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NewWest.Net Conferences

The Designing the New West: Architecture and Landscape in the Mountain West Conference is wrapping up here in Bozeman at the historic Gallatin Gateway Inn. Put on by NewWest.Net and sponsored by the Sonoran Institute, the conference brought together designers from all over the country to explore innovative design ideas, identify best practices, and better understand how to bridge the gap between good architectural theory and sometimes-messy building practices in the fastest growing region in the nation.

A mix of presentations and engaging panel discussions tackled pressing Western issues like sustainable development, land design and the special challenges of urban, rural and resort design, historic preservation and affordable housing.

Click on the photo or here for a slideshow of the days' events. Click "more" for a recap of the conference. [more]

Live Video Stream In Cascades

Although some Central Oregonians have the chance to spend time with bald eagles while they winter along the middle and lower sections of the Deschutes River, as well as the Crooked and Metolius rivers, it’s no easy task to see the great birds while they nest in the Cascades during spring.

Well, it was no easy task until now.

A live-streaming video of bald eagles in Deschutes National Forest gives bird lovers a glimpse into what’s taking place while the eagles battle the cold and protect their nests and eggs.

The camera is stationed in a location where eagles have been known to nest for more than 30 years.

[more]

A TECTONIC FIX LONG OVERDUE

Last month, the General Accountability Office (GA0) announced it was studying a plan to take the Forest Service out of the Department of Agriculture and merge it into the Department of the Interior. Predictably, this news was met with a chorus of yawns because we've heard many grandiose plans for reorganizing federal land-managing agencies. In every case, after significant wasted staff time and much stress for employees, nothing happens.

But this one wasn't a yawner for me because something like this really needs to happen. This time, let's get serious and seize this opportunity to remake the Forest Service (FS), an agency lost in the today's political landscape. [more]

Notes From The Campaign Trail

Following her victory Tuesday night in the Pennsylvania primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton challenged, Sen. Barack Obama, her Democratic presidential rival, to a pair of debates in Oregon.

"Oregon deserves just as much attention -- and just as much information to make your decision -- as New Hampshire, Iowa, and Pennsylvania," Clinton said, according to a transcript of a commercial her campaign will soon begin playing in Oregon. "Since the Pacific Northwest hasn't had a single presidential debate, I am proposing today that Oregon host two Democratic debates, including one specific debate on the challenges facing rural Oregonians."

Officials from Oregon’s Obama headquarters did not reveal if the Illinois senator would participate in the debates.

There are only nine contests left on the Democratic primary calendar, with Oregon’s coming on May 20. The most recent poll has Obama ahead by 10 points in Oregon.
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Bend Beers Brings Back Five Awards

While NewWest.Net columnist Bill Schneider is busy carousing Montana’s breweries searching for the perfect pint, several Oregon cities, including Bend, dominated at the 2008 Brewers Association World Cup.

Both the Bend Brewing Co. and Deschutes Brewery took home gold medals from the annual competition held in San Diego. At this year’s gathering 644 breweries from 45 U.S. states competed in nearly 100 beer style categories. Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded for each category.

Oregon suds producers took home 18 medals, including in two of the more prestigious categories, those being for championship breweries. Those went to Pelican Pub & Brewery in the large brewpub category, and to the BBC in the small brewpub category, respectively.

See a list of Oregon’s award-winning breweries below. [more]

Fishing Season Opens Saturday

With the opening of trout season in most Central Oregon lakes and reservoirs less than a week away, many anglers and businesses owners are getting edgy due to heavy snowfall and iced waters that could prevent fishing access.

If extensive plowing does not occur on sections of the Cascade-Lakes Highway, some high-country bodies of water won’t be accessible for fishing until July, the Bend Bulletin reports. However, the U.S. Forest Service, the Deschutes County Road Department and some Cascade lakes resort owners are divining up costs to plow access areas. And although it makes sense to plow some of the roads for fishing access, many of Central Oregon’s mountain lakes are still frozen, so spending vast amounts of money to make them accessible doesn’t.

Owners at Diamond Lake Resort south of Bend are reporting three feet of ice and snow on the lake.
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As a slap-in-the-face move against recreation business, salmon and wilderness areas in and along the Rouge River, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management continues to negotiate logging projects in remote areas of southern Oregon.

However, on Thursday a conservation group named the Rogue River to its annual list of the most threatened rivers in the nation. In fact, the Rogue was placed at Number 2 on the list.
According to the Associated Press, BLM spokesman Jim Whittington said the listing is unwarranted, because the nearest timber sale is more than a mile from the protected section of the Rogue, cannot be seen from the river, and may well be canceled depending on developments in protections for the spotted owl.

The Rogue, arguably Oregon’s second-most popular river behind the Columbia, was Oregon one of the first bodies of water in nation to be protected by the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. And, quite frankly, it’s ridiculous that the BLM continue to attempt logging projects along the Rogue when people such as Whittington admit they’re likely to be canceled anyhow. Perhaps the reason so many people hate the spotted owl is because the federal government keeps giving them reasons to do so?
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SO SAYS THE MAN WHO MADE IT HAPPEN

Some NewWest.Net readers might be a bit "overwolfed," but I thought the views of the man who probably did more to return the Big Dog to the Rocky Mountain West than any other person on Earth could be interesting.

And surprisingly, to me at least, he thinks it all turned out about how he expected. [more]

Western Book Roundup

There's a lot going on across the region this week, including readings and performances, a new book deal for an Oregon writer, and a lawsuit against a defunct Utah bookstore.

Colorado

The ninth annual Pablo Neruda Poetry Festival kicks off Thursday at El Centro Su Teatro in Denver. The first night features a tribute to the Denver teacher and poet Lalo Delgado, who died in 2004 and was posthumously named Denver's first Poet Laureate. Su Teatro actors will perform Delgado's poetry on Thursday (April 17, 8 p.m., $12-$15), and on Friday the stage will host participants in the Barrio Slam, vying for a $500 prize. On Saturday afternoon, there's the "Tacos and Words Literary Salon" (tacos included with the price of admission) and that night is Palabras Vidas, a reading by Sandra Maria Esteves of the Nuyorican Poets Café and regional poet Sheryl Luna, among others.

Also in the Roundup: Book news and events for Montana, Oregon, and Utah. [more]

Northern Flicker Sonnet

I was near the fireplace when the bird hit. The creature smacked the glass sliding door with a massive “thawwump” sound. I was terrified by the noise. Yet when I rose to investigate the source of the sound, and saw the small bird twitching and breathing its last in a pool of its own dark-red blood, a strange sense of calm came over me.

The bird died seconds after I saw it suffering there on the deck. It was a Northern Flicker, and all I could do at that moment was hope its time on this planet was well spent. Then I picked up the carcass and heaved it down a steep embankment for the coyotes, or some other scavenger to gnaw on.

There are an estimated 35 million bird deaths each year in the United States due to collisions with windows. The death of this Northern Flicker was not unique. In fact, it’s believed that window-collision is the number one cause of death for birds in the West. [more]

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