Make the McKenzie Connection!
Make the McKenzie Connection!
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 1590
LEABURG: “Waldo,” a key attraction on the grounds of the Leaburg Fish Hatchery, has gone missing. Long thought to be one of the offspring of specimens brought back by naturalist Charles Darwin’s historic voyage to the Galápagos Islands, Waldo’s long legs helped him climb some small hills at the Leaburg Hatchery when searching out areas to stretch his neck to eat from shrubs and bushes. On one of those hills, hatchery staff discovered tracks from a vehicle. They led away from a spot where Wa...
WALTERVILLE: Community involvement has exhibited low interest with an ongoing downward trend. A list of recent disappointments has included: The Vida Fortune Tellers Group canceled this month due to unforeseen circumstances. An Act of God forced the cancellation of the Nimrod Atheists Club’s March meeting. The Solipsist Society scheduled an April 1st meeting at 7 p.m., but attendance would neither be taken nor known. And, the Time Travelers Rally will be held in Finn Rock last Wednesday at 6 a...
OLD MCKENZIE PASS: Crews have already begun working on a project to improve conditions for drivers and cyclists using Hwy. 242. The resurfacing work extends between the Dee Wright Observatory and U.S. Route 20. It will include rebuilding degraded or substandard shoulders and bike lanes, removing safety hazards, updating some ADA curb ramps, and replacing or repairing signs and warning systems throughout the corridor. The project also involves the installation of more accessible bathrooms at C...
Following January’s “Iceathon” winter storm, Governor Tina Kotek requested as much as $48 million in federal major disaster relief for Benton, Clackamas, Coos, Hood River, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Multnomah, Sherman, Tillamook, and Wasco counties, along with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. That figure pales in comparison to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric’s 2023 billion-dollar disaster report, which confirms a historic year in the number of costly disasters and extremes through...
Dental care People in Veneta, Mapleton, Junction City, Cottage Grove, Florence, Creswell, Dexter, and the McKenzie area have benefitted from an outreach program for oral health care. Every second Tuesday of the month, the Tiny Dental Van stops in at the Orchid McKenzie River Clinic in Rainbow. Sponsored by the Rural Oregon Outreach Program, a first visit will include a patient assessment, intraoral photos, teeth cleaning, charting, and X-rays. To schedule new patient appointments or teeth...
RAINBOW: Billed as P.R.E.P., a meeting at the Upper McKenzie Community Center focused on how firefighters attack a fire after someone reports one. According to representatives from the McKenzie River Ranger District, McKenzie Fire & Rescue, the Upper McKenzie Fire District, and the Oregon Dept. of Forestry, the answer was the same - “put it out.” Sponsored by the McKenzie Valley Long Term Recovery Group, the “Plan, Resilient, Educate, and Prepare” meeting was the first of four sessions to upda...
WALTERVILLE: The Eugene Water & Electric Board's (EWEB) temporary shutdown of the Walterville Hydroelectric Project is expected to be extended this summer as the utility investigates safety concerns along the Walterville Canal. EWEB dewatered the Walterville Canal last month after detecting an unexpected increase in water seepage near the Walterville Powerhouse. The issue isn't new. EWEB and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) have known about the seepage in the 110-year-old canal's...
The U.S. Forest Service has announced its intention to update a 30-year-old plan for managing forests in the Northwest. The agency has issued a Notice of Intent to amend the Northwest Forest Plan. The plan covers management for 19 million acres of forest in California, Oregon, and Washington and was adopted in 1994 but has not changed since. Nick Goulette, co-executive director of the Watershed Research and Training Center, said the plan needs improving, especially as climate impacts on the...
Governor Tina Kotek has proclaimed April 2024 Oregon Arbor Month. The proclamation states that “Trees play an integral role in fostering healthy communities,” adding that urban development and tree preservation demand a careful balance. It also recognizes the loss of trees in Oregon due to wildfire, extreme heat and drought, development pressures, and new pests, such as the emerald ash borer. Arbor Month grew out of Arbor Day, a one-day tree-planting campaign in Nebraska in 1872. The event sprea...
Lane County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue is constantly training. Last week, they were able to train and help out our Oregon State Parks simultaneously. About 20 volunteers practiced rigging and operating the team’s high and steep-angle rescue systems at Heceta Head Lighthouse…to “rescue” a picnic table on the cliff below that has been an eyesore for 20 years. The team’s rope rescue systems can be deployed quickly almost anywhere by just a few trained personnel. They have been used to rescue many...
BLUE RIVER: A recently completed community wastewater study outlines some services that could support the Blue River community as it recovers from fire damage and outlines ways it might continue to grow. Some of those goals include prioritizing the revitalization of the downtown area, protecting the McKenzie and Blue Rivers, and attracting people back to the community. Based on the number of active water hookups there are now an estimated 80 dwellings serving a population of about 160 people....
EUGENE: Plans that have been in the works for decades were opposed by several people who testified at last week’s meeting of the Eugene Water & Electric Board. Some, like Eugene realtor Kathy Ging were critical of letters sent from the utility’s legal counsel since January that she said threatened to cut off electrical service to ratepayers who opposed the installation of wireless smart meters on their homes. Ging went on to say she felt “EWEB has declared war on ratepayers” who have concern...
Roadwork The Oregon Dept. of Transportation (ODOT) will be working on some sections of Hwy. 126 this summer. Motorists will encounter two 24-hour and six 12-hour closures along an 8-mile-long paving project. That work will also include guardrail adjustments and replacement and striping on the stretch of road east of the Hwy. 242 junction. More rumble strips will be added along the roadway from Cedar Flat to Hwy. 242 to alert drivers if they start to stray from within the travel lane. Providing...
WALTERVILLE: EWEB dewatered the Walterville Canal on Tuesday after receiving an automated alert from a device that monitors water seepage that also triggered a dam safety process. Officials say the leak was detected near the Walterville Powerhouse’s 110-year-old earthen canal embankment. When an increase in seepage occurs, it triggers a dam safety risk mitigation process that requires dewatering of the canal for close-up inspections. The Eugene Water & Electric Board says the issue is not a p...
EUGENE: A state-of-the-art garbage handling facility approved by the Lane County Board of Commissioners is being challenged by an association of family-owned garbage and recycling processors. Membership of the Lane County Garbage and Recycling Association includes Apex Recycling & Disposal, Royal Refuse, Ecosystems Transfer & Recycling, McKenzie Disposal, Coburg Sanitation, and Rexius. Last week, the LCGRA sent a letter to Lane County detailing major legal issues with their 25-year $150,000,000...
Henry honored “Linda Henry recently retired as Deerhorn Ranch Acres Community Organization (DRACO) secretary. Besides serving over 40 years as DRACO scribe and historian for one of Lane County’s largest homeowner associations, she also served as secretary during that period for the Deerhorn Community Water Association. Linda and her late husband, Don, plus a few other residents, initially formed the water and homeowners associations and were instrumental in residential security that led to the...
The First Amendment doesn’t protect state senators who walked out in protest for six weeks from losing their chance to run for reelection, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The Leap Day decision is a final nail in the coffin for a handful of Republican senators who have been trying to evade a voter-approved constitutional amendment meant to discourage quorum-denying walkouts by punishing lawmakers who miss 10 or more days of work. Ten Republican senators, six of whom would have been up f...
Gasoline prices are rising in line with the seasonal switchover to summer blend fuels this week, with the national average for a gallon of gas up about 7 cents. Gas prices have risen about 25 cents over the past month. Prices are rising most in states like Ohio, Missouri, and Kansas, where drivers are paying around 25 cents more per gallon than they were a week ago. As gas stations transition to more expensive fuels that produce fewer emissions in the warm weather, demand for gasoline is also...
FINN ROCK: A member of McKenzie High School’s junior class says he’d like to have a larger role in the education he’s receiving. Devon Lawson, a student leader within the district, has decided to launch an early candidacy for School Board Position #6 in the 2025 election. The seat is currently held by Tim Halloran, who was voted onto the board again in 2023. He’s also served as board chair in the past and was recently highlighted in a School Board Appreciation Month posting that cited his “dedic...
VIDA: As she opened a business improvement class last week, Melissa Prestinario advised people to open up to ways they could effectively compete with “businesses that are bigger and better” by identifying their unique qualities to connect with customers. Prestinario of RAIN (Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network) organized the 2-day event that features filmed sessions with Jon Schallert, a motivational speaker who developed his Destination Creation course by studying and interviewing ove...
The 44th Annual Lane County Home & Garden Show will host more than 300 exhibits from March 8th to 10th at the Lane County Fairgrounds, 796 W. 13th Ave, in Eugene. Headlining the show will be the Northwest’s favorite gardener, Ciscoe Morris with OH LA LA Gardening. Discover an acre of exhibits staffed by trusted home and garden contractors, retailers, and suppliers. Shop for the latest in spas, tractors, garden equipment, building materials, and home décor. Learn how to get your next project goin...
Nancy Matela co-owns a vacation home in a wildfire zone northwest of Bend that has a new, annual property insurance premium of $9,000. It’s more than nine times what the company Safeco charged her a year ago. That policy remains her only option as well: Her broker couldn’t find her another one. Matela is among a growing number of homeowners in central, southern, and eastern Oregon who have faced higher annual premiums or had their policies canceled when they came up for renewal, with some ins...
VIDA: The loss expressed by Brenda Severns Dinges struck a chord in the community when she posted on social media last week that their puppy was missing. “We had neighbors all the way up to Rainbow offering their help,” she said. “Local neighbors showed up within minutes to help.” The response helped soften some of the emptiness her family felt, “we feel so blessed to live in this community with wonderful humans,” she said. The people who showed up to help out searched “what seemed like s...
SANTIAM PASS: This Saturday will draw more people to the ski slopes at Hoodoo for the resort’s annual Winter Carnival. The all-day event on February 24th will have several options for ax throwing, frisbee golf, musical chairs, a three-legged obstacle race, a team tube race, a hula-hoop contest, a fly-athalon, a pie eating contest, a ski javelin throw, an archery contest, a Hoodoo employee snow sculpture contest, and Bingo. Highlights include a special dinner menu and the Dummy Downhill contest. Around 9 p.m. the slopes will go dark as lights a...
As the winter recreation season continues and parts of the Pacific Northwest Region remain blanketed with snow and ice, the Forest Service is urging all visitors to prioritize their safety and preparedness when participating in outdoor activities. The allure of snowy landscapes, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and other winter sports draw countless individuals to the picturesque lands managed by the Forest Service in Oregon and Washington. Amidst the excitement of winter adventures, it is...
