New leadership within the Department of Agriculture, the US Forest Service, and the Willamette National Forest has brought with it new approaches to community engagement and collaboration. Meg Mitchell was appointed as Superintendent of the Willamette National Forest in August of 2009 and Cindy Glick was appointed as the Sweet Home District Ranger in March, … Read more
The Oregon Garden Foundation, with help from a grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, established a Sustainable Plant Research and Outreach Center (SPROut). SPROut is a partnership between the Oregon Garden Foundation, the Institute for Natural Resources, Oregon State University, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and a number of other public and private institutions. … Read more
In 2003, Governor Theodore Kulongoski launched, with the Governors of California and Washington, the West Coast Global Warming Initiative to address the issue of climate change and outline strategies and projects to curb greenhouse emissions. Reducing long duration idling at truck stops was identified as one effective measure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The Reduced … Read more
Changing consumer demand has created both new market opportunities for agricultural producers and evolving requirements for access to major markets. The Oregon Sustainable Agriculture Resource Center (OSARC) was established to draw together the education, information, and technical support needed by Oregon farmers and ranchers wishing to capture those opportunities and meet the requirements. This project … Read more
The Riverfront Park Restoration project was a significant component of the City of Milwaukie Downtown Plan. The project focused on helping restore two important Willamette River tributaries: Kellogg Creek and Johnson Creek. Restoration along part of a third tributary, Spring Creek, was also included in the plan with the provision of green space for walking, … Read more
The Cardwell Hill Regional Conservation Planning Strategy was a cooperative, voluntary approach to landscape-scale restoration and management that worked across the ownership boundaries of many participating landowners. It was based in the upper Marys River hills region, which is composed of a network of public and privately-owned parcels in an area of high biodiversity value. … Read more
This project proposed to strengthen the Lincoln City Farmers Market by the time the market re-opened in May 2009. It increased the amount of local food production and consumption by connecting producers with food outlets such as grocery stores, restaurants and institutions in Lincoln City. The initiative sought to improve the city’s farmers market and … Read more
The Lane County Clean Diesel project was born out of the need to establish a stable, reasonably-priced supply of ultra-low-sulfur diesel and biodiesel in Lane County, Oregon. The project was sponsored by Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority through a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, and was designated by Governor Ted Kulongoski as an Oregon … Read more
The Lane County Food Distribution project assisted Lane County schools, colleges, and hospitals in sourcing more food from local farms and distributors. Oregon Solutions brought farmers, distributors, nonprofits, and institutions together to increase the market for locally-produced food by overcoming barriers of aggregation, distribution, storage, and processing, and by building connections through the development of … Read more
The City of Eugene wanted water to flow once again through the Delta Ponds to the Willamette River. Decades of gravel extraction, flood management, and urbanization cut the Delta Ponds landscape into ponds severed from the river and diminished the area’s wildlife habitat. Oregon Solutions convened a team of government agencies, property owners, businesses, and … Read more