Bringing beavers back to the Beaver State

Oregon tribes are reintroducing a species that aids suckerfish but state laws stand in the way. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

No images? Click here Saturday, May 1, 2021 SATURDAY FIRST LOOK Good morning, Northwest. The tribal government has tried various tactics to restore fish populations and now they're turning to an unlikely hopeful savior — the beaver. Here's your First Look at Saturday's news.   Klamath Tribes looks to beavers to restore fish populations Once a staple food for the Klamath Tribes, the suckerfish — C’waam and Koptu — are now a rarity as members are only allowed to catch two a year due to the decimation of populations from the tens of millions down to less than 45,000. The ray-finned C’waam, with its long snout and the smaller white-bellied Koptu, with a large head and lower notched lip, are only found in the Upper Klamath Basin and have seen their mating grounds destroyed from a spate of dam building in the Upper Klamath Lake during the 1900s. They're now endangered. The tribal government has tried various tactics to restore the fish populations and now looks to a potential, albeit, unlikely hero — the beaver. “Their activity is a driver for the productivity and diversity for the whole ecosystem,” said Alex Gonyaw, senior fisheries biologist for the Klamath Tribes in Southern Oregon and Northern California. (Lucy Sherriff) Learn more   Oregon lawmaker facing criminal charges for state Capitol breach Back in December, as lawmakers met in a special legislative session to take up COVID-19 relief that day, surveillance footage showed state Rep Mike Nearman, a Polk County Republican, exiting the locked Capitol building into a throng of protesters who were trying to get inside the statehouse. In doing so, he appeared to purposefully grant entrance to far-right groups demanding an end to ongoing restrictions related to COVID-19. Then a months-long investigation by state police ensued, which began Dec. 21. The culmination of the investigation, according to court records, being that Nearman has been charged with first-degree official misconduct, a class A misdemeanor, and second-degree criminal trespass, a class C misdemeanor. (Dirk VanderHart and Conrad Wilson) Learn more   Are you enjoying First Look? Share it with your friends:     Oregon governor warns of 'extreme risk' from COVID surge At a news conference yesterday, Gov. Kate Brown relayed some sobering reminders and details about what could happen if Oregon is unable to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The state could see 176 more COVID-19 deaths by the end of summer, with most of them concentrated in the next five weeks. The conference marked the governor's first since she announced both the extreme-risk restrictions and the extension of Oregon’s COVID-19 emergency order through June 28. “I was presented with data with two paths Oregon could take,” she said. “As your governor, I chose to save lives.” She said her decision was based on the concerning trends in recent weeks of hospitalizations and serious cases involving younger Oregonians. (Erin Ross and Kristian Foden-Vencil​) Learn more   As logging push draws fire, ODOT says it will hire an arborist The Oregon Department of Transportation plans to hire an independent arborist or forester to review the state’s post-wildfire hazard tree removal operations following allegations of mismanagement. In a hearing yesterday, Mac Lynde, ODOT’s director of Oregon’s Debris Management Task Force, said the agency is working to sign a contract in the next couple of days with someone who can do a professional “quality assurance review” of how contractors are identifying and evaluating hazard trees along roads and properties. The state has already removed nearly 30,000 hazard trees along roads and properties that burned in last year’s wildfires, and it plans to remove a total of 140,000 trees. (Cassandra Profita​) Learn more   Reporting you can trust. Stories that move our world forward. You make OPB possible.​ Become a Sustaining member       FBI, Portland police, investigate death threat against city's mayor The FBI will assist the Portland Police Bureau in an investigation of a social media video that was posted this week. The video that appeared on Twitter on Wednesday evening, posted by an anonymous account, included a threat of physical violence against Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler if he does not resign. In it, an unidentified masked narrator talking with an altered voice said they were speaking on behalf of a “small collective from within the anarchist and anti-fascist community.” In a statement, the FBI said it had been informed about the video and encouraged anyone with information about its creators to contact either the FBI or the PPB with information about who was behind it. (Rebecca Ellis) Learn more     First Look is supported by: Become a sponsor You received this email because you opted to be a part of the OPB community. Thank you! OPB's "First Look" keeps you connected to what is happening here in the Pacific Northwest. Have feedback you'd like to share about First Look? We're all ears. Enjoying First Look? Share it with a friend.   Did you receive this email as a forward? Opt-in here. 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