If Measures 66 and 67 fail in next month’s special election, it could mean major reductions in how much money the state spends on monitoring pollution, protecting and restoring streams, maintaining state parks, and fighting wildfires.
These two measures raise about $733 million for state government by increasing incomes taxes on high earning Oregonians, and...
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Take a good look at that photo.
This relatively harmless looking bird, the greater sage-grouse, may become the focal point of a new debate that could dramatically alter the economy and environment of Oregon, as well as more than a dozen other western states.
The debate could put two strongly held green values in opposition to...
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Three more pieces of the environmental agenda received final passage today and are on their way to Governor Kulongoski. Not a bad day considering the four victories racked up over the weekend. Meanwhile, enviros took a big loss on a renewable energy bill.
So as we used to say in televsion, let’s go right to...
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With adjournment just a few days away, the Oregon Senate made a rare weekend appearance to take care of unfinished business. This includes some of the bills that are important to the state’s environmental community.
Invasive Species
The Senate approved a bill that creates a system of mobile checkpoints, where vehicles hauling boats and trailers...
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A bill to help keep invasive species out of Oregon has been approved the House.
House Bill 2220B allows state officials to set up check points where they can inspect boats and trailers for invasive species, and if necessary, decontaminate them. Anyone who’s caught knowingly transporting invasive species can be fined up to $6,250.
The...
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Welcome to our first video story produced for Natural Oregon.
Recently, we joined researcher David Wiens of Oregon State University on a field trip in the forests near Veneta, Oregon. He and his team are studying the competition between the Northern Spotted Owl and the Barred Owl, a relative newcomer to the state. ...
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UPDATE: A follow up hearing has been scheduled for HB 2220. (See last paragraph in this story.) The House Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Communities Committee holds a work session on April 14 at 8am.
A key bill to help stop the spread of invasive species is making progress in the Oregon Senate....
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Two bills designed to keep invasive species out of Oregon opened to positive reviews during a public hearing today at the state capitol.
One of the bills, H.B. 2220, creates border check stations where boats and trailers will be inspected for invaders such as quagga and zebra mussels. The other, House Bill 2020, creates...
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It was a scary reminder of how easy it would be for quagga mussels to get a foothold in Northwest waters.
In February of 2008, thousands of the invasive mussels were found clinging to a boat that was being transported from Lake Mead, Nevada to Vancouver, B.C. The boat owners were stopped along I-5...
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They’re smart, highly adaptable, breed like crazy and very destructive. No wonder that Oregon wildlife officials are worried about the state’s small, but growing population of wild boars.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department (ODFW) estimates there are about 2,000 boars in 19 counties around the state. The biggest concentrations live in...
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