Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
Sorted by date Results 1026 - 1050 of 1818
Each year, The Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) celebrates regional accomplishments for the prior year and recognizes elected officials, public employees, citizens, intergovernmental teams, economic enhancement work, and those that have dedicated their lives to public service. This year the Outstanding Citizen Award was presented to Melanie Stanley, for her work and contributions to the community as the “Unofficial Mayor” of Blue River. The annual award for Outstanding Elected Official was...
Damaged and dead trees identified on 550 miles of roads The Holiday Farm, Beachie Creek, and Lionshead Fire burned more than 176,000 acres on the Willamette National Forest in 2020. Since then standing dead and injured trees have been identified along about 411 miles of open roads across three of the Forest’s ranger districts, as well as about 139 miles of closed roads. Forest spokesmen say the fire-killed or injured trees pose a danger and the areas remain closed, “Until safety concerns are...
FINN ROCK: McKenzie School District voters will have the opportunity, again, to vote on replacing their seventy-year-old elementary school. Last November the school board discouraged people from supporting a $15,215,000 bond citing the damage done to the community by the Holiday Farm Fire. Five teachers, a dozen classified staff and fifty students had been impacted when 400 homes were destroyed, accounting for about 70% of the district’s tax base value. Before that vote, board chair Tim H...
On February 25th, Mary Ellen Wheeler presented the Vida McKenzie Community Center with a check for $500. This generous donation to VMCC’s Rebuild Campaign was made by McKenzie Locals Helping Locals. The gift will move the Center closer to realizing its dream of reopening its doors on September 8th of 2022. Vida McKenzie Community Center cannot thank McKenzie Locals Helping Locals enough for their wonderful generosity. Vida McKenzie Community Center invites everyone to an Open House at the D...
Lenses reveal history, habitats, and meals Scientists from the University of California have demonstrated they can use isotopic analysis of the eye lenses of freshwater fish — including threatened and endangered salmon — to reveal a fish’s life history and what it ate along the way. They conducted their study, “Advancing diet reconstruction in fish eye lenses” based on field-based experiments in California’s Central Valley. Researchers say the study carries implications for managin...
SALEM: “We’re here to get a to do list from you and learn how to make you whole,” was the way District 21 State Representative Brian Clem opened Monday night’s virtual meeting of the Oregon House Special Committee on Wildlife Recovery. “We want to hear how you’re doing - unfiltered - from the ground,” he added. The response came in both verbal and written input from people affected by the Beachie Creek, Lionshead, Holiday Farm and Archie Creek Fires that destroyed large tracts of the state thi...
Streambank work EUGENE: Karl Morgenstern had some good news when he reported to the Eugene Water & Electric Board on February 2nd. “The impacts were not as great as we originally thought, given the conditions we were facing,” the utility’s watershed restoration manager said. EWEB has been monitoring water quality because of concerns that storm runoff from the Holiday Farm Fire would contain increased quantities of metals, nutrients, solids bacteria and carbon, Morgenstern said. “Even though we w...
“We have restored the Blue River central office and fiber that enables all service in the area,” according to Tre Hendricks, Director of Government Affairs for CenturyLink/Lumen. “We are beginning reconnection customers who remain out of service in the Blue River area – there were approximately 50 and almost half of those were restored last week.” Hendriks said several cable cuts were, “Due to other utility and road clearing activities in the last two weeks, which has slightly delayed our efforts. Once the Blue River customers are done,...
Repairs could approach the $50 million spent on relicensing EUGENE: Internal erosion of the 5-mile long Leaburg power canal caused the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order its shutdown about two years ago. Now Eugene Water & Electric Board commissioners are being asked if they want to continue to operate or decommission the Leaburg hydroelectric facility, as well as its downriver counterpart in Walterville. At last Tuesday’s board meet-ing, general manager Frank Lawson recommended t...
On Friday, February. 19th, a volunteer cleanup effort will begin in Blue River to help people who lost their homes in the Holiday Farm Fire. The work will replicate successful volunteer cleanup efforts that the Cascade Relief Team helped start in Otis Orgon. Volunteers are needed with heavy equipment and chain saws, as well as boots on the ground for helping bag and sift ash. The work will involve cutting and removing several tons of steel and a high amount of green waste that has been burned. Fire waste will be properly bagged for legal dispos...
Crews around the state are beginning to clear roads and private properties of trees damaged in September's wildfires. The tree clearing is part of the Oregon Wildfire Recovery Debris Management Task Force's effort to provide cleanup for homes and businesses in the eight affected counties – Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn and Marion. The work paves the way for rebuilding efforts, community recovery and helps revitalize Oregon's economy. In Lane County, the State c...
About 360,000 acres of private forestlands were among the million acres that burned in Oregon during the Labor Day wildfires. Over the next year or so, Oregonians can expect to continue to see trucks carrying scorched timber off private forestlands and bringing tree seedlings and planting crews onto them. Assessments show the wind-driven fires burned unevenly across the landscape. Some stands were completely incinerated, leaving no merchantable wood. In other places, trunks were scorched but...
McKenzie District deputies make collars Parvin Poundstone The newly established District Deputies assigned to work the McKenzie Valley area have been investigating reports of people going onto fire impacted properties and stealing items, according to Lane County Sheriff’s Sergeant Carrie Carver. “One report in particular involved a safe that was left largely intact after the fire,” she said. “ The owners of the property reported they believed the safe had been tampered with, and that several items from a workshop had been stolen.” Carver said t...
"Over the past several months a lot of pieces had to come together, all heading to getting property cleanup done," according to Angela Beers Seydel, Public Information Officer with the Oregon Dept. of Transportation. "We've signed over 30 contracts for everything from project monitoring to landfill disposal. The lead contractors for hazard tree removal began mobilization of crews and equipment, with the ash and debris removal close behind. Subcontractors are being hired in accordance with a...
“The bottom line is that restoration is progressing at a significant and steady pace.” That’s the most recent assessment on the rebuilding of Lumen/CenturyLink’s communications infrastructure from the company” director of government affairs, Tre Hendricks. Recent work in the Leaburg and Vida areas has included placing or splicing defective copper cable along 8,000’ feet of the McKenzie Highway. Crews also found a spot where stolen cable had to be replaced to reconnect six customers. Upriver, Hendricks said fiber had been placed for approximate...
Idaho Gov. Brad Little's workgroup to consider what to do about dwindling salmon numbers has wrapped up, as conservation groups in neighboring states say it's time for a regional approach. Brett VandenHeuvel, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper, said the warming climate is making it difficult for salmon and steelhead to navigate the Columbia and Snake Rivers. He maintained the fish are in a dire situation, and this issue can't be solved by a single state. "Any solution that's going to...
The economic woes from the COVID-19 pandemic parallel the Great Depression in some ways, and new research suggests national service programs from the 1930s could be useful for the recovery and for young people who need work. A Brookings Institution report calls on the country to expand programs like AmeriCorps, YouthBuild and conservation corps over the next few years. Jeff Parker, executive director for the Eugene-based conservation nonprofit Northwest Youth Corps, backs the idea. "Our goal is...
Iridium phone CenturyLink is offering an Iridium satellite phone that uses low-earth orbit satellites, making more conducive to rough and forested terrain. The offer is for an 8-week rental of the phone and 30 minutes of talk time. The primary intent is to ensure that customers have lifeline while service is out. The cost of the offer is $271, which is available to anyone in the area. For its customers, CenturyLink will pay for the package by providing an immediate credit to a customer’s bill. Call 800-263-9675....
PUC keeps December date for service restoration A group of “Good Samaritans” is credited with a creative solution for returning telephone service to CenturyLink’s upper McKenzie Valley customers. At Monday’s special meeting of the Public Utility Commission of Oregon, commissioners were told the new system will buid upon a microwave feed from Bend connected to five T-1 lines with 24 channels apiece. Lisa Gorsuch, the PUC’s emergency preparedness manager, told the board the system had been devised by the Oregon Internet Response team, a group of...
McKenzie Schools gain $200,000 Blueair, a world-leader in air purification for home and professional use, announced it has donated more than $1 million in cash to U.S. children’s hospitals, schools and a Chicago-nonprofit in alignment with Giving Tuesday 2020. At a time when more than ever people are in need, a recent Gallup poll found that fewer people are able to provide support through charitable giving – with giving expected to be down nearly 10% this year. Blueair was founded on the principle of providing access to clean air for chil...
Chinese and Canadian sources impact 40-year license renewal Powerhouse MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Turbines won’t be spinning nor will boaters be launching for a few more years. That’s because refurbishment work at the Carmen-Smith hydro plant has been delayed. In a report delivered to the Eugene Water & Electric Board for their November meeting, the utility’s generation manager Mike McCann noted that design issues and manufacturing at fac-ilities in China were affecting General Electric’s ability to deliver equipment needed for the overhaul of one of...
LRAPA The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) Board of Directors approved a temporary variance from certain asbestos requirements to aid cleanup efforts for those impacted by wildfires in Lane County. This action relaxes some requirements for handling asbestos containing waste (ACW) for properties impacted by wildfires. Lane County, and seven additional Oregon counties, have entered into partnerships with Oregon’s Debris Management Task Force to assess and clear household hazardous waste from fire-damaged properties at no cost to proper...
Trial lawyer In the wake of the horrible wildfires that tore across the state in early September and some continue to burn, Oregon’s trial lawyers have established a hotline and pro bono resources to support victims of fire-damaged homes, businesses, and property by providing free consultations about insurance claims and next steps. The Oregon Trial Lawyers Association’s fire support services will answer the phones and travel to fire-ravaged communities to help Oregonians recoup their losses and get back on their feet. Volunteers are hea...
Gate map MCKENZIE BRIDGE: The McKenzie River Ranger District will soon install two gates (one on Forest Service Road 2633-706 and another on Forest Service Road 2654-782). The gates will establish a motorized closure on a combined total of approximately 1.25 miles of road to protect fish and wildlife habitat. The action follows recent approval of a Habitat Protection Gates Project Environmental Assessment that evaluated potential motorized impacts on, “The extensive aquatic restoration investment that has occurred there and is ongoing,” acc...
Crews installed new roofing Clinic roofing 25-year rated roof last? At the McKenzie River Clinic, it lasted 43 years, through snowstorms and ice storms—the same way, supporters say, that the Clinic itself kept going as a well-loved, local, medical clinic. “Somehow, some way, no matter what the setback was, the board and the staff always found ways to keep the Clinic open,” according to Val Rapp, president of McKenzie Valley Wellness, which owns the building. “But there was never money to replace the roof.” Until this spring. Thanks...
