Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
Sorted by date Results 301 - 325 of 1746
VIDA: People turned out on Saturday to sample this year’s harvest at a wine and honey-tasting event sponsored by the Vida McKenzie Community Center (VMCC). A local winemaker, McKenzie Crest Wines, and the Honey Paddle Farm offered people samplings of wine and honey, in addition to a bouquet bar where they could build their own mason jar flower arrangement. For many folks, the event offered first views of the newly constructed Community Center building which offered views of the river from the p...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Last Thursday varied from the Upper McKenzie RFPD’s regularly scheduled drill night. Instead, they opted to celebrate the department’s Wins since the night of the Holiday Farm Fire. “On the night of 9/7/2020, almost all of the volunteers currently on our roster were either fighting or fleeing (or both) the Holiday Farm Fire,” according to Upper McKenzie Fire Chief Rainbow Plews. During the “last two anniversaries, we have spent time focusing on the trauma, sorrow, grief, fe...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Route 242, the Old McKenzie Highway reopened Tuesday morning following reductions in the Lookout Fire evacuation levels. The highway was closed due to fire activity from the lightning-caused fire. “We want to remind you that the Lookout Fire remains active,” according to Mindy McCartt with the Oregon Dept. of Transportation’s Salem office. “Watch for fire vehicles in the area and prepare for the possibility of closures if fire conditions change,” she cautioned. Drivers o...
A poacher will pay $75,000 in fines and serve jail time after killing numerous deer and elk near Pendleton in what officials called a wildlife crime spree. Walker Erickson, 28, of Pendleton, pleaded guilty to 22 charges including illegally killing deer and elk, leaving game animals to waste, and trespassing. All charges accumulated in an 18-month timeframe, leading officials to declare the case a crime spree. In the summer of 2020, OSP received a call to the Turn In Poachers (TIP) Line. OSP...
The pause on student loan repayments is over, meaning people will have to start paying back their debts for the first time in three years, starting next month. A few tips can help people prepare for this change. Lane Thompson, Oregon Student Loans Ombuds, said it is important to know who your servicer is. For many, their loans were transferred to another company during the pause. Thompson also noted some are paying loans for the first time and advised borrowers to use the federal government’s w...
From its humble beginning seven decades ago on Anita and Norman Rinehart’s chicken ranch a few miles east of town, the Walterville Community Fair is sure to again be a gathering point in 2023. This year’s fair, which will be held September 9th at 39259 Camp Creek Road, promises to be another day of family fun. As in years past the fair will feature the popular mile-long parade as well as a petting zoo and more, including displays of prize-winning canning, baking, fruits and vegetables, han...
FINN ROCK: There were plenty of smiles on the McKenzie School campus last Wednesday. One person wearing a grin was 3rd grade teacher Jacquline Brown who noted that “this takes a lot off teachers’ plates to know we have these things.” Those “things” were items on a wish list school district staff were asked to assemble that would include things they might even purchase themselves to ensure classrooms would be fully stocked. The smiles came about in response to The Hope Project, a Lane County no...
EUGENE: A unanimous vote last Thursday will allow “more people to put front doors on their property,” according to Pat Farr, chair of the Lane County Board of Commissioners. To move to amend the county’s building code will allow the conversion of a historic dwelling for accessory dwelling units (or ADUs) in rural residential zones. The amendment came on the heels of a 2021 state law designed to allow people to add additional housing to their properties. “A lot of people have long awaited this pa...
Thousands of kids across Oregon are guaranteed summer and after-school programs in the coming school year with millions in new federal funding. The Oregon Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Education announced Monday that 25 school and education service districts around the state, along with the Boys & Girls Club and United Way, will share more than $53.5 million during the next five years to provide summer and after-school programs. The money is from the federal 21st Century...
The geology program, “OREGON ROCKS,” held last Saturday at the McKenzie Fire and Rescue’s Community Room in Leaburg, drew close to 40 people, half of them children. It was offered by the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon, and sponsored by the Leaburg Library. It was an excellent program, expertly presented by Kali, a junior at U of O, majoring in geology. She had those kids in the palm of her hand as she explained and demonstrated what makes Oregon tick – geo...
EUGENE: As the third anniversary of the Holiday Farm Fire approaches, it’s not the only calendar preview causing anxiety for survivors. “I currently can’t get my building put up because of a parking issue - still,” was the message Meyer’s General Store & Liquor Shop owner Melanie Stanley gave the Lane County Board of Commissioners last Tuesday. “We have until 2025 - that’s less than a year and a half from now so we can’t wait anymore.” “Melanie and the other owners are stuck,” according t...
Highway 126 was reopened around 7 p.m. on 8/31. The three small spot fires from the Lookout Fire east of Highway 126 and four miles north of Belknap Springs were extinguished. The Lookout, Horse Creek, and Pothole Fires 2023 burning in both Lane County and Linn County jumped over Highway 126 in Lane County this morning. While the main fire is still burning on the west side of Highway 126, a small spot fire has started burning on the east side, near the intersection with National Forest Service...
The robotic birds of the sky, known colloquially as drones, were a menace to the wildland firefighting community. The mere appearance of a recreational drone in the skies near a wildfire called for the grounding of all firefighting aircraft, giving birth to catchy sayings like “If you fly, we can’t,” and “It’s not worth the view.” While these sayings are still true, drones – also called UAS or unmanned aerial systems – are playing an increasingly important role in fighting wildfires. No,...
Fire camps never cease to amaze: Like a magician whisking away his big red scarf to reveal something out of nothing, a fire camp can magically appear overnight in a bare field. Of course, there’s no magic about it. Preparing to house, feed, and care for hundreds maybe thousands of firefighters is a well-honed skill. The Logistics folks on a fire team are responsible for finding a site near the fire that’s big enough, close enough – but not too close – and hopefully upwind from all the smoke....
“Level 1 is where we want people up here to be all the time” was the assessment Lane County Sheriff Cliff Howard delivered to people gathered to hear updates on the status of the Lookout Fire. Speaking at the McKenzie High School gym last Thursday, the sheriff went on to add that because most people in the McKenzie Valley live in a wildland/urban interface, they should be “thoughtful about these things throughout the year and have a little higher level of awareness.” Residents in the areas n...
There was good news from firefighters battling the Lookout Fire this week when they reported on Monday that although the fire now encompasses 11,174 acres, it has reached a 5% containment level. Over 1,000 personnel are involved in the operation, which includes 65 engines, 19 crews, 13 bulldozers 27 water tenders, 11 masticators, and 7 helicopters. Part of their work has been focused on the fire’s southwest corner along USFS Road 700. There, crews are clearing hazardous trees and vegetation a...
The 2020 Labor Day wildfires strained understaffed state and local agencies and highlighted a need for more communication so people can recover and access services, the Oregon Department of Emergency Management concluded in a report released Thursday. The 147-page report, based on surveys and interviews, offers a window into the state's work to recover from the wildfires that scorched an area the size of Rhode Island and left communities across the state reeling as thousands of Oregonians lost...
LEABURG: A project to rebuild the earthen pond at the Old McKenzie Fish Hatchery continues to move forward. While dormant it had filled with sediment and vegetation, but now has been converted to a community fishing pond at the McKenzie River Discovery Center site. Thanks to a $19,000 grant from the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and the work of volunteers, the pond has been upgraded with an eye toward hosting angling and education/outreach events. When completed, the pond will provide a...
Firefighting resources including aircraft, road machinery, and personnel have all been flowing into the area to fight the growing Lookout Fire. The blaze, which grew to 1, 200 acres on Tuesday morning, caused Oregon Governor Tina Kotek to invoke the Emergency Conflagration Act in response to its projected $2 million plus impacts on the local area. That move has resulted in fire personnel from multiple agencies, emergency managers, and the Lane County Sheriff’s Office all working together. At a...
Just after 1 p.m. on Saturday dispatchers received a 911 Call that reported a body had just washed up at the Blue River Dam. Investigators with the Lane County Sheriff's Office who recovered the body of the deceased person from the water of Blue River Reservoir on August 12, have confirmed it to be Blue River resident Mekenna Reiley, according to the Lane County Sheriff's Office. The State Medical Examiner's office has ruled the cause of death as drowning. Officials say there are no signs of...
With excessive temperatures and wildfire conditions affecting power generation across the region, Eugene Water & Electric Board is encouraging customers to voluntarily conserve energy through Wednesday, especially between 4-9 p.m. As people shelter indoors from wildfire smoke and use their air conditioners to stay cool, the regional power grid is strained and market prices for electricity are extraordinarily high. EWEB typically buys power at around $30-50 per megawatt hour. But the utility is seeing prices of $1,000-$1,700 per megawatt hour...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Every August since 2012, a group of dedicated classic car collectors has set out from Seattle for a 1,500-mile road trip to California. The route of the Pebble Beach Motoring Classic travels through mountain passes and along the Pacific Coast. Organized by fellow collector Al McEwan, their destination is the famed Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance collector car show. After an evening of entertainment courtesy of the Oom Pah band and the chicken dance, drivers departed the T...
Billed as a “soft opening” the turnout was impressive when the doors of the new Vida McKenzie Community Center were opened to the public on Sunday. The official opening will come in the Fall but in the meantime, people had a chance to see numerous photos of the equipment that will be installed - from an under-counter refrigerator and freezer to a convection oven. There was also an opportunity to explore the outdoor patio area, where some names have already been etched on the memorial paver blo...
The National Weather Service on Monday issued Red Flag Warnings for a large portion of the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region due to unstable conditions combined with wind and low relative humidity. A Red Flag Warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now or will shortly. These warnings are issued when specific criteria are met to create prime conditions for fast fire spread if a fire were to ignite. “Today’s red flag warnings are in effect for extremely hot, dry, unstable weather west of the cascade crest...
