Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
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Four Oregon business associations stepped up to raise funds to provide community-level support for displaced families and devastated businesses following the state’s 2020 wildfires. To date, the Oregon Business Wildfire Relief Fund – a joint effort of Oregon Business & industry (OBI), the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce (OSCC), the Oregon Business Council and the Oregon Bankers Association – has raised more than $180,000 from individuals, companies and associations in locations throughout Oregon – and the entire United States. “Oregon...
A half-year after the Holiday Farm Fire, volunteers from the Cascade Relief Team has racked up an impressive list of accomplishments. In addition to the huge amount of donated labor direct expenses have ranged from items like $18,000 in disposal costs to almost $4,000 in fuel or from $16,000 in rental fees to over $6,000 for asbestos removal. Although the Blue Rover project is moving forward an additional $12,00 is needed for anticipated disposal costs. People wishing to make a donation can go...
Oregonians have opportunities this month to find out how to protect themselves from fraud. The Oregon Scam Jam is taking place virtually each Friday this month, starting April 9. Doug Shadel, the AARP Washington state director and a former assistant attorney general in that state, is hosting the first session. He said the most common scams right now involve the COVID-19 vaccine. "It ranges from, 'We can get you an appointment tomorrow, but you've got to give us your personal information,' and...
Della Cantrell was at the coast when the Holiday Farm Fire started along the McKenzie River. It was a full week before she found out what happened to her house near Finn Rock, the one she bought to be close to her daughter and son-in-law (and, eventually, her first grandbaby), the one she'd spent 6 months remodeling with new hardwood floors and quartz countertops, the one with the sunny deck overlooking a side channel of the McKenzie River where she'd lived for just two and a half years. She...
LEABURG LAKE: The Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife's Restoration and Enhancement Board has awarded a $20,000 grant to the McKenzie River Discovery Center for the restoration/conversion of the old hatchery pond into a community fishing pond. The money has been earmarked to provide increased angling and education/outreach opportunities for youth, the McKenzie River community, and underserved populations, as well as urban families. It will be used to create a safe place and controlled environment for anglers to catch stocked trout. Other goals of...
LEABURG: The eastbound lane of Hwy. 126 was blocked until 3:30 p.m. following a single vehicle wreck on April 31st. According to Oregon State Police reports the non-injury wreck happened at approximately 6:13 am, near milepost 20, when a westbound semi towing a trailer loaded with bags of sugar left the roadway and rolled onto its right side. Police said the operator displayed signs of impairment and consented to field sobriety tests that also indicated impairment. Douglas Roy Holliday, 51, was...
Seven businesses nominated by community members and the McKenzie River Chamber of Commerce have been recognized for the help they freely gave after September’s Holiday Farm Wildfire. $500 checks were give to five businesses: McKenzie Feed & Tackle owners Chris and Michelle Wright were nominated by Fire Chief, Darin Bucich. Darin said “once we felt we had control of the fire, at least around the houses, I assigned several of my crews to access the needs of the homes that had to be evacuated. We...
A $300,000 OVERCOME grant from US Ignite, the National Science Foundation, and Schmidt Futures has been approved to improve McKenzie Valley internet access. The program was designed to support underserved communities via novel broadband technology solutions. “Rural communities continue to see a lack of internet services, critical not only for basic daily tasks but also for emergency preparedness and recovery,” said East Lane County Commissioner, Heather Buch. “The OVERCOME grant provides an opportunity for consistent, reliable internet for the...
Within days after it was safe to enter fire-impacted areas, EWEB, McKenzie River Trust, McKenzie Watershed Council, and the Upper Willamette Soil & Water Conservation District, along with other Pure Water Partners, began working with landowners to identify high priority properties for intervention and stabilize them until the EPA and state agencies could respond to remove and dispose of the hazardous waste, ash/debris, asbestos, and other materials. In addition, the Pure Water Partners worked...
Orchid Health, which acquired the McKenzie River Clinic, has been named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Oregon Business Magazine. Companies make the list based on the scores from confidential surveys completed by employees who ranked aspects of their organization from corporate culture, to leadership, benefits, and more. Orchid Health ranked 29th overall for mid-sized companies. “Our organization’s wide-spread recognition is a testament to our first company pillar: Employee Happiness,” said Executive Director and Co-Founder Orion...
"A mentor once told me everything is about relationships," Ron Alexander told a courtyard full of people who agreed with that observation. He was speaking at a retirement party honoring his 33-year career working for the United Parcel Service. Reading from a book of memories submitted by people who came to know him, Alyssa Brownlee made it clear he will be missed. "He's a constant source of positivity and light in our world," was the way one woman explained why he was more than just a delivery...
Lane County no longer requires preregistration to schedule a COVID-19 vaccine appointment for those who are eligible. When you are eligible under Oregon Health Authority guidelines, you can go directly to the Lane County Vaccine Clinic website and check for an appointment. To schedule an appointment for a first or second dose: You must be eligible under currently Oregon Health Authority guidelines. If you are unsure, please visit https://covidvaccine.oregon.gov/#prioritization. Complete the scheduling form, including choosing first or second...
FINN ROCK: “It felt okay, it was just a tiny sting,” was Ellen Wilson’s just after getting her first coronavirus vaccination. She said she wasn’t apprehensive before getting her shot at Sunday’s clinic inside the McKenzie High School gym. “I’m very thankful this was available,” she added. “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.” She was 615 other people walking around with sore arms this week after receiving a vaccination at either the school or at the McKenzie Fire & Rescue station in Lea...
A strategy for boosting salmon and steelhead numbers in the Columbia/Snake river basins supported by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in its Fish and Wildlife Program, as well as by Northwest Tribes, is to reintroduce the fish into habitats where salmonids once existed historically but are now blocked by high head dams. Known as trap and haul, capturing fish below a dam and transporting them into, hopefully pristine habitat upstream, is one mechanism for expanding salmonids' ranges....
Each year, The Lane Council of Governments (LCOG) celebrates regional accomplishments for the prior year and recognizes elected officials, public employees, citizens, intergovernmental teams, economic enhancement work, and those that have dedicated their lives to public service. This year the Outstanding Citizen Award was presented to Melanie Stanley, for her work and contributions to the community as the “Unofficial Mayor” of Blue River. The annual award for Outstanding Elected Official was...
Damaged and dead trees identified on 550 miles of roads The Holiday Farm, Beachie Creek, and Lionshead Fire burned more than 176,000 acres on the Willamette National Forest in 2020. Since then standing dead and injured trees have been identified along about 411 miles of open roads across three of the Forest’s ranger districts, as well as about 139 miles of closed roads. Forest spokesmen say the fire-killed or injured trees pose a danger and the areas remain closed, “Until safety concerns are...
FINN ROCK: McKenzie School District voters will have the opportunity, again, to vote on replacing their seventy-year-old elementary school. Last November the school board discouraged people from supporting a $15,215,000 bond citing the damage done to the community by the Holiday Farm Fire. Five teachers, a dozen classified staff and fifty students had been impacted when 400 homes were destroyed, accounting for about 70% of the district’s tax base value. Before that vote, board chair Tim H...
On February 25th, Mary Ellen Wheeler presented the Vida McKenzie Community Center with a check for $500. This generous donation to VMCC’s Rebuild Campaign was made by McKenzie Locals Helping Locals. The gift will move the Center closer to realizing its dream of reopening its doors on September 8th of 2022. Vida McKenzie Community Center cannot thank McKenzie Locals Helping Locals enough for their wonderful generosity. Vida McKenzie Community Center invites everyone to an Open House at the D...
Lenses reveal history, habitats, and meals Scientists from the University of California have demonstrated they can use isotopic analysis of the eye lenses of freshwater fish — including threatened and endangered salmon — to reveal a fish’s life history and what it ate along the way. They conducted their study, “Advancing diet reconstruction in fish eye lenses” based on field-based experiments in California’s Central Valley. Researchers say the study carries implications for managin...
SALEM: “We’re here to get a to do list from you and learn how to make you whole,” was the way District 21 State Representative Brian Clem opened Monday night’s virtual meeting of the Oregon House Special Committee on Wildlife Recovery. “We want to hear how you’re doing - unfiltered - from the ground,” he added. The response came in both verbal and written input from people affected by the Beachie Creek, Lionshead, Holiday Farm and Archie Creek Fires that destroyed large tracts of the state thi...
Streambank work EUGENE: Karl Morgenstern had some good news when he reported to the Eugene Water & Electric Board on February 2nd. “The impacts were not as great as we originally thought, given the conditions we were facing,” the utility’s watershed restoration manager said. EWEB has been monitoring water quality because of concerns that storm runoff from the Holiday Farm Fire would contain increased quantities of metals, nutrients, solids bacteria and carbon, Morgenstern said. “Even though we w...
“We have restored the Blue River central office and fiber that enables all service in the area,” according to Tre Hendricks, Director of Government Affairs for CenturyLink/Lumen. “We are beginning reconnection customers who remain out of service in the Blue River area – there were approximately 50 and almost half of those were restored last week.” Hendriks said several cable cuts were, “Due to other utility and road clearing activities in the last two weeks, which has slightly delayed our efforts. Once the Blue River customers are done,...
Repairs could approach the $50 million spent on relicensing EUGENE: Internal erosion of the 5-mile long Leaburg power canal caused the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order its shutdown about two years ago. Now Eugene Water & Electric Board commissioners are being asked if they want to continue to operate or decommission the Leaburg hydroelectric facility, as well as its downriver counterpart in Walterville. At last Tuesday’s board meet-ing, general manager Frank Lawson recommended t...
On Friday, February. 19th, a volunteer cleanup effort will begin in Blue River to help people who lost their homes in the Holiday Farm Fire. The work will replicate successful volunteer cleanup efforts that the Cascade Relief Team helped start in Otis Orgon. Volunteers are needed with heavy equipment and chain saws, as well as boots on the ground for helping bag and sift ash. The work will involve cutting and removing several tons of steel and a high amount of green waste that has been burned. Fire waste will be properly bagged for legal dispos...
Crews around the state are beginning to clear roads and private properties of trees damaged in September's wildfires. The tree clearing is part of the Oregon Wildfire Recovery Debris Management Task Force's effort to provide cleanup for homes and businesses in the eight affected counties – Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn and Marion. The work paves the way for rebuilding efforts, community recovery and helps revitalize Oregon's economy. In Lane County, the State c...
