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Erin Rook

Erin was a writer and editor at the Source from 2013 to 2016.

erook@bendsource.com
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides

It’s Not the End of the World

Why planning and resilience trump panic and retreat
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As climate change becomes a more pressing reality than looming threat, those still sitting pretty are starting to take note of the devastating impacts of changes in weather patterns across the globe. As close to home as Alaska, the first domestic so-called “climate refugees” are grappling with the fact that the land they’ve called home […]

Posted inNews

God Save the Sage-Grouse

Will voluntary conservation measures prevent federal regulation?
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Last Thursday, the Western Governors’ Association released a report detailing the efforts of 11 states to conserve sage-grouse habitat. It’s part of an attempt to prevent the bird, which makes its home in sage brush-steppe habitat across the West, from being listed under the Endangered Species Act. It’s already been established that the sage-grouse qualifies. […]

Posted inNews

Side Notes 4/8-4/15

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Last week, after hours of deliberation and months of meetings, City Council voted unanimously to support the first reading of ordinances intended to stem the tide of vacation rentals encroaching on residential neighborhoods. The first ordinance will require new and existing short-term rentals owners to obtain an annual license with the City. However, new licenses […]

Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides

Simply Her Best

“The Butte Lady” leads efforts to restore Bend’s iconic Pilot Butte State Park
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“Hi honey, how are you?” Each time a hiker passes by Carol Smith—better known as “The Butte Lady”—she utters that same refrain. More often than not, it is returned with smiles and hugs. She’s hard pressed to find a stranger among those out for a Monday morning hike. Petite and nearly 60 years old, Smith […]

Posted inNews

Bend City Council Votes to Limit Vacation Rentals

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Last night, after hours of deliberation, a battle-weary city council voted unanimously to support the first reading of ordinances including a new short-term rental licensing program and changes to land use code that limit the concentration of what are frequently referred to as vacation rentals.  Under the first ordinance, which passed with relative ease, new […]

Posted inNews

Cat Fight

Cougar sightings spark debate about management
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Last Saturday, a brilliant spring day, around 6:45 pm, just as the sun was beginning to set, a hiker spotted a young male cougar sitting within sight of the trail. He wasn’t on some remote, backcountry pathway, but was walking up Pilot Butte, the popular state park with trails that snake around the 500 foot […]

Posted inNews

(Nearly) 100 Days Progress Report

Checking in with Bend’s newest City Councilors
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CASEY ROATS Source Weekly: Since starting on Council, what has caught you most by surprise? Casey Roats: I have been most surprised to learn how costly and time consuming our Urban Growth Boundary expansion process has been. The 2008 proposal was over 8,000 acres and was remanded back to Bend by the State. The current range […]

Posted inNews

Side Notes 4/1-4/8

Avatar photo Erin Rook

An activist group called Cascadia Forest Defenders protested proposed clear cuts in the Deschutes National Forest on Monday by hanging a banner from the Highway 97 overpass above Greenwood Avenue that read “Entering Deschutes National Forest: Where Recreation and Clearcuts Abound!” The Defenders, a grassroots environmental organization opposed to what it calls the “ecologically and […]

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