Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 1812
Oregon’s 36 counties will need more than an additional $800 million per year to maintain roads and bridges, according to a new study from the Association of Oregon Counties. The study, presented to the Legislature’s Joint Transportation Committee, comes as lawmakers start to craft a multibillion-dollar transportation package over the coming months. The Oregon Department of Transportation this summer said it needed an extra $1.8 billion annually just to keep up with maintenance – let alone pay f...
FISH LAKE: Buckskins and burros were among the sights, while the Crazed Weasels and a curved dash Oldsmobile provided background sounds to round out Saturday’s Santiam Wagon Road Exhibition. The event offered opportunities to learn more about a unique route between Albany and Bend that sent settlers eastward to reach the rich pasture lands of Central Oregon and marketplaces in Idaho. Native people had long been accessing the area to hunt, forage, or trade long before Andrew Wiley, John Gray, a...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Successful firefighting efforts and favorable weather conditions, combined with the Oregon Dept. of Transportation’s decision to reopen Hwy. 242, have boosted Fall access to many recreation sites. Willamette Forest officials this week announced that the Linton Creek Fire Closure area has been reduced into four smaller closures around the Boulder Creek, Linton Creek, Young Grasshopper, and 374 fires, which sparked from a lightning storm on September 6th. The updated closure order...
Some new members have joined the Springfield Public Schools (SPS) facilities landscaping team - a herd of five goats. Officials say the goats will mitigate weeds in bioswale, easement, and other areas away from student playgrounds. They add that “environmental guidelines for removing weeds in bioswales make goats an efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable method of maintaining these areas.” “Hand-pulling the weeds is costly and time-consuming,” says Assistant Director of Facilities and Ope...
Lane County residents will have to wait until Tuesday, October 15, 2024, at the earliest for the opening of the fall outdoor burning season. The season is typically scheduled to start on October 1 each year. However, the decision to delay has been jointly made by the Lane County Fire Defense Board and the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF).” The recent rainfall and cooler weather are not enough to declare the end of fire season,” said Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) spokesperson, Matt Sorensen. “Lane County and statewide fire...
A proposed corporate tax hike to send every Oregonian a check could end up costing the state more than $1 billion annually, legislative revenue analysts told lawmakers this week. Voters will decide in November whether to approve Measure 118, which would increase by 3% the corporate minimum tax on sales above $25 million and distribute proceeds to all Oregonians. In 2026, the average rebate could range from about $1,000 to $1,300, according to an analysis released this week. State fiscal analysts...
Oregon’s forest and fire leaders were brief in describing this year’s wildfire season to a group of Oregon senators. “It just won’t quit is essentially where we’re at, and our folks are really tired,” Kyle Williams, deputy director of fire operations at the Oregon Department of Forestry, told the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildfire on Tuesday. Williams and two others – Doug Graffe, Gov. Tina Kotek’s wildfire and military advisor, and Travis Medema, a chief deputy for the Oregon...
A group of Oregon conservation advocates is asking the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to restore the provisions of a 2021 Climate Protection Program that had been invalidated by the courts. The Oregon Just Transition Alliance wants the state to adopt a 2024 version of the plan that restores most of its goals and protections. Xitlali Torres, coordinator of the Air Quality and Climate Program for the group Verde, a member of the alliance, said they want to fix the objective of a...
The Oregon Department of Forestry is getting help from the state's general fund to pay its bills after a record wildfire season. The Legislative Emergency Board voted Wednesday to send $47.5 million to the forestry department to help cover the costs of the 2024 wildfire season. Spending on wildfires this year has topped nearly $250 million, about 2.5 times the amount budgeted for the forestry department and the State Fire Marshal's Office for wildfire response. "The Department of Forestry has...
An Emergency Response Team of scientists and resource specialists began field surveys and assessments this week for the burned areas of the Boulder, Chalk, Coffeepot, Ore, and Pyramid fires in the Willamette National Forest. The Boulder Creek Fire is 523 acres in size and 51% contained. The Chalk Fire covers 5,996 acres, the Coffeepot Fire is 6,203 acres, and the Pyramid Fire totals 1,312 acres and is also contained. These four fires resulted from lightning strikes and continued to smoke within established lines. The Ore Fire, which is 3,484...
VIDA: Devon Lawson, a McKenzie High School student who planned to run for the McKenzie School Board in 2025, has withdrawn from the race and opted instead to enlist in the Army National Guard. Following graduation, he will begin Basic Combat and Advanced Individual Training. After completing his military training, Lawson plans to attend college in Vermont and pursue a commission as an officer in the Army National Guard, serve for eight years, and enroll in law school. “This decision was not e...
Salmon that began their life in gravel beds along the McKenzie River are now homing in on their native streams. Surveys have found up to 22 redds across the Finn Rock Reach, and others have been observed in the area’s tributary streams. Volunteers have also returned to take students upriver to witness the natural phenomenon. The Salmon Watch program returns every fall, as watershed councils across the state partner with schools for field trips centered on salmon ecology. It’s a special les...
Highway 242 remains closed to all traffic between the junction with Highway 126 and the Dee Wright Observatory (Milepost 55 to 75). Travel there has been impacted by the 1,309-acre Linton Creek and 62-acre 374 fires, both of which are 0 percent contained. Officials report that both showed scattered heat but were adjacent to natural barriers and previous fire scars. This week, the 1,312-acre Pyramid Fire, east of Middle Santiam Wilderness, has been 100% contained. Seven miles northeast of Blue...
The purpose of a Stand Down is to reach out to local veterans and their families. Stand Down is a military term used when combat troops are pulled out of action and sent to an area of relative safety to get medical attention, clothing, and other supplies. It will be held on Friday, September 27th at the Lane County Events Center, Wheeler Pavilion, and Auditorium, 796 W. 13th Ave. in Eugene. Gates will open at 6 a.m. followed by breakfast at 7. All veterans are welcome as well as reservists, acti...
Oregon public health officials are asking Oregonians to take steps to protect themselves and others from the slew of respiratory illnesses likely to emerge again this winter. COVID-19 is not the only culprit – other respiratory illnesses include influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, along with measles and whooping cough. Public health officials on Thursday encouraged people to get vaccinated and use other strategies to avoid getting sick, like hand-washing, avoiding indoor c...
EUGENE: This month the Lane County Board of Commissioners added their support for improved area communications by authorizing a $500,000 transfer to the Lane Council of Governments to support the McKenzie Broadband Intergovernmental Agreement. A staff report on the proposal noted that land-based internet service is already available on utility poles above ground that are exposed to disruption from natural hazards common in the Cascades such as snowstorms, windstorms, and wildfires. The report went on to add that “an added benefit of this p...
BLUE RIVER: Rain showers provided some welcome relief on Sunday by reducing fire activity. The wetting rainfall helped remove danger levels in areas east of McKenzie Bridge that had been at Level 1. While Hwy. 242 remains closed to traffic, one lane of Hwy. 126 is open to traffic following a pilot vehicle, east of its intersection with the Old McKenzie Hwy. In that area, the 511-acre Boulder Creek Fire remained 0 percent contained while crews dealt with fire-weakened trees along the highway...
RAINBOW: “There wasn’t a major tribe that lived here but there were people who came through,” this may not have been what people had hoped to hear but it was David Lewis’s honest appraisal of Native peoples’ involvement with the McKenzie River Valley. Speaking at the Upper McKenzie Community Center earlier this month he went on to add that those interactions were most likely to have involved late summer visits for fishing or berry picking, rather than establishing any permanent villages...
The Eugene Water & Electric Board is offering residential and commercial loans for backup power systems. Residential electric customers may qualify for up to a $5,000 zero-interest loan Commercial customers may qualify for a four percent interest loan, with the loan amount based on project details and eligible costs. Purchasing a backup power system can help increase safety and resiliency in a power outage. Our Backup Power Program assists customers with the purchase and installation of a...
A sanctuary for stargazing in Oregon is the largest in the world and is set to get even bigger. In eastern Oregon, the organization DarkSky International declared 2.5 million acres of the Oregon Outback International Dark Sky Sanctuary in the first phase of its process in March. It plans to increase the sanctuary to more than 11 million acres in the next few years. Damon Motz-Storey, director of the Oregon chapter of the Sierra Club, recently visited the area. “Anybody who’s visited it on a cle...
One year after a wildfire burns in a forest, the U.S. Forest Service assesses the damage. What the agency finds at this one-year mark informs its post-fire restoration efforts, including how many trees foresters are required to plant to replace ones that died due to the fire. However, according to a growing body of research, one year just isn’t enough time to determine how many trees have died following a wildfire. Two recent studies, created independently of each other, that examined the e...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: A Level 1 (Be Ready) evacuation notice remains in effect for areas North of McKenzie Highway from the East end of Drury Lane East to the Clear Lake Cutoff. Residents have been encouraged to sign up for emergency alerts at www.LaneAlerts.org On September 8th an emergency closure order was issued for the Linton Creek Fire, expected to extend through January 1st, unless rescinded or modified sooner. The fire, caused by a September 6th lightning strike on the McKenzie River Ranger...
The Willamette National Forest has issued an emergency closure order for the Linton Creek Fire, Boulder Creek Fire, and other new fires resulting from the lightning storm on Sept. 6, 2024. With widespread fire suppression occurring across the McKenzie River and Middle Fork Ranger Districts and fire growth occurring on multiple fires, the expanded emergency closure area is needed to ensure public and firefighter safety. The closure order rescinds the previous Linton Creek Fire order. A short stretch of the McKenzie River National Recreation...
BLUE RIVER: “Lane County will be working once again with the community to determine the feasibility of constructing a separated bike/ped bridge that would support emergency vehicles and withstand an earthquake,” according to senior planner Becky Taylor. The study, she says, “will explore two alignment options and develop design concepts. The goal will be to develop a community-preferred design concept that completes the gap in bike/ped connectivity from the school to the downtown and improves th...
