Kudos to the County Board of Commissioners! On June 23rd the Commission voted to create a code enforcement officer position. HRVRC has encouraged this move for years. The District Attorney has long made it known his office has no time to pursue nuisance, building or zoning code violations. Our hats are off to the Commission and particularly to Planning Director Mike Benedict for advocating long and hard for such a position.
HRVRC’s participation in the Hood River Collaborative Stewardship Crew (Stew Crew) continues. During our spring and summer field trips and meetings, the Stew Crew developed recommendations to the Hood River Ranger District for protecting and improving forest health in the Pollallie-Cooper planning area of the Mt. Hood National Forest. The complex nature of forest treatment issues is truly fascinating, but takes time to absorb. Our field trips provide an “on the ground” opportunity to assess different forest conditions and terrain, then various treatment options are discussed and recommendations formed during alternate meetings in Hood River. In the Pollallie-Cooper planning area we have focused on the reduction of fuel loading in fire-adapted plant areas in the Cooper Spur Wildland Urban interface, which is located in the East Fork of the Hood River watershed. This past summer the Stew Crew also applied for a grant from the National Forest Foundation to…
ODELL BOUNDARY SETTING NOW OFF THE TABLE In September, the Hood River County Board of Commissioners indefinitely postponed the state- mandated boundary setting process for the unincorporated community of Odell. The County started this effort back in 2013 with public meetings presenting three different boundary options. Local opposition quickly developed over the two largest proposals favored by the Commissioners because they converted far too much farmland to urban uses. Additionally, state agencies weighed in that the larger proposals failed to meet Oregon guidelines for boundary setting. This is at least the third attempt the county has made at setting an urban boundary for the community of Odell. While HRVRC was opposed to converting high-value farmland into development, we believe it would have been beneficial to our community for the County to complete the boundary setting process. Under state law, once an urban unincorporated boundary is set, the County has much…
THE HOOD RIVER HARVEST RIDE FORMALLY ENDS - BUT KEEP ON CYCLING! After five great years, our Hood River Harvest Ride has ended but the mapped routes we created are still available for all to enjoy. The Hood River News recently ran our farewell message. Harvest Ride is no more HR News Wed. Sept. 24, 2014 The Hood River Valley Resident Committee announced earlier this year that their annual Harvest Ride is now a thing of the past. After five successful years of organizing the scenic autumn road biking tour around the valley, HRVRC credited several reasons for discontinuing the event, which it hopes people will continue informally by following former courses and maps it has kept available on line (www.hrharvestride.com). HRVRC offered the following statement on its website as a farewell to the Harvest Ride. “We are fortunate to have held the Hood River Harvest Ride from 2009 until 2013…
HRVRC is proud to be a presenting Sponsor for Gorge Owned Sense of Place Lecture, an annual series that seeks to foster deeper understanding of and connection to our landscape and one another. THe 2013-2014 Sense of Place lecture series will be held at Columbia Center for the Arts, located at 215 Cascade Avenue in Hood River. all lectures will be held on the first Wednesday of each month from November 2013 to April 2014. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and lectures begin at 7 p.m. Plan to come early to mingle and enjoy a glass of beer or wine. Upcoming talks: April 2nd - A Nomad's Sense of Place: THe River and Sea Voyages of Amos Berg with Vince Welch