Suzanne Bonamici
If you care about nature and the climate, you must not only vote but also give both time and money during the 2024 election, which is already far along.
Read MoreAlong with the great danger of the Oregon US House delegation becoming worse on public lands issues, there are also great opportunities for it to be better.
Read MoreSea grasses, mangroves, and salt marshes along our coast “capture and hold” carbon, acting as something called a carbon sink. These coastal systems, though much smaller in size than the planet’s forests, sequester this carbon at a much faster rate, and can continue to do so for millions of years.
Read MoreFigure 1. Very rare in Oregon, the fisher (Martes pennanti) has been the victim of trapping and habitat loss. It needs dense, mature forests with a deciduous component. Source: Bruce Hayward (first appeared in Oregon Wild: Endangered Forest Wilderness [Timber Press 2004]).
Compared to its political equal Washington, arch-liberal California, arch-conservative Idaho, and politically purple Nevada, Oregon has the least designated wilderness acreage and the smallest percentage of the state’s lands protected as wilderness.
Read MoreWhen Representative Greg Walden (R-2nd-OR) hears “the Rogue,” he happily dreams of the roar of chainsaws. But now Walden is down and Representative Peter DeFazio (D-4th-OR) is up, and the stars have aligned to save the Wild Rogue. You can help.
Read MoreElections matter, and the 2018 midterm election mattered a lot.
Read MoreSeveral mostly good public lands conservation bills have been introduced in the 115th Congress (2017–18) but languish in committee, unable to get a vote on the floor of the House or the Senate.
Read MoreCurrently, less than 1 percent of Oregon streams, by mileage, are included in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. An estimated additional 10,000 miles (less than 3 percent of the total mileage) of Oregon streams are eligible for inclusion.
Read MoreAbstaining from mineral development offshore is the only way to protect the marine environment and the renewable resources that depend upon it.
Read MoreHowever, their cosponsoring a tundra wilderness bill in Alaska and a red rocks wilderness bill in Utah—at relatively large acreages of 1.6 and 9.1 million acres respectively—contrasts unfavorably with the Oregon congressional delegation’s efforts to conserve and restore Oregon’s green forests, tan deserts, and blue waters for the benefit of this and future generations.
Read MoreWho wouldn’t want “resilient” (“able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions”) forests? With the name Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017 (H.R.2936, 115th Congress), what could possibly be wrong with this bill?
Everything. Judge neither a book by its cover nor a bill by its name.
Introduced by Representative Bruce Westerman (R-4th-AR), the bill is the timber industry’s wet dream legislation. In only his second term in Congress, Westerman has received more campaign contributions from Big Timber than any other industry.
The Westerman bill would legislate horrifically harmful public forest policy into law.
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![Figure 1. Very rare in Oregon, the fisher (Martes pennanti) has been the victim of trapping and habitat loss. It needs dense, mature forests with a deciduous component. Source: Bruce Hayward (first appeared in Oregon Wild: Endangered Forest Wilderness [Timber Press 2004]).](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/573a143a746fb9ea3f1376e5/1623336465041-W3D0NPLFKZWHCR3VS8KI/12bFisher+copy.jpg)
