NEWS
News Briefs By Nicole Vulcan
WWW.BENDSOURCE.COM / APRIL 1, 2021 / BEND’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
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Darris Hurst
Local Students Headed Back to Buildings Full Time
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ew guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention March 19 are allowing districts including Bend-La Pine Schools to increase the amount of time students spend in school buildings. In a letter sent to families March 25, Interim Superintendent Lora Nordquist announced that students in the district would soon have an option for “all-in” instruction taking place five days a week. “The Oregon Department of Education and Oregon Health Authority has revised school distancing guidance, aligning with revised guidelines released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which say students can safely sit 3-feet apart in classrooms under certain conditions,” Nordquist wrote.
BLPS will bring students back full time in phases, starting with 4th and 5th graders on April 5, followed by students in 6th through 12th grade April 12. Students in grades K-3 already attend five days a week. BLPS will continue to offer remote instruction for students who are not comfortable with in-person learning, or who “have found success with distance learning,” Nordquist wrote, including the ongoing Bend-La Pine Schools Online program, or the district’s Comprehensive Distance Learning option formulated for the 2020-21 school year. Meanwhile, the Redmond School District announced this week that due to the new CDC guidelines, it would begin sending secondary students back to classrooms full time starting Monday, April 19.
More students in Bend, La Pine and Redmond will head back to classrooms full time starting in April.
Local Pre-Registration Available for COVID Vaccine
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eschutes County and St. Charles Health System have launched a new web page that allows people to sign up to be alerted when it’s their turn to receive a COVID-19 vaccination. The site, centraloregoncovidvaccine.com, allows Central Oregonians to enter their name, address and other information that helps authorities sort out when
they are eligible to receive the vaccine based on that person’s eligibility level. People who pre-register will get a notification alerting them when it’s their turn, and will have 48 hours to log into the scheduling system to set up their vaccine appointment. Vaccinations are free to the public. “While it is still too soon to draw
any definitive conclusions, it appears our vaccine strategy is working,” wrote St. Charles CEO Joe Sluka in an email to followers March 25. “The average age of patients hospitalized at St. Charles Bend in March has declined compared with those hospitalized in January. This is a trend we hope to see continue as vaccinations become available to all
Wilderness Permit System Opens April 6
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he Deschutes and Willamette National Forests will begin allowing people to reserve day-use and overnight permits in the Central Cascades Wilderness starting April 6. The permit system is a new addition for the Central Cascades Wilderness, aimed at limiting the number of people visiting well-used locations in the Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington and Three Sisters wilderness areas. According to a 2018 environmental assessment from the Central Cascades Wilderness Strategies Project, overall use in the Three Sisters Wilderness had increased by 231% since 1991 and 181% since 2011. Tam McArthur Rim Trailhead saw a 538% increase in users from 2014 to 2016. While the Forest Service opted to put the proposed permit system on hold during the height of the pandemic in 2020, it announced that it would move forward with it in 2021. The Forest Service did move forward with one portion of its wilderness-area limitations last year, implementing a ban on campfires above 5,700 feet in elevation, and even in some areas that are below 5,700 feet. It also banned campfires in Diamond Peak Wilderness above 6,000 feet.
Starting May 28, pre-arranged dayuse permits will be required on trails including Green Lakes, Broken Top, Devils Lake/South Sister, Todd Lake, Tam McArthur Rim and a dozen other popular trails from Memorial Day through the last Friday in September of 2021, and overnight permits will be required for all overnight use in the three wilderness areas. Dozens of other trailheads in the wilderness areas will not require a pre-arranged permit, but do require a free self-issue permit available at the trailheads. On April 6, 40% of the season’s allotment of overnight permits will be live on the federal government’s reservation portal, Recreation.gov, with the remaining 60% of permits available on a seven-day rolling window beginning on May 28—meaning every day, new permits will be available for the day seven days ahead of that particular day. Between 20 and 50% of day-use permits will be available on April 6, with the remaining 50 to 80% of each trail’s permits available in a seven-day rolling window starting May 28. The permits are relatively low-cost, costing only a $1 processing fee for day-use
Oregonians by May 1.” Those who are unable to register online can also call 541-699-5109 to get help registering from 9am-5pm Monday through Friday, and from 9am to 1pm Saturdays and Sundays—though expect to wait on hold. Pre-register for vaccination at centraloregoncovidvaccine.com.
Bonnie Moreland / Flickr
Todd Lake with Broken Top in background.
permits, and a $6 processing fee for overnight use. People can determine which trails require day-use permits by visiting
https://bit.ly/2Pl8jtT, and can register at recreation.gov, or by calling 877-444-6777 or TDD Line at 877-833-6777.
