Blog

Calling the Salmon Home

Posted on by surova123

The dams on the Klamath River are coming down, and the process of restoring the river to its wild state has begun! https://youtu.be/Sos-jqLTpyo?si=gZPT-omOk_-SaIym

Last week (4/30/24), Courageous Conversations at RCC hosted a conversation about Klamath dam removal with featured speaker Annelia Hillman (Citizen, Yurok Tribe, Water Protector, Yurok Tribe Environmental Department/Food Sovereignty), along with panelists David West (Elder and Enrolled Member, Potawatomi Nation, Director Emeritus, Native American Studies – Southern Oregon University) and Dorothy Swain (Sustainable Rogue Valley and Adjunct Faculty RCC).

The conversation focused on the deep connective relationship between people and land, the history of Euro-American settlers in the region, and the decades-long process of grassroots organizing that finally led to this historic agreement.

There is so much to celebrate here. The Klamath River is a lifeline of the local ecosystem, accepting water from the forest, returning nutrients to the soil, participating in an intricate tapestry of innumerable connections that western science is only beginning to fathom. You may remember learning about a linear food chain in elementary school, which later got upgraded to a two-dimensional food web, which better represents ecosystem complexity but is still too simple. Mother Earth’s vast network of interdependence and mutuality cannot be reduced to a diagram on a single page.

Mother Earth is smarter than we are, and attempts to control her always seem to fail in the long run. When dams get clogged with silt or terrible fish die-offs happen, this is nature asserting herself and offering us a chance to restore right relationship.

You can watch the Courageous Conversations video here. https://youtu.be/NyTnh4loTGQ?si=F2AUnojb4w4M0-54

Additional Resources:
• Klamath River Renewal Corporation
• Klamath River Reach Prepped for Post Dam Removal Flows
• As work begins on the largest US dam removal project, tribes look to a future of growth
• 6 Things You Need To Know About The Klamath Dam Removals

An Oregon Story

Posted on by surova123

An Oregon Story is a gorgeous, well-researched, 83-minute documentary about Oregon’s visionaries who put so much love and labor into land-use planning and conservation practices that protect our beaches, farmland, and forests from urban sprawl and other inappropriate development. You can stream or download the video here. If you have any trouble, you can also click here to go directly to the movie.

Right now urban growth boundaries are at risk from Senate Bill 1537, an otherwise great bill to help build more housing for Oregonians. However, we do not need to expand urban growth boundaries to address the housing shortage. If you are inspired by the documentary and want to help protect our precious land from encroachment, please let your elected officials know. You will find a sample letter here with talking points that you can edit and send to your state legislators and Governor Kotek. Also check out this appeal from the filmmakers, as well as submitted testimony from Chris Hall (Water League) and Alan Journet (SOCAN) to the Senate Committee on Housing and Development.

Let’s keep Oregon beautiful!

Oregon’s Water Strategy

Posted on by surova123

Join us for a community conversation! Your input will help state agencies decide how to meet our water needs.

Event Date: Friday, June 23, 2023
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Event Address: Medford Public Library — 205 S Central Ave, Medford, OR 97501
Contact us at: (541) 415-8010 or chris@waterleague.org

Click here to register.

Community Conversation on Oregon’s Water Strategy

The Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) periodically updates its Integrated Water Resources Strategy. This is an OWRD sanctioned event for the Rogue Basin hosted by the Water Action Community. It’s your opportunity to gather with others and share your water vision. At this event, we’ll be discussing these questions: 

1)  What are your major water issues/concerns?

2) What are some ideas for solving these issues/ concerns?

3) How do you think decision makers in Oregon can better work with your community on water issues?

Please bring your appetite; food will be served 🙂

Climate Forests Rally June 26

Posted on by surova123

You are invited to join Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance, Illinois Valley Sierra Club, Williams Community Forest Project, Sustainable Rogue Valley, RCC Earth Club, and others on Monday, June 26 from noon to 2 pm at Alba Park in Medford for a rally and celebration in support of old growth and mature forests as climate solutions. There will be music, speakers, art, puppets, banners, and representatives from the offices of Senators Wyden and Merkley. Please join us for a fun event in support of our beloved forests!

For more information, contact info@williamscommunityforestproject.org.

Forest Defense Is Climate Defense!

Southern Oregon Water Summit

Posted on by surova123

This is a wonderful opportunity to engage with folks in our region who care about water. The first session on Sept. 21 was awesome, and there is still time to register for the remaining five sessions: Sept. 28, Oct. 12, Oct. 26, Nov. 9, Nov. 12. Sustainable Rogue Valley is a co-sponsor of this summit.

This web site has all of the remaining dates, times, and locations, as well as a recording of Session 1 on the website as well. Please join us for this important and inspirational gathering!

INVITATION to Fall ’22 Rogue Valley Water Solutions Summit

Southern Oregon Pachamama Alliance and our co-sponsoring organizations invite you to be a  participant in the Fall 2022 Rogue Valley Water Solutions Summit, a 6-session community exploration of our relationship with water in the Rogue Valley, next meeting Wednesday, September 28. 

REGISTER

Each session will include background materials to review ahead of time, guest panelists for Q&A, and breakout groups for public input on “What Could Be” — all aiming to create opportunities for the public to envision and share wholistic solutions that address issues and impacts related to water for Jackson and Josephine Counties.

Our first Zoom session highlighted the two major themes of this effort–nurturing an awareness and appreciation of water, at the same time we seek out solutions that support all the Valley’s communities. Meeting every other Wednesday, we started with…

Honoring Water 

REGISTRATION required

Here are the themes and dates for the next sessions:

(Zoom link to be sent the day prior to all registered)

Wed Sept 28, 6-8 pm  Flow and Fairness: Pipes, Projects & Possibilities (Domestic water)

Wed Oct 12     Channeling Better: Outcomes for Agriculture

Wed Oct 26   Veins of the Valley: Wetlands & Waterways

Wed Nov 9     The Catch Basin: Averting Floods, Fires and other Impacts

Sat  Nov 12    Where Do We Go from Here? (in-person summary & action planning)

Join us in dedicating this Water Summit in gratitude to Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim, the voice for water. 

There is no charge for participating in the Summit, but if you’d like to help with covering the costs, our DONATE button will take you to the donation page for Peace House (our fiscal agent).  

Visit the Water Solutions Summit webpage for a description of each session as well as access to the background materials (videos and articles) to review prior to Session #1, or go directly to REGISTER.

We connect with you in appreciation for water, 

Lauren, Lorraine, Cynthia, & Catie

Water Solutions Summit Team

Southern Oregon Pachamama Alliance

Contact:  541 530-8454

Email: info@SouthernOregonPachamama.org 

Together let us be “an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on the planet.”

Save the Trees at Whitehorse Park

Posted on by surova123

Here is the latest update from Alyssa about Whitehorse Park.

There will be a meeting on Monday April 25 at 9am at Anne Basker Auditorium amongst the County Commissioners and Planning Department covering decisions made at the meeting in February. The deadline for comment submission is TOMORROW, Wed. April 13 @ 5pm. I apologize for the immediacy and super short time line that you have to submit comments, but it is very important that you do so, please! The more public participation we can get to flood Commissioners with our concerns, the better. So please share this information with anyone else you might feel will submit something. Would also be wonderful for anyone that is available to attend the meeting in person on April 25th to speak.

You can follow the link below to view the notice sent by James Black from the Planning Department for more specific details.

Notice sent by James Black about Whitehorse Park

You can also follow the link to a sample letter from Alyssa for you to copy and paste to send in, but please attach your name, address, and any other concerns that you feel you would like to be submitted into the record as well. Send your comments to jblack@josephinecounty.gov and ask for confirmation that they were received. 

Sample Letter from Alyssa

And here is an excellent letter to the editor written by Mike Oxendine, a supporter from Talent.

Mike Oxendine’s Letter to the Editor (GP Courier) on 3/15/22

Save the Trees at Whitehorse Park

Posted on by surova123

The rally on Saturday, February 5 at Whitehorse Park in Grants Pass had a turnout of at least 50 people concerned about the Josephine County proposal to cut down over 300 mature, healthy trees to pave an area for RV hook-ups.

There will be a public hearing tomorrow night, February 7, at 6:00 pm at Anne Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass. If you are concerned about the fate of these trees, and the effect of their removal on the rest of the park ecosystem, please attend this meeting, either in person or remotely, or send your written comments in advance.

Come to the hearing on February 7 at 6:00 pm at Anne Basker Auditorium in Grants Pass, or participate by Zoom, or send written comments in advance.
The trees with blue markings are the ones proposed to be cut.
Save the Trees! Trees save us every day. Let’s take the opportunity to return the favor.
We can request a delayed decision to allow for full public participation in the decision-making process. We can request an ecological survey of the potential impacts of this decision.
Notice of Public Hearing
Zoom Info

RCC Bioswale Maintenance Event – Friday June 25, 10 am – noon

Posted on by Barb Allen

Friday, June 25, we will be mulching and pulling weeds at the RCC raingarden/bioswale from 10:00 am – noon. Chas will bring a truckload of mulch, and we will be joined by EARTH Club students. Plan to get your feet wet and your hands dirty — it should be great fun! Below you will find a map of the RCC Grants Pass campus showing the location of the bioswale near the Josephine Building.

Where the Horses Sing

Posted on by Barb Allen

WhereTheHorsesSingThis Article and Photo by Bear Guerra courtesy of Emergence Magazine

Where the Horses Sing
by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
“If we are to become partners with the Earth, living our shared journey, we have to once again speak the same language, listen with our senses attuned not just to the physical world but also to its inner dimension.”
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a writer and Sufi teacher whose work focuses on spiritual responsibility in our present time of transition. In this essay, Llewellyn witnesses a growing wasteland that parallels our increasing detachment from the reality that spirit and matter are united.

Recalling the deep knowledge of land and water that was once interwoven into the lives of all of our ancestors—and the ways in which Western civilization has marginalized those who continue to maintain this deep relationship—he seeks the threshold that could bring us back to the place where the land sings: to a deep ecology of consciousness that returns our awareness to a fully animate world.
OPEN ESSAY