Damian Fagan is a freelance writer, outdoor enthusiast and avid birder. He is the author of several wildflower field guides including "Wildflowers of Oregon" and "Wildflowers of North America." Fagan lives in Bend with his wife, Raven, and a pollinator-friendly garden.
Most old-time logging photos show two loggers standing on either end of some massive redwood, ponderosa pine, or Douglas-fir with a huge notch they’ve sawn into the base of the tree, before continuing the job of felling the old-growth monster. What they rarely show, is the guy back in the shop with a 12- or […]
This time of year, when yellow jackets invade a mountain picnic or backyard barbecue, it’s really hard to see the good in these insects and their relatives. But it’s there. “When people think of wasps, they think of only a couple ones that really are bad actors,” said Dr. Jerry Freilich, High Desert Museum volunteer […]
One of the nonprofit groups that is helping the Deschutes and Willamette National Forests out with trail work and signage repair is Friends of the Central Cascades Wilderness. Based in Bend, FCCW works with the USFS to protect and preserve the wilderness character of four wilderness areas in the Deschutes and Willamette National Forests. In […]
National Moth Week, #MothWeek2025, is a celebration and opportunity to contribute to a global citizen science project focused on primarily nocturnal creatures that flit and flitter through our backyards, local parks, woodlands, and wildlands under the cover of darkness. Fascinating yet often misunderstood, moths evolved over 200 million years ago from butterfly-like insects. With over […]
Sue Anderson, leader of the annual Ochoco Butterfly Count, gathers the participants into a pre-count circle and gives the ten of us volunteers, including Juba the dog (named after the Juba skipper), a morning pep talk prior to all of us heading out in the Ochoco National Forest where this count, sponsored by the Lane […]
For native plant enthusiasts, the drought for a native plant garden tour is about to end in Bend during National Pollinator Month. The High Desert Horticultural Center is offering a curated tour of private and public gardens that feature and focus on native plants and pollinators on June 21 in Bend. There will be 12 […]
Two orphaned bobcat kittens, estimated to be four-weeks old, were admitted to Think Wild, Central Oregon’s wildlife hospital and conservation center, on May 19. ODFW notified Think Wild that a member of the public had picked up two female bobcat kittens at a rest stop near the Tygh Valley area. The young appeared abandoned due […]
Novelist W.P. Kinsella’s line in Shoeless Joe, “If you build it, he will come,” is a common mantra associated with habitat restoration projects for a good reason: the transformation from empty field to lush meadow takes time and/or action to bring back diversity. In Bend’s Orchard Park, that means prepping and planting an area to […]
Beaver Works Oregon has been busy as the proverbial beaver to restore beaver habitat in LaPine and Collier Memorial State Parks. Along with Oregon State Park staff and other partners, Beaver Works has been planting willow, dogwood, and black cottonwood cuttings along stream and river banks, then installing wire fencing to allow the cuttings to […]
It’s an early spring morning, pre-dawn. The air is still, not a breath of wind stirs the sagebrush. The waning moon is a bright sliver in the eastern sky, but soon to be obscured by the dawn’s early light. The thermometer reads 25 degrees Fahrenheit but it feels colder in the morning darkness. I’ve been […]
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