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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 2012)
COUNTY VOTES ON LOGGING ASSOCIATION Logging on Oregon’s O&C lands has been a source of controversy for years, with some arguing that the trees should be cut to generate funding for Lane and other historically timber-based counties, and others saying the days of chopping down the ecosystem to pay for county services need to end. This week, the Lane County Board of Commissioners will discuss, and possibly vote on, whether it should give the pro- logging Association of O&C Counties the authority to represent Lane if a Lane County representative isn’t available as the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) begins a new planning effort for managing the O&C lands. According to Commissioner Faye Stewart, a board conservative from a longtime timber family, the MOU (memorandum of understanding) gives “Lane County cooperator status in the planning process.” He says the same MOU was used in the Western Oregon Plan Revision (WOPR) planning process. Stewart is Lane County’s representative to the AOCC. In its 2007 WOPR comments, the AOCC argued that the public’s O&C lands should be used for generating timber, not preserving wildlife, such as endangered species, or old-growth trees. Lane County pays $37,000 a year in dues to the AOCC, according to Commissioner Rob Handy. Oregon Wild argued successfully to the board in 2009 that it should stop paying those dues, but the decision was later overturned. Doug Heiken of Oregon Wild says, “It’s a shame that Lane County will align itself with the radical pro- logging agenda of the Association of O&C Counties — even worse that the board will continue to send scarce public money to this group that does nothing but try to log our forests, pollute our water and ruin our quality of life.” He adds, “Citizens will have to work overtime to make sure the public voice is heard clearly. We want our forests and watersheds protected so they can recover from decades of abusive clearcutting.” Commissioner Handy says materials related to the possible Wednesday, Aug. 1, vote on giving the AOCC representation for Lane County were not posted with the online agenda until July 31, a day before the meeting. He says this is a result of a two-tiered communication system at the county that deliberately includes the conservative board majority and the county administrator and excludes the other two commissioners. Handy says, “We need a collaborative and grassroots efforts alternative developed for the BLM’s O&C lands, something that I am confident can come out of the scoping process that the BLM is currently embarking on.” He says to do this “we must soundly reject the ill- conceived idea to privatize public lands for further pirating of our natural resources and a sustainable economy, jobs for locals and revenue streams for public services.” — Camilla Mortensen PHOTO COURTESY NOAH WEMPLE Sustainable farming on Cougar Mountain JAMMING FOR SUSTAINABILITY Cougar Mountain Farm is holding its seventh annual farm benefit, the Tayberry Jam, Aug. 3-5, to help fund advancements toward the farm’s development of a sustainable living center to further empower what has become its very own sustainable living movement. “After 30 years of homesteading here,” farm-owner Noah Wemple says, “we came to the realization through a lot of different ways that a permaculture sustainable living center that would teach about homesteading and off-the-grid living is a calling that is needed in the world today.” The Tayberry Jam with its speakers and musical acts is a means to fundraise to build upon this proposed learning center. The Jam is designed to get people thinking about living closer to the earth, Wemple says. “We see that there is a need in the world today for more educational models that serve as knowledge and inspiration for sustainable living,” he says. Models abound at Cougar Mountain: For the Jam itself, compost produced by the festival is recycled and the kitchen and showers run on solar power. And that’s just the icing; the farm itself is a running example of sustenance farming, 2 miles off the grid. There are two solar powered wells, five solar installations for power and a microhydro, which happening people derives power from water. The Wemples implemented four “meaningful ponds,” meaning there’s always plenty of water around for fire suppression, erosion control, wildlife and irrigation. Jam-goers can also take in the 1,000-tree apple orchard, watched over by a red-tailed hawk at his treetop post. With the apples they’re growing, along with funds raised by the festival, Wemple hopes to implement a farm winery-cidery to further help support the farm’s growing ambition to develop the learning center. In addition to the music lineup, the Jam also features several speakers. There’s Marisha Auerbach, who will talk about permaculture design, Newt Locum will cover solar hot water and Solarize Eugene, and Gary Higbe will speak on renewable energy and the Energy Trust of Oregon. Wemple will speak about Noah’s Ark Sustainable Living Center, he says, “and how we hope to impact the greater community with knowledge and inspiration about homesteading off the grid with renewable energy and organic farming strategies for soil fertility.” “We are in the mecca of sustainable living knowledge,” Wemple says. And the Tayberry is one of the ways he and his family propagate that knowledge. This weekend’s musical acts include Sol Seed, Sleep Rehearsal and Abstract Rude. For more information, visit http://cougarmountainfarm. com — Stacey M. Hollis BY PAUL NEEVEL JODIE ST. CLAIR & TIFFANY KETTEL Albuquerque native Jodie St. Clair began violin lessons at age 9. “I got serious when I was 14,” she says. “I played in the Albuquerque Youth Symphony. I started teaching at 16.” A violin performance major at Northern Arizona University, she trained in the Suzuki teaching method, modeled on language learning. “Young children listen to music, then learn to ‘speak’ on the instrument,” she explains. “They learn to read later on.” After graduation in 2005, St. Clair moved to Eugene to continue her Suzuki training. She also continued to teach, and early in 2009 she opened the Eugene Suzuki Music Academy at 170 W. 12th Ave. “I love being downtown, close to the library,” she says. “My goal is to create community through music.” Later in 2009, she married writer Anthony St. Clair, a Virginia transplant. Last fall, with ESMA prospering and her son Conner to be born in January, it was time to find a second teacher. “I took over the entire studio for winter term,” says Tiffany Kettel, who was also a full-time grad student. “It was crazy.” Home-schooled through high school in Gadston, Ala., Kettel started teaching violin at 15. She majored in music at University of Alabama, moved to Portland on a whim, discovered Suzuki and came to Eugene to study. “I love to be as busy as possible,” says Kettel, an active musician who plays in both a medieval music ensemble and a punk rock band. LIGHTEN UP After watching Romney stumble from one gaffe to another on two continents, don’t you get the feeling that here’s a guy who could screw up an all-day picnic? BY R A FA E L A L DAV E 6 AUGUST 2, 2012 EUGENE WEEKLY WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
