* This event has been RESCHEDULED! *
for Saturday April 23

Join Cascadia Wildlands and community members in the Thurston Hills near Springfield on Sat. April 23 at 9:30am for a community hike and celebration. The Thurston Hills Natural Area — a system of hiking and mountain biking trails maintained by Willamalane Park and Recreation — is directly adjacent to the closest Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands to Eugene/Springfield area.

For over four years, Cascadia Wildlands and partners waged grassroots organizing and legal campaigns to halt a reckless BLM logging project in the area, and we’ve won, twice. Come join us to hear stories, explore the area and celebrate our exciting win to keep this local forest intact!
 
Meet at the Thurston Hills Natural Area North Trail (LTD bus 11-Thurston) at 9:30 am for coffee/tea/snacks. We’ll leave for the hike by 10:00 am and get back around 2:00 pm.
 
Accessibility note: The majority of the hike will be on well-maintained hiking trails going up about 400 feet in elevation. A short portion of the hike will be off-trail when we visit the BLM area. Dogs and kids are welcome!

The post Hike Thurston Hills — Sat. April 23 first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Annie Mims Community Garden Dedication
Community Tabling | Free Gardening Supplies and Seeds | Community Hub and More!

Facebook Event Page

WHEN: Saturday, April 24th
TIME: 11am – 5pm
WHERE: Located on the property of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
255 Maxwell Rd. Eugene, OR 97404
COST: FREE and open to the public

The post Eugene Springfield NAACP’s Earth Week Celebration! — Sat. April 24th first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Of course, we couldn’t name them all as hundreds of businesses have had our backs over the years, and we are grateful to the incredible and deep business community that has supported Cascadia Wildlands since our inception. Share the love, wear a mask, and stay safe out there, friends!

In solidarity and for the wild,
—— Cascadia Wildlands

Tacovore: Everyone’s favorite walk-up counter came back from the COVID-19 knockdown with a vengeance for Cinco de Mayo by releasing margarita kits (you supply the tequila and triple sec) and their scrumptious handmade chips and salsa and guac. They are now open Thursday-Sunday 12 pm-8 pm for takeout so your carnitas torta or pescado taco wait is finally over. Ordering info here.

Opine Cellars/Agate Alley Bistro/Hey Neighbor! Pizza House: Fine wine lovers don’t despair. Opine Cellars has you covered so you can sip away the COVID-19 blues. Bottles can be purchased with your delectable takeout orders at Agate Alley Bistro (Agate Alley pinot noir and pinot gris) or across 19th Street at Hey Neighbor! Pizza House (Pizza House red and Pizza House white). This is one-stop shopping just south of Hayward Field.

Mountain Rose Herbs: Has there been a better time to become a soap maker, expand your spice rack or make your own tinctures? Secure all your bulk goods and natural body products from long-time business partner/champion Mountain Rose Herbs. Their website is full of DIY activities and recipes and will help fill any free time you may have during lockdown. Ordering info here.

Wicked Kind: Secure your award-winning ganja from any number of retail outlets around the state from these green thumbs based in Portland. Need a wicked attitude adjustment? Scoop up some of their Mac 1 or Alien Rock Candy then bag your favorite peak or stream that show you missed. These cherished nugs are not just grown, they are birthed from the loving loins of Gaia herself, perfect for fighting off this godforsaken pandemic. Varieties and purchase locations here.

WildCraft Cider Works: Your hard cider itch during the quarantine can be scratched down on the west side of Skinner’s Butte at WildCraft. Free shipping on $40 or more in bottle/case sales. Anticipate some exciting new releases with curbside pick-up and streamed live music events in late May, including Cascadia Wildlands-inspired Howlin’, a new concoction sure to get you howlin’ like a wolf outside your window at 8 pm. New releases and ordering info here.

Doak Creek Native Plant Nursery: Perhaps you have taken home a sword fern, red flowering current, or evergreen huckleberry centerpiece from a past Wonderland Auction. There is not a better place or nursery proprietor to secure your native plants for landscaping or land rehabilitation than Doak Creek Native Plant Nursery, tucked away in the Coast Range near the hamlet of Lorane. Open by appointment and local delivery available. Catalog of species and contact info here.

Ninkasi Brewing Company: Its recently opened Better Living Room restaurant in the historic Whiteaker neighborhood is open for mouthwatering takeout and unique pilot brews to go in 32 ounce crowlers. They are busy prepping for an on-site re-opening as restrictions ease with patio dining anticipated. If it is simply their flagship beer you are after, Ninkasi bottles and cans can be found inside grocers across the region. Try the recently released G.O.A.T. pack, a smorgasbord of IPAs, which includes the Juicy Domination Tropical that ups the citrus-hop ante. Ninkasi Better Living Room ordering info here.Blossom Barn Cidery: A unique new cidery with Cascadian roots, Blossom Barn specializes in dry pear ciders with fruit sourced from the family farm and other orchards in the Rogue Valley. Free local delivery to the Willamette and Rogue Valleys by calling/texting 541-514-2347. With your cider delivery you will likely also receive a virtual and irresistible teddy bear hug from the owners. More info on cider varieties and outside-the-Willamette-and-Rogue-Valleys shipping info can be found here.

River Jewelry: Engagements, anniversaries and other life milestones are still happening amidst the global health crisis. There is not a better place to secure your rings, pendants, studs and other fine jewelry than River Jewelry in downtown Corvallis. In addition to making fine pieces, the owner has dedicated his life to field checking public lands timber sales and climbing in the upper canopy of threatened forests looking for the elusive red tree voles to buffer the habitat from logging. Since the retail shop is currently closed, it is best to email owner Reed Wilson here to talk about your jewelry desires.

The Wheel Apizza Pub: This pizzeria/brewery by the tracks on the southwest side of Skinner’s hasn’t skipped much of a beat since the pandemic overtook the world. Call in your to-go orders of crippling New Haven-style pies (thin and naturally leavened crust with the perfect char), fresh salads and 32 oz. crowlers of house-brewed craft beer, like the not-to-be-missed, crisp Quest Pils. Added bonus is the Garcia or Trey licks pumping during pick up. Open M-W 4 pm-8 pm, Th-Sun 12 pm-9 pm. Ordering info here.

TJ’s Gardens: A regular sponsor of Cascadia Wildlands events, TJ’s has you covered as Eugene’s premier vertically integrated and community-minded cannabis company. They will deliver to your doorstep or you can head down to one of their three dispensaries in Eugene or find their product on shelves outside of town. These good folks initiated the Forrest Initiative, which serves the needs of underserved families by providing no-cost CBD oil for wellness. More information here.

Klink Cycles: Cars are curbed, the air is cleaner and bike transport has been through the roof during the lockdown, and there is not a better place to get set up or repaired than Klink Cycles out on River Road. These bike aficionados live, sleep and eat bikes and will take care of all your needs as your car takes a needed rest. Hours, location and more info here.

Thinking Tree Spirits: Craft spirits at their finest can be found down in the Whiteaker on Jackson Street. While picking up your bottles of Gifted Gin, Whiteaker Rum or Mainstage Vodka, scoop up a half gallon of hand sanitizer to help reduce the spread of the virus. These fine folks, who are in the midst of an on-site expansion, have been on the frontlines of the coronavirus battle by producing mass quantities of sanitizer to keep us safe. Drive-up hours are Monday-Friday 10 am-3 pm or visit the website for large bulk orders. More information here.

SugarTop Buddery: This Eugene-grown, mouthwatering cannabis can be found throughout dispensaries in Oregon, and prominently in the Eugene/Springfield area. A fixture at Cascadia Wildlands events, SugarTop is known for its boutique flower and variety packs of stubby bats tucked into a box, and passionate commitment to our community. Roll that stubby pack in your tee-shirt sleeve and you will be the coolest thing since a ‘50s greaser. More info here.

Falling Sky Deli: On May 1, Falling Sky busted through the troposphere and let it pour again by re-opening its deli on the edge of the Whiteaker neighborhood. Its mouthwatering, house-cured pastrami reubens and much of the deli’s classic menu are back as are family-style dinners, all through curbside takeout or delivery. Don’t forget a growler, crowler or bottles of their house-made craft beer with your order to really make it pour. Ordering and more info here.

Caddis Fly Shop: Spring has sprung and that means the bite is on on local rivers. And there really is no better place to socially distance than floating down or standing on the banks of the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers. Pick up all your fly gear through Caddis Fly’s online store or call in your order for curbside pickup. Check out the Caddis Fly blog too for informative tips, reports and how-tos. More info here.

Deep Woods Distillery: Got cabin fever during the COVID lockdown? Then get off your ass and head to the wilderness, mountain bike the trails, or check out the upper Middle Fork Willamette River southeast of town. As you pass through Oakridge, head to historic uptown, and stop off for some bottles of sin, like Fir of the Doug. Load with ice, mix with tonic, squeeze a lime, and let life’s worries flutter by like a butterfly. Best to call 541-968-4623 first and ask for a one-eyed pirate named Mick. More info here.

The post Support the Businesses Who Support Cascadia Wildlands! first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

No upcoming WildChats are scheduled at this time.
Check out the video recordings of past WildChats.

Consider joining our volunteer team, the WildCATs, for the opportunity to learn more as well as share your skills and knowledge with others too!

WildChats Calendar

Tuesday 5-6pm, dates as determined below

• T.B.D. Stay tuned for updates

Cascadia WildChats will bring unique content featuring hot topics in forest defense, fossil fuel resistance and threatened species protection.

We look forward to continuing to strengthen our community and grow our toolboxes as we navigate these difficult times together.

The Cascadia Action Team (aka WildCAT) is what we call all our volunteers. WildCATs help support our ongoing conservation campaigns through education, outreach, advocacy, and hands-on action.

* *In-Person meetings are canceled until further notice due to COVID-19. However, you can join us for online WildCAT Meetings on Zoom!
REGISTER HERE to be a WildCAT

The post WildChats with Cascadia! first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

This August, 30 Cascadians gathered together for a weekend in a backyard timber sale to learn about field checking for forest defense.

Cascadia Wildlands’ first ever Field Checking Basecamp brought together forest lovers from across the state for a weekend of field surveying, skill sharing, and community building in public lands slated for the cut. We explored hard to reach ridges, found stands of thriving old growth, stumbled across unmarked waterways, and even saw marbled murrelet fly through the forest canopy in the early morning light.

Field checking is the commonsense tactic of comparing what a logging proposal says on paper with what is actually happening on the ground. Essentially, we visit forests proposed for logging and see what’s there. Through our visits, we often find things that don’t appear in the two-dimensional world of paper and ink. We use the information gathered in the field to make substantive comments on logging projects, ensure that special places are protected, and, when necessary, litigate against irresponsible timber proposals.

Basecamp was hosted in the N126 timber sale, located in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) run public lands near Triangle Lake. The N126 sale is among the first of a new trend of “landscape” style management plans coming from the local Eugene/Springfield BLM office, where larger and larger areas are being placed on the chopping block and lumped under the same logging proposal. In fact, the N126 project area covers 33,000 acres of land, and spans multiple watersheds in the jurisdiction of two field offices (Siuslaw and Mary’s Peak).

Another unique aspect of the N126 timber sale is that it is proposes to do commercial logging within forest that has been designated as “Late-Successional Reserve” (LSR). The management of LSR land is supposed to focus on creating more “late-successional,” or old growth, forest habitat, which the BLM argues that logging in this forest will help do. In the purpose and needs statement for this timber sale, the BLM claims that, “Many of these stands are homogeneous single-story timber plantations and have low stand complexity or biological diversity.” They suggest that commercially logging the area will enhance stand complexity and provide more habitat for special species like the marbled murrelet and spotted owl.

We decided to host Basecamp in this timber sale because we wanted to see if what the BLM says about the forest there is true. Our goal was to see as much of this sale as possible, and to grow our ranks of volunteer field surveyors equipped with skills to help us learn about the forests that belong to all of us.

Basecamp kicked off with a training in the basics of field checking. We gathered around and discussed the background of the N126 timber sale, shared strategies for describing a forest stand, identifying indicator species, and measuring canopy cover. We all took turns estimating the slope of a nearby hill, measuring a neighboring giant Douglas Fir, and discussing what we might be looking for when exploring on the ground. When everyone was equipped with the basics, we split into groups — each led by an experienced WildCAT field checker — and headed out to explore the forest. With over thirty interested and eager volunteers, we were able to split off and cover ample ground over the course of the weekend.

Our findings varied across the thirteen units we surveyed. While some groups documented younger plantations next to matchstick forests, other groups found healthy complex forest stands, quietly flowing waterways with carpets of sword fern and salal, and even old growth habitat hiding deep within the sale.

At the end of each day, we shared our experiences exploring the timber sale with our groups, and we all learned that field checking makes for great storytelling. We laughed together as one group recounted their experience bushwhacking through huckleberry as high as their heads, praised another group that ascended a steep ridge to gain access to a worthwhile remote unit, and listened in awe as another recalled their discovery of a giant 82” cedar growing patiently in a patch of legacy forest. All in all, through our explorations it became clear that this area is anything but homogeneous.

Full days of field checking were followed by cleansing visits to the local swim spot before diving into late afternoon skills shares in navigation, herbal first aid, arboreal climbing, and botany. Throughout the weekend, participants not only gained useful skills, but each of us became a meaningful part of the community, playing a role toward our shared goal of protecting Cascadia’s forests. In the field, one person may be the note taker, another the navigator, someone else the plant expert, and another the storyteller at the end of the day. Each one of us came to the woods with something to offer, and like spokes in a wheel, each us formed a vital part of the whole.

Through our work at Basecamp, we were reminded that common cause is the root foundation of community, and working together makes our root system grow, link, and fortify.

In the end, we accomplished what we came to the forest to do—we gained valuable information about thirteen forest stands currently slated for commercial thinning, and we left Basecamp with a deeper understanding of the forest that we came to advocate for. But we also came away with much more. Each of us left Basecamp with new friends and a strong, scrappy community that can we can trust to work together for forest defense.

For me, this was the most powerful part of Basecamp — something I’ll carry home to fan future embers.

Now more than ever, communities should be working together to decide how to protect and defend healthy backyard forests. While management agencies increasingly rely on prediction and remote sensing technology to determine the location of healthy forest and suitable habitat, Cascadia Wildlands believes in the value of site-specific observations and really getting to know a place. Our explorations in the N126 timber sale over the Basecamp weekend proved just how much beauty, complexity, and life can be uncovered in just a square mile of public land.

Less than three percent of native forests remain in this country, and it’s up to us to protect what’s left.

The first step is getting outside and seeing what’s there.

The WildCATs — Cascadia Action Team — runs ongoing survey visits to nearby forests proposed for logging, and regular public trainings to teach field checking for forest defense. Come join us!

Check out our events listed on Facebook.

Join the WildCAT team and get involved in our forest defense work!

The post Report Back from Basecamp first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

Get updates from our ongoing campaigns, meet like minds and get involved in the action of educating, agitating and organizing to defend wild places.

Refreshments provided. All are welcome!

The post September WildCAT Volunteer Meeting — September 26th first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

THIS THURSDAY – September 6, 2018

We’ll be there from    6 – 8pm
Benefit runs all day    12 – 9pm

LOCATION: The Ninkasi Brewing Tasting Room, 272 Van Buren Street in Eugene’s historic Whiteaker neighborhood.

Click here for the Facebook event page.

Cascadia Wildlands staff and volunteers will be at our outreach table with the remainder of our 2018 merch with us. Come get that shirt or tank top you’ve been wanting! Pop by for a beer or two, grab some dinner at a local food cart, get yourself a tie-dyed wolf bandana while you can, and check in about our current conservation campaigns.

Pints Gone Wild! is an all-day “Pints For A Cause” benefit event at the Ninkasi Tasting Room where $1 of every pint sold there is generously donated to Cascadia Wildlands to support a wide range of the organization’s conservation work, including designating the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in the Oregon Coast Range, securing Gray Wolf recovery in the Pacific West, protecting wild salmon, and ensuring our public lands stay in public hands.

The event is ADA accessible, free, and open to the public.

The post Join Us for the Last Pints Event of 2018! — September 6 first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

WHEN: THIS THURSDAY, August 9, 2018
Music 6 – 7:30/8pm
Benefit runs all day 12 – 9pm

WHERE: The Ninkasi Brewing Tasting Room, located at 272 Van Buren Street in Eugene’s historic Whiteaker neighborhood.

Click here for the Facebook event page.

Local band The Dirty Dandelions will dazzle and delight with their new-time folkgrass sound; complete with banjo frailing, flatpickin, fiddle-stomping, washtub bass, and sweet three-part vocal harmonies. They’ll be playing original tunes that inspire social change as well as traditional favorites.

Cascadia Wildlands staff and volunteers will be at our outreach table with some of our sweet swag in hand. Pop by for a beer or two, grab some dinner at a local food cart, get yourself a tie-dyed wolf bandana while you can, and check in about our current conservation campaigns.

Pints Gone Wild! is an all-day “Pints For A Cause” benefit event at the Ninkasi Tasting Room where $1 of every pint sold there is generously donated to Cascadia Wildlands to support a wide range of the organization’s conservation work, including designating the Devil’s Staircase Wilderness in the Oregon Coast Range, securing Gray Wolf recovery in the Pacific West, protecting wild salmon, and ensuring our public lands stay in public hands.

The event is ADA accessible, free, and open to the public.

The post Join Us Thursday for Music & Beer! — August 9, 2018 first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.

As Cascadia Wildlands’ summer legal interns, we had the opportunity to table at the 17th annual Northwest String Summit! Overall, the weekend was a great success! We were able to listen to some incredibly talented musicians, paint the faces of some really enthusiastic kiddos, and most importantly, talk to interested members of the public about local environmental topics that matter to them.

It was great to talk to and engage with the public on topics that we have been working on directly this summer. Attendees expressed particular interest in the status of wolf populations in Oregon, the LNG pipeline proposal, and the denial of the marbled murrelet’s proposed endangered status. Everyone who visited our table shared their passions related to these topics and wanted to know what direct actions they could take to help. We had many people sign up to receive Cascadia Wildlands action alerts and learn about WildCAT volunteer opportunities. Seeing first hand how passionate people are about protecting our environment was powerful and encouraging.

We probably painted the faces of almost 100 kiddos, turning them into their favorite animal. Without a doubt, the most popular request was the grey wolf. Unfortunately, we had a few requests that were outside our skill level – such as a narwhal and “a cat that turns into a wolf at midnight”. We painted everything from bobcats and bumblebees, to rainbow peacocks!

While talking to some fun-loving folks and painting faces, we had the privilege to listen to some incredibly talented musicians including Yonder Mountain String Band, Leftover Salmon, Greensky Bluegrass, Mandolin Orange, Fruition, Railroad Earth, and so many more. The sun shined all weekend and we made it back to Eugene covered in dust, with smiles on our faces, ready to get back to work.

We want to thank the organizers of Northwest String Summit for putting together such a special event and allowing us to come talk to people about the critical work Cascadia Wildlands is engaged in. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth to check it out. We really enjoyed getting to chat with each of you!

The post Strummin’ it at Northwest String Summit first appeared on Cascadia Wildlands.