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IN SPORTS:IMBLER PLAYERS REFLECT ON UK TRIP,9A AND INSIDE: DON CHERRY FAIRY TEE FOR COVE FAIR,6A
SERVING UNION AND WALLOWA COUNTIES SINCE 1896 Follow us on the web
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Tribes
LA GRANDE/UNION COUNTY AIRPORT
prep for climate
change Cherise Kaechele/TheObserver
By George Plaven
• Forest Service,otheragenciesdepend on regional airport, fuel amid bustling fire season in the area
East Oregonian
ELGIN — Against the backdrop of a region-wide drought, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are bracing for the potentially harmful longterm effects of climate change. The tribes have secured hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to study climate change in the Pacific Northwest and come up with an action plan to protect thereservation'snaturalresources, including traditional First Foods. Native salmon and steelhead are having an especially tough summer, as intense heat and record-low snowpack have lowered most riverstoa fraction oftheir normal flows. Wildfires, such as the Blue Creek fire east of Walla Walla, also threaten tribal lands where members hunt and gather. Data suggests the problem is getting worse, said Patrick Mills with the tribes' Department of Science & Engineering. Forecasts show the Northwest will be getting hotterin thedecades to come. "Seasons are going to change," Mills said."Generally speaking, we'll be hotter and wetter." Mills is project manager forthe tribes'clim ate change vulnerability assessment, exSeeTribes / Page 5A
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Tim Mustoe/TheObserver
Neptune, a tanker plane company out of Montana, is using the La Grande/Union County airport to refuel its planes and reload more retardant to fight the Blue Creek Fire as well as the other fires in the area.
By Cherise Kaechele The Observer
While the Blue Creek Fire is not directly impacting Union County, it's still very much affecting the area. The La Grande/Union CountyAirport is a huge asset to the crews currently fighting the blaze that's about 85 miles away. The Blue Creek Fire is eight miles east of Walla Walla, Washington, according to a news release from the incident information system out of Washington. It began a week ago and is approximately 50 percent contained as of Sunday. Thishuman-caused fi re is now the highest priority in the nation for wildfires because of the threat to Mill Creek's watershed, Walla Walla's only water supply, accordingto a news articlefrom
the Walla Walla Union Bulletin newspaper Union County Emergency Services Manager J. B. Brock said the fire is flirting dangerously close to the watershed — a significant problem that could have lasting effects to Mill Creek. "Thatfi re,depending on how it evolves, can gofrom a bad fi reto a nightmare," Brock said."Depending on what it does over the next couple of weeks, that could easily turn into a nightmare scenario." The fire is estimated to have burned more than 6,000 acres as of Sunday, according to the release. There are evacuations already in place, including several road closures. The fire season means an SeeFire / Page 5A
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Speakout TODAY'S QUESTION Should the state department of transportation have oversight into where traffic cameras are placed on roads and highways? SOUND OFF www.lagrandeobserver. com
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Cherise Kaechele/The Observer
Robin Balaban is an air traffic controller at the Interagency Fire Center. He monitors all the airplanes within the 7 million acres the center oversees.
Summerville llullfiglNer goessroatrolleo 'j
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tte re
• Elgin Stampede
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was man's first
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REAL PEOPLE
professional event Ronald Bond/TheObserver
Summerville bullfighter Sean Peterson, right, tries to draw the attention of a bull during the Elgin Stampede July11.
The Observer
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By Ronald Bond Unless a spectator really looks
for them or knows a lot about the sport of rodeo, bullfighters may go unnoticed. But they have one of the most important tasks when it comes to
Fu ll forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
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81/42
39 LOW Clear; chilly
Tuesday
f
Warmer
a bull rider making it out of the arena in one piece. "Basically, our job is to be in between the bull and the cowboy and to distract that bull and take him away fiom the cowboy," Summerville bullfighter Sean Peterson, 25, said when describing what he
does when he's in the arena. Once he is thrown off the animal, a bull rider is in a vulnerable spot — on the ground with a beast that may weigh close to a ton above him. That is when bullfighters step See Rodeo / Page 5A
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Issue 88 2 sections, 22 pages La Grande, Oregon
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