Oregon Solutions convened eight counties across the state to develop locally-based approaches to reduce the number of Oregon children in foster care by 20 percent by 2011. The project was spurred in part by a grant from the Casey Foundation, with an emphasis on creating alternatives to foster care and addressing equity issues. The Oregon … Read more
The Oregon Solutions Animal By-Products project explored economically viable, environmentally benign and socially acceptable options for processing the organic residues of slaughtering offal, other meat-based residues, and on-farm animal mortality into marketable products. The project pursued options that captured by-product value through energy production and nutrient recycling in addition to traditional rendering products.
Oregon has actively worked to become a national and international leader in wave energy. Since approximately 2005, stakeholders and state and federal agencies have been working to understand the impacts and the regulatory processes required for developing this industry in Oregon. To advance the efforts in the state, the Oregon Innovation Council recommended that the … Read more
Wallowa Resources, a non-profit in Enterprise, has been assisting local mills in Wallowa County to process timber from small diameter trees as part of an effort to improve forest health in the region. Wallowa Resources was created by the community of Wallowa County as a non-profit organization to provide leadership in sustainability by promoting community, … Read more
Hands on Lands is a community partnership bridging natural resource management and human resource development in order to revitalize and sustain the culture and landscape of a working community. Large-scale management and maintenance was needed on the public lands within Wallowa County. The condition of these lands affects the environment, economy, and public safety of … Read more
This project brought together diverse partners from the community, government agencies, and nonprofits to support a landscape-scale National Environmental Policy Act process targeting the eastern portion of the Emigrant Ranger District. This project took place within a larger effort to forge consensus for the future management of Eastern Oregon’s forests, driven by the desire to … Read more
Increased housing development and recreational use in the small town of Mosier, located within the Columbia River Gorge, has put additional pressure on local infrastructure, including the quaint downtown. Since 1990, the town has almost doubled in size to 460 people. Residents and visitors alike want a safe, attractive, and functional downtown. In 2008, an … Read more
The Oregon Sustainability Board designated seven Sustainable Schools projects, including the Prairie City Sustainable School project. Prairie City School, a K-12 facility located in rural Grant County, has undertaken a sustainable beautification effort in combination with a larger community revitalization effort in Prairie City. In a rural community such as Prairie City, the local school … Read more
The Christmas Valley back-scatter site consists of 2,622 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land withdrawn for use by the US Air Force to provide national security information during the cold war. The site was made obsolete by satellite technology and was scheduled to return to BLM management in September 2009. It is surrounded … Read more
Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a combination of wildfire fuel accumulation, droughts, and extreme weather conditions caused wildfire in Central Oregon to strike with more destructive power than in decades past. At the same time, the region began experiencing rapid rural development, putting more people and property in the path of wildfire, … Read more