Q2 Update
With the relaxing of covid restrictions the Wilderness committee is starting to roll at full speed.
We’ve continued our legislative postcard campaign at the Umpqua Valley Farmers market two Saturdays a month. Drop by and see us, sign some post cards supporting the Crater Lake Wilderness Proposal and we’ll mail them for you. Postcards go to Senators Weyden and Merkely and Rep Peter DeFazio.
In April we sponsored an online presentation on how to use LiDar imaging to navigate wilderness areas. is a method for determining ranges (variable distance) by targeting an object with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. Lidar can also be used to make digital 3-D representations of areas on the earth’s surface and ocean bottom, due to differences in laser return times, and by varying laser wavelengths. The event was well attended and enlightening. Tony Cannon was the presenter.
In late May Tony, Susan Applegate and myself presented an overview of the Crater Lake Wilderness proposal to members of the Many Rivers Chapter of the Oregon Sierra Club. There were also state officials in attendance. They wanted to learn more about the proposal and were very enthusiastic at our presentation’s conclusion. They recorded the event and sent it out to other members throughout the state to determine whether the Sierra Club Oregon wants to join us in promoting the proposal. It would be great to have them do so. Having such a prominent conservation organization as an active partner would add significant capacity to our efforts.
The committee is also working to rebrand the proposal. Oregon Wild was a strong partner in our coalition a number of years ago but has supplying promotion materials and a website. In the past couple years they have decided to focus on other projects like the River Democracy Act. Our Bob Hoehne is working with them on that project and is lobbying hard to get the South Umpqua River included as a wild and scenic waterway.
Consequently website is gone and the branding materials are no longer available to us so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to develop a brand presence with our own materials. We will be expanding the length of our section of the Umpqua Watersheds website with new more complete content and have updated our brochures. We have also created a new logo for the campaign and are producing promotional stickers, caps and T-shirts. They will be available at the Farmers Market and UW office in mid-June. Stop by and pick one up.
Here is the new logo.
The big news for this quarter comes from Tony and Susan, working with Erik Fernandez from Oregon Wild they have added two new areas to the proposal. The stunning and outstanding 1,200 acre Spring River section as well as the important and threatened 6,000 acre Steelhead Creek section. Kudos to them!
