And thanks to Alexandre Baretich, the
Cascadia bioregion has a flag. Baretich says
he designed the flag during the academ-
ic year of 1994-95 while a grad student in
Eastern Europe, homesick for the Willa-
mette Valley where he grew up. Known as
the Doug Flag for the lone Douglas fir tree
in its midst, the flag has a bar of blue at the
top to represent the sky as well as the Pacif-
ic Ocean, Salish Sea and inland waters. The
white middle bar is the snow and clouds,
and the green is forests and fields of the Pa-
cific Northwest.
The flag grew out of Baretich’s need for
an icon — the word meme wasn’t getting
used yet — to help shift people’s conscious-
ness from a human-centered approach to the
environment, which leads to development
harming nature, to a life-centered approach
in which humans are part of nature. “It’s a
landscape painting on fabric,” he says, “an
abstract landscape painting with a realistic
silhouette.”
The flag, which Baretich put into the cre-
ative commons for free use, has taken off.
It can be seen flying at Portland Timbers
soccer games and, weirdly enough, can be
purchased as a sticker from Walmart. Bar-
etich put two key restrictions on its use: It
cannot be used for hate or for exploitation.
For more on Cascadia and the flag, go to
freecascadia.org. — Camilla Mortensen
BE S T E U G E N E D R I V E
T H AT S H O W S O F F O R EG ON
IN A W E E K E N D
Drive out to John Day, camp in the Cascades, drive to the coast.
When rainy season hits Oregon, I lose all possibility of getting my mainly
Florida-based family to come for a visit. Why hang out in dreary Oregon when
they can lure me to the Sunshine State’s sandy beaches? But I have found one
road and hiking trip that does the trick, although it is best to do it when it’s
not dumping rain. My usual prescription is to start early and load up on road
snacks, grab the dogs and whatever family member or friend I’m trying to
persuade to see me more often, and then head out Highway 126.
First stops are Sahalie and Koosah falls and Tamolitch Pool. The first offers
spectacular falls with zero effort beyond getting out of the car; the second is
a generally easy hike with a spectacular blue pool as its highlight (Blue Pool
is also a commonly used name for Tamolitch). For the hotel-oriented, you can
grab a room in Bend or Sisters, but I usually camp somewhere just over the
Cascades. My friends and relations not used to the great outdoors prefer that I
take them to a spot with a potty, such as Indian Ford Campground, just outside
Sisters.
Grab breakfast in Sisters, then head out Route 26 for the two-hour drive
to the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument where the glorious colors
of the Painted Hills Unit never fail to induce awe. Since I’m trying to pack
everything into a weekend, after hanging out a couple hours, I drag my visitors
back into the car and head back to the Cascades. In the summer when Hwy.
242 is open, we take the scenic route back. At Lava Lake campground you can
do a couple-hour loop hike that takes you out to, and a short ways down, the
Pacific Crest Trail (a bucket list hike for my parents). You can either camp at
Lava Lake or head back onto Hwy. 126 and stop in at Belknap Hot Springs
for a hot soak in their pools and either a super-easy camp spot or a hotel room
(they have dog-friendly rooms).
Get up in the morning, and start driving. (Did I mention this is a road
trip? The truly fit and intrepid could probably bike it.) Take 126 back into
Eugene-Springfield, stop for lunch downtown, and then head out through the
Coast Range to Oregon’s colder than Florida but oh so glorious sandy, moun-
tainous coast. There you can stay the night at one of the many campgrounds or
hotels, or drive back into Eugene for dinner in the Whit.
The vistas that Oregon has to offer are amazing, but somehow the juxtapo-
sition of the dry eastside, the green mountains and the grey and often stormy
coast all in one weekend heightens all of the beauty. My parents still only visit
about once a year, but this weekend of outdoor beauty got at least one Florida
friend to move to the Pacific Northwest. — Camilla Mortensen
450 Willamette St.
Everyday 7:30am-3:30pm
541-687-0709
morninggloryeugene.com
A not-for-profit 12 story
apartment building for low
income seniors. Located
across the street from LTD
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• 1 bedroom/1 bath
• Paid Utilities
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• Social Service Coordinator
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Completed Fall 2016
1133 Olive St ∙ 541-683-3247
PHOTO: TODD COOPER
eugeneweekly.com • December 28, 2017
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