Sustainable Northwest lands grant to study juniper

Sustainable Northwest has secured a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research the structural characteristics of Western Juniper, which grows across wide swaths of Eastern Oregon. The grant for $64,990, from the U.S.D.A. Rural Development’s Rural Business Enteprise grant program, will help certify the value of Western Juniper for commercial uses…

Officials keep nervous watch on levees

The same railroad embankment that failed to stop the disastrous Vanport Flood of 1948 remains a weak link in Portland’s levee system designed to prevent floods. A new engineering assessment of the Columbia River levee system found four problem areas that don’t meet stiffer federal flood-protection standards enacted after Hurricane Katrina. The biggest one is … Read more