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My Page: Tomi Owens

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Local currency, big ideas

Gorge Local Currency Cooperative will hold a potluck Friday, February 2nd at Acre Coffee. This is an opportunity for member networking, public education, and discussion of "the moneyshot," a documentary by Alan Rosenblith, segments of which will be filmed in the Gorge.

The mechanics of local currency may seem complicated. But how many of us actually understand the intricacies of the Federal Reserve System? It is often easy to confuse simplicity with familiarity.

Not surprisingly, the highly successful RiverHOURS cooperative network, with over fifty local member businesses and a newspaper/trade directory published quarterly, have attracted both national and international attention. Most recently, independent filmmaker Alan Rosenblith. [more]

get yer karma on!

Are you dying to save the environment but not sure where to start? Here is an idea: Stewardship Saturdays!

Jim Clapp of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service in Washington is looking for a little help (or a lot of help) to replant three small National Wildlife Refuges on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge - Steigerwald Lake near Washougal, Franz Lake near Skamania, and Pierce between Beacon Rock and North Bonneville.

I spoke to Jim Clapp this morning and he assured me these work parties are completely kid friendly. So why not make a family day of it? When I brought my boys to a Pick up the Giff work party last fall, it was fun and environmentally rewarding. Plus, because I’m desert born and raised, it was a chance to apply a parental homily: “When I was a kid we didn’t have Beautiful Forests to play in.” But more apt perhaps is this sentiment: “Someday, when you have kids, I want them to have Beautiful Forests to play in.” Here is the official Press Release... [more]

Common Ground, Uncommon Food

Gorge Grown Food Network is hosting a winter meeting at Celilo Restaurant in Hood River on January 22nd. Members, supporters and new-comers are welcome to attend. A menu has been prepared by chef Ben Stenn. RSVP is necessary—for more information visit Gorge Grown online.

What makes some grassroots activism so successful? A just cause, global awareness, the commitment and hard work of dedicated community members? Yes, those are all essential ingredients of social change and reform—and Gorge Grown Food Network has all of that in spades. But they have something else that not all non-profit organizations can offer…great food and fine wine.

GGFN Coordinator Katie McKendrick says Monday night’s gathering will be “a chance to share committee progress and needs, and plan for a Gorge Community Food Conference in late March 2007.” Also, GGFN is looking for ideas and volunteers to help take the highly successful Farmer’s Market on the road, creating a Moveable Feast this summer that can travel to several Gorge communities throughout the week—bringing it back to the people—and fostering this Gorge-wide cause... [more]

Much Ado About Mosier

The tiny town of Mosier lays five miles east of Hood River just across the border of Wasco County and within the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area. Founded as a farming community in the mid-1800’s serving primarily as a train depot for Mosier Valley orchards the town is now under intense pressure to grow.

Local Media silence has finally been broken on Mosier Creek Place. Not by the HRNews or TDChronicle but by Columbia Gorge Magazine, a lifestyle glossy distributed throughout the Northwest. In a sugary article titled “Pace-setting Innovation and Style” CGM certainly puts the development project’s best foot forward -- way, way forward.

Situated on a narrow, 5-acre strip of land between the Columbia Historic Highway and Hwy. 84, and within the town of Mosier's urban growth boundry, Mosier Creek Place is not subject to Scenic Act building restrictions. According to the Columbia Gorge Magazine article architects “made a conscious effort to minimize impact of the two-story townhomes’ exterior design by replicating the natural repetitive patterns that are found in the land formations that surround them.” Perhaps, more than anything else, it is the repetition that has earn Mosier Creek Place local nicknames such as “the Tenements,” “the Chicken Coops,” and the odds on favorite to stick “The Great Wall of Mosier.” [more]

Rain RAin go away

Bleak, gloomy, depressing—look outside and pick an adjective (or expletive) and brace yourself for another year of Northwest weather.

In the desperate hope that maybe, just maybe, it was snowing rather than raining on the mountain, I checked the USDA Forest Service Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center.

Well, the weather forecast was predictably dismal.
Wet, warm air is turning the ski slopes to that notorious “Portland Cement.” However, the forecast included the following ‘meteorological sonnet’ which I have posted in full below.

Thank you, NWAC, for keeping us informed and entertained.

“So the New Year’s arrived,
And the rains have begun—
Going out right now,
Shouldn’t be much fun.

Best to wait for a bit,
And let temperatures cool—
It’s better for safety,
As a general rule.
[more]

Hikers still missing

The three hikers who disappeared on Mount Hood over the weekend are still missing. Kelly James, 48, and Brian Hall, 37, both from Dallas, Texas, and Jerry “Nikko” Cooke, 36, of Brooklyn N.Y. set out to summit Mt. Hood on Thursday, Dec. 7, spend the night on the mountain, and descend to Timberline lodge the following day. All three men were considered experienced mountaineers.

In a garbled cell phone call from James on the afternoon of Dec. 10th to his home, he mentioned an injury and that he had been left by Hall and Cooke, who had presumably gone on for help.

Both the Hood River News and the Oregonian are covering this story, which has also gained national media coverage.

Particular attention is being given to the rescue effort—made up of several Search and Rescue teams including Hood River’s own Crag Rats.

Severe weather conditions on Mount Hood are making the search both difficult and dangerous for would be rescuers. Here is a video clip from Lindsey Clunes of Corvallis Mountain Rescue Unit. [more]

wild and free

Mount Hood Meadows ski resort opened yesterday to the delight and joy of thousands of snow riders. The glacial flooding that washed away roads on both sides of the resort has been cleared, ODOT having risen to the challenge. ‘Pray for Pavement’ parties have ceased and Meadows is planning a "Glacial Outburst: l survived 35” party for December, 16th.

But glaciers will be glaciers. The Hood River News writes that the “price tag for the 2006 event is expected to be at least $20 million and possibly higher. State and federal officials are in agreement with ODOT that a long-term fix is needed to prevent ongoing emergency expenditures.”

Transforming the north slope of the Mount Hood into a destination resort, bringing money, jobs, and a general “value increase” to the area could, theoretically, offset the cost to state taxpayers. But a recent report by EcoNorthwest, an economic consulting service, claims that although it is difficult to determine the value of a forest lands that have been protected from logging and development compared to forests which already have commercial price tags attached to them, old growth can still provide quantifiable, long term economic benefits. [more]

Gorge adventure

Guest writer and book connoisseur Cynthia Christensen of The Book Stop in Hood River hosts sports writer Christian Knight this First Friday.

Those who can, do. Those who won’t, read about it. Not exactly the old adage, but whether you are an outdoor enthusiast or, like me, prefer your adventures on the written page, Christian Knight's new book Out There: An Adventure Guide to the Gorge is a fun and personalized view of the people, places, and things to do in the Columbia River Gorge.

While it’s true that there are dozens of hiking and outdoor guides about the Columbia Gorge and Mt. Hood areas, Knight's book is unique because of his personal take on each and every activity. He has gone on every hike, pulled himself up every climbing crag, and jumped feet first into every hidden swimming hole. Fused into each entry, he chronicles the adventures of our local daredevils and trail blazers, many of them his good friends. Nothing livens up a camping site listing like a story of a bunch of rough guys learning how some judicious "snuggling" will keep group of campers warm (I read that story twice!) [more]

Pain, Guilt, and Snow

Hood River woke Sunday morning to a dreamy white wonderland; the little hamlet was blanketed in a thick, fluffy cocoon of the year’s first snow. “Ahhh…how pretty,” was my first thought. “Damn…the road is still closed,” was my second. But, dutifully, my husband and I bundled up the kids and marched them outdoors for a morning of “fresh air,” a welcome change to the weeks of incessant rain.

Try as we might, though, all the snowballs, snowmen, and snowforts weren’t making up for the fact that under normal circumstances we would already have two or three runs down South Canyon under our belts and be set to catch Cascade Express for some serious mountain appreciation. All that beautiful snow was just a glum reminder that millions of cubic yards of glacial debris lie between us and our beloved Mt. Hood Meadows (beloved in the sense that we have already purchased season passes for a family of four.)

And reading the papers ( The Hood River News’s gloom and doom, hell-hath-no-fury like Mother Nature in the Northwest piece or The Oregonian’s spirited bid at the next big Discovery Channel special) certainly weren’t helping to lift my mood. So I logged on and went straight to Mount Hood Meadows COO Dave Riley’s uber-optimistic but always informative blog and I have just one question…Has everyone seen the complete list of resorts that are offering free lift tickets and discounted lift tickets to all Mt. Hood Meadows season pass holders?

Well, as the song goes, “If you can’t love the one that you want... [more]

We're here for the kids! (honest)

Several years ago I read (in a ‘top ten best places to live’ list in some glossy, outdoorsy mag or another) that status in Hood River was determined “by the size of the rack on the top of your Subaru.” The implication was that Gorge folks are both obsessive adventure junkies and spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing our adventures. …

Well, the same is true for our kids. Many people move to the area expressly to raise a family (that was my excuse.) Not only do Gorge children live large and play hard in the outdoors, but there are dozens of youth appropriate entertainment and cultural events available every month. The only problem was that our region, divided as it is between two states and comprising several distinct townships, lacked a unified source of information and event listings.

Web designer Dee Holzman saw a need for a family oriented, Gorge-wide information clearing house and in 2000 launched the gorgekids.com website. I interviewed Dee about her hugely successful, ongoing project which is probably the most recognizable regional online community in the Gorge... [more]

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