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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (July 26, 2012)
biz beat NEWS BRIEFS JUMPING ON THE BAGWAGON In the ongoing debate over whether people are smart enough to learn to use reusable bags, the Eugene City Council will continue exploring a ban on single-use plastic bags in grocery stores at a public hearing Sept. 17. If this sounds familiar, Eugene postponed past discussions of a bag ban to see if a 2011 statewide ban would pass. It didn’t, and in the meantime individual cities including Portland and Corvallis have implemented local bans. Oregonians use approximately 1.7 billion single-use plastic bags per year, which is about 500 per person per year, according to Environment Oregon’s Sarah Higginbotham. “Eugene would be a leader to a statewide ban and remind people this is a smart, easy solution that helps the environment as well as cutting unnecessary costs to those already using reusable bags,” she says. There is a difference between a tax and a fee: One is avoidable and the other is not, according to City Councilor Alan Zelenka, and that’s why in a 7-1 vote council chose to move forward with the fee option, though that could change after the Sept. 17 public hearing. “The 5-cent fee is necessary for two reasons,” Zelenka says, “to avoid cost burden on businesses and give people incentive to bring reusable bags.” If the ordinance makes it past the public hearing and into city code, stores will have six months to a year to comply. The Northwest Grocery Association has supported other cities’ bans as well as the statewide effort because of the extra burden that recycling plastic bags places on grocery stores and recycling centers, where plastic bags cause machinery problems. The goal of this ban is an increase in reusable bags, not an increase in paper bags, according to Zelenka. “Grocers are committed to work on this community effort by giving away thousands of reusable bags in order to get this done,” he says. — Mike W. Davis The Wenaha pack’s new pups The grand opening of the Sweetwater Farm Stand at Centennial Dari Mart, 1243 Rainbow Drive in Springfield, was July 25. The mobile organic farm stand “brings farm fresh produce to the neighborhood convenience store,” according to Claire Syrett, the new manager of policy and advocacy initiatives at Lane Coalition for Healthy Active Youth. LCHA is one of the partners of this initiative, along with Willamette Farm & Food, Neighborhood Economic Development Corporation and Sweetwater Farm. The stand will be open from 4 to 6 pm every Wednesday through September. Seven new start-up businesses will pitch their entrepreneurial virtures at the Smartups Pub Talk from 5 to 8 pm Thursday, July 26, at the Oregon Electric Station, 27 E. 5th Ave. in Eugene. See eugenechamber.com for more information. The GreenLane Sustainable Business Network mixer will be from 5 to 7 pm Thursday, July 26, at Ninkasi Tasting Room patio at 272 Van Buren. See greenlane-sbn.org for more information. A new website www.siliconshire.org is providing an independent directory of technology enterprises in the Eugene-Springfield metro area. Tech businesses can be included for free in the directory. In a newsletter, Cale Bruckner, VP of technology at Concentric Sky, says the inspiration for the Silicon Shire project came to him as he was looking out an airplane window returning from a business meeting in San Francisco. “I thought to myself, I’ll take the Silicon Shire over the Silicon Valley any day of the week.” He says the natural greenery and beauty of the Willamette Valley reminded him of the Shire described in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books. Send Biz Beat items to editor@eugeneweekly.com with “Biz Beat” in the subject ACTIVIST ALERT PHOTO ODFW WOLF PUPS ADD TO OREGON PACKS Two of Oregon’s four known wolf packs, the Imnaha and the Wenaha pack, have each added four pups to the mix this year, bringing the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife count to approximately 37 confirmed wolves in Oregon, according to Josh Laughlin of Cascadia Wildlands. “And there’s likely more,” he says. On June 27, ODFW announced a lactating female was caught on camera in the Eagle Cap Wilderness and pups may be in that area, too. The pups were born thanks to a hold on a “kill order” on two wolves from the Imnaha pack, including the alpha male for allegedly killing livestock. The order to kill is on hold while the Oregon Court of Appeals considers an appeal from Cascadia Wildlands and other groups. “It’s an exciting yet challenging time for wolf recovery in Oregon,” Laughlin says. One challenge may include last year’s delisting of the gray wolf from federal protections offered by the Endangered Species Act. In spite of the delisting, Oregon’s wolves continue to receive state protections — for now. “One milestone we want to see for Oregon is all four packs be breeding pairs for three consecutive years,” Michelle Dennehy of ODFW says. “And when that occurs, we will be able to delist them from Oregon’s endangered species status.” To qualify as a breeding pair, she says, a wolf pack must have at least two pups survive through Dec. 31. 10 JULY 26, 2012 EUGENE WEEKLY Oregon has been “sanitized of wolves” for about 65 years, Laughlin says, after a governmental systematic extermination program took place to “make way for livestock production and to move manifest destiny west.” The last wolf in Oregon was killed in Umpqua National Forest in 1947, he says. Since the reintroduction of wolves to the states in 1995, they’ve migrated to historic ranges throughout the west. One wolf, known as OR-7, journeyed from Oregon’s east side down to California. Nevertheless, as Laughlin says, “The recovering population still faces poaching and vitriolic attitudes laced with deeply seeded myths.” Wolf OR-9 of the Imnaha pack was killed by a hunter in Idaho, where it’s legal to hunt the wolves. The hunter had an expired tag. “The question is not about whether or not Oregon is going to have wolves, but rather whether we can reduce the conflict as the wolf populations make their comeback,” says Laughlin. “Human tolerance is going to be key in defining gray wolf recovery here in the Pacific Northwest,” he says. “We have the ability to create a wildlife recovery success story.” For more information, visit http://wkly.ws/1b8 — Stacey M. Hollis • Breakfast at the Bridges begins from 7 to 9:30 am Friday, July 27, at the Greenway Bridge at Maurie Jacobs Park, across from the Valley River Center. The event will be every last Friday of the month through September. This summer series encourages walking and bicycling. Sponsored by Full City Coffee, Toby’s Foods and the city of Eugene. • State Rep. Phil Barnhart is hosting community meetings around the region. The next is at 6:30 pm Monday, July 30, at Sodaville City Hall, 30723 Sodaville Road in Lebanon; followed by 5 pm Tuesday, July 31, at Chief’s Restaurant, 91115 N. Willamette St. in Coburg. • A public forum about a project to improve Highway 99 and East Main Street in Cottage Grove will be 6:30 to 8 pm Tuesday, July 31, at the Riverside Community Church of God, 1255 South River Road in Cottage Grove. Cosponsored by the city of Cottage Grove and ODOT. Construction is planned for spring through summer of 2013. • A petition calling for Instant Runoff Elections (IRE) for Oregon is now available online at http://wkly.ws/1bt and is sponsored by MoveOn.org Civic Action. The completed petition will be delivered to the Oregon House, Senate and governor’s office. In IREs citizens vote for their first and second choices in candidate races. Some form of IRE is used in numerous countries around the world and in several U.S. cities including San Francisco, Oakland and Minneapolis. • The annual Hiroshima Nagasaki Memorial at Alton Baker Park will be at 7:30 pm Monday, Aug. 6, at Alton Baker Park, with a potluck at 6:30 pm and the Luminaria Float at 8:45 pm. • The annual Eugene/Springfield Pride Celebration will be from noon to 7 pm Saturday, Aug. 11, at Alton Baker Park. LANE COUNTY AREA SPRAY SCHEDULE • Weyerhaeuser, 744-4600, plans to aerially spray at least three units in the Coast Range totaling at least 173 acres with some combination of Accord XRT II, Polaris AC, Metcel VMF, Escort XP, Sulfomet Extra, Oust Extra, Sulfomet, Oust XP and additives MSO and non-ionic surfactant. See ODF notice 2012-781-00524. • Weyerhaeuser, 988-7502, plans to hack and squirt 31 acres with Imazapyr near Parsons Creek. See ODF notice 2012-771-00534. Weyerhaeuser, 744-4600, plans to aerially spray at least nine acres near Lorane. See ODF notice 2012-781-00525. • Weyerhaeuser plans to hack and squirt big leaf maples on a total of 788 acres in various areas of southeast Lane County with Polaris AC. See ODF notice 2012-771-00581. • Giustina Resources, 485-1500, plans to do aerial site prep on 76 acres near Dexter spraying Rodeo, Chopper, Escort and/or Oust and Dyne-amic. See ODF notice 2012- 771-00553. Compiled by Jan Wroncy, Forestland Dwellers: 342-8332, www.forestland- dwellers.org WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
