Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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Lane County Animal Services & the Greenhill Humane Society are hosting an emergency animal training session on Saturday, June 8th, from 10 a.m. to noon. It will be held at Lane County Public Works, Goodson Room, 3040 North Delta Highway in Eugene. Learn how to prepare your pets and large animals for evacuation and volunteer to help with livestock during emergencies. Topics will include: Prepping animals for evacuation, Services during emergencies, How to help, Livestock transport & care, and...
The Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OEM) encourages Oregonians to prepare for the upcoming wildfire season by staying informed, having an emergency plan and packing a go-kit. People can find an evacuation checklist, live wildfire and evacuation maps, and wildfire preparedness and prevention tips at wildfire.oregon.gov. “Oregon follows a three-level evacuation notification system structured around the readiness need and threat level,” said OEM Director Erin McMahon. “People shoul...
Residents along the McKenzie River are invited to a public meeting on July 19th at 5:30 p.m. to learn about the possibility of designating Aufderheide Drive (National Forest Road 19) as an Oregon Scenic Bikeway. The meeting will be held at the Upper McKenzie Community Center, located at 54745 McKenzie River Drive. The Oregon Scenic Bikeway program, established in 2009 by Oregon Parks and Recreation, markets and promotes cycling routes that offer cyclists a unique and enjoyable experience....
The public is invited to provide input on LRT-eligible projects to help guide the region’s efforts in protecting and improving vital natural resources. Feedback will be taken through a web map application. Users will be able to comment on any project in the application by selecting a project or location, reviewing project-specific details, and sharing input through a feedback form within the application. Project locations on the map have been generalized to accommodate overlapping projects and those with multiple locations. The purpose of t...
The public is invited to provide input on LRT-eligible projects to help guide the region’s efforts in protecting and improving vital natural resources. Feedback will be taken through a web map application. Users will be able to comment on any project in the application by selecting a project or location, reviewing project-specific details, and sharing input through a feedback form within the application. Project locations on the map have been generalized to accommodate overlapping projects and those with multiple locations. The purpose of t...
Republican voters in the McKenzie Valley, Oakridge, Junction City, Cottage Grove, and other parts of East Lane and Linn Counties overwhelmingly marked their ballots for newcomer Darin Harbick over current Representative Charlie Conrad. Preliminary results for the May 31st primary gave Harbick an 82% to 17% advantage in Lane and a 58% to 41% win in Linn. “When you win with that large of a margin, people assume it was an easy race,” Harbick said. “Let me assure you, we worked hard for every vote...
LEABURG: McKenzie Fire & Rescue received a 66% vote of confidence from voters according to preliminary results of the May election. With the approval of Measure 20-356 the district will be able to main tain its current staffing of nine full-time employees and its ability to offset impacts of declining volunteer numbers. The measure will replace the current $0.60 per $1,000 of valuation that expires in 2025. For the next five years, the new rate will be $1.05 per thousand....
Two incumbent House Republicans lost their jobs in election night blowouts last Tuesday as their caucus and most colleagues stood on the sidelines. Different factors led to Reps. Charlie Conrad, R-Dexter, and James Hieb, R-Canby, losing their seats: Conrad angered Oregon Right to Life by siding with Democrats on a 2023 law to widen access to abortion and gender-affirming care, while Hieb couldn’t compete with 2022 governor nominee Christine Drazan when she decided to return to the L...
Firefighters battling wildfires in the Pacific Northwest will now have the world's largest public-facing system of wildfire cameras at their disposal. Three universities - including the University of Oregon's Oregon Hazards Lab, known as OHAZ; the University of Nevada, Reno; and ALERTCalifornia at the University of California, San Diego - have integrated their wildfire monitoring networks under a single software platform, ALERTWest, allowing an unprecedented level of interoperability between mon...
The Leaburg Hatchery and McKenzie Hatchery have been temporarily closed to comply with permit conditions from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Visitors should be aware that no fish are present in the facilities’ production raceways and show ponds. Fish have been transferred off-site but officials report there has been no change to trout stocking in Willamette Valley waterbodies nor any reductions in production of trout or salmon from the facilities as a result of this shift. T...
Jesse Jackson stands proudly, flute in hand, on several hundred acres of forest near Roseburg that the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians fought to get back from the federal government in 2016 after more than 160 years of private and federal management and decades of heavy logging. Jackson, the education programs manager for the tribe, offers gratitude to the land through his music and the indigenous Takelma language once spoken widely by the tribe. He describes huckleberries,...
A new report analyzes the workforce dynamics in Oregon and how the state can address gaps for workers and industries. The 2024 Talent Assessment finds that Oregon’s economy is in a strong position, with significant growth in the labor market and more growth anticipated in the future. Christiana McFarland is director of the Center for Innovation Strategy and Policy with SRI, the firm that conducted the assessment. She said some factors could be barriers to achieving that future growth. “We kno...
The US Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region will be waiving fees at most day-use recreation sites in national forests across Washington and Oregon on Saturday, June 8th, in celebration of National Get Outdoors Day. National Get Outdoors Day aims to connect Americans with the great outdoors and inspire them to lead healthy, active lifestyles. By waiving fees on this day, the Forest Service hopes to encourage the public to take advantage of the many recreational opportunities available in t...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: At their May 20th board meeting the Upper McKenzie Rural Fire Protection District approved hiring a new Fire Chief. The current Chief, Christiana Rainbow Plews, retired this month and Joel Zeni stepped into her shoes. Joel has roots in the River community - growing up on Little Deerhorn Road and graduating from Thurston High in 2009. When he was 15 he started volunteering with Lane County Search and Rescue and then joined McKenzie Fire and Rescue as a volunteer at 17. He...
RAINBOW: With our area no longer considered to be in the middle of an “asbestos” or largely wildfire unlikely area, turnout at last Saturday’s Disaster Fair stayed strong throughout the five-hour event. Held at the Upper McKenzie Community Center, the facility was packed with information boots both inside and out. Whether someone stopped by a community groups or public agency booth the message was the same: disaster preparedness at its core works best when proactive measures are taken to minim...
Free camping, day-use, and activities to celebrate State Parks Day June 1 Celebrate State Parks Day with free parking and free RV and tent site camping at all Oregon State Parks June 1 as well as special events at selected parks. Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) will waive day-use parking fees at the 25 locations that charge them and camping fees for all tent, RV, and horse campsites on June 1. OPRD will also waive day-use parking fees on June 2, to support Free Fishing Days...
WALTERVILLE: Heavy equipment has been busy at the Hendricks Bridge Wayside east of Springfield is closed this week, removing tons of debris from last January’s ice storm. The park was used as a drop site for debris collected by residents as well as debris removed from roadways by Lane County Public Works. The large piles, primarily tree limbs, earned the unofficial nickname of “Mt. Brushmore” due to their height. “We are appreciative that our friends in the Parks division were able to make th...
RAINBOW: An automated external defibrillator (AED) is now installed at the Upper McKenzie Community Center. Donated by Eugene Springfield HEARTsafe, the device can treat a person whose heart has suddenly stopped working. Over 500 AEDs are now available in many public places around Lane County, including government buildings, schools, airports and other community spaces. Small, lightweight AEDs are available for a quick response when someone suffers an out-of-hospital cardiac...
This story was first published by Columbia Insight. It’s said that “the map is not the territory.” This statement, say critics, is especially true of the maps created by the U.S. Forest Service to inventory the nation’s largest carbon sinks: its mature and old-growth forests. In April 2023, under pressure from the Biden administration, the Forest Service completed its first-ever nationwide inventory of mature and old-growth forests found on federal lands. This inventory of older trees is part...
BLUE RIVER: There were plenty of smiles on the faces of people to go along with sunny skies last Saturday. Many of the grins were on faces that a week before had spent a rainy day spiffing up the town in anticipation of celebrating the rebuilding of fire-damaged public structures and homes. As Cliff Richardson of Locals Helping Locals noted during his opening remarks, the soft opening of the Blue River Fire Station was an event that “Blue River can now brag about,” as well as the progress of...
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office is attempting to locate William David McCormick, 52. He is a person of interest in an assault investigation. McCormick was recently seen in the Vida and McKenzie Bridge area. People who have any information regarding McCormick’s location, can call the Lane County Sheriff’s Office at 541-682-4141 and reference case #24-2445....
FINN ROCK: Personnel from firefighting agencies outnumbered the public for last week’s P.R.E.P. meeting. People who weren’t there missed gaining insights into how plans to protect them are evolving to meet new challenges associated with long-lasting wildfires. During the Plan, Resilient, Educate, Prepare (P.R.E.P.) session Darren Bucich, McKenzie Fire and Rescue Chief, gave outlined how the area’s fire districts interact to conduct evacuations. He also explained that although “we volunte...
LEABURG: The McKenzie River Discovery Center at Leaburg Lake hosted the second “Listening Session” on May 10th for a proposal to see if the McKenzie area could benefit from a “Main Street” approach. It’s an idea that has helped communities around the state either boost or stabilize their economies, according to the National Main Street Center and Oregon Parks and Recreation. In April, the McKenzie River Chamber of Commerce co-sponsored a meeting with RAIN and Rural Development Initiativ...
LEABURG: A successful dory workshop concluded last Friday at the McKenzie River Discovery Center (MRDC). The ten-day class was led by Brad Dimick, Cricket, and Glade Zarn of Fretwater Boatworks in Flagstaff, Arizona. Ten men and two women went from lofting the boat, building the parts, assembling the hull, and sanding and painting - to launching the result in ten days. According to Roger Fletcher, an MRDC board member and workshop coordinator, “the class re-created the first dory built for t...
Corey Culp, McKenzie River Community School's computer science teacher, has been named Technology Educator of the Year - along with two other outstanding K-12 Oregon and SW Washington. The award comes with a cash stipend of $1,000 for their classrooms to spend on tech education materials including hardware, software, services, or curriculum. For forty years, Oregon Technology Awards (OTAs) have celebrated excellence and achievement in the region's technology industry. This year's event will reco...
