Draft versions of the revised statewide wildfire hazard and wildland-urban interface maps has been made available to the public for review and comment on Oregon State University’s Wildfire Risk Explorer website.
Continue Reading
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued an air quality advisory Wednesday “until further notice” for Deschutes and Crook counties and all or part of several other counties due to smoke from the wildfires burning across the state. The list includes: Grant County Wheeler County Crook County Deschutes County Southern Umatilla County Southern Morrow County Klamath County
Continue Reading
Deschutes County residents can expect ‘intermittent smoke’ PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued an air quality advisory Monday for several areas around the state, including Crook County, due to smoke from wildfires. The areas include: Baker Grant Wheeler Crook Union Southern Morrow Southern Umatilla Klamath Eastern Douglas Jackson Josephine Northern
Continue Reading
The Bureau of Land Management plans next month to gather 760 wild horses in the South Steens Herd Management Area in southeast Oregon, with use of a helicopter. But some wild horse advocates are upset and critical of the process and questioning why they are done in this manner.
Continue Reading
SEATTLE (KTVZ) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday the general competition selection of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to receive a $197,181,796 Climate Pollution Reduction Grant. Oregon is among 25 selected applications to receive $4.3 billion in funding to implement community-driven solutions that tackle the climate crisis, reduce air pollution, advance environmental justice, and accelerate America’s
Continue Reading
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Communities that have been systemically marginalized continue to bear the brunt of extreme climate effects such as wildfires, drought and heat waves, according to a new Oregon Health Authority report. But the agency says opportunities abound for building resilience against future disasters. Publication of the OHA Public Health Division’s annual Climate and
Continue Reading
Oregonians have until Monday, July 22 to submit comments on the implementation of new environmental restrictions for the state’s largest farms.
Continue Reading
CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Forest scientists at Oregon State University studying tree regeneration have found that wildfire smoke comes with an unexpected benefit: It has a cooling capacity that can make life easier for vulnerable seedlings. An OSU College of Forestry collaboration led by faculty research assistant Amanda Brackett made the discovery while working to
Continue Reading
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The City of Bend said Friday it wants to inform the community that it has a three-stage water curtailment plan that water customers may need to participate in if there’s ever a water shortage. But they also stressed: This is NOT an alert and the city is NOT currently in any stage of
Continue Reading
CORVALLIS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Crews later this month will begin installing the power and data cables that are essential to completing construction of a new wave energy testing facility off the Oregon Coast. The cables will support Oregon State University’s PacWave South, the first pre-permitted, utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in the United States. When
Continue Reading
Deschutes County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to begin negotiations with Hooker Creek to purchase the Moon Pit site east of Bend for the county’s next landfill – but also dove back into several concerns they say must be resolved before the deal currently valued at $15 million is a done deal.
Continue Reading
Central Oregon wildlife hospital Think Wild said Tuesday it’s rehabilitating two orphaned North American river otter pups after a park ranger found them alone and in need of medical care in Cove Palisades State Park last week.
Continue Reading
WASHINGTON (KTVZ) – Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced Monday the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is awarding $299,973 to the Crooked River Water Quality Partnership, in collaboration with the Deschutes River Conservancy, through its WaterSMART Cooperative Watershed Management Program. This federal funding will be used to formalize the Partnership, identify priority projects and develop project
Continue Reading
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — The City of Bend is offering a new way to explore Newport Avenue with the Stormwater Walking Tour. An outdoor exhibit of interpretive signs will take guests on a self-paced walking tour of the historic corridor to give a glimpse into what is above and below ground. The tour highlights stormwater system
Continue Reading
Gov. Tina Kotek has ordered state agencies to develop a water testing plan and have an independent analysis performed as residents of over 40 Prineville-area homes claim a nearby gravel mine has caused high levels of dangerous manganese in their drinking water.
Continue Reading
Associated Press To save the imperiled spotted owl from potential extinction, U.S. wildlife officials are embracing a contentious plan to deploy trained shooters into dense West Coast forests to kill almost a half-million barred owls that are crowding out their cousins. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service strategy released Wednesday is meant to prop up
Continue Reading
A week ago, the Darlene 3 wildfire broke out on public lands near the community of La Pine. “Fortunately, decades of land treatments performed by the Bureau of Land Management helped stop the fire in its tracks,” the agency said Tuesday.
Continue Reading
PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) — A hundred imperiled northern leopard frogs will be hopping back into the wild soon, thanks to a recovery program at the Oregon Zoo. The rapidly growing tadpoles were brought to the zoo as eggs earlier this spring by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Their development is right on track so
Continue Reading
PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Health Authority and partner organizations are mailing more drinking water test strips to Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area (LUBGWMA) households and urging them to find out if their well water is exposing them to high levels of nitrate. The LUBGWMA is an area spanning northern Morrow County and northwestern Umatilla
Continue Reading
Sixth straight year for county, which was rejected in its initial request earlier this year WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announced Thursday that she has declared a drought in Jefferson County through Executive Order 24-08 and directed state agencies to coordinate and prioritize assistance to the region, granting a request initially denied by
Continue Reading