by Naseem Rakha
In March, I decided to do something I have never done before—climb a mountain. At first I thought I would try Mt. Kilimanjaro. I know a fellow in town that organizes trips up the snow-capped African peak. But having never climbed anything higher than 8,000 feet, I did not know if I could handle going up to 19,000.
Oh, what a difference a week can make! Below is an update full of the good and bad of what was a wild week for wolf recovery. Give it a read, but please also take the time to help us build support for wolf conservation by signing and sharing this petition.
by Mary Van
Water defines Oregon. Water is life for an antelope in the Alvord desert; water is death for the unwary crossing the Columbia bar. Water carved the gorge. The majority of Oregonians live on the “wet side” but water runs through the east side as well. It is there, in the Klamath Marsh, that Wendell and Kathy Wood led a motley group of visitors in their kayaks and canoes. The Wood’s give of their time, money, and home to offer total strangers a chance to fall in love with the wild left in Oregon.
In the meadows surrounding Crater Lake, there lives a small, graceful creature with orange-red fur, a lush tail, and a long snout. Its scientific name is undeniably catchy: Vulpes vulpes. This creature, more commonly known as the red fox, is often seen by visitors throughout the park. And, undeniably, Crater Lake’s visitors are more often seen through the eyes of the foxes.
Late May. The wind-churned forests of the central Cascades. Douglas-firs, western hemlocks; the first blossoming of ocean-spray, of tight little shoots of fireweed. Vanilla-leaf and anemones blanketing the earth, bending upward into pockets of sunlight.
This piece originally appeared in the newsletter for the Eugene Natural History Society, Nature Trails, March 2015. More about ENHS.
Oregon’s federal forests are slowly recovering. The clearcutting epidemic of the 1970s and 1980s left our state with severely degraded water quality, decimated wildlife habitat, and what little old growth that remained in jeopardy. However, for the last 20 years, an agreement called the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) has attempted to strike a new balance between logging and providing habitat for wildlife dependent on old growth forests.
The Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion of SW Oregon and northern-most California contains some of the most diverse wildflower and serpentine plant habitats found anywhere on earth. See below for plant list. At the heart of the region is the Kalmiopsis Wilderness area.
By Pam Hardy, Central Oregon Field Coordinator
The Forest Service has come up with a new idea on how to do NEPA. It’s got me worried. At its best it would mean streamlining environmental review, and getting projects we like on the ground faster. At worst, it cuts out public involvement, makes adaptation to new science almost impossible, and sends proceeds that could be used for restoration and jobs out of the area.
Medford high school student Sam Becker was bother by the presence of styrofoam litter in his community. So he did something about it!
5825 North Greeley, Portland, OR 97217
503.283.6343 | Portland office
541.344.0675 | Eugene office
541.382-2616 | Bend office
541.886.0212 | Enterprise office
[email protected]
