March 11th, 2025

There are cracks forming in the wall of the administration’s cruel & chaotic shredding of our federal agencies and workforce. People are shaking off bewilderment and are taking to the streets!

(50501 Protest at Eugene City Hall March 4, 2025. Photos courtesy of Robert Scherle.)
350 Eugene pushes for strong climate policy & action at the local and state level. Our campaigns focus on clean energy for buildings and forest protection. But we also need Democracy. So we’re carving out time to hit the streets to grow Big Tent Resistance! We know you are too.


You can find local pop-up protests on the Mobilize Us website, which includes events organized by Indivisible Eugene-Springfield. (Bookmark it!) We’ll see you there!

Action

The Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), first landscape scale conservation plan of its kind in the world, is under review by the US Forest Service. They are accepting public comments through March 17th. 
The three alternative proposals in their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) are poised to double or triple logging on our public lands. The “trade off” is that their proposals will now include long overdue Tribal Knowledge and good fire. This is a bad deal.
Here’s a one minute video to see what’s at stake.

We’re joining Climate-Forest campaigners across the nation to submit MASSIVE NUMBERS of public comments right up through March 17th. The climate emergency calls for urgently protecting our national forests right now. Natural forests are the best natural climate solution we have!
DID YOU KNOW? Forest-lovers can submit more than one comment, making different points. Use the US Forest Service NWFP Public Comment portal here to express your disapproval of ANY INCREASED LOGGING ON PUBLIC LANDS and to retain Tribal Sovereignty aspects.
If you’d like to get fired up before writing, check out the excellent talking points in the Pacific Northwest Forest Climate Alliance toolkit.
It’s kind of amazing that the administration is allowing the public process to proceed… but since they are… LET'S BLOW THEIR MINDS WITH MASSIVE COMMENTS!
Go to the USFS comment portal now and give them a piece of your mind!

Thanks for Showing Up

The turnout for our Northwest Forest Plan Commenting Workshop last week exceeded expectations! Thanks to our presenters, our host at Drop Bear Brewery and ALL OF YOU who came and listened and submitted heartfelt, personal comments. The Raging Grannies (here’s their NWFP song) and Mardi Gras King Cakes were a big hit too! Great photos from Robert Scherle.

(Photos credit to Robert Scherle)
​

                               WHO WILL SPEAK FOR THE FORESTS? WE WILL!
                                     STREET MESSAGING FOR THE PEOPLE
When: Thursday, March 13th and Friday the 21st, 2:00-3:30 pm (March 21st is International Day of Forests)
Where: Along West 18th Ave, east of the Bi-Mart parking lot next to Westmoreland Park
We’ll animate the beautiful tree signs and other banners & props we painted with forest climate messages and engage passersby.
Meet up on the south side of 18th at the corner of the Bi-Mart parking lot just before 2 pm. Bring a lawn chair if you like to sit down. Everything is provided. Fresh air & friendly conversation. We hope you can join us! (On Friday, March 21st, we’ll adjourn to Hey Neighbor! Pizza at 19th & Jefferson. The pizza is on us!)
NORTHWEST FOREST PLAN - PUBLIC COMMENTS DUE BY MARCH 17TH



STATE POLICY
There is a lot happening in the Oregon legislature this session. With super majorities in both our House and the Senate now is the time for action! We are so fortunate to be able to live in a state that is working to make real change to protect our environment and move us into a safe future.
In our last newsletter we offered links to easily submit public testimony. Here are a few of the bills we feel are very important right now:

• HB3336 - Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETS): Improves the grid software and hardware;
• HB 3628 - Oregon Electric Transmission Authority: Facilitates public/private partnerships and enables the state to move forward coordinating all of our utilities;
• HB3546 POWER Act - Action Guide for Organizations (Protecting Oregonians With

Energy Responsibility Act or POWER), which would protect rate payers from the cost of data centers’ demand on our grid.

• Microgrids - These bills will help keep power locally, enabling microgrid development: HB 2064, HB 2065, HB 2066.

Please get on Oregon Legislative Information System, where you can choose the Citizen Engagement tab and find out when to take action! Thank you.
Watch this space for future Special Legislation Action Alerts.

April is Earth Month
​Save the Dates

The wood pellet industry produces more CO2 than coal, devastates forest ecosystems, creates a public health disaster wherever pellets are produced, and is a false climate solution. It’s time to Break Big Biomass!


Join us on the National Call to Action to Break Big Biomass webinar on Monday, April 7, at 5:00 pm PST.


This 90-minute webinar on World Health Day will show you the growing threat to community health and give you clear guidance and important actions
Register with the EventBright link here. (Note: the webinar time reflects Eastern Standard Time at 8:00 pm but we’ll tune in at 5:00 pm.)
Burning forests as fuel in power plants is not a climate solution. Learn about the forest, community health, and pollution hazards of biomass happening under the guise of clean energy. Let’s take action to break big biomass! Register here.



Sunday, April 13th from 2 to 6:00 pm - Eugene’s Reimagine Earth Day at Farmers Market Pavillion. We hope you’ll join 350 Eugene artists and help animate our special display!
Wednesday, April 23rd at 6:30 pm at the Art House, the film “The Jungle”, unraveling centuries of greed and exploitation in America’s meat industry; co-sponsored with Food & Water Watch.

There's More

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: Friday, March 21st - Know Your Rights Training with the Civil Liberties Defense Center from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. Stay tuned for details

EUGENE SOS! - SAVE OUR SERVICES!
NO BALLOT REFERENDUM - DECLINE TO SIGN THE PETITION!
BALANCE EUGENE’S CITY BUDGET: The Fire Service Fee is one part of the solution to address the City’s structural budget gap that must be addressed this July.  Without the Fire Service Fee, the City must implement $11.5 million in budget cuts beginning in July 2025. (City website info here.)
WHERE ARE THE CUTS? Fire Department $4.5M, Police $7.2M, Library, Recreation & Cultural Services $3.2M, Public Works $500K, Planning and Development $2.5M and Central Services $2.6M. (Specifically includes Cahoots, Amazon Pool, Community Gardens, Animal Welfare, Neighborhood Associations and Community Centers.)
PROCESS: The City Manager held numerous briefings last year. The hearing on the fee was held at Eugene City Council on November 18, 2025 and passed on February 10, 2025. 
WHAT IS IT? Service fees are billed to persons who occupy or have use of developed property and are charged for services related to specific service delivery. The Fire Service Fee will pay for $8 million in fire services currently funded through the General Fund and will provide $2 million in funding for expanded fire services.
WHO PAYS? The Fire Service Fee is based upon building square footage with a rate of $10 per month for the median single-family home and $38 per month for the median commercial customer. That’s fair.
WHO’S AGAINST? The Chamber of Commerce’s office and officers are leading a ballot referendum effort to send the Fire Services Fee to voters in the fall next November in the fall next November. If the fee goes to the referendum the drastic cuts will start taking place this July. This effort is being cash-funded by only a small handful of individuals from the timber industry and property managers & developers. 
We still have a representative government, where the city staff does thorough research and lays out workable choices for our councilors to consider. After much discussion, the council APPROVED THIS FEE. It looks like just a few business owners are bankrolling out of town signature gatherers, who are misrepresenting the fee and confusing voters.
Their campaign is called “Voters Against Forever Fees...” More like: “Less Than A Dozen Business Owners Don’t Want to Pay Their Share to Keep Our Community Safe.”
Learn more & support the Decline To Sign the Petition campaign with your name here! Donate if you can. Let’s stop this end-run on our democracy in its tracks! Thank you!

Need a Restorative?

Bill McKibben on Climate Activism in the Age of Trump 2.0
Bill McKibben says Americans upset by the Trump administration’s gutting of U.S. climate efforts need to move beyond despair. In a recent interview he talks about rethinking the role of protest, the global push on clean energy, and why he sees reason for hope. (By Elizabeth Kolbert • March 3, 2025 with Yale Environment 360.)

                         Let’s get in the streets and show them who’s boss!