WILDERNESS UPDATE
By Robbin Schindele.
Happy Holidays everyone, may all the best come to you and yours during this joyous time of year. There’s plenty of snow at Crater Lake as this webcam photo shows. Take the family up there for a fun day of snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, or to enjoy the beauty and crisp clean air. If you do go, make sure to check the Park website for any road closures and weather conditions.
The Wilderness Committee has been busy these past few weeks doing some housekeeping and planning for the coming year. A recent highlight is Bob Hoehne’s letter to the News Review in support of Senator Wyden’s River Democracy Act. The letter expresses his strong support for the Act and presents a call to action for locals to get involved by asking our senators to push for the Act to be passed by Congress. If you missed it in the newspaper, you can find the link on the Watersheds’ Facebook page.
On December 5th, wilderness committee member Diana Pace put on a seminar about how to become a forest defender. The d
ual in-person and Zoom event instructed people on how to effectively communicate with decision-makers and public land managers regarding old forest protection. It incorporated a section on how to write a letter to the editor and to decision-makers, along with a section on the definition of old forests and their importance to our environment and our communities. You too can become a forest defender by watching the video of the seminar posted on the Watersheds’ website.
The committee will be working in December on enlisting new business endorsers for the Crater Lake Wilderness proposal. Business endorsers are important to our federal legislators because they want to see that we have support from business as well as individuals. We have purged our list and currently have 84 businesses signed on and we’d like to reach 100 by the end of the year. So, if you have a business and haven’t signed up yet, please do. Just send an email to me at robbin@umpquawatersheds.org and I’ll be in touch with you. There is no cost or obligation, and it will help a lot.
As for the coming year, we plan to continue our grassroots efforts at the Umpqua Farmers Market and other events and festivals in the land of the Umpqua. We’re also in the early stages of developing a new wilderness-centric radio show for KQUA. Initial plans have us broadcasting the half-hour show twice a month. Watch out for it!
Finally, if you’re in search of a last-minute gift or stocking stuffer drop by the Watersheds office and pick up a Wilderness T-shirt. Their sales help support our efforts.
That’s about it for this issue. Watch for updates in the monthly email newsletter and on the watersheds’ Facebook page. As I said in the beginning, have a great holiday season, stay warm and safe and we’ll see you next year.
