Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
Sorted by date Results 51 - 75 of 1879
As winter settles into Lane County, many residents are considering outdoor burning for yard maintenance or using wood stoves for heating. Our local weather patterns play a crucial role in determining whether burning is allowed or the responsible choice on any given day. Weather and Smoke: A Critical Connection Multiple aspects like wind speed and air temperature work together to either disperse smoke safely or trap it close to the ground. On stagnant days with limited air movement, smoke will linger in our valleys for hours or even days,...
SPRINGFIELD: A documentary exploring the evolution and enduring influence of the McKenzie River Drift Boat has proved a crowd pleaser, judging by its enthusiastic acceptance at a screening last week. The film’s debut at the Wildish Theater is the creation of Randy Dersham, who has shifted his focus to filmmaking after a long career in the video game industry. Combining a mix of historical film, archival photographs, and insightful interviews, Dersham’s film charts the wooden boat’s evolu...
VIDA: The McKenzie Community Partnership hosted a Holiday Party at the Vida McKenzie Community Center on Sunday that was topped off with the illumination of a tall fir. Prior to flipping the light switch at 5 p.m., people inside the building were treated to live music, gingerbread house decorating, caroling, crafts and games, and refreshments - along with collecting new, unwrapped toys for the McKenzie Fire & Rescue’sa Toy Drive. The event was a new addition to the area’s Annual Holiday Lig...
Starting this summer, Oregonians across the state will begin to receive a standardized list of what can and cannot be recycled statewide, and owners and managers of apartment complexes and multi-unit housing will need to prepare to provide recycling for residents. These are among new rules around recycling finalized Friday by Oregon's Environmental Quality Commission following four years of negotiation and planning. The Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act will go into effect July...
“Oldest and Coldest” Springfield Christmas Parade Presented By: Oregon Riders Society returns for its 72nd year with the theme of “Gingerbread Kisses & Christmas Wishes.” This is the 8th year on December 7th. ORS has been able to make a significant impact on children and families located in Lane County. Within the last couple of years, ORS has helped dozens of children and families in need of assistance. Parade entries must reflect a holiday theme. The staging area opens at 9 a.m. on Olympic...
Governor Tina Kotek announced today that she is using her constitutional authority to call a special session of the Oregon Legislature, to begin on Thursday, December 12, for lawmakers to appropriate funds to pay for the historic 2024 wildfire season. A record 1.9 million acres burned this wildfire season, far exceeding the state’s 10-year average of 640,000 acres per season and incurring costs upwards of $350 million. While over half of the costs will eventually be covered by disaster relief fu...
La Nina is bringing a cooler, wetter winter to Oregon and likely driving up heating bills as systems work harder. This is the third year of major price hikes for Pacific Power and Pacific Gas and Electric, with rates up by 40% from four years ago. One report found nearly half of Americans struggle to pay their utility bills and last winter, a January ice storm and rate hikes saw power shut off for a record number of Oregon households due to lack of payment. Jami Seymore, home energy expert for...
On Earth Day in 2022, President Joe Biden stood among cherry blossoms and towering Douglas firs in a Seattle park to declare the importance of big, old trees. “There used to be a hell of a lot more forests like this,” he said, calling them “our planet’s lungs” and extolling their power to fight climate change. The amount of carbon trees suck out of the air increases dramatically with age, making older trees especially important. These trees are also rare: Less than 10% of forests in the lower...
Interest in nuclear energy as a solution to “dirty” sources of power is growing, including a proposal in the Northwest. However, some critics said it could divert attention from more practical renewable energy solutions. Amazon has signed an agreement with X-energy to build new nuclear technology, known as small modular reactors, to meet the company’s growing energy needs. The aim is to build the reactors at the Hanford nuclear site along the Columbia River. Kelly Campbell, policy direc...
RAINBOW: Road rage, combined with a rock fight and a tire stabbing, ended with a pickup rolling over into a ditch near milepost 39 of the McKenzie Highway last Friday. Emergency responders were alerted to the incident by a 911 call around 1 p.m. requesting a medical response to a male bleeding from his head. According to Oregon State Police reports, one individual had struck another during a fight. “During the altercation, a tire was also slashed with a knife,” according to OSP Captain Kyle Ken...
Efforts to promote “spectacular views of mountains, lakes, waterfalls, creeks, and rivers” along Forest Service Road 19 paid off last Wednesday when the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission approved designating the route as the Aufderheide Scenic Bikeway. Starting in 2009, Oregon was the first state to develop a statewide Scenic Bikeway Program. The new route now includes 18 designated bicycle travel zones that have been picked to showcase areas of the state’s “breathtaking landscapes, cultura...
Last week, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) released a list of manmade structures it considers critical to fish passage. Updated every five years, the draft priority list identifies the 605 barriers considered critical to fish passage based on the amount of habitat quality and quantity blocked, the current levels of fish passage, and the number of species being blocked. Several structures within the McKenzie River basin made the list, including dams, culverts, and other infrastructure that impede the migration of native fish li...
Concert at VMCC will fill you with “Holiday Spirit.” Oregon Children’s Choir Director, Jennifer Searl, will lead a group of talented youth in selections of traditional and new seasonal works at Vida McKenzie Community Center from 7 to 9p.m. on Friday, December 13th. The choir will be joined by teacher, musician, actor - and McKenzie resident - Larry Brown who will perform short and timely readings guaranteed to cause you to smile and reflect. Bring the whole family! Cookies and hot/cold drinks w...
Layers of volcanic rock in eastern Oregon, the Willamette Valley and the Columbia Basin have created fertile soil for farming and ranching, but in the future it could provide fruitful ground for a whole other industry designed to fight climate change. Oregon’s state geologist is pitching a novel idea of using the region’s rocky basalt layer—born of lava that flowed millions of years ago from cracks in the Earth’s crust—as a bank for storing planet-warming carbon dioxide. Ruarri Day-Stirr...
Oregon’s new chief state economist estimates it will have about $37.8 billion available to spend in the next two-year budget cycle after reworking how the state calculates its economic forecast. The state’s also on track to pay out a $1.8 billion kicker to taxpayers in 2026. However, new chief economist Carl Riccadonna, a former Wall Street analyst hired in September, is changing the way Oregon models its expected revenue with an eye toward more accurate forecasts that reduce the amount ret...
The U.S. Forest Service is seeking public input on a proposed amendment to the land management plans guiding national forests within the Northwest Forest Plan area, which spans Northern California, Oregon, and Washington. The draft Environmental Impact Statement published this week in the Federal Register initiated a 120-day comment period for the public to share input on how these forests will be managed for decades. “Much has changed in society and science since the Northwest Forest Plan was created nearly 30 years ago,” said Jacque Buc...
In my job, I run across many screaming statistics about solid waste, pollution, and climate change that sometimes make me stop and say, “Yikes.” Just in time for the holidays, I ran across these statistics from the nonprofit ReFED regarding Thanksgiving food waste. • Last year, ReFED estimated that Americans would waste 312 million pounds of food during Thanksgiving. This figure would have produced an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to driving a car 73,109 times around the Earth’s equator...
“When the library burned, even the angels folded their wings and sulked.” Those words from a poem read by John Witte reflected the impact the loss of the O’Brien Memorial Library made. Yet, similar to “words flying off like seeds” in the flames of the Holiday Farm Fire, he noted, hope can “take root in the ashes, sprouting new trees, new leaves, new books.” The shoulder-to-shoulder crowd that packed the library Saturday afternoon echoed the feeling of rebirth. All were there to celebrate the...
People interested in building new houses and looking forward to welcoming new neighbors were drawn to a spot of open ground last Friday. The site, at the corner of Rose and McCauley Streets in Blue River, is expected to affect community rebuilding positively. Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Rose Street project, McKenzie Community Land Trust (MCLT) executive director Brandi Ferguson saluted the area’s “can-do spirit.” Talking to a crowd of well-wishers in a gentle rainfall, she t...
“To be resilient to climate change and to minimize climate change, you need healthy soil,” said Lauren Hallett, an associate professor of environmental studies and biology at the UO’s College of Arts and Sciences. For the past five years, Hallett and her colleague Marissa Lane-Massee, a research assistant at the UO and fourth-generation hazelnut farmer, have worked together to create cover crop seed mixes that keep agricultural soils cooler during increasingly hotter seasons without inter...
It’s time to lace up your skates for an all-ages skate party at the Bob Keefer Center, 250 S 32nd St. in Springfield. Bring your roller skates, in-line skates, and rollerblades, or rent them at the 2-hour event for $3 worth of skating in style with a live DJ, lights, decorations, and more. Registration is not required. Learn more at willamalane.org/skate The Skate Party can accommodate up to 200 people at one time. Willamalane has limited skates in various sizes available for rent for $...
Oregon is one step closer to using a state forest to help capture and store more planet-warming greenhouse gases, and to fight climate change and earn money through the carbon market. Leaders at the Department of State Lands signed a development agreement Thursday to enter all of the nearly 83,000-acre Elliott State Forest near Coos Bay into the voluntary carbon market for 40 years. The project will be managed by the carbon brokerage and development company Anew Climate, with offices in...
Oregon school districts are projected to pay $670 million more to the state’s public employee pension program over the next two years, potentially wiping out all increases to school funding proposed by Gov. Tina Kotek. The increased tab, more than 10% for some districts, follows lagging returns in investments of the Public Employees Retirement system and could affect teaching and learning in some schools. “Next year’s sharp jumps in PERS rates will take significant money away from class...
Honoring the important traditions of “our grandmas, grandpaws, aunties, and uncles” was all called to mind as people gathered in Blue River last Sunday. “The things of the traditional world when we recall those days,” added Dietz Peters, “are especially important so when our kids get older, they can pass it on to their kids and grandkids.” Deitz, himself an elder of the Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde, was speaking to a group of about three dozen people interested in restoring s...
Only 38% of homes have been rebuilt four years after a destructive wildfire, while property values and the cost of rebuilding have risen 40%. In addition to the 517 lost homes, the number of people living along a 60-mile stretch of Hwy. 126 from McKenzie Bridge to Springfield has also dropped off. “Since the Holiday Farm Fire, the McKenzie River Ranger District has had difficulty filling vacant positions. The reason most often heard from prospective applicants when they decline a position is t...
