NEWS BRIEFS
Since its inception 10 years ago, NEST
has found hundreds of red tree voles in
areas slated for logging and has saved
thousands of acres of forest across Oregon.
To maintain the future of its program,
NEST is holding a fundraiser to support
the costs of a summer of surveys and for
volunteers’ gear. NEST has currently
raised $640; the group hopes to raise
$2,000 by the end of summer.
To find out more about NEST or to
donate, go to www.nestcascadia.wordpress.
com and use the Paypal account or
contribute through Indiegogo and receive
gifts ranging from forest-themed hoodies
to patches.
NEST also appreciates donations of
camping and climbing gear and welcomes
volunteers. A wish list can be found on the
organization’s website. — Kendall Fields
WILL GOV
OK WILDLIFE
KILL FUNDS?
A so-called Wildlife Conservation
Fund is actually a wildlife-killing fund,
according to Eugene-based Predator
Defense and conservation group Oregon
Wild. HB 3636 was passed unanimously
by the Oregon House and by the Senate,
and it awaits Gov. John Kitzhaber’s
signature. The bill would create a
voluntary fund for killing predators,
including wolves and “fur-bearing
mammals.” Oregon’s population of less
than 20 gray wolves is state endangered
species listed. Wolves in the western two-
thirds of Oregon are also federally
protected.
If Kitzhaber signs the bill into law, the
fund would allow people applying for a
license, tag or permit from the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW)
to make a voluntary contribution for
predatory animal control within the
counties that the license allows for the
person to hunt.
This means the money will go to
killing endangered gray wolves, as well
as to lethally controlling bear, beaver,
raccoons and foxes, among others. Sally
Mackler of Predator Defense calls the bill
“reckless” and says, “The state is spending
a tremendous amount of money on killing
wildlife.” Mackler says the amount of
money the state spends on killing
predators has doubled in the last biennium
to about $840,000, but predators are
responsible for very few livestock deaths.
Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild says that
rather than kill endangered wolves, “the
state is required to conserve the species.”
He says HB 3636 was “designed to fly
under the radar” and slipped through
unnoticed in the last days of the legislative
session. Klavins says that it “hijacks the
hunting license system.” He points out
that Oregon’s 17 or so wolves already
face 28 active landowner kill permits.
A recent study in the journal
Science says that humans’ destruction of
top or apex predators like wolves causes
previously unknown reverberations
including changes in the landscape,
increases in wildfires, pandemics and
ecosystem shifts. The study called killing
predators “humankind’s most pervasive
influence on the natural world.”
The study gives as an example that
when wolves returned to Yellowstone
National Park it benefited creekside trees,
and that without predators to kill deer, the
populations explode with consequences
such as more deer ticks to spread Lyme
disease to humans.
Oregon Wild and Predator Defense are
calling on Kitzhaber to veto the bill.
Kitzhaber’s press secretary Christine
Miles says, “The governor will review
HB 3636 before making any decision on
the bill.” — Camilla Mortensen
INTERFAITH
PEACE WALK
IN EUGENE
Monks from the Nipponzan Myohoji
Buddhist Temple on Bainbridge Island
will be leading a Interfaith Peace Walk
beginning in Eugene Thursday, July 21,
and ending Aug. 9 at the Trident Nuclear
submarine base at Bangor, Wash.
With the theme “For a Nuclear Free
Future in Respect for Mother Earth,” the
walk serves as a reminder of the critical
dangers presented by nuclear weapons
and Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
power plant and other nuclear
installations.
The Eugene events will begin with an
8:30 am welcome and opening ceremony
at the Japanese American Memorial
Garden, Willamette and 6th, followed by
a daylong walk through Eugene. The day
will end with a 5:30 pm community
potluck and program at First United
Methodist Church, 1376 Olive.
The monks invite all who believe in
nonviolence to join all or part of the
walk as they drum, chant and offer
prayers. Each step the walkers take will
be a prayer towards world peace and a
nuclear free future.
The local hosts are WAND, CALC,
Japanese American Association and
Eugene Friends Meeting. For more
information contact Susan Cundiff of
WAND at 683-1350 or scundiff@riousa.
com
Looking ahead, a Hiroshima-
Nagasaki-Fukashima Commemoration
will be from 7 to 9:30 pm Saturday, Aug.
6, at Alton Baker Park’s small shelter,
located near the duck pond. A community
potluck begins at 7 pm followed by an 8
pm program featuring Japanese Koto
music, Taiko drumming, Obon dancing,
origami making and a call to action by
Mayor Kitty Piercy. The event will close
at dusk with the floating of candle
lanterns on the duck pond while Koto
master Mitsuki Dazai plays traditional
Japanese music. The ceremony honors
those who died when the U.S. dropped
nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. The event is free but donations
can be made to benefit Japanese tsunami
survivors.
Contact Michael Carrigan of CALC
at 485-1755 or calcpeace@efn.org for
more information.
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
slant
• Conservatives lambasted moderate county commissioners when they were
forced to cut jail beds and sheriff patrols last year due to budget realities.
But this year, now that conservatives are in control of the County Commission
during nearly identical cuts due to the same realities, the silence is deafening.
Where are all the outraged R-G editorials? Where are the angry outbursts from
the district attorney, sheriff’s deputies, Tea Partiers and judges? Where’s the
retaliatory lawsuit funded by a timber baron?
• The Register-Guard used the new 4J superintendent’s higher salary to
make the school district look wasteful and irresponsible during the May
election for school funding. But after the income tax for schools that the R-G
opposed was defeated, well, never mind. The paper reports now that the new
super’s total salary package is about the same as the old superintendent.
• File under “I told you so” the recent revelation that backers of the proposed
Jordan Cove LNG import terminal in Coos Bay are considering converting
the project into an export terminal. When the enviros at Western Environmental
Law Center and other conservation groups first predicted that Oregon’s
proposed LNG import terminals would be flipped for export, they were called
conspiracy theorists. Turns out their conspiracy theories were right and Jordan
Cove is angling to export. The Coos Bay terminal has already received
conditional approval from federal energy regulators. The project is much more
than a terminal, it’s also gas pipelines across public and private lands and
under pristine rivers. Thanks to nasty new technology like hydraulic fracking,
the U.S. is producing more and more natural gas. Does Oregon want to be the
hub that ships dangerous liquid gas around the world? Check out EW’s story on
LNG in our archives from May 27, 2010, as well as a recent piece on the export
issue in The Oregonian http://wkly.ws/12z
• The Lane County Historical Museum could use a little help with an
upcoming exhibit, “Weird & Wonderful: Lane County Highlights and Footnotes.”
Mary Dole from the museum says she needs three or four movie theater seats
and an older tea cart. The museum is hoping to borrow the items for a year, or
buy them on a limited budget. Give her a call at 682-4242 or go to www.
lanecountyhistoricalsociety.org
• Sleazy journalists? Publisher gets a pie in the face? What’s the world
coming to? Well, corrupt journalists have been plying their trade for as long as
newspapers have been in circulation, just as there have always been sleazy
bankers, priests, doctors, lawyers and maybe even bakers and candlestick
makers. For better or worse, every organization over time becomes a reflection
of the people at the very top. Rupert Murdoch ruthlessly built his media empire
not with the intent of informing the public and making the world a better place,
but rather to feed his greed for money and power. Some satisfaction can be
found in watching him squirm, along with all the people in high places who went
along with his corrupt tactics. Of course he feigns surprise that people on his
payroll have done anything unethical. As above, so below.
• One of our favorite home-grown environmental organizations is BRING
Recycling, and the nonprofit’s 40th anniversary party is Sunday in Glenwood.
See you there? More info in Activist Alert this week and mark your calendars
for the third Annual Home & Garden Tour Sunday, Sept. 18.
• Some great new local music can be found on our Next Big Thing website
(www.nextbigthingeugene.com). Last time we checked there were 53 original
songs. Think you can do better or just want to get your music out there?
Deadline to submit songs is July 25. The top 16 artists or bands will be invited
to play in the semi-finals at the Lane County Fair Aug. 18-20, and the top two
will play at the Eugene Celebration. Winning band gets $500, free recording
sessions, paid gigs and a lot of love.
EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 21, 2011 9