Bill Koskela returns to the cab of his truck to pull it out of a washed-out road in Thorn Hollow on Thursday afternoon. Koskela had been using the truck to anchor a boat for an attempted rescue mission when the Umatilla River rose and started sliding the truck. Koskela was able to drive free of the incident while those involved in the rescue attempt were stranded for hours awaiting the arrival of a Black Hawk helicopter from Salem before being flown to safety.

So far, Wallowa County’s winter seems to have been one miracle after another.

This past weekend we were destined to be snow-blown and chilled, with high winds and daunting drifts. Never happened. The previous week the weather prognosticators called for possible flooding. Our phones and emails and Facebooks were clogged with concerned friends and relatives wondering if we were ok. And except for relatively minor flooding along the Grande Ronde, and closure of the Troy Road and Redmond grade for several days, we remained high and dry.

But our neighbors in Umatilla County were not so lucky. Wallowa County’s Swift Water Search and Rescue team was dispatched in the middle of the night on the 7th to aid in combined rescue efforts that included saving people from roof tops, and assisting families in escaping safely from homes overwhelmed by a fierce and rising Umatilla River. One person, Janet Tobkin Conley, 62, perished in floodwaters. People were rescued by helicopter, and even a front-end loader. The costs of reconstruction and recovery throughout eastern Oregon have not yet been estimated, but will likely be in the many 100’s of millions of dollars.

Umatilla County and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation have already pledged funds and equipment to help, and the State of Oregon is not far behind. Farmers are shipping hay to help feed livestock. It’s heartening to see that neighboring communities, having dodged the winter bullets themselves, are also stepping up to help. Someday it will be our turn to deal with disaster. Paying it forward is a good way to go.

Paying it forward might also be a good idea when it comes to the four lower Snake River dams. Governor Brown’s letter makes it clear that breaching those structures is a high priority. It should be. This is a Wallowa County issue as well as a Washington one. Every salmon and steelhead in our rivers must navigate those dams. Partly because of that, we are happy to see that her letter calls for breaching and for enforcement of the Nez Perce Tribe approved Flexible Spill and Power agreement. Because there are farms and communities that have come to depend on the infrastructure provided by those four misbegotten dams, there must also be alternative transport provided for downriver grain shipments. But Lewiston does not need to remain a “seaport” for this to happen.

Brown’s letter is remiss in not expressing the urgency of these needs. Salmon are in peril. And if the dams are breached before some upgraded infrastructure is available, ag will have a difficult row to hoe for transportation. But time is short, and as a community we must come together, and like those who are aiding Umatilla flood victims, make sacrifices for both fish and farms. We need a timeline and a willingness to do (and spend) what is necessary if Snake River fish are to recover.