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| U.S. Forest Service moves ahead with logging project in Umpqua National Forest After four years of planning and debate, the U.S. Forest Service announced Wednesday it will move forward with logging to reduce the risk of wildfire in roadless areas around Diamond and Lemolo lakes, though the agency will scale back the project to satisfy environmental groups. “There were folks on both sides of the issue, and we were struggling to move forward,” Umpqua National Forest Supervisor Cliff Dils said today. “It's taken longer than I had anticipated, but we're happy to be at this point.” The Forest Service originally called for commercial logging on 621 acres of roadless areas, but the project has been trimmed back to 78 acres on the western side of Diamond Lake, where more than 100 cabins are located. Temporary road construction was reduced by 63 percent. Link: The News-Review |
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A look at the 2010 Youth Wilderness Campout The near surreal azure of Twin Lakes competed with the perfect blue of the Cascade sky all weekend, night's blazing stars captured by those clear, calm waters for our delight. Yes, the 11th annual Umpqua Watersheds' Youth Camp Out, held July 30 to August first, could not have been sited in a more picturesque location, nor could the weather have been more delightful: warm, not hot days, cool, but not cold nights.
Including adult chaperones, 18 of us spent most of Friday, all of Saturday and half a day Sunday in mostly roadless native forest, surrounded by alpine giants, many of which must have been seedlings when the nation was founded. Read More > |
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| Profiting from wilderness means protecting natural treasures We live in a changing, dynamic world, where in Douglas County lumber production is no longer the largest employer for our workers. With increasing job diversity, local employment includes many who work on computers from home. My grandparents would be shocked to see people instantly accessing one another, as well as global information, in mere seconds. Equally shocking would be the replacement of many family farms with housing developments. While farms and resource-extraction industries, like mining and logging, are expected to continue to decline in overall employment, hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, photography and other wildlife-related recreation is expected to continue to grow, adding substantially to the county's income. In 2006, Oregon took in $1.9 billion in wildlife related recreation, and that number continues to rise. Link: The News-Review | Susan Applegate |
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| Reclaiming Earth Day: With Climate Chaos on the Horizon, the Environmental Movement Needs Traction
On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day April 22, many seasoned environmentalists are left wondering how, in recent decades, so little has actually been accomplished. While environmental awareness has seeped into mainstream U.S. society since the 1970s — the era when 20 million people hit the streets on Earth Day to demand action — the structures of power remain largely the same. The mass mobilizations around the original Earth Day helped spur then-President Richard Nixon to sign a series of ambitious environmental laws that helped to clean contaminated waterways, saved the bald eagle from the ravages of pesticides and began to clear the air, which in the early 1960s was so polluted that people were passing out in cities across the country. |
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 Banquet celebrates 15 years of conservationLocal bands Irish Crème and Mark Baratta along with a presentation from Marko Bey of Ashland and keynote speaker David West helped celebrate at Umpqua Watersheds 14th Annual Winter Celebration. To the tunes of local musician Mark Baratta and band Irish Creme, members of the conservation community as well as representatives of local public lands agencies perused items in the silent auction. Money goes toward the operations of the nonprofit organization, which devotes its efforts to the local environment in the Umpqua Valley. The auction raised $30,000 in 2009. Link: The News-Review | Photo: DD Bixby |
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 14th Annual Winter CelebrationCelebrate the Umpqua’s mighty rivers and towering forests along with the end of winter with live music from the local band Irish Crème and Mark Baratta at Umpqua Watersheds 14th Annual Winter Celebration with its theme entitled: Think Like a Mountain. Thinking like a mountain, Umpqua Watersheds plans to start off the New Year by continuing its agenda to protect the best and restore the rest. The restoration of old clear-cuts back into viable forest habitat is one the highest priorities Read More> |