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Monday Mailing

Year 23 • Issue 36 19 June 2017 1. Hear In The Gorge Podcast Series 2. Green Infrastructure in Parks: A Guide to Collaboration, Funding, and Community Engagement 3. 7 Wonders of Oregon That No Longer Exist 4. Congressional Appropriators Question Secretary Perdue on USDA Budget and Reorganization Plans.

5. EPA’s Smart Growth in Small Towns and Rural Communities Resource Page 6. PeopleForBikes Community Grant Program 7. Design Your Town Resource 8. Rainbow Gathering Set For Flagtail Meadow on Malheur National Forest in Grant County 9. Oregon's Niagara Falls, Revealed 10. Guerrilla Toilet Plunger Bike Lanes Are Officially a Trend 11. Historic Preservation: NIMBYISM for the Rich?

1. Hear In The Gorge Podcast Series A series of radio-documentary styled podcasts that tell compelling and under-recognized stories of the cultural history and life in the Columbia River Gorge region, home to a landscape that inspires and a community that shares a deep connection to the region and to each other. The Gorge has a rich cultural and natural history so that no matter who you are or where you are in the Gorge, that sense of place is inescapable–especially as you learn more about the region.

Quote of the Week: “If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts.”

-Albert Einstein Oregon Fast Fact: The Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area is a spectacular river canyon cutting the only sea-level route through the Cascade Mountain Range.

These podcasts are audio companions to the acclaimed Gorge Owned (GO!) Sense of Place lecture series, that delve into and reveal stories unique to the Gorge: the experience of the region’s Japanese American residents during World War II, the Crag Rats – oldest mountain rescue team in the country, tribal village life at in-lieu sites along the Columbia River, and Woodie Guthrie’s month-long Columbia River songwriting experience for the BPA. They highlight archival audio, as well as storytelling from locals and experts, creating gripping and moving nonfiction narratives about the Columbia River Gorge and its heritage.

To access the podcast series, click here.

2. Green Infrastructure in Parks: A Guide to Collaboration, Funding, and Community Engagement Green infrastructure can help to maximize the environmental, economic, and social benefits of parks. This report includes recommendations on the types of projects that are most likely to attract positive attention and funding, and which provide a wide range of benefits.

To access the Guide, click here.

3. 7 Wonders of Oregon That No Longer Exist Oregon is a beautiful place, filled with awe-inspiring wonders of nature.

State tourism organization Travel Oregon capitalized on that in 2014, Page 1 of 4

releasing “The 7 Wonders of Oregon” ad campaign that named the very best the state has to offer: Mount Hood, the Oregon Coast, the Columbia River Gorge, the Painted Hills, Smith Rock, the Wallowa Mountains and Crater Lake.

That list is pretty comprehensive, but there are other natural wonders of Oregon that aren’t listed, not because they don’t deserve the honor, but because they no longer exist.

To access the full story, click here.

4. Congressional Appropriators Question Secretary Perdue on USDA Budget and Reorganization Plans On Tuesday, June 13, shortly after appropriators received a letter from nearly 600 organizations, businesses, and local governments opposing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) plan to eliminate its Rural Development Mission Area, the Secretary of Agriculture returned to Capitol Hill to once again defend his plans for a Departmental reorganization. This week, the Secretary was before the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, which along with its analog in the House, determines discretionary funding levels for USDA and its programs.

This hearing, which normally serves as an opportunity for the Secretary to promote and defend the budget priorities of the President, took on a markedly different tone and covered myriad issues, including proposed cuts to voluntary conservation programs and research programs, Country Of Origin Labeling (COOL), and of course the proposed reorganization of USDA. A number of Senators, including the Subcommittee’s Ranking Member, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), asked pointed questions about the Departmental reorganization and the elimination of the Under Secretary for Rural Development.

To access the full story, click here.

5. EPA’s Smart Growth in Small Towns and Rural Communities Resource Page Small towns and rural communities throughout the United States are looking for ways to strengthen their economies, provide better quality of life, and build on local assets. Many rural communities and small towns are facing challenges, including rapid growth at metropolitan edges, declining rural populations, and loss of farms and working lands.

Slow-growing and shrinking rural areas might find that their policies are not bringing the prosperity they seek, while fast-growing rural areas at the edge of metropolitan regions face metropolitan-style development pressures.

Smart growth strategies can help rural communities achieve their goals for growth and development while maintaining their distinctive rural character.

For more information, click here.

6. PeopleForBikes Community Grant Program The PeopleForBikes Community Grant Program supports bicycle infrastructure projects and targeted advocacy initiatives that make it easier and safer for people of all ages and abilities to ride.

Please review the following information carefully before submitting a grant application. Proposals that are incomplete or do not fall within our funding priority areas will not be considered. Visit our Grants Awarded database for examples of funded projects.

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Who Can Apply PeopleForBikes accepts grant applications from non-profit organizations with a focus on bicycling, active transportation, or community development, from city or county agencies or departments, and from state or federal agencies working locally. PeopleForBikes only funds projects in the United States. Requests must support a specific project or program; we do not grant funds for general operating costs.

For more information about this funding opportunity, click here.

7. Design Your Town Resource This interactive web-based resource from the Regional Plan Association (RPA) is for citizen planners, professionals and anyone concerned about the quality of the villages and landscapes where they live. The website has attractive and sustainable designs for different kinds of places along with the details, policies and regulations needed for implementation. You can start by picking the kind of place you want to fix – from downtowns to rural villages – or by searching through best practices for landscape design, connectivity and mixed-use development.

To access this resource, click here.

8. Rainbow Gathering Set For Flagtail Meadow on Malheur National Forest in Grant County Forest Service officials announced today that The Rainbow Family of Living Light has chosen to hold its 2017 annual Rainbow gathering on the Malheur National Forest, on the Blue Mountain Ranger District, according to an agency press release.

The gathering site will be located at the Flagtail Meadow off of Forest Service Road 24 near the towns of John Day and Seneca.

The Rainbow gathering could draw anywhere from 10,000-30,000 people. Participants are beginning to arrive, and officials expect the attendance to peak the week of July 4.

The Rainbow Family is a loose-knit group of people without leadership or organization who participate in a national gathering once a year. Attendees come from across the country. Since 1972, the event has taken place on a different national forest during a two-week period surrounding the Fourth of July holiday.

To access the full story, click here.

9. Oregon's Niagara Falls, Revealed It’s a sunny morning at Willamette Falls in Oregon City, Oregon, and despite being many miles inland, a sea lion is fattening up on a diet of salmon and steelhead. As birds circle overhead, the sound of the horseshoe-shaped falls—carrying rain and Cascade snowmelt from the Willamette River to the Columbia River and the Pacific—is thunderous.

“It’s a good day to view the falls,” says Carlotta Collette, a councilor with Metro, the Portland metro area’s regional government, as we stand on a viewing platform that will be part of the future Willamette Falls Riverwalk. “It’s almost always a good day to view the falls. And we have an opportunity right now to share it for the first time in 150 years.”

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Willamette Falls is the second largest waterfall by volume in the United States, after Niagara, and the largest in the waterfall-heavy Pacific Northwest. But despite the aforementioned wildlife—including fish and Pacific lamprey that Native American tribes like the Clackamas Chinook have ritually harvested for generations—it would be a mistake to call this a natural wonderland.

To access the full story, click here.

10. Guerrilla Toilet Plunger Bike Lanes Are Officially a Trend Another illegal bike lane crafted out of plumbing tools hit streets recently, in Providence, RI—and the mayor is cool with it.

Earlier this year, a protected bike lane popped up in Wichita, Kansas, that really pushed the boundaries of bike infrastructure—and plumbing supplies. A rogue group of bike advocates decorated a painted bike lane with a series of toilet plungers to create a guerilla protected lane, as protected bike lanes have better track records of keeping cyclists safe. Instead of simply taking down the plungers, the city responded to widespread support by springing for actual flexible posts to replace the plumbing hardware.

To access the full story, click here.

11. Historic Preservation: NIMBYISM for the Rich?

There’s a growing recognition that local land use controls that preclude increased density in cities are helping contribute to the shortage of affordable housing. President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers lent considerable credence to that view, and the YIMBY (Yes In My BackYard) movement is growing. Unsophisticated and bald-faced efforts to block development are now much more likely to be called out for what they are.

But, increasingly, especially in some of the nation’s wealthiest neighborhoods, historic preservation is being wielded as a tool of NIMBYism (Not in My BackYard).

America's historic preservation movement, which grew out of a well-founded impulse to avoid losing the nation’s architectural patrimony (symbolized notably by the demolition of New York’s Pennsylvania Staton) has grown considerably in the past half century. But there are those who have questioned the wisdom of these building restrictions.

While some, like Alex Tabarrok would do away with historic preservation restrictions altogether (he argues that if people want to preserve a historic building, then they ought to buy it) most people recognize the desirability of some form of property restrictions. Even Ed Glaeser, a strong critic of preservation laws writes: “It is wise and good to protect the most cherished parts of a city’s architectural history.”

To access the full story, click here.

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