Home > Examples
of efforts to make Oregon more sustainable
Communities
around state working on Oregon’s future
Many projects aimed at making communities more socially, economically and environmentally
sustainable are underway throughout Oregon. Here are examples:
- An Office of Sustainability in Portland was created to be an "instigator
for sustainability in all parts of city government," said Susan Anderson,
director. The office is responsible for the management and operation of city
recycling programs, energy conservation programs and green building programs.
"We are charged with helping all parts of city government find ways to
be more sustainable, and we bring together all who want to work on sustainability
issues in the city, including businesses, neighborhood groups, churches and
others," said Anderson.
- Myrtle Point city officials, local dairy farmers and businesses are working
with consultants to explore the feasibility of constructing a regional biogas
energy generation facility that will use dairy wastes from local farms and
waste water from a local dairy processing plant. The methane produced would
be used for industrial process heating or power production. The biogas facility
would benefit local farmers by reducing their on-farm management costs for
storage and disposal of manure and farm wastes. The facility would also provide
energy for local consumers and industry, reduce the city’s cost of treating
hot water from the dairy processing plant and help improve the local watershed.
- In southern Oregon, Jack Shipley, an environmentalist, and Jim Neal, a long-time
logger, helped found the Applegate Partnership, a coalition of timber representatives,
local businesses, community activists, environmentalists, and agency representatives.
Through community involvement and education, this partnership supports sustainable
management of all land within the Applegate Valley watershed in a way that
contributes to the area’s economic and community stability.
- A number of organizations, local officials and state and federal agencies
in Wheeler and Grant counties are cooperating in a joint venture called the
Paleo project near Fossil. Through this project cooperators hope to attract
visitors to the area’s fossil beds, which are now under control of the
U.S. Park Service. To that end, several individual projects are planned, including
conversion of the elementary school building in Fossil to a visitors center,
distance learning facility and possible elder hostel; a hotel restoration
in Condon, and proposed construction of an $8.3 million interpretive center
near John Day. The projects would help retain or increase employment in Wheeler
and Grant counties, attract environmentally compatible tourism and demonstrate
a way of capitalizing on the natural resources of the area in a sustainable
way.
- In response to dwindling salmon runs in streams on tribal lands, the Confederated
Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon adopted a strategy
in the early 1990s called the Integrated Resource Management Plan to improve
land management and stream quality. "Ultimately, we hope to re-establish
healthy salmon runs at Warm Springs and manage the land so that we can sustain
salmon in those streams," said Mike Clements, business and economic development
general manager at Warm Springs. The integrated plan is designed to coordinate
management of forest land and riparian zones (land adjacent to streams) with
the goal of improving water quality and stream health. "Restoring and
maintaining the fish runs is very important to the people at Warm Springs,"
said Clements. "Native American people see the return of salmon to the
streams as a spiritual event. It carries a real significance in our ceremonies
and in our daily lives."
- In central Oregon, an EcoTeam project is underway that aims to help individuals
reduce consumption and achieve greater efficiency in use of household resources.
EcoTeams are small groups of friends, family members, neighbors and coworkers
who support each other in using fewer resources. EcoTeam activity can save
households money by encouraging more efficient habits. Studies have shown
that a household of four could expect to save, in one year: 3,120 pounds of
garbage, 104 cubic feet of landfill, 10 trees, 73,000 gallons of water, 140
pounds of acid rain pollutants, 10 tons of CO2 emissions, and 600 gallons
of gasoline. The project includes a program in local public schools as well
as a curriculum at the community colleges. Programs are sponsored in neighborhoods,
where they are used to raise consciousness about sustainable lifestyles and
to build community.
- The Central Oregon Environmental Center in Bend supports a project called
"Commute Options for Central Oregon" that encourages community interest
in transportation alternatives. Project leader and Bend resident John Schubert
developed the project as a challenge program to encourage business, school,
church and government agency employees to bike, walk, carpool or telecommute,
rather than driving to work alone. Over 60 businesses participate each year,
documenting motor vehicle miles and gallons of gas saved. In 1998, Saint Charles
Medical Center employees kept over 4,500 pounds of pollution from Bend’s
air by eliminating more than 115,000 miles of driving. Commute Options activities
have included Central Oregon Rideshare, a carpooling matching service, and
a bicycle safety and education program for 4th graders in the Bend-La Pine
School District.
- The Sustainable Forestry Partnership at Oregon State University works with
Oregon’s forest industry and private woodland owners to promote sustainable
forestry practices and forest product marketing. The Partnership was founded
in 1995 and has hosted hundreds of educational events, ranging from formal
training with continuing education credit for professional foresters to informal
consultations for private and public landowners. The Partnership has worked
with hundreds of businesses, environmental groups, landowners, universities,
consultants and public agencies in the development and distribution of their
programs.
- Social, economic and environmental sustainability is a major issue in the
Klamath Basin, where drought conditions have cut water resources in the area
by 66 percent. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the Klamath Irrigation
Project, cut off deliveries of water from Klamath Lake to agriculture in the
region to protect sucker fish listed as endangered under the Endangered Species
Act. The move caused tremendous economic hardship for many of the area’s
farms. Some critics say that regardless of what lawmakers do, the Klamath
Basin watershed is not sustainable in its present state. The demand placed
on the system from agriculture, wildlife and wetlands simply exceeds the water
resources available. Suggestions for making the Klamath Basin watershed more
sustainable include restoring wetlands, reducing water demand by retiring
farmland, improving grazing and logging practices to reduce pollution and
erosion, and helping endangered fish by removing dams that block spawning
areas.
- A project intended to contribute to the sustainability of the Klamath Falls
community is the recently completed 500-megawatt natural gas-fired Klamath
Cogeneration Power plant. It is owned by the city of Klamath Falls and was
financed via a city bond issue. Once in full operation the plant is expected
to earn about $3 million a year for the city. Cogeneration means that in addition
to electricity, the plant produces steam, which is sold to local industry
in Klamath Falls. Wastewater from the city’s sewage plant is used to
cool the plant’s power- generating turbines, which has the added benefit
of reducing the amount of treated water the city discharges to the Klamath
River.
- The Libraries of Eastern Oregon project is a non-profit organization seeking
to turn local libraries into "one-stop" information hubs. Work includes
updating internet access speeds and web capabilities for 11 rural libraries
in eastern and central Oregon. Mike McArthur, a county judge and commissioner
in Sherman County, said that while the project is in its early stages, Baker
City and John Day soon will be fully linked to the electronic information
age.
- Joseph Timber Company in the northeastern Oregon community of Joseph has
been certified to process trees from forest lands certified as sustainably
managed. The company is close to completing a new milling component that will
allow processing of smaller-diameter trees. The project is intended to provide
a more constant supply of timber, provide an alternative to burning smaller-diameter
logs in the woods, and improve forest health.
- The Blue Mountain Demonstration Area involves the U.S. Forest Service and
local communities in restoring environmentally damaged areas to full ecosystem
health. Such projects are designed to improve forests and watershed restoration
in the Middle Fork of the John Day River, Desolation Creek and the Grande
Ronde watersheds.
For more on this topic, visit: