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Monday Mailing

Year 22 • Issue 15 28 December 2015 1. We Are ‘Making Energy Work for Rural Oregon’ 2. Tourism Studio Program Invites Wide Participation 3. Regional Watershed Councils To Turn Christmas Trees Into Wild Salmon Habitat 4. Leveraging Institutional Purchasing Power to Expand Access to Healthy Food – Webinar 5. Who's In The Mix To Buy Oregon's Elliott State Forest?

6. New Dredge Spoil Site Could Change Army Corps, Oregon LNG Dispute 7. (Re)Building Downtown 8. Mapping 65 Years of Explosive Urban Growth 9. Western Oregon Finally Escapes Drought 10. Why It's Better To Give Experiences, Not Things 11. $3.1 Million Coming To Land Trust 1. We Are ‘Making Energy Work for Rural Oregon’ We are halfway through our Making Energy Work for Rural Oregon workshop series, and are already seeing community-driven solutions for a clean energy future. Workshops in Talent, Hood River, and John Day, Oregon were each a success and we are looking forward to the upcoming workshops in Klamath Falls, Roseburg, and Dufur in 2016.

As we close out 2015, we would like to recap and acknowledge the great partnerships and progress being made by these communities’ municipal leaders, stakeholders, and public participants who are all working together to pursue a clean energy economy.

Quote of the Week: “Family is not an important thing. It’s everything” ~Michael J. Fox

Oregon Fast Fact: The hazelnut is Oregon's official state nut. Oregon is the only state that has an official state nut.

Talent was the first workshop in the series, and this community led the charge! Leaders from Together for Talent, Rogue Climate, and the City of Talent recruited over 60 participants, which is an excellent turnout for the small town of 6200 residents.

To access the full story, click here.

2. Tourism Studio Program Invites Wide Participation Gorge Tourism Studio, offered by Travel Oregon in partnership with 26 agencies and organizations, is now open for registration. The winter/spring program will focus on communities in Oregon and Washington within the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area and those surrounding Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood. San Francisco’s plastic bag ban is safe, a California Court of Appeals unanimously decided this week.

The Gorge Tourism Studio program is a series of tourism development workshops designed to assist communities interested in stimulating their local economies through sustainable tourism development, while protecting and enhancing local resources.

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As a result of the program, Travel Oregon and the program organizers hope to see an increase in bistate collaboration to shape the future of a growing tourism economy in the Columbia River Gorge.

This will strengthen the region’s position as a premier tourism destination by enhancing community livability and healthy, local environments.

To access the full story, click here.

3. Regional Watershed Councils To Turn Christmas Trees Into Wild Salmon Habitat MANZANITA, Ore. – Watershed Councils along the north Oregon coast are once again teaming with Trout Unlimited, local Boy Scout Troop 642, CARTM, and the North Coast Land Conservancy in an effort to utilize the season’s surplus and old Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands.

Once collected, local groups such as the Necanicum Watershed Council, the Lower Nehalem Watershed Council, and Trout Unlimited will place the trees in appropriate locations and let nature do its thing, said Melissa Graeper, Necanicum Watershed Council coordinator. Within a few days of being placed in the water, the needles and branches become covered with algae, which attract aquatic insects, and ultimately feed salmon. The trees also provide critical cover from predators and can last around five years. Not only are the trees not wasting space in a landfill, but they provide an essential functions within our coastal ecosystem when placed appropriately.

To access the full story, click here.

4. Leveraging Institutional Purchasing Power to Expand Access to Healthy Food – Webinar Institutions such as hospitals, schools, businesses, and government agencies play a number of important roles in a community: service provider, employer, educator, as well as community and cultural hub. These institutions also play an important role in advancing the health and well-being of communities and can do so by leveraging their purchasing power to expand healthy food access for residents, clients, employees, and students. Across the country, institutions are advancing innovative food procurement programs and policies that are aligning food purchasing to support access to healthy, affordable, and sustainably produced food, strengthen local economies, expand quality jobs, and advance environmental sustainability. This webinar will highlight examples, promising strategies, and lessons learned in engaging with health care, educational, and business institutions to shift purchasing practices towards improved healthy food access and more equitable food systems.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016 from 11-12:15 PM PT Featured Speakers: • Ted Howard, Co-founder and President, Democracy Collaborative • Lucia Sayre, Regional Director, Health Care Without Harm • Adam Kesselman, Project Director, Center for Ecoliteracy • Estefanía Narváez, West Coast Regional Coordinator, Real Food Challenge • Diana Rivera, PolicyLink (moderator) • To register for this webinar, click here.

5. Who's In The Mix To Buy Oregon's Elliott State Forest?

The state of Oregon is looking for a buyer for the Elliott State Forest, and more than 40 groups have come forward saying they want to be part of a deal. They all had to notify the Department of State Lands by close of business Tuesday.

“We think this was a great response,” says Elliott Project Manager John Potter.

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The groups represent a wide range of interests – from timber harvesters to conservation groups, local governments and Indian tribes.

The Elliott State Forest is in the Coast Range outside of Coos Bay. The forest has large areas of older trees – prime habitat for the threatened marbled murrelet and spotted owl.

To access the full story, click here.

6. New Dredge Spoil Site Could Change Army Corps, Oregon LNG Dispute WARRENTON — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is unlikely to give up an easement on a portion of the Skipanon Peninsula voluntarily so that Oregon LNG can build a liquefied natural gas facility there — unless, perhaps, the city of Warrenton can find another site for the Corps to deposit dredge spoils, an Army Corps spokesman said Friday.

The land has been the subject of an ongoing legal squabble between the Army Corps and the energy company.

In September, Mike Connors, a Portland attorney representing Oregon LNG, said at a public hearing on the company’s land use permit applications in Warrenton that he suspects the Army Corps may want something in return for the easement. He said that the dispute may get resolved outside of litigation if the two parties can reach an agreement.

But Matt Rabe, Army Corps chief of public affairs, said he doesn’t believe that outcome is very probable.

To access the full story, click here.

7. (Re)Building Downtown Downtowns, Main Streets, and city centers across the country are witnessing a renaissance. As more Americans chose the convenience and connectivity of walkable neighborhoods, communities are seeing new businesses, restaurants, and shops open in areas that were formerly vacant or economically distressed.

This movement presents an economic opportunity for communities. Creating a vibrant, walkable neighborhood can help attract and retain talented people and the companies that want to hire them.

It can expand economic opportunity within your community, and create a culture of engagement. It can help your region grow without compromising open land or working farms. It can also make your town or city stand out within your region as a destination to shop, dine, visit, move to, or invest. It’s a chance to celebrate your community’s diverse history, create new opportunities for long-time neighborhood residents, and to achieve the triple-bottom line of a more equitable community, stronger economy, and protected environment.

If your town or city already has a Main Street or neighborhood business district waiting for reinvestment, fantastic. You have great context for the strategies outlined in this guidebook. If your community does not have this kind of place, don’t despair. These strategies can also be applied to places like suburban shopping centers, former industrial parks, or other underused places with the potential for redevelopment. Each is an opportunity to create a long-term, resilient, economic asset for your community.

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(Re)Building Downtown: A Guidebook for Revitalization is a resource for local elected officials who want to re-invigorate and strengthen neighborhood centers of economy, culture, and history through a smart growth approach to development.

For more information, click here.

8. Mapping 65 Years of Explosive Urban Growth In 1950, only 30 percent of the world’s population lived in cities, compared with 54 percent in 2015. A new map by urban geographer Duncan Smith tracks the bursts in city populations that contributed to this growth.

Here’s Smith on the implication of global urbanization patterns, in a guide to his interactive data viz: Our increasingly urban world now frames many of society’s greatest challenges. From global equality to health, education, prosperity and, not least, sustainability, solutions need to be interwoven with fostering livable, efficient and inclusive cities.

In its 2014 World Urbanization Prospects report, the UN tracked the populations of major cities from 1950 to 2014, then predicted how these populations would grow (or shrink) up to the year 2030. Using these data, Smith represented each city on his map with a dark blue core, the size o f which is proportional to the city’s 1950 population. The concentric circles around that core, in lighter blue, vary according to the city’s population in 1990, 2015, and 2030.

To access the full story, click here.

9. Western Oregon Finally Escapes Drought The recent deluge of rain and snow has helped Western Oregon shake off the shackles of a drought that has plagued the Beaver State since last spring.

The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook map, released Thursday, shows all of Western Oregon either not in a drought or in a situation where “drought removal is likely.”

Above-average precipitation since October, combined with a near-average snowpack throughout the Cascade Range, prompted the escape from a drought that began taking hold in early June.

“Things got a lot better in the last couple of weeks, especially the rain but we also finally got some snow,” said Kathie Dello, deputy director of the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University.

“This is just a snapshot in time — and given El Niño things are still up in the air for the rest of the winter — but overall it’s very encouraging.”

To access the full story, click here.

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10. Why It's Better To Give Experiences, Not Things If you're trying to buy happiness, science has some clear advice: it's better to spend money on an experience rather than the latest iPhone. New research suggests the same is true for gifts. If the goal is to make the recipient happy, you'll have better luck with an experience. So why do most presents fit in boxes?

There are several reasons experiences make people happier, whether it's a gift or something you've bought for yourself. One issue is what researchers call adaptation: Whether it takes seconds or days, any excitement people feel about a shiny new toy tends to quickly fade away.

"We adapt to material gifts faster," says Joseph Goodman, an associate professor at Washington University who studies the effects of giving experiences as gifts. "Whereas experiences tend to be more exciting in the beginning, and we tend to take longer to adapt over time."

To access the full story, click here.

11. $3.1 Million Coming To Land Trust Last week’s passage of the $1.1 trillion omnibus bill averts a government shut down for nearly a year and may aid a local land trust in helping preserve the East Moraine of Wallowa Lake.

Wallowa Land Trust, a local land preservation entity, was slated for a $3.1 million grant through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) that would help the trust purchase land critical to the moraine’s preservation. The omnibus will fund the LWCF for the next three years.

The LWCF is not funded by taxpayers, but through fees the federal government accrues through oil drilling and gas leases. The grant is disbursed through a Forest Legacy Grant under the auspices of the LWCF. Wallowa Land Trust Executive Director Kathleen Ackley said her organization has put in considerable time trying to secure the grant, including sending a letter of interest to the Forest Legacy Program in May 2014. The trust was invited to submit an application, which required completion by October 2014. Along with others, the application was reviewed in Salem by the state’s stewardship coordinating committee. The trust’s application ranked No. 1 in the state and was given the green light to compete at the national level, where it ranked 10th.

To access the full story, click here.

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