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My Page: Joseph Friedrichs

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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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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]

Oregon On The Campaign Trail

Update: The Clinton office will actually be located at 117 NW Oregon Street downtown. Tuesday's open house will begin at 8 p.m.

Both the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns opened field offices in Bend this week, with the doors for each post opening less than a day apart.

Obama’s office opened Monday with an open house and potluck at his Central Oregon headquarters located at 373 NE Greenwood (just across 3rd Street). Clinton’s office is set to open Tuesday at 6 p.m. at its location of 2146 NE 4th Street (behind Wagner Mall). The two offices are separated by less than a mile.

These are the first official campaign offices in Central Oregon for each of the Democratic presidential contenders. Volunteers and staff at the offices will work both city streets and local telephone numbers campaigning for their candidate.
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More parking, trails and toilets

A popular location for outdoor-recreation activities in Central Oregon will undergo a series of changes in the next couple of years, including several that will require alterations to the landscape.

The Virginia Meissner Sno Park, located about 20 miles from Bend, has been a subject of controversy for several years. Each winter the park receives more traffic from snowshoers and cross-country skiers than the year before, with vehicles often filling the lot on weekends and holidays. As a result, forest officials from the Bend Fort-Rock District announced that the sno park will triple its parking spaces from 60 to 180, construct nearly 8 miles of new trails, erect a warming shelter, clear trees for better staging and warm-up areas, build new toilet facilities and provide an information kiosk. The initial estimated cost for the project is $140,000.

Not everyone is excited about the upcoming changes. Some local residents have spoken against additional construction in the park at public meetings. Vandals have painted harsh comments in nearby wilderness areas and sent anonymous letters to local papers against proponents of developing the park. [more]

It's Raining Trout In Salem

The fishing was so splendid in Oregon last week that fish were falling from the sky. Literally.

A construction crew in Salem was working on a rooftop when a 10-inch rainbow trout fell from the heavens and landed at their feet. Although the crew was confused out of their minds when the fish initially hit the roof, they eventually located a bald eagle flying overhead that likely had dropped its lunch.

The Statesman Journal reports that Memo Lopez was working on the rooftop when the trout arrived.

"I don't know. I thought like maybe it was a rat or something like that," Lopez said. [more]

Obama Video From Local Musician

Following part of national trend, numerous Bend musicians, organizations and, well, simply creative people have starting using Youtube on the Internet to voice a political message.

Sunday’s Bend Bulletin reports on several of the Bendites featured on the Web site. Included in the pack is local musician Joe Leonardi’s song about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The video features Leodnari singing at a variety of locations in Central Oregon. It also boasts some footage of the crew down at The Source, as well the folks at Devours food store.

The Bulletin article also mentions several videos on Youtube dedicated to Juniper Acres, a controversial subdivision about 25 miles south of Prineville.

It’s great to see Central Oregonians using the Internet as a platform for creative energy. Too often the masses, particularly when it comes to politics, choose to only talk with negative undertones.
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Locals Not Feeling The Love

Despite a 164-inch base at West Village Lodge and 525 inches of snowfall this year in the Central-Oregon Cascades, Mt. Bachelor’s top executive spent Tuesday suggesting plans to restore faith in local customers’ opinions about the mountain.

“My commitment to the mountain is 100 percent,” Matt Janney said, as reported by the Bend Bulletin. “On a clear day when the summit is open, there isn’t a better place to ski in the U.S. But there are areas that we need to work on in order to realign ourselves with the community.”

This was Janney’s first winter as the head official at Mt. Bachelor and he readily admits that the mountain needs improvement. Included in the mess on the slopes are ongoing troubles with lifts and annual increases in season-pass prices. [more]

The Thin Line Between Sports And Politics

I feel like one of the reporters who broke the BALCO steroid scandal against Barry Bonds in telling you this, only because I’m not sure if this is political news or sports news, but here goes: Barack Obama’s brother-in-law was hired Monday as the new head basketball coach for Oregon State University.

Craig Robinson was introduced in Corvallis as the new head man for the Beavers. Robinson, 45, is leaving his coaching position at Brown to take over one of the toughest jobs in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Beavers have losing records in 16 of the past 17 seasons and failed to win a single conference game in 2008.

“We’ll be an extremely hard-nosed, well-coached, disciplined team that’s going to be fun to watch,” Robinson said, as reported by the Corvallis Gazette. “I guarantee you that. I told (the players) it’s going to be fun to play.

To which I can’t help but think, “Great. So how’s Barack holding up on the campaign trail?” [more]

Salmon News Along The Columbia

An effort to save salmon in the Columbia River Basin reached a historic agreement as four tribes and the government found common ground.

According to Oregonlive.com, federal officials will announce that they have agreed to pay up to $1 billion for habitat improvements on the Columbia River and its tributaries, in exchange for Northwest tribes backing off a major lawsuit and supporting dam operations for at least a decade.

The agreement will, at least temporarily, slow down a long-running feud between dam operators and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, a technical support and coordinating agency for three of the tribes in the agreeement.

However, because the agreement fails to meet many of the Commission’s previous demands, most specifically boosting water spills over dams for fish and the removal of Snake River dams, this is likely only another chapter in a fight dating back to the 1970s. [more]

Oregon Archeological News

Human remains discovered in an Oregon cave have been radiocarbon dated to about 14,300 years ago, pushing back the first known occupation of North America by more than a thousand years.

The Register Guard reports that the remains, found by Universtiy of Oregon Archaeologist Dennis Jenkins, offer the first hard evidence that humans found their way into the New World before the emergence of what is known as the Clovis people about 13,000 years ago.

Jenkins and his crew have been exploring caves here in Central Oregon since 2002.
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