More than 40% of Oregon adults say the state’s forests are overlogged, but most also believe that harvesting timber is part of maintaining healthy forests, according to a recent survey.
Author: Alex Baumhardt - Oregon Capital Chronicle
2022 brought Oregon less wildfire, more drought and major clean energy investments
A combination of federal and state funding this year helped to promote electric vehicles, renewable energy projects and environmental protections
Oregon’s home-schooling surge during pandemic starting to cool
Oregon’s pandemic home-schooling boom is beginning to cool off, new state data shows.
Number of human-caused wildfires in Oregon down nearly 20%
The 2022 wildfire season in Oregon has been among the mildest in the last decade, with human-caused fires down nearly 20% from the 10-year average, according to state data. Humans are the number one cause of wildfires in Oregon and across the country. The Oregon Department of Forestry credits the[Read More…]
Lawsuit by 13 counties against state over logging practices ends at Oregon Supreme Court
The Oregon Supreme Court has ended a six-year legal battle between the state and 13 western Oregon counties over logging practices by declining to hear the case.
State forester rescinds wildfire risk map in response to public, political outcry
On Thursday afternoon, just five weeks after publishing a wildfire risk map, the state Forestry Department axed it.
Electric utilities submit final plans to prevent wildfires, shutoffs as season ramps up
Nearly all of Oregon’s 41 electric utilities have submitted their final plans to the state for preventing wildfires and managing shutoffs, according to the Public Utilities Commission.
One of North America’s most destructive bugs arrives in Oregon
For the first time in Oregon, a grim confirmation came from Ash trees in Forest Grove’s Joseph Gale Elementary School parking lot: Emerald ash borers, responsible for wiping out hundreds of millions of Ash trees in 35 states, are here.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden raises concerns over shortage of firefighters, federal spending on fire prevention
Oregon faces a shortage of wildland firefighters that could be “a recipe for trouble,” according to U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden. Wyden wrote to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently with concerns that their agencies weren’t prepared to handle another catastrophic fire season such[Read More…]
New limits coming for Chinook fishing over historically low numbers
Due to years of drought and poor ocean conditions, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will restrict fishing for wild Chinook salmon in parts of the state from late summer through the end of the year. Numbers of wild Chinook in several coastal tributaries are forecast to be at[Read More…]
