Oregon WildBlog

By Julia Haskin

Hello!

My name is Julia, and I’m a volunteer for Oregon Wild. I primarily work on the Crater Lake Wilderness campaign - the citizens-led push to add a wilderness designation inside the National Park and the lands around it. Many of the big Western parks, like Denali, North Cascades, Mount Rainier, Yosemite, and Olympic, already have wilderness designations. But Crater Lake does not.

Reflecting on a Summer with Oregon Wild

by Phil Brown, Wildlife Conservation Legal Intern

Hi there!

My name is Phil Brown and I spent this summer as Oregon Wild’s Legal Intern. Like all good things, my time with Oregon Wild had to end, but I’m fortunate to have been able to take away invaluable experiences and memories from my short time in Oregon.

This Thursday, August 20th, celebrate a classic Oregon brewing institution and their commitment to watershed protection across Oregon.

Having recently joined the Oregon Brewshed® Alliance, McMenamins is kicking off their partnership and pledge to keep Oregon forest watersheds pristine by hosting a three-city happy hour in Portland, Eugene, and Bend! Between 3-6 p.m., $1 per pint sold at three different pubs will benefit the Oregon Brewshed® Alliance.

The 2015 Legislative session in Salem was a mixed bag. The State Capitol building has a well-deserved reputation as a place where lobbyists and corporate interests wield tremendous power, and they were out in force, bidding their allies in both political parties to push terrible bills, and discretely kill other conservation priorities.

It’s been a busy last few days for Oregon’s wolves and those working to protect them, with new places, new dates, and new pups!

When I wrote to you last, it was about an important Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Commission meeting in Seaside. But there’s been a change! The agenda for that meeting has moved and the ODFW Commission will now be taking comments on whether to delist gray wolves on Friday, Oct. 9th in Florence, OR.

by George Wuerthner

Lodgepole pine is one of the most common trees in the Northern Rockies. For instance, 80% of the trees in Yellowstone National Park are lodgepole pine. However, it is also a common tree in the Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and into British Columbia.

Oregon’s State Capitol building in Salem has a well-deserved reputation as a place where lobbyists and corporate interests wield tremendous power. The 2015 legislative session proved this again, with legislators from both political parties pushing terrible bills on everything from legalizing illegally-constructed dams to stripping endangered species protections from gray wolves.  

by Ricardo Small

Wildlife has it made in Oregon.  Politically, that is.  Right?  Oregon voters banned hounding cougars by citizens’ initiative.  We devoted 15% of the lottery proceeds to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.  Restricting how an apex predator can be killed and using land for parks is good.  This means a majority of the Legislature and the Governor support wildlife welfare and the integrity of public land.  It must mean they do not support environmentally destructive, profit motivated objectives. 

At one time, gray wolves inhabited much of Oregon. Unfortunately, by the late 1940s, a very deliberate campaign had eradicated this iconic species from the state. It would be more than a half a century before gray wolves would return in earnest.