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Monday Mailing Quote of the Week: “Change is the law of life.

And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” ~John F. Kennedy

Oregon Fast Fact: The nation's most photographed lighthouse is the Heceta Head Lighthouse located in Lane County.

Year 21 • Issue 33 04 May 2015 1. After the Wars, Common Ground in Oregon's Forests 2. State Land Use Board Upholds Clatsop County Ruling on Oregon LNG. 3. How the Microtransit Movement Is Changing Urban Mobility 4. May 2015 Food Sleuth Radio Shows 5. Wallace Center Launches Good Food Economy Digest to Highlight Innovative Food Systems Business Mo 6. A Bill To Stop Construction in Tsunami-Prone Areas Is Dead 7. How Average Oregonians Challenged the Timber Industry – And Lost 8. EPA Releases EnviroAtlas Ecosystem Mapping Tool 9. Preparing For the Boom 10. Measure Would Allow Rural Oregonians to Sometimes Pump Their Own Gas 11. WEBINAR: Environmental Benefits of Organic Agriculture: Energy and Climate Change 1. After the Wars, Common Ground in Oregon's Forests ASHLAND -- This spring’s high school graduating seniors were newborns the last time the U.S. Forest Service proposed a major forest thinning project around here — and the outcome was a disaster.

Nicknamed “HazRed,” the controversial fuels-reduction proposal included plans to commercially log large sections of forest, with trees as wide as six feet reportedly marked for removal. In the explosive public backlash, residents bombarded the Forest Service with negative comments, conservation groups filed appeals, a district ranger was fired (then rehired), and years of administrative and legal wrangling undermined the public’s already uneasy trust.

“The Forest Service had a different direction then,” says Marko Bey, co-founder and executive director of the nonprofit Lomakatsi Restoration Project, which manages forest restoration projects in Oregon and northern California. “There was a lot of contention.”

To access the full story, click here.

2. State Land Use Board Upholds Clatsop County Ruling on Oregon LNG. The state Land Use Board of Appeals Wednesday upheld Clatsop County’s decision to deny a permit for Oregon LNG’s proposed pipeline, a potentially critical setback for the $6 billion project.

The county Board of Commissioners voted unanimously in 2013 to reject a natural gas pipeline. The 87-mile pipeline would run from Washington state through portions of Columbia, Tillamook and Clatsop counties to connect to an export terminal along the Skipanon Peninsula in Warrenton.

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Roughly 41 miles of the pipeline would cut through Clatsop County, making the county one of several local, state and federal authorities responsible for vetting the project.

To access the full story, click here.

3. How the Microtransit Movement Is Changing Urban Mobility Much like the U.S. political system, American urban mobility has traditionally been dominated by two parties: private cars (or cabs), and public transportation. But lately residents of America's largest cities have no doubt noticed lots of new options that seem to fall somewhere in between.

A recent Strong Towns post fittingly labeled this middle-tier movement "microtransit"—more micro than a fixed-route 40-foot bus or a metro rail system; more transit than, well, non-transit; here's Lisa Nisenson: We are on the cusp of widespread microtransit.

Cusp may be too cautious. CityLab readers can surely name a bunch of these flexible new transit services without batting an eye. Commuter buses like Leap Transit or Chariot in San Francisco or Bridj in Boston (and now Washington). Dynamic vanpools like Via in New York. Carpool start-ups like Carma. True cab-share options like UberPool (now claiming millions of trips) or LyftLine (now with fixed-point pick-ups). Company and housing shuttles like the Google bus belong in the mix, too.

To access the full story, click here.

4. May 2015 Food Sleuth Radio Shows May 7th: Suzanne Dixon, M.P.H., M.S., R.D., dietitian with expertise in nutrition and chronic disease prevention describes the most important steps we can take to improve our diets. Tune in for a “big picture” look at nutrition science. http://nonutritionfear.com/ May 14: Jennifer Hartle, Dr.PH., M.H.S., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Standford University School of Medicine, and environmental health scientist talks about Bisphenol-A (BPA), the estrogen-mimicking compound that leaches out of plastics, food and beverage cans, and found in school lunch. http://www.nrdc.org/living/chemicalindex/bisphenol-a.asp http://www.ewg.org/bpa/ May 21st: Bruce Lanphear, M.D., M.P.H, clinician scientist at the Child & Family Research Institute, BC Children’s Hospital, and Professor at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, British Columbia, talks about environmental toxins, their impact on children’s health, and profit motives that take precedence over public health.

Little Things Matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KoMAbz1Bw Environmental Health Atlas: http://www.ehatlas.ca/ May 28th: Andy Bellati, M.S., R.D., explains how the food industry influences what we think about food and health, and food industry deception vs. reality. http://smallbites.andybellatti.com/ http://ucfoodobserver.com/2015/04/29/qa-andy-bellatti-dietitians-for-professional-integrity/

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5. Wallace Center Launches Good Food Economy Digest to Highlight Innovative Food Systems Business Models The Wallace Center has recently launched the Good Food Economy Digest, an online resource which will share stories of innovative food systems business models from around the country on a bi-weekly basis. The stories will be of interest to those working in community economic development to understand the transformative power that investment in the good food sector can have on an economy. The first installment describes value chains in place in New York’s Hudson Valley to meet the soaring demand for locally-sourced foods.

Click here for more information about the Good Food Economy Digest and to read the first article.

6. A Bill To Stop Construction in Tsunami-Prone Areas Is Dead A bill that would have given the state of Oregon the power to stop new construction in tsunamiprone areas is dead.

The Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) can regulate construction in the tsunami zone. But developers and cities only have to consult with the agency.

They don’t actually have to take its advice.

Senate Bill 778 would have given DOGAMI the power to require mitigation measures - like making developers build up, so people could evacuate to higher floors.

It would also have given DOGAMI the power to stop a development.

To access the full story, click here.

7. How Average Oregonians Challenged the Timber Industry – And Lost In March, she again made the five-hour drive north to Salem, hoping her legislators would listen.

Seventeen months had passed since a helicopter repeatedly flew over Kathyrn Rickard's neighborhood in Curry County while spraying weed killers. She and more than 20 neighbors complained about being exposed to the chemicals.

Now, with the Legislature in session, lawmakers were closer to deciding whether to tighten laws for aerial sprays, used by timber companies to control weeds on clear cuts so trees can grow.

Along with her neighbors, Rickard, a 51-year-old studying to be a medical assistant, had become a voice for the risks the practice posed.

Her Rhodesian ridgeback mix, Mr. Leo, fell ill shortly after the October 2013 incident. The rescue dog soon lost 40 pounds and was put to sleep the following spring. Rickard's vet said the spray was likely to blame To access the full story, click here.

8. EPA Releases EnviroAtlas Ecosystem Mapping Tool EnviroAtlas is a web-based interactive tool that integrates over 300 separate data layers, helps decision makers understand the implications of planning and policy decisions on our fragile ecosystems and the communities who depend on goods and services from these ecosystems.

EnviroAtlas is designed for people from all levels of government, professionals, researchers,

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educators, non-governmental organizations, and anyone interested in considering the benefits or impacts of a decision, such as siting a new road or city park.

EnviroAtlas can help people learn about ecosystems, and how they provide us with benefits such as clean air and water; opportunities for recreation; and protection from severe weather, such as hurricanes and floods. EnviroAtlas also highlights how ecosystems provide habitats for plants, fish, and wildlife as well as the materials people need to produce food, clothing, shelter, and pharmaceuticals, and provides maps on all of these topics.

EnviroAtlas integrates geospatial data from a variety of sources to allow users to visualize and analyze how decisions impact ecosystems and their ability to provide goods and services.

Communities are often faced with difficult decisions, such as trade-offs between transportation, residential or commercial development and maintaining local wetlands, urban greenspaces, or urban forests. EnviroAtlas helps communities better understand the potential benefits and drawbacks of their decisions by providing data, maps, information and tools to analyze relationships between nature, health and well-being, and the economy.

EnviroAtlas combines hundreds of data layers developed through collaboration between EPA; US Geological Survey; US Forest Service; other federal, state, and non-profit organizations; and several universities. Using powerful web application tools, it lets users generate customized maps and images that show the condition of their local community’s air, water, and landscape; as well as population density and other demographic data. Users can investigate land cover patterns, see how ecosystem services reduce pollution, and view closer to true scale data to compare them across selected communities.

EnviroAtlas is available to anybody with access to a computer and an internet connection. No special software is needed. It is currently not optimized for smartphone or tablet use, but a mobile-friendly version is planned for the future. Using tools like EnviroAtlas to make informed decisions will help ensure that people can continue to enjoy economic, social, and environmental benefits of ecosystems now and in the future.

For more information, click here.

9. Preparing For the Boom New Short Film Shares Western Communities’ Lessons Learned on Preparing for Boom and Bust Cycles Energy development is booming in the West, bringing new jobs and economic growth. However, many communities that have seen energy booms in the past have found that those booms eventually end, leaving local and regional leaders to deal with economic, fiscal, social, and environmental challenges. “Preparing for the Boom”, a new 20-minute film from the Sonoran Institute<http://www.sonoraninstitute.org/> and Future West<http://futurewest.org/>, shares lessons learned from communities that have experienced energy-related growth and decline in the voices of local elected officials and other local and regional leaders from places like Bakken, MT; Saratoga, WY; and Garfield County, CO. The film highlights successes, missed opportunities, and recommendations in order to help today’s energy communities learn from the experiences of others so they can chart a more promising course through energy booms and beyond.

Click here to watch “Preparing for the Boom.”

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10. Measure Would Allow Rural Oregonians to Sometimes Pump Their Own Gas Anyone who drives through Oregon knows that the state doesn't let people pump their own gas.

A measure moving through the state legislature would create an exception to that law, but only under limited circumstances.

From its description, this bill sounds rather ominous: "Relating to the operation of devices for dispensing Class 1 flammable liquids."

In most states, devices that dispense flammable liquids are simply called gas pumps. And in every state but Oregon and New Jersey, drivers are entrusted with the operation of those pumps.

To access the full story, click here.

11. WEBINAR: Environmental Benefits of Organic Agriculture: Energy and Climate Change May 21, 2015 10:00am Through the use of leguminous cover crops, compost, and other organic-approved materials for fertility management, organic farms often decrease the greenhouse gas emissions associated with both in-field and embedded emission components. By prohibiting the use of synthetic fertilizer and pesticides, organic production avoids the CO2 emissions associated with the production of these inputs. Additionally, many of the practices associated with certified organic production, such as diverse crop rotations, use of cover crops, and applications of manure and compost enhance the accumulation of carbon in soil. This session will present scientific research examining the energy and climate change benefits of organic farming practices.

This webinar is presented by USDA NRCS Science and Technology. It is the first in a four-part series exploring the environmental benefits of organic agriculture. Contact Ben Bowell, Organic Specialist, for more information about this webinar.

Audio is VOIP only | Live captions NOTE: A "view" button will be available within one week of the live presentation date to access the on-demand recording of this webinar.

For more information and to register for this webinar, click here.

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