Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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LEABURG: State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a report of a two-vehicle crash at approximately 8:48 p.m. on Monday, October 11th,. Wreckage from the accident was blocking Highway 126E near EWEB’s Leaburg powerhouse at milepost 19. Police said the preliminary investigation revealed that a Toyota 4-Runner, operated by Nathan Lee Langan, 29, of Harrisburg, was traveling westbound and crossed into the oncoming lane striking an eastbound Ford F350 Pickup, operated by Richard Edwin Andrews, 42, of Blue River. Langan sustained f...
Lane County's fall outdoor burning season will open on Friday, October 15th. The season, originally set to start on October 1st, was delayed by the Lane County Fire Defense Board and the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) due to a dry and warmer than average weather outlook. "Recent rain has been beneficial to reducing wildfire danger across Oregon," said Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) spokesperson, Travis Knudsen. "But the current forecast is dry, sunny, and warm." Yard debris may...
LEABURG: State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a report of a two-vehicle crash at approximately 8:48 p.m. on Monday, October 11th,. Wreckage from the accident was blocking Highway 126E near EWEB’s Leaburg powerhouse at milepost 19. Police said the preliminary investigation revealed that a Toyota 4-Runner, operated by Nathan Lee Langan, 29, of Harrisburg, was traveling westbound and crossed into the oncoming lane striking an eastbound Ford F350 Pickup, operated by Richard Edwin Andrews, 42, of Blue River. Langan sustained f...
Crews from the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife have been out on the river recently counting up redds and collecting samples to determine the percentage of wild Salmon are utilizing spawning grounds. Results on what they’re finding should be available by mid to late October....
LEABURG: A project to reconfigure a rearing pond at the Old McKenzie Fish Hatchery is now underway. Over the years, the old earthen pond had filled with sediment and vegetation. Thanks to a $19,054 grant to the McKenzie River Discovery Center from the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, the pond is being cleaned and converted to a community fishing pond. When complete, ODFW plans to hold angling and education/outreach events at the site. "The new community fishing pond at the MRDC is not only...
RAINBOW: Darin Harbick on Saturday ended his campaign for governor and is now running as a Republican to unseat incumbent Ron Wyden as one of Oregon's two U.S. Senators. Harbick, an entrepreneur and former school board member, said decided he would, "No longer sit on the sidelines and watch federal government failures and bureaucratic overreach.." He and his wife, Kail, started in business buying Phil's Phine Phoods only to see the business burn to the ground less than two years later. They buil...
Hundreds of Oregon businesses have signaled their support for legislation protecting rivers across the state. In an open letter, more than 200 businesses have thanked Sen. Ron Wyden - D-Ore. - and Sen. Jeff Merkley - D-Ore. - for introducing the River Democracy Act. The measure would protect about 4,700 miles of rivers in Oregon as wild and scenic. The rivers were selected through a public nomination process. Chris Daughters, who signed the letter, owns the Caddis Fly Angling Shop in Eugene....
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: A motorcycle accident about five miles east of Belknap Springs took the life of a man last Saturday. Oregon State Police and first responders from the Upper McKenzie Rural Fire District responded at 2:19 p.m. to the report of a crash involving two motorcycles on Hwy. 126 near milepost 13 of the Clear Lake Cutoff. A caller told dispatchers the drivers were lying in the middle of the highway, blocking whole road. In their initial investigation police reported a blue BMW K11 motorcycle was traveling eastbound and entered the...
EUGENE: The Lane County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday heard an update on how siting tiny homes on private properties might become easier to accomplish. Keir Miller, manager of the county’s Land Management Division gave a background report including a review of how the smaller structures could help recovery and housing needs following the Holiday Farm Fire. “Current regulations enable the use of tiny homes through various permitting paths. However, their use is not widespread outside of urban growth boundaries due to density limitations est...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Officials describe it as a project that will provide a sustainable timber supply, improve forest diversity and manage roads. Opponents counter that it threatens old growth forests. "It" is the Flat Country Timber Project, a timber sale that encompasses 74,063 acres man-aged by the U.S. Forest Service along with 28 acres of private property. Those acres extend from Scott Mountain to the McKenzie River, and include the Boulder, Kink, White Branch and Lost Creek watersheds. In his...
VIDA: Some paperwork from the past that could have held up plans to rebuild the Vida McKenzie Community Center (VMCC) was corrected on Tuesday. At the September 21st meeting of the Lane County Board of Commissioners approved easements that were a win for both sides. Agreements dating back sev-eral decades included access to drinking water and the placement of a restroom. In the 1950’s an easement for a water line taking water from a spring was to granted to the McKenzie River Club by Lane County. Not long after that, the county developed an a...
EUGENE: The price of power came up again at the September 7th virtual meeting of the Eugene Water & Electric Board. In a report to the utility, chief financial officer Deborah Hart asked commissioners to consider switching from an annual cost of service analysis (COSA) to one covering a three-year period. “The shift from a single year to multi-year analysis provides management and the board in-sight into estimated costs for a longer period of time that is better aligned with the time frame of strategic initiatives,” according to the rep...
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, after completing the initial review of two petitions, says listing gray wolves again in the western U.S. under the Endangered Species Act may be warranted due to potential increases in human-caused mortality under new hunting and trapping rules in Idaho and Montana approved after wolves were de-listed. The decision comes in response to emergency petitions from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society...
Beavers are often translocated to restore populations in areas, reduce their conflicts with humans and to take advantage of their ability to improve ecosystems. However, few studies have accessed the impacts of dispersing beavers, making it difficult to determine best practices for translocations. A new study from scientists at Oregon State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Wildlife Research Center begins to change that. The scientists, who collected genetic samples...
discuss the Oregon Legislature’s proposed voting maps closed this week. After receiving detailed census data in August, lawmakers released their recommended redistricting maps on September 3rd. They began holding virtual public meetings in the state’s five current Congressional districts last Wednesday, with two scheduled for each district through Monday., followed by a statewide meeting that day. Precious Edmonds, advocacy director for We Draw Oregon, pointed out people of color have seen the...
MCKENZIE BRIDGE: Organizers of the annual McKenzie River Trail Run faced triple threats this year that could have lead to cancellation of the event. Hurdles to overcome included increased safety requirements related to a rise in COVID infections, closure of half the planned route due to a wildfire near Deer Creek and poor air quality because of intense smoke infusions from other fires. Luckily, on the Friday before last Saturday's race, there was good news. "Despite all odds MRTR 2021 is a go!"...
Last Thursday, Lane County Commissioner Heather Buch (District 5) filed to run for a second term representing the East Lane County district. As Chair of the County Commission in 2020, Buch led Lane County's response to crises on multiple fronts. Through the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating Holiday Farm Fires, Buch notes she ensured her East Lane County district received critical CARES Act and American Rescue Plan funding. She worked with two simultaneous emergency operations centers, and pa...
Wildfire season has obvious effects on air quality outside, but hidden impacts on air quality also are lurking inside some homes. Environmental and health groups - as well as the Oregon Health Authority - are warning about burning natural gas inside, such as from gas stoves. The Oregon Environmental Council's Environmental Health Program Director Jamie Pang-South said cooking with fossil-fuel-based gas appliances releases nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, methane, and small particulate matter....
Lawsuits stall debt relief for America's Black farmers; Idaho hospitals using "critical care" protocols; grant money boosts rural towns in Utah and more conservation acreage could protect the iconic sage grouse....
CAMP CREEK: Just before 10 p.m. on September 6th, the Lane County Sheriff’s Office responded to a physical dispute in the 37000 block of Camp Creek Road. Family members had called police after 59-year-old Robert Gutierrez struck another family member. They also said Gutierrez had a gun and other residents of the property said they felt they were unable to leave safely. During a phone call, a deputy made contact with at least one of the family members and developed probable cause that Gutierrez had committed crimes including Menacing, U...
Monday night, September 6, the McKenzie Community came together, impressively, to commemorate the Holiday Farm Fire which burned and overturned our beautiful River Valley and lives. The procession of around 50 emergency and personal vehicles and over one hundred residents, staged at the old Rustic Skillet and Harbick's Country Inn parking lots, just East of where the Fire allegedly first ignited. At 8:30 p.m., around the time last year's Fire started down our Valley, the procession headed west,...
CLEAR LAKE: Volunteers from the Colorado-based HistoriCorps and the Northwest Youth Corps have been busy as summer winds down, restoring a historic picnic shelter at the headwaters of the McKenzie River. Details on the structure date back to the 1910’s, when two companies were competing to build a hydropower site in the area. Although the Forest Service revoked that permit some cabins and outbuildings near the lake were constructed in preparation for the project. During the Great Depression, t...
When is a joke not a joke? When it's a video hoax showing farmers lawn-mowing under crops; young people in Maine are making bank through apprenticeship programs; curbing brain drain in Indiana; and movies that move the environmental justice conversation....
VIDA: Crews from Oregon Woods are taking advantage of clear skies to do work aimed at upgrading the condition of the second longest covered bridge in Oregon. The 237 foot long Goodpasture Covered Bridge was constructed in 1938 at a cost of $13,154. The upgrades now underway will total $641,000. Officials say current construction activity will repair damage to trusses and the roof from both the snow storm of a couple years back that stressed the roof trusses, as well as some issues from the...
