Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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Nominations are being accepted through mid-January for members to a Federal Advisory Committee for national forests in the Northwest Forest Plan area of Northern California, Oregon, and Washington The Northwest Forest Plan amended forest management for 19 national forests administered by the U.S. Forest Service, covering 19.4 million acres in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California, along with seven Bureau of Land Management (BLM) districts covering 2.7 million acres in Western Oregon and Northern California. Since 1994, the Northwest...
CLEAR LAKE: A bridge at the north end of Clear Lake was reconstructed this year with an eye to the future. One ton I-beams were used in the process, replacing log stringers and sills that were still intact and useable - but showing their age. The rebuild, over the Fish Lake Creek, on the McKenzie River Ranger District, was a training opportunity, enlisting more people than normally necessary for similar work. About 25 people helped on the bridge. Those collaborative efforts included the Santiam...
BLUE RIVER: A plan to block one of Blue River's few paved roads will be decided following a public hearing by the Lane County Board of Commissioners. If approved, a section of the road would lose public status and revert to private ownership. The request to vacate part of the street was filed with the Lane County surveyor's office on November 18th by Earth Quest Partners, LLC, Christopher LaVoie, and the Willamette National Forest. Notices of the filing were sent to 43 area landowners as well...
EUGENE: At next Tuesday's Eugene Water & Electric Board meeting, utility commissioners will hear from General Manager Frank Lawson and his recommendations on what to do with the aging Leaburg hydroelectric project. The facility includes a dam, canal, forebay, penstocks, powerhouse, tailrace, and substation. Constructed in the 1920s with reinforced concrete and steel, the dam structure impounds run-of-the-river flows on the McKenzie River and diverts water into the Leaburg Canal which travels...
A man was killed after a high-speed chase on Highway 126 last Saturday night. According to Springfield Police Department Sergeant Pete Kirkpatrick, a patrol officer at a red light on 42nd Street and Main, observed a dark-colored Range Rover pass him eastbound on Main Street at 80 to 90 miles per hour just before 10:30 p.m. The officer tried to keep the Range Rover in sight and initiate a stop, but wasn’t able to due to extremely high speeds, While officers were searching the area of Highway 126 and Thurston Road, a 911 caller reported a car h...
RAINBOW: Unresolved issues affecting design and siting decisions have been points of discussion during recent meetings of the non-profit McKenzie Valley Wellness (MVW) board of directors. At a meeting on November 15th, the board voted 3 to 1 to terminate their agreement with Pivot Architecture of Eugene. Voting to leave Pivot were Steve Severin, Jane Wilson, and Robin Roberts. Opposed was Val Rapp. Galen Phipps was out of town. “We made that decision after considerable discussion and consultation with industry experts before the board m...
Alex Paul CLEAR LAKE: Linn County Parks staff members have been busy refurbishing three rustic cabins at the Clear Lake Resort - installing log-like fiberglass reinforced concrete siding that is fire-retardant and likely to provide long-term durability against rugged winter weather. On a recent Monday morning, Adam Brenneman and Brett Tetzlaff were busy removing decades-old wooden shutters and mixed siding materials from the cabin's exterior walls. Brenneman said the interior of two of the...
SALEM: "The 2020-21 school year was like no other school year in history.," according to Colt Gill, Director of the Department of Education. "The vast majority of Oregon's schools started the 2020-21 school year in distance learning due to the global COVID-19 pandemic," he adds. For students and families, those outside forces created a blended world of school, home life, and work responsibilities. "The disruption to regular school-based learning posed complex challenges," Gill said. "Some of...
After months of record revenue growth, Oregon economists now expect the state to enter a "mild" recession next summer. State economists told a legislative panel on Wednesday that economic forecasters in Oregon and around the country anticipate a recession within the next year because inflation remains higher than the Federal Reserve wants it to be, with the Fed expected to continue raising interest rates. In a quarterly report released Wednesday, officials from Oregon's Office of Economic...
Organizers say the Eugene Mountain Rescue's primary mission is to provide search and rescue personnel for situations requiring mountaineering skills on rock, glacier, snow, and steep terrain in support of the Lane County Sheriff's Office. They're part of a larger network of volunteer groups in the county, state, and nationwide that provide search and rescue services. They're also called to assist mountain rescue organizations from other counties in Oregon, or in other states if they need additio...
Environmentalists chalked up a win last month in the efforts to stop a Trump-era rule that allowed more logging on post-fire land without conducting detailed environmental reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act. In rules adopted in 2020, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) increased the maximum area for “categorical exclusions” from 250 to 3,000 acres. The change allowed the agency to move ahead on logging projects they said would involve minimal environmental impacts. Cascadia Wil...
A new Oregon State University Extension Service website has been designed to provide a trove of science-based solutions for garden pests, weeds, and disease problems in one easy-to-navigate place. The project was shepherded by Weston Miller, an OSU Extension community horticulturist who got the ball rolling six years ago when collaborators ex-pressed interest and provided funds for what would become the Solve Pest and Weed Problems website. "Our stakeholders – Metro, the East, and West M...
The McKenzie Community Partners are sponsoring the McKenzie Holiday Lights event. Organizers say they’d love to see even more lights up this year than last, especially on homes and properties that can be seen from the road. People are asked to install their lighted decorations by December 1st and take them down on New Year’s Day. Last year featured the first large-lit display - Santa Riding a Salmon at the McKenzie River Discovery Center at Leaburg Lake. Two more have been added this year - a S...
Christmas tree permits are available for the Willamette National Forest and can be purchased through December 31st. They're available at several local vendors. Rather than going to a ranger station, people are also encouraged to purchase Christmas tree permits online at Recreation.gov. The Forest Service decided to move Christmas tree permit sales to Recreation.gov as an added convenience for visitors, as well as provide an alternative to in-person transactions at forest offices. Visit...
EUGENE: Imagine if heavy snowfall and freezing rain hit the area this winter. Imagine damaged trees, road closures, and widespread power outages. What would you do? The Eugene Water & Electric Board's electric division and emergency management staff imagined that exact scenario last week during a mock winter storm power outage drill that is conducted every year. More than 60 staff members participated in the drill that simulated a five-day storm scenario where power was lost to over 18,000...
Faster and more widespread testing for chronic wasting disease in deer is now possible due to a new partnership between the Oregon Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Oregon State University's Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Chronic wasting disease is spread through animals' waste and saliva, and infected animals can be contagious for months or years before showing symptoms. It is incurable and affects members of the Cervidae family: deer,...
The U.S. Forest Service will recognize the service of America’s veterans by waiving standard amenity fees for all visitors to national forest and grassland day-use areas on Veterans Day, November 11th. “Many veterans spend time with their families and connect with nature while hiking, hunting, boating, and exploring the range of outdoor recreation opportunities national forests and grasslands have to offer,” said Tracy Calizon, regional assistant director of recreation for the U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest. Officials say making V...
THURSTON: Police responding to a report of a very slow vehicle last Thursday found a line of about 30 cars had built up by the time they caught up with it. Initially, the caller had reported he was behind an eastbound Kia near the Walterville Elementary School. A Lane County Sheriff's Deputy was finally able to get the driver of the cream-colored Kia Soul to stop before directing the driver to pull into the Ike's Pizza parking lot by Leaburg Lake. The driver reportedly almost ran over a deputy...
MT. JEFFERSON: The family of a pilot killed in an accident in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness got some help from a GoFundMe campaign, according to Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan. The sheriff reported on October 20th that her office had continued to assist in the recovery of a plane that was lost near Mount Jefferson. At 4:14 p.m., on September 22nd, two hikers who had been on the Pacific Crest Trail reported they heard the crash and said they could smell fuel but did not see an airplane....
BLUE RIVER: The McKenzie Valley Wellness (MVW) non-profit got some good news last week from the Oregon Dept. of Justice. In their determination, the DOJ said they’d received “sufficient information and otherwise addressed our questions outlined in the Order. We do not intend to take any further action at this time.” According to MVW president Val Rapp, “the DOJ requested only that McKenzie Valley Wellness send them confirmation when MVW members vote on a proposed new board composition policy, drafted by MVW’s attorneys in response to the DOJ’s...
EUGENE: No matter what commissioners finally decide on the fate of the Eugene Water & Electric Board’s Leaburg hydroelectric plant it is still likely to cost anywhere from $50 to $100 million more than what they’d expected. During a four-hour work session last Tuesday EWEB’s staff told the board those projections would be part of an updated report they could expect to receive next month. The additional costs would cover anticipated upgrades to EWEB’s Walterville Canal likely to be required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Both facil...
The Forest Service is now accepting scoping public comments through November 14th for its proposal to develop a trail-wide comprehensive plan and associated environmental analysis for the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, extending the original scoping public comment period by 15 days. The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail was designated by Congress as part of the National Trails System in 2009 and is one of the nation’s newest national scenic trails. The trail covers a route of approximately 1,200 miles, from the Continental D...
The Oregon Board of Forestry approved more than 100 changes to the Forest Practices Act at a special board meeting on October 26th. The rule changes will impact timber harvest activities on more than 10 million acres of private and non-federal forests in the state. “The rules we adopted are just one of a great many changes coming from the Private Forest Accord that will advance how Oregon protects its natural resources and responds to the climate change crisis, while also providing some stability for the communities and economies that rely on t...
FINN ROCK: After over two years, and with the help of state and federal grants, the stadium grandstands lost to the Holiday Farm Fire at McKenzie High School are being rebuilt. Last week, the district focused on "making a mark" by allowing students and staff to put a handprint or initials on the wet concrete slab under the new bleachers. Like the structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, the slab will likely be something students can visit with their own offspring in the...
SALEM: The Oregon Department of Education (DOE) last week released its 2021-22 "At-A-Glance" report on the state's schools, which provides information about student and teacher demographics, educational readiness, and success. The information in the report is based on the 2021 - 2022 year, which offers a comparison to pre-pandemic years, according to the DOE. Some of the data, though, could be reflected in low regular attendance numbers caused by the delta and omicron COVID surges. Commenting...
