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
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