta and Troy Oppie/Boise State Public Radio)

Learn the complete story right here.

New $35M switch middle goals to maintain vans off I-5

After 5 years and a number of other hurdles, the much-anticipated $35.5 million intermodal facility in Millersburg is full and faces its subsequent take a look at: beginning operations. As soon as it’s up and operating, proponents say the Mid-Willamette Valley Intermodal Heart will take a number of vans off I-5, decreasing visitors congestion within the area and shifting items extra rapidly to Asian markets and different locations. Located on a long-vacant paper mill web site, the ability is designed to switch practice containers stuffed with agricultural and wooden merchandise onto ships and ship them to international locations like China and South Korea. Linn County Commissioner Roger Nyquist stated the venture has been difficult however “will likely be a driver of our native economic system.” (Invoice Poehler/Salem Statesman Journal)

Learn the complete story right here.

Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort opens Tuesday

Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort introduced Monday it is going to be opening for the season Tuesday, due to a winter storm that dumped snow on the Cascades over the weekend.

To begin with, the resort will function its Daisy, Buttercup and Simple Rider chairlifts, together with the Ballroom Carpet, in response to advertising and marketing vp Dave Tragethon.

“That’s primarily offering entry to groomed newbie and intermediate terrain,” he stated. “We’ve got a 31-inch snow depth within the base space proper now, near 4 toes at mid-mountain. And with the storms which might be lined up we count on that we’ll most probably be including extra lifts and terrain by the weekend.”

Tragethon stated whereas winter storms imply nice information for ski resorts, they will additionally make for treacherous driving situations. Drivers ought to go to TripCheck.com earlier than heading over the Cascade passes.

At Timberline Lodge, two lifts are already operating. And at Mount Bachelor in Central Oregon, opening day is scheduled for Wednesday. (OPB Employees)