From sadie.carney at state.or.us Fri May 24 15:54:36 2019 From: sadie.carney at state.or.us (Carney, Sadie) Date: Fri, 24 May 2019 22:54:36 +0000 Subject: [LandUse-News] Land Use News: May 24, 2019 Message-ID: Welcome to this roundup of the Land Use News! The Land Use News is an electronic news clipping service provided by the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD). Land Use News emphasizes local reporting, agency announcements and commentary on land use in Oregon and other states. The links to copyrighted news stories in Land Use News are not archived by DLCD, and the archiving policies of these sources vary. The stories, if available, reside on the site of the original news source. Please direct requests for archived stories, or permission to reprint them, to the original news source. Past Land Use News weekly e-mails may be found here: http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/pipermail/landuse-news Anyone may subscribe, unsubscribe, or change their subscription to the free service by visiting this site: http://listsmart.osl.state.or.us/mailman/listinfo/landuse-news. ________________________________ Small farms, large aspirations Capital Press Oregon had 34,807 small farms in 2017, or about 92% of all farms statewide. In Washington, the total is 32,016 small farms, or 88%, and in Idaho it is 22,044 small farms, also 88%. The number of small farms as measured by acreage also increased between the 2012 and 2017, census figures show. The biggest gains were farms between 1 and 10 acres, which in Oregon jumped from 9,119 to 12,536, in Washington from 10,559 to 11,523 and in Idaho from 4,861 to 6,673. Oregon Restricts Solar Development On Prime Farmland OPB News "It's kind of a controversial issue because we want to protect our ag land," said David Nemarnik, who owns the 34-acre Alloro Vineyard near Sherwood. "Yet I understand we have to have places to build these solar panels." Nemarnik has a 54-kilowatt solar array on his fence line that provides all the electricity he needs for his farm. But that doesn't mean he wants to see commercial solar farms on the land surrounding him in the Willamette Valley. "The valley is prime farmland - the best soil in the world," he said. "Burning that up for solar panels may not be the best decision." Inside The Oregon Wildfire Council Jefferson Public Radio There were some complaints about the formation of the Oregon Wildfire Council, ordered by Governor Kate Brown. The complaints generally held that Oregon's recent wildfires demanded more robust action than some kind of committee. But Ashland State Representative Pam Marsh is glad to be on the council, looking for appropriate actions to curtail the danger of wildfire and smoke. Eastern Oregon development bills make headway Capital Press Ten counties in Eastern Oregon could each slate up to 10 sites totaling 50 acres for "industrial and other employment uses" outside UGBs under Senate Bill 2, which passed the House 53-5 on May 17 after clearing the Senate in February. Representatives from Eastern Oregon praised the bill for allowing greater land use flexibility in a part of the state that's often lagged behind in economic development. Both sides claim victory in Port Westward land ruling Longview Daily News The Port of Columbia County wants to rezone 837 acres at Port Westward, and last year it got approval from the Columbia County commissioners. Riverkeeper challenged that approval on nine legal points. In December LUBA rejected eight of those arguments, but it agreed with Riverkeeper on one of them: That the county failed to demonstrate that the industrial uses would be compatible with adjacent uses such as farming (such a finding is required under state law). Watersheds in southern Oregon provide areas to study wildfire impacts on water and habitat Ontario Argus Observer Streams in very southern Malheur and Harney counties are the focus of a study to determine the impacts of wildfire - specifically the 2012 Holloway fire, which burned through most of the watersheds in the southern border areas of the two counties. The area of primary focus includes the Trout Creek and Oregon Canyon mountain ranges and the Willow and Whitehorse watersheds in the Alvord Lake Subbasin, which have no outlets for the water to the ocean. Streams in those watersheds are occupied by Lahonton cutthroat trout, which are listed as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. North Coast Land Conservancy awarded $600000 toward Rainforest Reserve Seaside Signal A $600,000 grant awarded by the U.S. Forest Service Community Forest Grant Program moves North Coast Land Conservancy one step closer to conserving 3,500 acres of forest in the mountains above Oswald West State Park. NCLC is in the third year of a five-year campaign to acquire what it calls the Rainforest Reserve, which will conserve the high peaks and headwaters above Oswald West State Park and create an unbroken conservation corridor stretching from the summits of Onion, Angora, and other peaks to the nearshore ocean, already protected as part of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve. US Senate bill would preserve Painted Hills, spur economic activity Bend Bulletin A measure in Congress would create a 58,000-acre federal wilderness in the area around Sutton Mountain and the Painted Hills, in order to help boost economic development in Wheeler County. The bill, introduced by U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., aims to draw attention to the area for outdoor enthusiasts and also sets aside 2,000 acres of land for economic development, such as an RV park, an airstrip or search and rescue facilities. Groups oppose plan to kill ravens to save grouse in northeastern Oregon The Register-Guard Environmental advocates in Oregon have criticized a state plan to kill more than 1,000 ravens to help save the greater sage grouse, officials said. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife applied for permits in 2018 to kill up to 500 ravens per year over a three-year period to reduce the number preying upon greater sage grouse eggs, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Tuesday. Swarm of tremors rumble beneath Central Oregon Coast, could be precursor to the 'big one' KATU Experts are watching a swarm of tremors along the Pacific Northwest coast, which they say could one day be a precursor to the "big one." These tremors are tiny earthquakes that happen while tectonic plates slowly slip past each other. Most of the time they are too small for people to feel. "Those are just reminders. We don't know what they mean. They are reminders that we are in earthquake country, and they may be precursors to the 'big one,'" said Scott Burns, a geology professor at Portland State University. Restoring the Dunes, Saving the Marten Eugene Weekly After the marten was driven to the brink of extinction by clearcutting in Oregon and California, the same forces that are destroying the Oregon Dunes are providing habitat for the marten. This has created a conundrum for those trying to save the dunes and the species that reside in them. On May 9, the Forest Service began a 30-day comment period on an environmental assessment for the Oregon Dunes Restoration Project. The affected area includes Siuslaw National Forest, the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area and a portion of Bureau of Land Management land along the Pacific Coast from Baker Beach just south of Sea Lion Caves to Coos Bay. The Perfect Seattle Summer Will Be a Thing of the Past TheStranger.com For weeks at a time, the sky turns an apocalyptic shade of orange and breathing feels like you smoked a pack of Pall Malls and stuck your head in a wood-burning stove. It's not pleasant, and those of us in the largely un-air-conditioned Pacific Northwest are forced to choose between breathing in ash or shutting our windows and sweltering. Instead of feeling like paradise, Seattle starts to feel dirty and evil. With a record-breaking 239 fires in Western Washington in 2019 by the beginning of May, it's going to be a very dirty and evil summer. How to Use Zoning Laws to Reduce Pollution in Low-Income Communities Pacific Standard Environmental hazards like hazardous waste facilities, fossil fuel storage and transportation sites, and other polluting industrial facilities are disproportionally located in communities of color and low-income communities. But a new report from The New School's Tishman Environment and Design Center shows how tools to enact environmental justice can come from the toolbox of injustice. [cid:image002.jpg at 01D51248.FC6D8980] Sadie K Carney Policy Analyst & Communications Manager | Director's Office Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development 635 Capitol Street NE, Suite 150 | Salem, OR 97301-2540 Direct: 503-934-0036 | Cell: 503-383-6648 | Main: 503-373-0050 sadie.carney at state.or.us | www.oregon.gov/LCD -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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