Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part one, with part two set to appear in Sunday’s Tribune.
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OROFINO — Idaho Gov. Brad Little, Sen. Carl Crabtree and Commerce Director Tom Kealey visited Orofino on Feb. 5, meeting with Mayor Sean Simmons, Ziply Fiber CEO Harold Zeitz and local leaders.
After a tour of the facility, a brief meeting was held outdoors with Clearwater County Commissioner Mike Ryan and Clearwater County Economic Development specialist Chris St. Germaine.
Little commented, “Orofino was a good place for work on the broadband connectivity as it has the right kind of base knowledge of what was needed to work.
“We used to think of internet as a luxury but now there’s no question that affordable, dependable access is just a necessity for economic development. The CARES Act funding used to further the development and installation in Orofino and surrounding area couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I was raised in an old sawmill town and I know the new mills in the areas are more modern with one person doing what 12 used to do,” Little added. “We need more opportunities for commerce in these rural areas and this is the way to do it to get fiber here. Whether they are existing people that have been in Clearwater forever, or someone who wants to move here with a good idea, or whether they’re building cutting edge technology, like Nightforce Scopes, or building boats like SJX Boats, they all have to have connectivity and their workforce needs it for education, and telehealth, among other things.”
Crabtree stated, “I believe broadband access will lead to the revival of rural Idaho, through improved business opportunities, educational environment and health care services.”
“I want to thank the cities and counties that applied for those grants and could fit that really tight window, about six months, and get these projects built, completed and paid for by the December 15 deadline,” Kealey said. “We look forward to the future when the legislatures look at Governor Little’s recommendations to get some more funds to keep going on and building up connectivity and broadband in rural Idaho. The governor has been very supportive in connectivity in all of Idaho.”
Simmons added, “This has been great for the community. It truly is a win-win situation to benefit our schools, businesses and health needs. We appreciate how everyting has come together as a whole. We, the people, thank the governor and the whole team.”
— Lenta Hall, Clearwater Tribune (Orofino), Wednesday
Study: 300-foot no-wake zones not enough
MCCALL — The 300-foot no-wake zone on Payette Lake is not enough to prevent accelerated shoreline erosion from wake boats, according to study results presented Monday at the second session of the North Fork Payette River Watershed Summit.
The study was conducted by Alex Ray, who runs an environmental consulting firm in McCall.
Ray’s study examined the effects of both natural waves and wakes from motorized boats on Payette Lake. It also examined the effects that “prop wash” from a boat’s propeller has on sediment in the lake.
Ray found that wind-generated waves can only get so large on Payette Lake and carry a limited amount of energy because of the lake’s size.
“Waves produced by motorized watercraft carry far more energy than wind waves on Payette Lake,” Ray told the online session.
He recommended that the no-wake zone on the lake should be expanded because of the powerful waves and sediment-disturbing prop wash his study found.
He also said regulations should be imposed sooner rather than later because the next generation of wake boats promises to deliver larger, more powerful waves that would do more harm to the shoreline.
Monday’s session of the summit focused on current watershed conditions, primarily in Payette Lake and Lake Cascade.
It was the second of four online summits. The next sessions are set for Feb. 22 and March 8.
The event is hosted by the Valley Soil and Water Conservation District and featured speakers from local government as well as state and federal agencies that operate in the North Fork watershed.
Other speakers included representatives from the district, the Payette National Forest, Idaho Departments of Environmental Quality and Fish and Game as well as University of Idaho professor of limnology Frank Wilhelm.
Wilhelm presented results of another study that agreed with Ray’s study that man-made wakes result in increased levels of sediment, nutrients and other material coming into Payette Lake.
He said the overriding message of his presentation was to repeat the slogan from Bonner County that says, “avoid the shore and ride the core.”
It is especially important to keep wakes farther from shore that are larger than the waves naturally generated, Wilhelm said.
— Max Silverson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday.
