Fix Our Forest Act is Misguided
Having lived most of my adult life between Central Oregon and California, I’m no stranger to the devastating impact of wildfires on our homes, health, and communities. These fires have intensified as policy makers fail to implement crucial climate change mitigation measures.
The proposed Fix Our Forest Act (FOFA) is a misguided bill that would hand over control of our national forests to the Trump administration, bypassing crucial environmental safeguards like NEPA and ESA under the guise of wildfire prevention.
FOFA prioritizes large-scale logging on public lands without environmental reviews, essentially giving a blank check to the timber industry. It neglects funding for proven wildfire mitigation tactics like home hardening and emergency planning, which would directly protect communities.
Coming on the heels of Trump’s executive order to increase timber targets and his administration’s gutting of the Forest Service, FOFA appears to prioritize industry profits over genuine wildfire prevention and environmental protection. We need policies grounded in science that truly safeguard our communities and forests, not legislation that serves special interests.
I respectively urge Senators Wyden and Merkley and Representative Bynum to oppose the Fix Our Forest Act.
—Amanda Short
Everything Old is New Again
I’ll never forget the feeling of walking in downtown Bend every Friday night to meet friends for apps and drinks in ’04-’07. The town was alive, we were fairly young and making some good career movement. I had an overwhelming sense that it was what the roaring 20’s must have felt like.
I’ve also never forgotten the gut ache, sadness, and collapse that followed from ’08-’11. Our median home SP dropped 54%, all the downtown stores and restaurants closed, friends got divorced, lost their homes, moved, the streets were empty, and one even committed suicide. It was an utter ghost town and some very tough years followed.
I have this feeling in my gut again, but the other pieces are just starting to fall in, like a reverse order of operation. The restaurant we patronized, Merenda, closed in 08, but lived on in a new iteration for 16 years. It just abruptly closed last week. Some new construction homes have dropped their prices $50-80k already this year and some are offering 3x the incentives they did last fall with price cuts in addition.
Last time, the town chant was “Bend is insulated, everyone wants to live here.” This time, “This isn’t anything like 08,” is the distraction. I hope it isn’t anything like last time, but there is a saying that rings more true than ever, “History doesn’t repeat, but it does tend to rhyme.” We are at the end of a business cycle. What historically comes next isn’t easy and “It’s different this time” never really is.
—Dan Cochrane
Oregonians Have An Opportunity To Shape Universal Health Care in Oregon
Oregon’s health care system is at a breaking point. Hospitals on the verge of collapse. Birthing and dialysis centers are closing, leaving Oregonians in the lurch. Hospitals and clinics are relying on outside corporate private equity firms for injections of cash just to stay afloat. This cedes ownership and operations to those with a profit motive, those who are accountable to their shareholders and not the patients served.
Should Medicaid funding be taken away, 1 in 3 Oregonians who rely on the Oregon Health Plan (OHP) will lose access to care. Countless others will face rising costs and shrinking options. The stakes have never been higher.
Health Care for All Oregon (HCAO) believes the solution to many if not most of these problems is a publicly funded, universal health care system model. And thanks to the current work of the Universal Health Plan Governance Board (UHPGB), which is actively designing a plan that we Oregonians can vote on in the near future, Oregon is the state closest to enacting this type of system for our residents.
Readers are encouraged to learn more about the UHPGB by reviewing their website on Oregon.gov and to get involved, tune into the public meetings, and make your voice heard about what YOU want from a new type of health care system in Oregon. Readers can also visit www.hcao.org to learn more about this work and other strategies to increase not just coverage but true access to care.
—Valdez G. Bravo
Save America Tour
I grew up in the sixties and was involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement. At that time bands had an enormous influence on that movement. Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and Neil Young’s “Ohio” are examples of songs that helped stop the war, with “For What It’s Worth” still pertinent today.
Lionel Richey, Stevie Wonder and so many other artists created “We Are the World” to bring awareness to social issues and Farm Aid was a huge catalyst to help farmers. Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and so many other artists brought social issues to light. Throughout history music has played such an integral role in messaging social injustice because it is such a huge platform for communication to so many people.
I was so happy and encouraged to see Bruce Springsteen speak out against the Trump administration, MAGA and the Right-Wing Fascist movement in America during his concert in Manchester, England, this past week. He not only reached his audience but the world through social media and news broadcasts such as MSNBC.
America is in crisis at this moment and it’s time for artists to join together and use their immense platform to help save our democracy.
I envision the “Save America Tour” with artists like Dave Matthews, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, and artists from all genres, including Country, Rap, Hip-Hop, etc.
The enormous proceeds from the concerts could go to promoting pro-democracy through funding ads, supporting pro-democracy candidates and fighting authoritarianism in any way possible.
It also may be time for “We Are the World 2.0.”
So “Come on people, let’s all get together and love one another right now,” and get this movement rolling. Our democracy may depend on it.
—Jim Prehoda
Letter of
the Week:
Thanks for the sentiment, Jim. You can stop by our office at NW Georgia & Bond to pick up a gift card to Palate coffee shop.
—Nic Moye
This article appears in Source Weekly May 29, 2025.
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