Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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On Saturday 02/18/2023 at approximately 4:22 pm, the Lane County Sheriff’s Office received a report that a man had fallen off a cliff located between Aufderheide Drive (USFS Rd. 19) and Cougar Reservoir, near the Terwilliger Hot Springs. First responders arrived and were able to see the man lying motionless on the ground at the bottom of a cliff, but due to the extreme terrain, the rescuers were not able to immediately reach him. Lane County Sheriff Search and Rescue personnel had also been en route and upon arrival used ropes to rappel down t...
Widespread tree scorch in the Pacific Northwest that became visible shortly after multiple days of record-setting, triple-digit temperatures in June 2021 was more attributable to heat than to drought conditions, Oregon State University researchers say. In a paper published in Tree Physiology, a team led by Christopher Still of the OSU College of Forestry cites evidence that leaf discoloration and damage are consistent with direct exposure to solar radiation during the hottest afternoons of the...
Oregon legislators are working on plans to provide more time before evictions, more money for factory-built homes, and new revolving loans to encourage building houses for middle-income families. Lawmakers including state Rep. Maxine Dexter, a Portland Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness, are aiming to pass a set of new housing policies and well over $100 million in new state spending within the next month. An omnibus bill the House committee discussed Tuesday is...
EUGENE: The Lane County Planning Commission’s February 7th meeting had special significance for folks hoping to rebuild fire-destroyed buildings along parts of Blue River Drive. Discussions included proposed amendments to the Lane Code that focused on the downtown area, east of the Blue River Bridge, and would also allow the creation of special right-of-way setbacks that could benefit other areas of the county. A section of Blue River Drive is among 30 others scattered around the county that a...
EUGENE: At their February 7th meeting, the Lane Board of County Commissioners (BCC) voted unanimously to place the renewing the current public safety levy before voters during the May 16th election. Passage of the measure, officials say, would not increase the tax rate. If approved, the measure would maintain a minimum of 255 local jail beds to hold people arrested for violent felonies or Measure 11 offenses until their cases are resolved - instead of releasing them due to lack of space. Since the original levy took effect in 2013, no violent...
Imagine community projects that can be turned around quickly. Sounds unlikely? A program that does just that is now open for applications. Started in 2017, the AARP Community Challenge program provides grants to improve cities and towns for people of all ages. The city of Tigard is one recent recipient. The program helped fund what's called a Launch Pod food business accelerator. Lloyd Purdy, economic development manager for the City of Tigard, said two food cart businesses have been selected...
K-9 Scout, along with his handler, Trooper Shae Ross will be following in the footsteps of the first anti-poaching team in Oregon - made up of K-9 Buck and Senior Trooper Josh Wolcott. That news was part of a joint press conference last month, where the OSP Fish & Wildlife Division, the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) Stop Poaching Campaign, and the Oregon Wildlife Foundation (OWF) announced the expansion of the OSP Fish & Wildlife Conservation K-9 team. “Adding another wildlife d...
LEABURG: All the seats were full when the Oregon Department of Transportation hosted a safety study meeting on February 4th. Lacy Brown, an ODOT transportation engineer specializing in safety told the group ODOT would study data to understand crash patterns and combine that with community input to come up with recommendations for about 56 miles of Hwy. 126 between the metro boundaries and the junction with U.S. 20. Some of that community input had already been gathered from over 100 people who...
VIDA: The Oregon Dept. of Transportation's “Greenwood Dr - Vida” project is scheduled to go out to bidders on February 16th. Officials say the pavement resurfacing project is designed to replace deteriorating roadway surface that has come to the end of its useful life. Details will also include upgrades to the deck membranes on four bridges within the project limits. “This is an important statewide route and the pavement in this section is quickly getting worse,” according to an ODOT press r...
Fishery managers are predicting more spring Chinook salmon will be returning to the region this year, although only 10 percent are likely to be wild fish. According to a recent report, Oregon’s and Washington’s when native returns in 2022 amounted to 15.5 percent. Historically, wild spring Chinook spawned in nearly all the eastside Willamette tributaries above Willamette Falls. During 1952–1968, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) dam-building projects blocked more than 400 miles of wild...
Oregon is pursuing an aggressive climate plan to switch to renewable energy sources, but it faces one often overlooked issue: enough high-voltage power lines to facilitate the transition. An Oregon law requires utilities to cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2040. However, the Northwest's aging transmission lines will need a reboot to ensure wind and solar resources on the east side of the Cascades make their way west. Emily Moore, director of climate and energy at the Sightline Institute,...
EUGENE: Next Tuesday, the Lane County Planning Commission will get to hear the public’s ideas on how they would like Blue River to look as it rebuilds. A proposed amendment to the county’s land use code could trim back what opponents have called the current language’s excessive right-of-way setbacks. The Public Works Division developed the proposal after talking to local property owners. A problem was initially identified when plans to reconstruct the O’Brien Library after the Holiday Farm Fire. It was learned the new structure could not meet s...
WASHINGTON, D.C:"It is no longer a matter of if a wildfire will threaten many western communities in these landscapes, it is a matter of when," according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "The need to invest more and to move quickly is apparent," he added in announcing the addition of more than $490 million to 11 key landscapes across the western United States last week. The money has been earmarked for national forest lands, including the restoration "of resilient old-growth forest...
The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) is encouraging Oregonians to report their home internet speed data or lack of internet service as part of Faster Internet Oregon’s internet speed test and broadband mapping survey. Officials say the data will help secure infrastructure funding and ensure it is allocated so every Oregon resident has access to fast, affordable internet service. The bipartisan broadband infrastructure funding bills developed by Congress are distributing billions to the s...
The Oregon Legislature will be considering a number of recommendations for changes related to the statewide wildfire risk map during the 2023 session, some of which would substantively change the map itself. Following conversations last week with the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire Programs Advisory Council, the state has decided to postpone the release of an updated draft of the map, which was planned for March 2023. “As we’ve been working with Oregon State University on tec...
A long-term Pacific Northwest study of landslides, clear-cutting timber and building roads shows that a forest's management history has a greater impact on how often landslides occur and how severe they are compared to how much water is coursing through a watershed. Findings of the research, led by associate forest engineering associate professor Catalina Segura and graduate student Arianna Goodman of the Oregon State University College of Forestry, were published in the journal Earth Surface...
The Oregon Dept. of Transportation (ODOT) is asking the public to share their safety concerns and experiences on the McKenzie Highway, - whether people drive, walk or bike. Those experiences will be on the agenda for an ODOT open house scheduled for Saturday, February 4th, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at McKenzie Fire & Rescue's Leaburg Training Center at 42870 McKenzie Highway. ODOT and Lane County officials said they are working on a safety study because of the number and severity of crashes...
A new interactive “story map” has developed by the Willamette National Forest to showcase projects designed to reduce risks in areas impacted by the 2020 wildfires. Officials say data from the 2020 Fire Affected Road Risk Reduction Project’s “will be recorded and updated directly on the site for the public to stay informed of the latest updates. Although the 2020 fires impacted other public and private lands, this project is centered on Forest Service lands as one piece of the overall fire re...
People's cultural worldviews play a part in how they respond to wildfire risk, and should be taken into account in efforts to get homeowners to engage in pre-fire mitigation efforts such as adjusting landscaping and preparing an evacuation plan, an Oregon State University study found. The study tapped into participants' cultural worldviews and perception of risk to help predict which communication strategies work best to convince different types of people. "There's going to have to be multiple...
FINN ROCK: Outlines for developing recovery plans were key to many conversations as people circulated around the McKenzie High School gymnasium this weekend. Set up around the room were representatives from a wide array of organizations - from Lane County's planning staff to the student-led McKenzie Rebuilds group or the fire districts to the Clearwater Partners. "I like to compare the efforts back in the 70s to what you are all doing today, in the McKenzie Valley," said Cliff Richardson in his...
More than 40% of Oregon adults say the state’s forests are over logged, but most also believe that harvesting timber is part of maintaining healthy forests, according to a recent survey. In November, the nonprofit, nonpartisan group Oregon Values and Beliefs Center sent an online survey to residents statewide to learn about their attitudes toward logging and the health of state forests. More than 1,550 people responded. They were asked about their “gut feelings” toward logging in Oregon, and whe...
Douglas-fir trees will likely experience more stress from drier air as the climate changes than they will from less rain, computer modeling by Oregon State University scientists shows. The research is important because Douglas-fir are widespread throughout the Pacific Northwest, an iconic species with ecological, cultural, and economic significance, and learning how the trees respond to drought is crucial for understanding forest sensitivity to a shifting climate. Douglas-fir grow in a range...
An audit of community colleges in Oregon has implications for the state's legislative session, which started this week. The report from the Secretary of State's Audit Division in December pointed to the need for a greater role from the commission overseeing higher education. Ben Cannon, executive director of the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission, said there have been some modest gains in completion or transfer numbers over the past decade. Although overall numbers hover around...
"It would be a disservice for Lacey Joy not to win this award," said the first person to vote for her. Many, many more followed up on that sentiment, citing things like: "Working tirelessly to build a sustainable infrastructure of support for families," "Finding funding for a child center that will open in March," "Her work with the food pantry and the McKenzie school is wonderful," "Prepping not only food boxes but Christmas gifts, for community youth in need," "Chair of the McKenzie Valley...
Unmatched dedication to the community, kids, and rebuilding were among the qualities cited by people who picked Cliff Richardson as the Man of the Year. "Cliff has been a key player in the Locals Helping Locals group," was the way one voter explained his choice, adding that, "Cliff helped put together the plan for Sulutaaq to make the big donations to community organizations." His involvement with the McKenzie Track's board was cited as being instrumental in helping create a very successful...
