Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 1713
Chinook salmon angling on the McKenzie River will close beginning Monday, July 8 through the end of the year. ODFW is taking this step to protect the unexpectedly small runs of both wild and hatchery Chinook salmon observed at Leaburg Dam on the McKenzie River in 2024. Continued angling pressure on this small return of salmon could jeopardize meeting conservation targets upstream of Leaburg Dam and broodstock needs for future hatchery production. ODFW biologists do not currently know what...
Ecosystems in the Northwest were heavily shaped by wolves before they were nearly wiped out of the region, a new study finds. By the 1930s, gray wolves were nearly gone in Oregon and the rest of the West, leading to the multiplication of animals the wolves hunted and creating an imbalance in the environment, researchers at Oregon State University found. However, the full impact of their disappearance isn’t fully understood because ecological research from the last century largely left out the r...
Yard chores might seem mundane, but unsafe practices can lead to injury, illness, or even death. Over the past decade, 3.2 million U.S. residents have been injured while working on their lawns or in their gardens. Lawnmower accidents cost patients an average of $37,000 in medical treatment. In a survey of over 1,000 U.S. homeowners about their history, habits, and concerns related to lawn care accidents and injuries, key insights were: * 21.2% have experienced a serious injury while working on...
FINN ROCK: An annual festival since 2013, the McKenzie River Chainsaw Arts Festival had been derailed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Holiday Farm Fire. The event, planned to return to the McKenzie Community Track and Field, this August 8th to 11th, has instead been canceled. “This decision comes after careful consideration” according to the track’s board of directors. They went on to say in a press release that, “despite our dedicated efforts, ensuring the readiness of the festiva...
RAINBOW: An animated aerial golfer joined some patriotic icons - ranging from the “1776” to the American and Oregon flags - was joined by Tokatee’s own logo in brightening the night sky last Friday night. The performance in the sky utilized a fleet of LED-equipped drones controlled by a pre-programmed computer set up near the launch site. During the show, 200-foot-tall flying images delighted a crowd of spectators who also enjoyed the venue’s live music, food truck, and beer garden - as well as...
LEABURG: Doors were pried open and smashed during a 3 a.m. break-in at the Leaburg Store on June 28th. In the process, a burglar attached a tow strap to an ATM inside the building and yarded it out the front door. Unknown to the robber, however, was the presence of motion cameras and an alarm system that recorded the activities and recorded identifiable images. After a quick response to the scene deputies from the Lane County Sheriff’s Office apprehended the suspect. Booked at the Lane County J...
EUGENE: The Eugene Water & Electric Board’s (EWEB’s) tree-trimming efforts just got smarter and more efficient. To help prevent tree-related outages, EW EB crews trim vegetation on more than 500 miles of overhead power lines each year. But it’s important to determine which sections of power lines need attention the most. EWEB is using smart technology to solve this problem. By integrating advanced analytics and up-to-date satellite imagery, EWEB can proactively address high-risk areas and reduc...
People are invited to a public meeting on July 19th at 5:30 p.m. to learn about the possibility of designating Aufderheide Drive (US Forest Road 19) as an Oregon Scenic Bikeway. The meeting will be at the Upper McKenzie Community Center, 54745 McKenzie River Drive in Rainbow. 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. Proposed routes are nominated by local...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Work on Hwy. 126 planned between the Linn County line and the Old McKenzie Highway - also known as the Clear Lake Cutoff - will include both half-day and two-day closures, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation. The current schedule calls for half-day closures from August 1st through 8th, - Sunday through Thursday nights - from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. (with Fridays and Saturdays excluded). There will also be 44-hour closures from August 20th to the 22nd. Officials say...
Close to 75 people turned out for a meeting at Fish Lake last week, including many of McKenzie River Ranger District employees. Besides camaraderie, there was plenty of maintenance work as well as restoration or replacement of structures to attend to. Part of the projects people took on included scraping and painting, fence replacement, and restoration of decayed log ends on the cabins. While that was underway, other work ranged from general cleaning of inside buildings, plumbing repair,...
The stage is set for a massive investment in Oregon’s plans to bring high-speed internet to everyone in the state. The second volume of Oregon’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment proposal has been approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, laying out its plan for investing nearly $700 million in federal funding. Nick Batz, Oregon Broadband office director says the goal is internet for all. “This is a historic investment. We’ve never seen this much money i...
$27.4 million in funding provided through the Great American Outdoors Act is greatly improved the U.S. Forest Service’s ability to address deferred maintenance needs at recreation facilities across the Northwest, according to Jacque Buchanan, Pacific Northwest Regional Forester. “We’ve made incredible progress in updating recreation sites, trails, and access with the help of these funds. Each investment reduces the amount of costly maintenance needed to protect public safety and natural resou...
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...
