Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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June is Great Outdoors Month, which also underscores the importance of outdoor recreation in Oregon. As temperatures warm up, people are enjoying nature. Five years ago, Congress designated June Great Outdoors Month to highlight the trove of outside opportunities across the nation. With a half dozen national park sites also state parks, Oregon has a plethora of places for people to get outside. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said outdoor recreation provides a big boost to the state’s economy. ...
The Lane Education Service District and Southern Oregon Oregon Education Service District (ESD) were recently awarded $2.6 million+ in grant funding from the Oregon Department of Education through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER III) fund. With this new funding, Lane and Southern ESDs have partnered with the Mid-Willamette Educational Consortium to create and pilot Team Oregon Build, expanding upon the existing Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs already...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Determination, resilience, and the courage to start a 50k run combined to carry participants over the finish line of this year’s McKenzie River Trail Run. During the day runners traveled a route that started at the Carmen Reservoir, traveled up the Waterfall Trail, and crossed the McKenzie Highway above Sahalie Falls, wound around Clear Lake on the McKenzie River Trail (MRT), then continued up to the Santiam Wagon Road. The return route then backtracked down on the Clear Lake T...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: “Communications tools are not just beneficial, they’re essential” was the message at the heart of an upriver event last Wednesday. Amir Johnson, Oregon director of External and Legislative Affairs for AT&T went on to detail the partnership between his company and FirstNet that’s created a nationwide communications network to support emergency responders. 5G upgrades and coverage expansions, Johnson said, are now delivering “prioritized connectivity on a platform tailored...
SAHALIE FALLS: Rescuers were called to respond to an injury accident last Wednesday at around 10:30 a.m. for a rescue operation at Sahalie Falls. A caller reported an elderly male had fallen approximately 40 feet down a cliff near the base of the falls. The Sweet Home Fire District responded with one medic unit and a rescue vehicle and made the one-hour drive east to make contact with the patient. On the scene, medics found bystanders helping the patient near the base of the waterfall. The man...
Lane Community College is excited to host dynamic summer camps for high school students, including those providing hands-on experiences in diesel mechanics. The camps offer unique opportunities for students to explore new skills and potential career paths in a fun and engaging environment. High school students will get a behind-the-scenes look at what makes diesel-powered freight trucks and hydraulic excavators operate. Highlights include Hands-On Experience: Operate highway trucks and heavy...
The Eugene Water & Electric Board hosted a customer appreciation dinner at the Walterville Community Center on May 23rd in place of its yearly upriver board meeting. Instead of the typical format, where people are limited to three minutes of speaking time, the utility tested a new format that included an open house combined with facilitated discussions during dinner, and more time afterward to follow up with specific people. An EWEB spokesman said changes to the meeting structure were meant to...
Lane County crews will be chip sealing roads in several local areas from July through September. The process is a pavement preservation treatment that includes a thin layer of liquid asphalt applied to the existing road surface, followed immediately by a layer of crushed and compacted rock. After the chip seal has been set for a few days, a final topcoat (fog seal) will be applied to seal the asphalt and rock mixture. This process is widely used to increase the durability and lifespan of rural...
FINN ROCK: A year’s worth of work on entrepreneurship and marketing was not only on display - but also for sale last Thursday night. At booths around the gym, McKenzie Community School students had a chance to cinch sales of products ranging from homemade jerky to crocheted headbands as part of the Market Night event. At his “Ecodrift” booth, shoppers found hand-crafted driftwood trees that creator Will Meister made from a “very local” source - wood straight from the McKenzie River that had...
BLUE RIVER: People gathered at the Upper McKenzie Rural Fire Protection District for a day of recognition on Sunday. On the list was the woman for whom the department’s rebuilt building was dedicated as the Patricia “Pat” Stanley Memorial Fire Station. “She was Blue River’s community champion and a one-woman booster club for the Blue River Fire Department,” was the way her daughter Melanie explained her involvement. “She kept it running and instilled in us a dedication to the community and...
FINN ROCK: After an hour and a half, people brainstorming at the latest “60 Mile Main Street” meeting they had come up with plenty of ideas to stay busy for close to twenty years. Despite that timeline, it appeared several projects were already in the works or could be resurrected from successes of the past. Among building blocks currently on the calendar are this weekend’s McKenzie River Trail Run and the June 24th return of the Gravel Grinders Cascade Race. Both have been attracting parti...
The Willamette National Forest will temporarily close a portion of Forest Service Road 19 to complete a paving project that includes resurfacing the road and repairing slope failures. The closure, which includes all access along Road 19 from milepost 32 to 50.5, will be in place from Monday through Thursday, June 3rd to 6th, and June 10th to 13th. Road 19 will reopen from Friday through Sunday, June 7th to 9th, and June 14th to 16th. The route, also known as Aufderheide Drive, is part of the West Cascades National Scenic Byway and connects the...
Lane County Animal Services & the Greenhill Humane Society are hosting an emergency animal training session on Saturday, June 8th, from 10 a.m. to noon. It will be held at Lane County Public Works, Goodson Room, 3040 North Delta Highway in Eugene. Learn how to prepare your pets and large animals for evacuation and volunteer to help with livestock during emergencies. Topics will include: Prepping animals for evacuation, Services during emergencies, How to help, Livestock transport & care, and...
The Oregon Department of Emergency Management (OEM) encourages Oregonians to prepare for the upcoming wildfire season by staying informed, having an emergency plan and packing a go-kit. People can find an evacuation checklist, live wildfire and evacuation maps, and wildfire preparedness and prevention tips at wildfire.oregon.gov. “Oregon follows a three-level evacuation notification system structured around the readiness need and threat level,” said OEM Director Erin McMahon. “People shoul...
Residents along the McKenzie River are invited to a public meeting on July 19th at 5:30 p.m. to learn about the possibility of designating Aufderheide Drive (National Forest Road 19) as an Oregon Scenic Bikeway. The meeting will be held at the Upper McKenzie Community Center, located at 54745 McKenzie River Drive. 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....
The public is invited to provide input on LRT-eligible projects to help guide the region’s efforts in protecting and improving vital natural resources. Feedback will be taken through a web map application. Users will be able to comment on any project in the application by selecting a project or location, reviewing project-specific details, and sharing input through a feedback form within the application. Project locations on the map have been generalized to accommodate overlapping projects and those with multiple locations. The purpose of t...
The public is invited to provide input on LRT-eligible projects to help guide the region’s efforts in protecting and improving vital natural resources. Feedback will be taken through a web map application. Users will be able to comment on any project in the application by selecting a project or location, reviewing project-specific details, and sharing input through a feedback form within the application. Project locations on the map have been generalized to accommodate overlapping projects and those with multiple locations. The purpose of t...
Republican voters in the McKenzie Valley, Oakridge, Junction City, Cottage Grove, and other parts of East Lane and Linn Counties overwhelmingly marked their ballots for newcomer Darin Harbick over current Representative Charlie Conrad. Preliminary results for the May 31st primary gave Harbick an 82% to 17% advantage in Lane and a 58% to 41% win in Linn. “When you win with that large of a margin, people assume it was an easy race,” Harbick said. “Let me assure you, we worked hard for every vote...
LEABURG: McKenzie Fire & Rescue received a 66% vote of confidence from voters according to preliminary results of the May election. With the approval of Measure 20-356 the district will be able to main tain its current staffing of nine full-time employees and its ability to offset impacts of declining volunteer numbers. The measure will replace the current $0.60 per $1,000 of valuation that expires in 2025. For the next five years, the new rate will be $1.05 per thousand....
Two incumbent House Republicans lost their jobs in election night blowouts last Tuesday as their caucus and most colleagues stood on the sidelines. Different factors led to Reps. Charlie Conrad, R-Dexter, and James Hieb, R-Canby, losing their seats: Conrad angered Oregon Right to Life by siding with Democrats on a 2023 law to widen access to abortion and gender-affirming care, while Hieb couldn’t compete with 2022 governor nominee Christine Drazan when she decided to return to the L...
Firefighters battling wildfires in the Pacific Northwest will now have the world's largest public-facing system of wildfire cameras at their disposal. Three universities - including the University of Oregon's Oregon Hazards Lab, known as OHAZ; the University of Nevada, Reno; and ALERTCalifornia at the University of California, San Diego - have integrated their wildfire monitoring networks under a single software platform, ALERTWest, allowing an unprecedented level of interoperability between mon...
The Leaburg Hatchery and McKenzie Hatchery have been temporarily closed to comply with permit conditions from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Visitors should be aware that no fish are present in the facilities’ production raceways and show ponds. Fish have been transferred off-site but officials report there has been no change to trout stocking in Willamette Valley waterbodies nor any reductions in production of trout or salmon from the facilities as a result of this shift. T...
Jesse Jackson stands proudly, flute in hand, on several hundred acres of forest near Roseburg that the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians fought to get back from the federal government in 2016 after more than 160 years of private and federal management and decades of heavy logging. Jackson, the education programs manager for the tribe, offers gratitude to the land through his music and the indigenous Takelma language once spoken widely by the tribe. He describes huckleberries,...
A new report analyzes the workforce dynamics in Oregon and how the state can address gaps for workers and industries. The 2024 Talent Assessment finds that Oregon’s economy is in a strong position, with significant growth in the labor market and more growth anticipated in the future. Christiana McFarland is director of the Center for Innovation Strategy and Policy with SRI, the firm that conducted the assessment. She said some factors could be barriers to achieving that future growth. “We kno...
The US Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region will be waiving fees at most day-use recreation sites in national forests across Washington and Oregon on Saturday, June 8th, in celebration of National Get Outdoors Day. National Get Outdoors Day aims to connect Americans with the great outdoors and inspire them to lead healthy, active lifestyles. By waiving fees on this day, the Forest Service hopes to encourage the public to take advantage of the many recreational opportunities available in t...
