PORTLAND — About three years after U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon visited Lone Pine, there might finally be movement to fix the decrepit conditions there, where Columbia River tribal members live full-time.
About 35 families live at Lone Pine, an 8-acre tribal fishing site just east of The Dalles, where they share a single restroom with four shower stalls and four toilets — none of which has a door. The toilets occasionally back up onto the floor of the bathroom, sending the smell of waste wafting through the camp. With so many families living there, the sanitation truck almost never arrives soon enough.
A bill that allocates $11 million to fix Lone Pine’s sewer and water infrastructure, safety and sanitation issues is expected to pass its final obstacle Monday. The bill also calls on the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs to assess the other 30 sites dedicated to allowing four tribes to carry out their federally protected right to fish the river.
The 31 sites were created for members of the Umatilla, Nez Perce, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes after the federal government flooded their traditional fishing sites and villages. Nearly all have fallen into disrepair as a $6.3 million pot of money allocated for their maintenance for the next 50 years runs out in less than two decades due to a high volume of use and inadequate facilities.
“We’ve got 31 of these sites and an obligation to treat the tribes fairly,” Blumenauer told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Friday.
Blumenauer and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, visited Lone Pine in 2016 after an investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive found that the federal government had ignored its promises to the four tribes that have lived along the river for 80 years.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to replace the housing lost when the Bonneville, The Dalles and John Day dams were built. The Bureau of Indian Affairs was put in charge of maintenance at the fishing sites after they were built.
Neither agency followed through.
The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission currently maintains and operates the fishing sites. Intergovernmental Affairs Director Charles Hudson said that he is optimistic and that the bill could have passed last Congress if it had more time.
“Simply put, these are federal properties, they need maintenance and basic improvements like water systems that comply with standards and fire suppression infrastructure,” Hudson said. “Delay doesn’t save money, it only compounds risk.”
In 2016, Merkley and Blumenauer introduced a bill aimed at replacing housing flooded by three dams. That eventually became law, and work on developing plans for the villages started before being blocked by President Donald Trump’s administration.
After about a year, Oregon and Washington lawmakers forced the administration to continue the village planning.
But another bill for more resources to keep up safety and sanitation standards at the sites that was introduced within weeks of the former stalled time and again, despite bipartisan support from Washington and Oregon.
Blumenauer said Friday that Republican control of Congress had jammed the process. With a Democratic majority in the U.S. House again, though, Blumenauer said he is also cautiously optimistic that the bill will finally pass on to the president’s desk, where he is confident it will be signed into law.
