By Department of Agriculture of Oregon, For nearly 70 years, Oregon’s soil and water conservation districts have helped protect the state’s natural resources through varied but effective projects and programs that continue to stand the test of time. Those districts are now getting high level recognition as Governor Kulongoski has […]

By Oregon Association of Nurseries, There’s disappointing news for nurseries selling primarily to the landscape trade. Sales of new homes went down in September, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. There are several reasons this could be viewed in a positive or negative light: * Positive: It was the […]

Brian Ensures Fairness for Washington State Waterway Workers By Congressman Brian Baird, Washington, D.C.-  Washington waterways workers will soon be able to keep more of their money, thanks to the work of Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA-03).  Currently these workers were seeing their income taxed by other states for work done […]

Register for OFB Convention by Nov. 6 By Oregon Farm Bureau, The 2009 OFB State Convention is scheduled for Dec. 8-10 at the Hood River Inn in Hood River, right in the heart of the Columbia Gorge. November 6 is the deadline for both convention registration and hotel reservations. Registration […]

By Sean Smith, Vice President, Starfire Lumber Co. On July 16, the Department of the Interior, acting on a number of pretexts failing even the most cursory legal scrutiny, summarily withdrew the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) and placed the timber sale program on 2.5 million acres of land in […]

By Department of Agriculture, Oregon’s specialty crop industry is receiving a $1.5 million shot in the arm as part of federal funds earmarked through the 2008 Farm Bill. The money will fund 24 projects selected by the Oregon Department of Agriculture and an industry advisory board- projects designed to help […]

American Farm Bureau Federation: WASHINGTON, D.C.– Speakers at Farm Bureau’s second annual commodity outlook conference, Oct. 15-16, in Albuquerque, N.M., painted a “cautiously optimistic” outlook for U.S. agriculture, with crop and dairy producers likely faring better than livestock producers who will still face challenges in the year ahead.  Joe Glauber, […]

By Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, After months of public input and technical review, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality announced today an official list of persistent, surface water  pollutants that pose a potential threat to the state’s environment and residents. The list identifies 118 toxic pollutants that come from […]

Prepare now to survive a West Coast tsunami By Pat Corcoran Oregon State University Extension Service ASTORIA, Ore. – Two weeks after tsunamis in Sumatra and American Samoa initiated by powerful earthquakes killed hundreds of people, a growing number of Oregonians are wondering how people living along the West Coast […]

By Rick Sohn, Umpqua Coquille LLC Timber Industry Report, October 19, 2009 The Western Wood Products Association economic forecast for the wood products industry, projects that we will not reach 1 million housing starts until 2012.  Log prices moved up this month, increasing the squeeze on mills.  Fortunately, there is […]