Oregon WildBlog

by Alan Hirschmugl
@myoregonimages

Collecting bones wasn’t exactly the project I envisioned getting picked for when I first contacted Oregon Wild about volunteering.

What do the results of the 2018 midterm election mean for Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and waters? Here are five takeaways, or you can see our in-depth video discussion here on Facebook Live:

Happy fall from the Oregon Wild office in Bend! Songbirds are flocking up to prepare for migration, the larches have changed to golden yellow, and snow has begun to fall in the Ochocos.

With the summer season officially wrapped up, we’ve finally had time to reflect on what a great season it was. For me, one of the highlights was the blossoming partnership between Oregon Wild and Soul River, Inc. - a Portland-based nonprofit that shares the healing powers of rivers and nature with veterans and inner city youth. 

Your Favorite Oregon River is (probably) Celebrating 30 Years of Wild and Scenic Protections!

On October 28th, Oregon’s most iconic rivers (not named the Columbia or Willamette) will be celebrating 30 years of Wild and Scenic River designation! 

Here are 5 quick facts on the “conservation birthday” of these fantastic waterways.

Recent research, including a groundbreaking study from Oregon State University, shows that Oregon’s logging industry emits more carbon into our atmosphere than any other sector.

Protected Wilderness Areas on our public lands are the places Americans can go to find freedom, solitude, and wild areas where nature still rules.  Unfortunately, to get a new Wilderness we have to go through Congress. And the current regime in Washington DC seems more interested in abusing and recklessly exploiting our public lands than protecting them.

The mid-term elections are just a month away and many across Oregon and the nation are already fired up to get out and vote. Along with the importance of the Congressional elections, Oregon has several important items on the ballot this year as well. Here are a few statewide ballot measures that Oregon Wild has weighed in on with critical implications for the future of our state.

Every summer when I was a kid, my parents would pile me, my older sister, and my younger brother into the back of our Ford passenger van at five in the morning. We would dutifully sleep for most of the four hour drive to my grandparents’ home along a tributary of the Rogue River.

We simply called our summer escape “Trail,” after the tiny town up the road.

Five years ago, Oregon Wild launched round one of our “Welcome to Oregon, Home of the Clearcut” campaign with a billboard attaching those words to an image of a large clearcut. We ended up wading in to a free-speech court battle with the Port of Portland when they refused to run our design in the Portland Airport. After a court victory, we had the chance to try again.

Bombus occidentalis is not your typical bee. For starters, unlike the many buzzing pollinators I observe in my organic yard or on the wildflowers lining the many trails I've hiked over the past year, I've never seen a Western bumblebee. And, while many of our native pollinators are in decline for a variety of reasons, this Bombus is especially rare.