A resolution presented before the Bend City Council is looking to effect environmental change locally, but has been causing controversy due to the way it was introduced. The resolution for climate action was originally introduced as an ordinance before the city council—something that did not sit well with local business advocates. The most recent language […]
Climate change
Posted inNews
Chasing the Snowpack
Climate change will make Central Oregon drier
Findings of climate research being done by the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station may eventually change the way Central Oregonians recreate. For two years, the research station has worked with resource managers in the Deschutes, Ochoco, and Fremont-Winema National Forests to study climate change affects on water, fish, vegetation, wildlife, and recreation on […]
Posted inNews
Oregon Legislature Adjourns
Minimum wage increase is hallmark of 2016 legislative session
SALEM – The Oregon Legislature adjourned the 2016 legislative session “sine die” yesterday, three days before the March 6 constitutional deadline for adjournment. House Speaker Tina Kotek (D – N/NE Portland) released the following statement: “It has been an honor to serve Oregonians as the Speaker of our House of Representatives. Our elected leaders stepped […]
Posted inOpinion
Letters 12/23-12/30
IN REPLY TO “LETTER: REFUGEES CONTRIBUTE TO CLIMATE CRISIS” (DEC. 16) Um, Climate Change is a global event, not limited to the U.S.A. While it’s true that limiting population (globally) would be good for the climate, it’s practically irrelevant where refugees settle. Not totally irrelevant, since we in the U.S.A. have the highest per capita […]
Posted inNews
Letters to the Future
Scientists, authors, and activists predict the outcome of the upcoming UN Climate Talks in Paris
Illustrations by Don Button, www.DesignButton.com World leaders from more than 190 countries will convene in Paris during the first two weeks of December for the long-awaited United Nations Climate Change Conference. Will the governments of the world finally pass a binding global treaty aimed at reducing the most dangerous impacts of global warming … or […]
Posted inOpinion
Seven Things to Reflect On As The Forest Fire Flames Subside
1. Fire isn’t always bad. Fires can be beneficial to forests. By eliminating undergrowth, wildfires create openings in the forest, which enable diverse vegetation growth that provides fruit, seeds, and nectar for wildlife to thrive. Fires also create standing dead trees (snags) that many animals rely on for food and shelter. Dry ponderosa pine forests actually need fire to control […]
Posted inNews
The Blob and Oregon’s Drought
Spoiler alert: It doesn’t end well for the climate
By Camilla Mortensen If you slowly boil a frog in a pot of water, it won’t really stay in the water and die. Given a chance to jump out, it will. Even so, that boiling frog anecdote has been used endlessly to describe people who don’t react to negative changes if they happen gradually. And […]
Posted inOpinion
Letters 5/26-6/2
IN REPLY TO JARED BLACK “LETTERS” (5/27) Jared Black must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed the morning that he penned his attack on our work and credibility in our investigation on climate change impacts to Deschutes Basin streams in “Climate Change Impacts on Stream Flows, Upper Deschutes Basin, Oregon” (March […]
Posted inOpinion
Letters 5/19-5/26
COUGARS AND DEER I’d like to address the recent cougar shootings in town. It seems that very little effort is being put toward the cause and too much into the symptom. Bend has a deer problem. I routinely have deer in my yard (I live on the west side of town near downtown). They never […]
Posted inOpinion
Letters 4/28-5/5
TIME FOR OUR FOREST SERVICE TO GO SMOKELESS! The Issue: Our Forest Service seems to be stepping up their number of prescribed burns each season, starting in the spring when the weather is nice and clear, and continuing through the fall…when the weather is nice and clear. Consequently, our purported «300 Days of Sun» are often […]
