medford

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is scheduled to visit Oregon this weekend.  Senator Jeff Merkley said he’s asked the Secretary for some time to come to the state and talk about important investments in tourism.   “To discuss public recreation on public lands, which, we have these extraordinary lands that are in our collective ownership.  And we want to make sure...

“It’s definitely been a bad year for bear damage," said Michelle Dennehy, with Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildlife, of last week’s incidents  In Bend, a cub was spotted in a neighborhood Wednesday.  It was tranquilized inside the city’...

The Oregon Department of Forestry announced Tuesday it had given $100,000 to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest for restoration work following a fire in the Big Butte Spring watershed. ODF said the Snowy Butte Forest Restoration Project will reduce catastrophic wildfire risk on 20,000 acres in the area that contains the year-round source of drinking water for Medford and surrounding communi

Scott Kelley says 2020 was a very difficult year for SW Oregon wineries and grape growers. But he was quick to point out how optimistic he is about the future. If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekmedia... Read More ...

Pear Bureau Northwest unveiled the organization’s newly elected officers Thursday morning.  The new officers were elected during the pear industry meetings in Portland in late May.  Mike Taylor of Wenatchee was selected board chair, with Scott Martinez from Medford elected 1st Vice Chair.  In addition, ...

Pear Bureau Northwest is out with its first fresh pear crop estimate for the 2019-20 season across Washington and Oregon.  And growers from Central Washington, northern Oregon and the Medford area anticipate harvesting 17.3 million 44 pound boxes this season, which comes out to 380,000 tons.  Th...

Concerns about smoke taint from this year’s wildfires could prove to be very expensive for some Oregon grape growers.  A California wine company has canceled contracts to purchase at least 2,000 tons of wine grapes from Southern Oregon growers because of concern over smoke contamination from wildfires.   Capital Press reports Coppe...

For the first time in two years, an Extreme Drought designation has been declared in the Northwest.  The latest USDA numbers have roughly 6% of Oregon under the D3, or Extreme Category.  The impacted area is north of Crater Lake east of Medford.  Most of...

Bees are enjoying their days in the sun on a clean energy farm in southern Oregon.  The Eagle Point solar farm outside of Medford is the largest "solar apiary" in the country, incorporating designs that benefit pollinators.  The solar farm is home to 48 bee colonies interspersed among solar panels, which are generating enough energy to power more than 21-hundreds homes annually.  Rob Dav