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Monday Mailing

Year 21 • Issue 39

Quote of the Week: "People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be." ~Abraham Lincoln Oregon Fast Fact: The northern Oregon Coast Range can receive up to 200 inches of precipitation per year, versus as little as 8 inches in the eastern deserts.

Also, the Willamette Valley typically receives between 30 and 50 inches of precipitation yearly, while the Cascade Range can get well over 100 inches of total precipitation, which includes snowmelt.

22 June 2015

1. Fossil Fuel Debate: Why Are Oregonians Driving Less?

2. State Parks Are Embracing Disk Golf 3. NASA: More Than One-Third of Earth’s Largest Aquifers Are Being Rapidly Depleted 4. Warm Water Expected to Keep Killing Willamette River Salmon 5. Industry Gets Behind Oregon Aerial Pesticide Spraying Bill; Advocates Disappointed 6. How the Bicycle Paved the Way for Women's Rights 7. New Web Resources From Natural Hazards Center 8. This 20-Year-Old Inventor Said He Could Clean Up The Ocean—Now He's Really Doing It 9. Oregon Main Street "Meet - Ups" 10. Responsible Tourism: How to Preserve the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg 11. Native American Tribes Tackle Diet and Health Woes With Businesses Build on Traditional Foods 1. Fossil Fuel Debate: Why Are Oregonians Driving Less?

On its face, Vehicle Miles Traveled, or VMT, is a very simple metric: one car (or bus, or motorcycle) traveling one mile on a public road. To transportation experts, however, it’s precisely because the VMT implies so much more that it has become so useful.

The graph of VMT growth over the last century shows a near-ceaseless increase, punctuated only by blips marking wars or recessions. It tells not just the story of America’s increasing economic prosperity and standards of living, but also one in which those advances became increasingly intertwined with our reliance on the automobile.

Except, that is, if you’re Oregon.

To access the full story, click here.

2. State Parks Are Embracing Disk Golf Disc golf hasn't been a good fit for Medford, but it seems tailor-made for Oregon’s state parks.

The Forks Disc Golf Course, located in Illinois River Forks State Park near Cave Junction, opened March 1, becoming the 10th disc course in the state park system — and the first south of Eugene.

“We didn’t start the disc golf craze, but people want it, and we have space, and that’s led us to open the door to it,” explains Chris Havel, associate director of the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department.

To access the full story, click here.

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3. NASA: More Than One-Third of Earth’s Largest Aquifers Are Being Rapidly Depleted Think the water situation is bad in California? Freshwater is depleting at alarming and unsustainable rates in major underground aquifers around the globe, according to NASA satellite images.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) used data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites and discovered that one third of the Earth’s largest groundwater basins are rapidly depleting due to human consumption, and will only get worse with the changing climate. The research was published in two complimentary studies in the Water Resources Research journal.

These aquifers are a crucial source of fresh water for 35 percent of the human population. That’s more than 2 billion people.

What’s most alarming, according to one of the studies, is how there’s insufficient accurate information on how much water remains in the basins, which means “significant segments of Earth’s population are consuming groundwater quickly without knowing when it might run out,” the researchers concluded in a news release.

To access the full story, click here.

4. Warm Water Expected to Keep Killing Willamette River Salmon Oregon's worsening drought has taken its first official victims.

Abnormally warm water temperatures in the Willamette River are killing spring Chinook as they swim upstream to spawn.

Anglers on Wednesday began reporting dead salmon floating downstream and washing ashore near Willamette Falls, casualties of water too warm for their survival.

Temperatures in the lower Willamette have spiked amid the recent heat wave, rising well above 70 degrees, said Rick Hargrave, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"The Willamette gets warm, but we wouldn't normally be seeing temperatures like this until July," Hargrave said.

To access the full story, click here.

5. Industry Gets Behind Oregon Aerial Pesticide Spraying Bill; Advocates Disappointed Repeated high-profile incidents of people being sickened by pesticides sprayed from aircraft in Oregon have increased calls for new regulations. But push-back from agricultural and timber industry groups has led to a bill that supporters of stronger rules say won’t solve the problem.

On a Wednesday morning in October, 2013, Gold Beach resident Kathryn Rickard stepped out of her house to investigate the persistent sound of a low-flying helicopter over her neighborhood.

Kathryn Rickard: “And immediately I was assaulted with a horrible, horrible smell. My sinuses were burning, my eyes were burning, I got a rash all over my arms. I felt sick to my stomach.”

To access the full story, click here.

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6. How the Bicycle Paved the Way for Women's Rights The bicycle, when it was still new technology, went through a series of rapid iterations in the 19th century before it really went mainstream. Designers toyed with different-sized front and back wheels, the addition of chains and cranks and pedals, and tested a slew of braking mechanisms.

By the 1890s, America was totally obsessed with the bicycle—which by then looked pretty much like the ones we ride today. There were millions of bikes on the roads and a new culture built around the technology. People started "wheelmen" clubs and competed in races. They toured the country and compared tricks and stunts.

The craze was meaningful, especially, for women. Both Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are credited with declaring that "woman is riding to suffrage on the bicycle," a line that was printed and reprinted in newspapers at the turn of the century. The bicycle took "old-fashioned, slow-going notions of the gentler sex," as The Courier (Nebraska) reported in 1895, and replaced them with "some new woman, mounted on her steed of steel."

To access the full story, click here.

7. New Web Resources From Natural Hazards Center DRR Songs If you’re the type to sing the benefits of disaster risk reduction from the rooftops, this YouTube channel is for you. Of course, you do need to literally sing. The budding channel was created to showcase musical efforts to communicate ways to be prepared and resilient when disaster strikes. So far, the genre is a little lacking, so the musical among us should check out the channel and maybe even lay down some anti-disaster tracks of their own to share.

CDC Drought Communication Toolkit When it comes to natural hazards, drought has one of the longest reaches, and that’s especially true when it comes to public health. From immediate short-term health effects to chronic and debilitating impacts, this toolkit will help you keep the public informed of what drought could mean for their health. Check out the Web site for resources on how to explain drought preparedness and safety for a variety of audiences, including homeowners, vulnerable populations, and industry leaders.

Congressional Primer on Responding to Major Disasters and Emergencies This recently released report by the Congressional Research Service is a guide for policy makers navigating the disaster response and recovery cycles. The document gives a background on disaster declarations, the National Response Framework, various types of disaster assistance, and also outlines congressional responsibilities during disaster.

RRAIN Washington State has always gotten plenty of rain, but now it has RRAIN, a handy site that helps first responders (and everybody else) stay on top of situational awareness during disasters and emergencies. With topics ranging from weather alerts to pandemic resources to state emergency plans, the site is mobile ready and puts a wealth of information in your pocket.

TRACIE If you work in healthcare, public health, emergency management, or any other field that intersects medical care with disaster response and preparedness, TRACIE is your new best friend. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services new TRACIE site stands for Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information exchange and is just that—a place where health workers can access technical information, get one-on-one guidance, and discuss issues with their peers. Visit the site for all sorts of tips, news updates, or to offer your expertise to other site visitors.

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8. This 20-Year-Old Inventor Said He Could Clean Up The Ocean—Now He's Really Doing It Boyan Slat first proposed his giant marine cleanup machine three years ago when he was just 17 years old. During a TED talk, he sketched a vision for a massive floating boom that would collect trash using the ocean's own currents.

The talk has now been viewed almost 2 million times, and Slat is a minor celebrity in his native Holland. But most remarkably, he's actually followed through on the project. While some would be happy with all the attention, Slat, still only 20, is getting serious about delivery, doing the painstaking work of building a team, testing feasibility, and trialling the machine in the wild.

Co.Exist spoke with him last year when The Ocean Cleanup, Slat's company, had just released a feasibility study and was starting a crowdfunding campaign (it raised more than $2 million). Since then, it's completed scale-model tests and organized a marine trash expedition that will take place this summer. Slat says there's a need to understand the full extent of the trash in the Pacific before he puts a final product in the water To access the full story, click here.

9. Oregon Main Street "Meet - Ups" The Oregon Main Street Program is hosting a series of Oregon Main Street “Meet-Ups” regionally for communities participating in the Oregon Main Street Network or who are interested in learning a little more about downtown revitalization. The purpose of the regional network meetings are to:     

Meet fellow community members working on downtown revitalization efforts in your area Encourage conversation between communities Share information on project successes Identify challenges and opportunities affecting local downtown revitalization efforts Give feedback to Oregon Main Street on ways we can be of assistance to communities

The “Main Street Meet-ups” will be 1 to 3 p.m. followed by a downtown walking tour at 3 – 4 p.m. in each of the host communities. The dates/location/registration link for each of the Main Street Meet-ups are: July 21: Bandon Location: Bandon Community Center Local Host: Harv Schubothe, Executive Director, Greater Bandon Association Register at Eventbrite: https://eventbrite.com/event/17444954328/ July 28: La Grande Location: Upper Room, Marketplace, 1101 Washington Local Host: Saira Siddiqui, Executive Director, La Grande Main Street Downtown Association Register at Eventbrite: https://eventbrite.com/event/17445187024/ August 18: Cottage Grove Location: TBD Local Host: Shauna Neigh, Executive Director, Cottage Gove Main Street Register at Eventbrite: https://eventbrite.com/event/17445279300/

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August 25: Newberg Location: TBD Local Host: Mike Ragsdale, Executive Director, Newberg Downtown Coalition Register for this location at Eventbrite: https://eventbrite.com/event/17445314405/ 10. Responsible Tourism: How to Preserve the Goose that Lays the Golden Egg Where did you go on your last vacation? Was it rewarding and satisfying? Would you recommend it to a friend? Did the destination meet your expectations? Or were you disappointed? Did traffic congestion, dirty air, crowded beaches, slipshod service or excessive commercialism leave you feeling frustrated and cheated?

Tourism is big business. Americans spend more than $800 billion a year on travel and recreational pursuits away from home. Tourism is one of the three largest industries in every American state and a critical factor in the world economy.

However, tourism is also a doubled edged sword. On the one hand, it provides communities with many benefits: new jobs, an expanded tax base, enhanced infrastructure, improved facilities and an expanded market for local products, art and handicrafts. In short, it can be an important tool for community revitalization. On the other hand, it can create problems and burdens for local communities, such as crowding, traffic congestion, noise, increased crime, haphazard development, cost-of-living increases and degraded resources. Michael Kelly, former Chairman of the American Planning Association’s, Tourism Planning Division says ”The impacts of tourism on a community can be beneficial if planned and managed or extremely damaging if left without controls.”

To access the full story, click here.

11. Native American Tribes Tackle Diet and Health Woes With Businesses Build on Traditional Foods For many residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, getting to a supermarket requires a two-hour drive to Rapid City. It’s an expensive trip for people living in the third poorest county in the US. Many residents have no access to transportation, leaving only one option: on-reservation convenience stores that stock processed, long-shelf-life foods.

To combat these poor nutrition options, many tribes are reclaiming traditional foods as a way to correct severe health and economic disparities. All across the country, Native American entrepreneurs are combining traditional values with common-sense business strategies to tackle hunger, unemployment and unsustainable food production practices.

Pine Ridge didn’t become a food desert by itself. Along with other tribes throughout the country, the Oglala Sioux endured generations of war, forced removal and assimilation policies that dismantled traditional economies and food systems.

To access the full story, click here.

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