FS Service Wishram Webcam Funding Cut

[chrisca]

The Forest Service has a webcam looking west from Wishram toward The Dalles at https://www.fsvisimages.com/index.aspx. For years, it's been a great way for hikers to judge conditions in the eastern Gorge. It also has value to researchers and others who look at air quality issues such as wildfire smoke and pollution, the original reason the program was established. Recently it was shut down with the following message:
"Due to a change in funding priorities, this USDA website is not being updated. If funding is reestablished, online operations will continue."

I contacted Stan Hinatsu recently about the issue. He said that it is acknowledged that the cameras have been very popular with the public, getting hundreds of thousands of views annually. The staff at the Gorge Scenic Area is aware of the funding cut. Another source involved with managing the website said that some districts are looking at ways to identify alternative funding to bring the cameras back online, but there was no mention that the Gorge was one of them.

To make your opinions known, contact Robin Scholl at the Scenic Area, she is the FS natural resources staff officer. Her phone is 541-308-1716.
Here is a view of a glorious sunset from the camera just a few days before the funding was cut.

[justpeachy]

Some interesting info and more images here:

https://wyeastblog.org/2019/02/28/farew ... e-webcams/

[kepPNW]

Hit that on Friday, when we were trying to figure out the extent of the Nothing.

Argh!!! That's certainly one I've turned to for years, too.

Such a loss! And so seemingly petty, even gratuitous... as if meant to anger people?

Certainly the old system was built to automatically update the website imagery. Damn little cost involved.

(That capture of yours, Cheryl, may be the best I've ever seen from there! Wow!)

[Chip Down]

Reminds me of school districts which will fail to replace old textbooks at low cost as a way of sending a message to parents. "We don't have any money, look at how impecunious we are!"

[Webfoot]

School vouchers for the win, Chip.

[kepPNW]

Reminds me of school districts which will fail to replace old textbooks at low cost as a way of sending a message to parents. "We don't have any money, look at how impecunious we are!"

Yep! Or the first thing "they" did when Measure 5 passed in Oregon... They certainly "showed" the voters by immediately closing the children's Petting Zoo! (Which was just a small-ish exhibit at the main zoo, which of course was kept open.)

Bad parents! Spank the children!

Actually a bigger incentive for us to move up to Washington than were the tax savings or cheaper cost of living!

[klossner]

Reminds me of school districts which will fail to replace old textbooks at low cost as a way of sending a message to parents.

Schools don't "replace old textbooks". They buy entire new curricula, and there's nothing "low cost" about it.

It's typical to review a curriculum every seven years. This process involves a boatload of people starting with teachers and extending to include the public. Publishers compete for the business, but even the lowest bid is not cheap; we're talking tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to, for example, provide "new textbooks" for middle school mathematics.

And nowadays, you can't buy just the textbooks. Curricula come with extensive electronic components -- like applications for the iPad -- because, frankly, the data show that student outcomes are vastly better when they learn on their iPads instead of from their books. It makes me, an old codger, wistful that sometimes they omit the textbooks altogether (which saves money) and provide only the apps.

My wife is chair of the local school board, so I hear a lot about this. And eat dinner alone while she's off at numerous meetings to review and decide on curricula. In the social studies curriculum they just adopted, the iPad apps can switch between English and Spanish. This is fantastically useful for the high percentage of kids who are still learning English.