Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
Sorted by date Results 201 - 225 of 1851
Construction crews have been hard at work on the east side of the Old McKenzie Pass and plan to have the highway above the gate paved and open by the morning of July 4th. Only the east side of the pass had been under construction, but the west side will also remain closed at the gate just beyond Linton Lake until July 4th. According to the Oregon Dept. of Transportation, limited space for vehicles to turn around on the west side made it unsafe to open any further towards the summit. After the...
Fish and fishing are a part of Oregon’s heritage. The future, however, is becoming increasingly uncertain as both wild and hatchery fish are being negatively impacted by a changing climate and ocean. With that in mind, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) is looking ahead to chart a sustainable future for Oregon’s hatcheries. As a start, the public is invited to a meeting on June 27th to learn more about the process the agency is using to thoroughly review the state’s hatch...
WALTERVILLE: After a year and a half of planning, fundraising, and strong support from the community, people rolled up their sleeves this week for Phase One of plans to improve and preserve the Walterville Community Center. On the list of “things to do” are upgrading windows and siding on the west side with modern windows and new hard siding, while also insulating that exterior wall. Helping fund the work are grants from federal agencies and the Roundhouse Foundation. The rest of the funds cam...
RAINBOW: An 18-hole scramble golf tournament - with a shotgun start - was in itself a good reason to show up at the Tokatee Golf Club on June 22nd. But it’s underlying function to raise funds for a non-profit striving to construct replacement housing provided an extra incentive. “I’m on the board of McKenzie Community Land Trust to remove barriers to homeownership for families that want to live in the McKenzie Valley,” said McKenzie District Ranger Darren Cross. The Forest Service, he added,...
Oregon is likely to face fewer big wildfires this summer than in previous years, but a lack of rural housing, coupled with unstable and often low pay, continues to create firefighter workforce challenges across the state and region. That was a big part of the message from state and federal fire and emergency response officials, who discussed this year’s fire outlook and what they need at a meeting Monday at the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. The Portland-based center is part of a l...
Oregon State University researchers have found that U.S. adults are fairly confident in linking wildfires and heat to climate change, but less confident when it comes to other extreme weather events like hurricanes, flooding, or tornadoes. Looking at extreme weather events across the board, 83% of survey respondents said there is some link between these events and anthropogenic, or human-caused, climate change. About 17% thought climate change had nothing to do with extreme weather. Researchers...
The federal government this week acknowledged that the construction and operation of 11 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers during the last century has had a devastating effect on eight Northwest tribes and more than a dozen native fish stocks, some of which have gone extinct. The acknowledgment came in a report, “Tribal Circumstances Analysis,” that was published Tuesday. It represents the first time that the U.S. government has comprehensively detailed the harm that fed...
Oregon’s state animal has for years been classified as a “predator” by the state fish and wildlife agency, and that’s meant that the North American Beaver has lived largely unprotected from private landowners who can kill them at will. That will change on July 1 when new rules go into effect under House Bill 3464, the “beaver bill.” The bill passed the state Legislature in 2023, and the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, which crafts regulations for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife,...
The only Oregon Republican lawmaker who supported abortion rights has left the Republican Party. State Rep. Charlie Conrad of Dexter changed his registration to the Independent Party of Oregon after losing his May primary in a landslide over his April 2023 vote to protect access to abortion and gender-affirming care. He views his stance as consistent with traditional Republican values of protecting individual liberties. Though his core beliefs haven’t changed, Conrad said the primary made c...
EUGENE: Delays in protecting Chinook salmon and Bull Trout are drawing fire from the public and federal agencies who criticize the Eugene Water & Electric Board’s relicensing of the Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project. At issue are ways of allowing fish to pass around man-made structures to access approximately 8 miles of McKenzie River and tributary habitat long blocked by the project. In an October letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the assistant regional a...
FINN ROCK: The Finn Rock Landing, one of the more popular launches for the McKenzie River’s whitewater opportunities, has reopened. The site was developed years ago by the Rosboro Lumber Company and managed for the community in collaboration with the McKenzie River Guides Association. The site includes 278 acres of adjacent floodplain lands that were acquired by the McKenzie River Trust in 2015. Elizabeth Goward, community engagement manager with the Trust, notes that “Finn Rock Landing has con...
Globe Festival The Widish Community Theater in Springfield will host the Round The Globe Film and Music Festival on Sunday, June 23rd at 2 p.m. The festival highlights the winners in short films, music videos, and original songs that address resilience, sustainability, and other areas of human interest. Submissions are received from all around the world and are represented in this exciting international event. Organizers say the artists of Round The Globe have an expressed intention to...
It was a mountain biker on a trail in Bend in 2022 who first spotted the pod of large old Ponderosa pines marked for cutting. The biker alerted local environmental groups, including the Bend office of the nonprofit Oregon Wild, where Erik Fernandez works as a wilderness program manager. Fernandez went out to photograph the trees in the Deschutes National Forest, some of which he and others figured were more than 80 years old after measuring their circumference. More than a dozen were marked...
June is Great Outdoors Month, which also underscores the importance of outdoor recreation in Oregon. As temperatures warm up, people are enjoying nature. Five years ago, Congress designated June Great Outdoors Month to highlight the trove of outside opportunities across the nation. With a half dozen national park sites also state parks, Oregon has a plethora of places for people to get outside. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said outdoor recreation provides a big boost to the state’s economy. ...
The Lane Education Service District and Southern Oregon Oregon Education Service District (ESD) were recently awarded $2.6 million+ in grant funding from the Oregon Department of Education through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) fund. With this new funding, Lane and Southern ESDs have partnered with the Mid-Willamette Educational Consortium to create and pilot Team Oregon Build, expanding upon the existing Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs already...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Determination, resilience, and the courage to start a 50k run combined to carry participants over the finish line of this year’s McKenzie River Trail Run. During the day runners traveled a route that started at the Carmen Reservoir, traveled up the Waterfall Trail, and crossed the McKenzie Highway above Sahalie Falls, wound around Clear Lake on the McKenzie River Trail (MRT), then continued up to the Santiam Wagon Road. The return route then backtracked down on the Clear Lake T...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: “Communications tools are not just beneficial, they’re essential” was the message at the heart of an upriver event last Wednesday. Amir Johnson, Oregon director of External and Legislative Affairs for AT&T went on to detail the partnership between his company and FirstNet that’s created a nationwide communications network to support emergency responders. 5G upgrades and coverage expansions, Johnson said, are now delivering “prioritized connectivity on a platform tailored...
SAHALIE FALLS: Rescuers were called to respond to an injury accident last Wednesday at around 10:30 a.m. for a rescue operation at Sahalie Falls. A caller reported an elderly male had fallen approximately 40 feet down a cliff near the base of the falls. The Sweet Home Fire District responded with one medic unit and a rescue vehicle and made the one-hour drive east to make contact with the patient. On the scene, medics found bystanders helping the patient near the base of the waterfall. The man...
Lane Community College is excited to host dynamic summer camps for high school students, including those providing hands-on experiences in diesel mechanics. The camps offer unique opportunities for students to explore new skills and potential career paths in a fun and engaging environment. High school students will get a behind-the-scenes look at what makes diesel-powered freight trucks and hydraulic excavators operate. Highlights include Hands-On Experience: Operate highway trucks and heavy...
The Eugene Water & Electric Board hosted a customer appreciation dinner at the Walterville Community Center on May 23rd in place of its yearly upriver board meeting. Instead of the typical format, where people are limited to three minutes of speaking time, the utility tested a new format that included an open house combined with facilitated discussions during dinner, and more time afterward to follow up with specific people. An EWEB spokesman said changes to the meeting structure were meant to...
Lane County crews will be chip sealing roads in several local areas from July through September. The process is a pavement preservation treatment that includes a thin layer of liquid asphalt applied to the existing road surface, followed immediately by a layer of crushed and compacted rock. After the chip seal has been set for a few days, a final topcoat (fog seal) will be applied to seal the asphalt and rock mixture. This process is widely used to increase the durability and lifespan of rural...
FINN ROCK: A year’s worth of work on entrepreneurship and marketing was not only on display - but also for sale last Thursday night. At booths around the gym, McKenzie Community School students had a chance to cinch sales of products ranging from homemade jerky to crocheted headbands as part of the Market Night event. At his “Ecodrift” booth, shoppers found hand-crafted driftwood trees that creator Will Meister made from a “very local” source - wood straight from the McKenzie River that had...
BLUE RIVER: People gathered at the Upper McKenzie Rural Fire Protection District for a day of recognition on Sunday. On the list was the woman for whom the department’s rebuilt building was dedicated as the Patricia “Pat” Stanley Memorial Fire Station. “She was Blue River’s community champion and a one-woman booster club for the Blue River Fire Department,” was the way her daughter Melanie explained her involvement. “She kept it running and instilled in us a dedication to the community and...
FINN ROCK: After an hour and a half, people brainstorming at the latest “60 Mile Main Street” meeting they had come up with plenty of ideas to stay busy for close to twenty years. Despite that timeline, it appeared several projects were already in the works or could be resurrected from successes of the past. Among building blocks currently on the calendar are this weekend’s McKenzie River Trail Run and the June 24th return of the Gravel Grinders Cascade Race. Both have been attracting parti...
The Willamette National Forest will temporarily close a portion of Forest Service Road 19 to complete a paving project that includes resurfacing the road and repairing slope failures. The closure, which includes all access along Road 19 from milepost 32 to 50.5, will be in place from Monday through Thursday, June 3rd to 6th, and June 10th to 13th. Road 19 will reopen from Friday through Sunday, June 7th to 9th, and June 14th to 16th. The route, also known as Aufderheide Drive, is part of the West Cascades National Scenic Byway and connects the...
