Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle, Author at The Source

New State Forester Says ‘Zero Tolerance’ for Issues That Led to Predecessor’s Ouster

Kacey KC is starting her third month as the new director of the Oregon Department of Forestry following earlier tumult at the agency

by Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle June 12, 2026June 9, 2026

Oregon’s new state forester Kacey KC’s first experience with wildfire was watching flames move down the mountainside toward her childhood home in Nevada. On a summer break from college in 1996, “literally working at the car wash,” she explained, she saw from across town a huge plume of smoke growing around her neighborhood. She called […]

Natural World

Parasite Thriving in Warming Waters of Upper Klamath River Killing Off Young Chinook Salmon

About one in five Chinook juveniles tested in the Upper Klamath River near the Oregon-California border were infected with lethal levels of the parasite

by Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle June 12, 2026June 12, 2026

Earlier this month, in an act of urgency after finding many young Chinook salmon dead in the vegetation along the Upper Klamath River near the Oregon-California border, scientists drove to an Oregon expert with several of the fish carcasses they normally would have mailed. Dead fish typically sink to the depths of the river or […]

Local News

Oregonians Using SNAP Frequently Listed Big Grocery, Retail Companies as Employer

Oregon’s public universities and Amazon and its affiliates were also among those most listed as employers on SNAP income verification forms

by Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle May 29, 2026May 29, 2026

Oregonians who received federal aid to pay for their groceries last year frequently reported working for the nation’s largest grocery and retail corporations, according to a Capital Chronicle analysis of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program data from the Oregon Department of Human Services. The data, taken from SNAP income verification forms, shows that tens of thousands […]

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