Oregon State University Extension Service – A team of researchers has mapped patterns of illicit drug use across the state of Oregon using a method of sampling municipal wastewater before it is treated. Their findings provide a one-day snapshot of drug excretion that can be used to better understand patterns […]

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: JOHN DAY, Ore. — According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, a severe thunderstorm caused a flash flood in a tributary of the John Day River near Mitchell earlier this week, killing an estimated 4,000 smallmouth bass on a remote four-mile section […]

Natural Resource Report, Green power, green jobs, renewable energy collide with the Endangered Species Act in a proposed wind farm in Southwest Washington. The project calling for between 48-60 megawatts of power is proposed for 3,359 acres of Washington Department of Natural Resources land northwest of Naselle, Washington. The site, […]

From Worksource Oregon, Employment Department, Special Report

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association:  WASHINGTON (August 3, 2009) – The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) praised legislation introduced by Congressmen Mike Thompson (D-CA) and John Salazar (D-CO) that would provide farmers and ranchers relief from the death tax.  HR 3524, the Family Farm Preservation and Conservation Estate Tax Act, would […]

By Natural Resource Report, Like many government programs the US Department of Agriculture’s, Nation Animal Identification System (NAIS) begins with voluntary participation but many fear participation will become mandatory.  The NAIS tracks animals electronically using microchips attached to the animal’s ear.  Installed shortly after birth, animals can be followed throughout […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, A federal appeals court recently over turned rules established by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Bush administration that allowed power plants and factories to emit pollution over established limits if those entities bought pollution credits. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit […]

Oregon Century Farm & Ranch Program Awards Century Status to 19 Farms & Ranches in 2009 By Oregon Agricultural Education Foundation, (Salem, Or) – At an annual awards ceremony at the Oregon State Fair, families from across the state will receive recognition for operating as a Century Farm or Century […]

By Rick Sohn, Umpqua Coquille LLC Lumber prices have gone up 25% this month!  Unsold home inventories and national homebuilding rates are moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. Logs have remained stable, moving up slightly. This is all good news, relatively speaking.  See the 3-year price comparisons for lumber, […]

Bureau of Land Management, Vale, Oregon –August 2nd thru August 3rd. Powerful thunderstorms moved through eastern Oregon today igniting several fires throughout the Vale District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The District received hundreds of lightning strikes starting Sunday afternoon and continued into the late evening/early morning. The […]