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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 2011)
Wall to Wall City Cycling Gear Bicycle packs, racks, baskets, bells, lights, fenders, rain gear, saddles, helmets, locks, reflectives, tires, tubes, mirrors, pumps, storage hooks, tools, Xtracycles… One stop urban cycling ease! 2705 Willamette Ê-ÌÊUÊx{£°{n{°x{£ä qÀÊ££qÇ]Ê->ÌÊ£äqÈ NEWS BRIEFS Drs. Mike Huntington and Paul Hochfield and others will be there to answer questions about federal legislation and how it affects Oregon efforts to create a statewide public option to private health insurance. See cover story in EW archives Sept. 23, 2010. EWEB ENERGY OPINIONS? In Eugene everyone has an opinion on alternative energy. One timber company’s renewable resource is another conservation group’s looming environmental disaster. If hydropower intrigues you or biomass is burning you up, Eugene Water and Electric Board wants your input. EWEB is looking for aspiring advisors from diverse perspectives for a community panel that will guide the utility as it “plans how to meet the area’s future energy needs.” The utility says it’s facing potential climate change legislation, instability in the prices of fuel, the economic recession and limits on the ability to finance new generation projects, and the puzzle of how to integrate the increasing and variable amount of wind energy into our regional electric grid. EWEB wants to “take into account the environmental, social and economic impacts of the different resource choices,” while at the same time minimizing risks as it acquires new energy and delivers power. To be considered for the panel, submit a brief letter by Feb. 18 that describes why you’d want to participate and any relevant experience or perspectives. Mail to 500 E. 4th Ave., Eugene 97401, or email to ierp@ eweb.org. For more information, go to www. eweb.org/2011ierp — Camilla Mortensen lighten up We know that House Speaker John Boehner cries in public and that he smokes. What we don’t know is where he goes to get his face bronzed. — Rafael Aldave, Eugene IT’S ABOUT TIME BY DAVID WAGNER BUDS OF OREGON ASH , F BIGLEAF MAPLE AND ebruary marks the quickening SCOULER ' S WILLOW of spring in the Willamette Valley. Although Equinox doesn’t occur until next month, buds are bursting and flowers appear on the osoberry and willows. Snow drops, violets and crocuses become plentiful in town gardens while grouse flower, goldthread, and spring beauty decorate the woodlands. The woodland floor in the valley gallery forests is erumpent with bright green leaves of snake root, meadow rue, nettle and larkspur. The most common wind-pollinated trees — hazelnut, alder and cottonwood — distribute their genes in yellow dust invisible to the eye, if not to the sinus membranes of the allergy prone. Feb. 3 was Chinese New Year, the beginning of the Year of the Rabbit. There is only one native rabbit in the Willamette Valley, the brush rabbit. It is secretive and seldom seen except by those who walk quietly in recent clearcuts or brushy areas at the edge of forests. Its breeding season begins in mid-February, the young born naked and blind in nests four weeks after mating. The snowshoe hare (not a rabbit) tends to live in deeper, conifer forests. It also feeds mainly at night. Young hares are born with hair and with eyes open. Walking down urban streets, the developing spears of moss capsules glisten orange on a sunny day. The young capsules of the largest mosses have more nutrients than any other part of the plants and are most digestible when spores are still immature. Mice will graze on them, leaving behind a miniature thicket of beheaded stalks. David Wagner is a botanist and writer who lives in Eugene. The Canada geese drawing is from his 2011 Willamette Valley Nature Calendar, available at Down to Earth Home and Garden Store and the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History. LANE COUNTY SPRAY SCHEDULE Near Lorane: Terry Goracke (998-2748) will roadside spray with Roundup herbicide near Bear and Farman Creeks near Lorane in Sections 23 and 26 of Township 19 South, Range 5 West starting immediately (Notice No. 2010-781-00167 C). Near Indian Creek: Roseburg Resources (935-2307) will ground spray with 2,4-D, Triclopyr Ester and Amine, Imazapyr, Glyphosate, Sulfometuron Methyl and Metsulfuron Methyl plus oil on 3 miles of roadside starting immediately (No. 2010-781-00572 C). Call Delos Devine at ODF in Florence at 997-8713. Compiled by Jan Wroncy, Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332, www.forestlanddwellers.org 8 FEBRUARY 10, 2011 EUGENE WEEKLY WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
