Friends of the Columbia River Gorge kicks off the 2010 hiking season next week with a visit to the Lyle Cherry Orchard on March 13th.

And in keeping with the spirit of eco-friendly recreation, you won’t need your own car to get there. Friends is organizing carpools that depart from Portland. “Our hikes educate the public on the unique and fragile beauty of the Gorge,” says Executive Director Kevin Gorman. “By encouraging carpooling, we can enjoy these amazing landscapes while protecting the Gorge.”

The group is organizing about five dozen hikes and bikes rides in the Gorge over the next few months. Many of them include talks with local authors and naturalists. Some are members only events. For a full list go here. Registration is required for all of them.

If you’d like more information about carpooling, call the Friends of the Gorge office at 503-241-3762.

LNG In Oregon

Dan Serres of Columbia Riverkeeper brings us up-to-date on LNG issues at tonight’s meeting of Portland Green Drinks. His group is trying to stop two LNG projects along the Columbia River, and two natural gas pipelines that are connected to the those projects.

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If you read part one of this story, you know by now that citizens and local governments don’t have much say over the installation of new wireless towers and antennas. The Federal Communications Commission is running the show. And the FCC is paying more attention to the meeting the growing demand wireless services than it is to questions about possible health problems.

See: A Hard Cell In Northeast Portland

That’s a problem for people like Anne Trudeau of RespectPDX.org, the group fighting a proposed Clearwire wireless internet and phone antenna in Northeast Portland. They can talk all they want about how they think the antenna could harm their health. They can present all sorts of studies linking low levels radiofrequency energy to increased cancer rates. But it doesn’t matter. Federal law says when it comes to placing wireless towers, you’re not allowed to even consider health questions.

What are the dangers of wireless towers? I’m not enough of an expert to weigh the conflicting information. So I went in search of someone who is.

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Maybe it’s because my mind is fried from all the research I’m working on today, but this video from Oregon Wild is pretty amusing. It’s done Jib Jab style, with cartoon figures of Senator Wyden and Representative DeFazio hiking through the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness.

Wyden and DeFazio introduced legislation to protect the area last year, but the bill has languished on the sidelines as Congress has focused on other issues. Oregon Wild is leading a petition drive to remind them that Oregonians are still paying attention to the Devil’s Staircase and want to see the legislation passed.

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(Note: I live about a mile from the site of this proposed wireless antenna.)

Whoever said, “You can’t fight city hall,” ought to reconsider. City hall is easy compared to keeping wireless and cell phone antennas out of neighborhoods.

Anne Trudeau of RespectPDX.org has learned this the hard way. The group is trying to block attempts by Clearwire to install a wireless internet and phone antenna on a utility pole in Northeast Portland at 37th and Fremont.

Most of the time, these projects don’t get a whole lot of attention. But in this case, RespectPDX has managed to shake up things a bit at city hall, and get the attention of the Oregonian, KGW, and the Portland Observer. They’ve even brought in an award winning documentarian with major mainstream creds from CBS News and 60 Minutes.

But all these efforts may not make a difference. Because as the demand for more wireless access increases around the country, even as questions grow about safety, the laws governing these installations are stuck more than 20-years in the past.

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Newsworthy and interesting stuff from today through Sunday.

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY:

Eagle Watch

Eagle Watch 2010 will celebrate one of Oregon’s largest assemblies of winter migratory bald eagles along with the other raptors that help make Lake Billy Chinook a wildlife viewing mecca Feb. 27-28. The annual event is a mix of presentations, tours and demonstrations that explore the natural and cultural significance of eagles and other raptors in the area.

For more information and a schedule for both days see: Eagle Watch 2010 (pdf)

SUNDAY:

Neighborhood Wireless Antennas

RespectPDX, a citizens group trying to stop a wireless internet and phone antenna in Northeast Portland meets tonight. The event starts at 7pm at Bethany Lutheran Church, NE 37th Ave and Skidmore.

For more information about the group see: RespectPDX.org

For more information about the proposed antenna see: A Hard Cell In Northeast Portland

UPDATE:

Council President David Bragdon releases a statement calling this a vote a “historic moment.” He goes on to write:
“Our work is not done. We need to refocus our efforts on how we can best invest in attracting more jobs and residents to our existing communities inside the urban growth boundary. Metro, local governments and the private sector need to work more strategically to invest limited public resources more wisely and encourage greater private investment in the communities we already call home.”
EARLIER:

The Metro Council put a final stamp of approval on a plan to guide growth in the region for the next 50-years. The vote was 5-2.

The plan creates 28,000 acres of urban reserves, areas outside the urban growth boundary that will be set aside for most new business and residential development.

It also preserves 272,000 acres as rural reserves, places protected as farmland and natural areas.

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State health officials say anyone eating fish that was caught in the Columbia Slough needs to be careful.

A new advisory says resident fish, those that spend their whole lives in the slough, may be contaminated with high levels of PCBs.

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Is Smokey Bear wrong?

A forestry professor at Oregon State University says its time we took another look at forest fires. John Bailey says we need to accept that fires actually do a lot of good for the forests. He says the billions we spend to control fires doesn’t really prevent them, it merely delays them.

And if climate change really does bring about more frequent and more intense fires, Bailey says that may not be a bad thing.

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