Think Oregon

Parks and gardens proposed for the riverbank.

Albina Rising

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PNW Businesses Rush to Aid in the Battle Against COVID-19

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Puppies in Prison

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Tetherow home

An architect and interior designer fashion a modern Tetherow home befitting the high desert

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Liberty Bell in Oregon

When the Liberty Bell Came to Oregon

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Oregon Granges continue to connect rural communities

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My Workspace: Saddle Up with Rod Retherford

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Festival Sustainability

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Portland Flood of 1894

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14 Things We Love About Oregon

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Curry Watersheds hosts an aquatic weeds workshop for natural resource professionals in the Rogue River estuary.

Curry Watersheds Partnership: Innovative Conservation in Oregon

In Curry County, a unique partnership combines an educational nonprofit with water-protector offices written by James Sinks | photography by Curry Watershed Partnership An unconventional collaboration is helping save fish, farmland and money on the South Coast. In each Oregon county, you’ll find at least one soil and water conservation district. Overseen by locally elected boards, the nonregula-tory entities oversee projects to protect irrigation water and the farms that help feed you. In addition, every Oregon county is home to at least one watershed council. Those councils convene scientists, industries, recreationists and others to preserve water quality and revive stream-dependent species, primarily salmon. Yet only in one county will you find a mash-up that corrals together those somewhat obscure but similar efforts, along with a nine-year-old educational charity. Based in Gold Beach, the Curry Watersheds Partnership combines the staff and missions of four sustainability organizations under a single roof. By…

Modern coworking space with a wooden exterior, large windows, and outdoor seating, designed to foster talent and innovation in a collaborative environment.

Talent Maker City Rebuilds Community

A community workshop rises from the ashes in Southern Oregon written by James Sinks When the ravenous Almeda wildfire raced up the Rogue Valley in 2020, in its path was the city of Talent, where 6,300 people live between Ashland and Medford. By the time the flames were finally doused, the blaze wiped out some 2,300 homes—with more than 700 of those in Talent—and blackened much of Main Street. Now, half a decade after destruction tore through town, creativity is helping to take its place—and to bring a scarred community together. At a redeveloped site where several downtown buildings were turned to ash, a newly built 8,000-square-foot workshop buzzes with activity and learning. Saws whine in a carpentry shop while wheels spin in a pottery class. A 3D printer farm hums, and screen printing and stained glass-making classes fill the calendar. There’s even a small garden in back where native…

Sunlit children playing outdoors in a floral field, capturing the beauty of Oregon's vibrant nature and family-friendly scenery. Perfect for Oregon lifestyle and outdoor activities.

Salem for Refugees: Finding Hope and New Homes in Turbulent Times

Despite a federal freeze, a Salem nonprofit helps refugees from across the globe find a foothold—and belonging written by James Sinks | illustration by Cate Andrews With signs, smiles and new coats, a festive celebration at Portland International Airport greeted a new Oregon family from far away. That day, a family of four escaping risk in Myanmar walked off a plane and was met by a throng from the nonprofit Salem for Refugees with coats for the cold Oregon winter. Little did anyone suspect, but the January 17 welcoming event—coming on the eve of the inauguration of President Donald Trump—might have been the nonprofit’s last. For a decade, Salem for Refugees has been helping people with legal federal refugee status to get settled, find housing and navigate the path to self-sufficiency in the mid-Willamette Valley. The nonprofit—which also runs Corvallis for Refugees—is one of six official refugee resettlement organizations in…

Rockhound Bailey Lefever (center) teaches a jewelry-making class in Spray.

Eastern Oregon Rockhounding Jewelry

Bailey Lefever creates elegant jewelry from rare finds written by Joni Kabana For many, slow meandering through ancient landscapes full of various types of rocks is not just a pastime, but a passion. Discovering the tip of what turns out to be a beautiful rock brings a level of adrenaline rush that only a true rockhound can explain. Our state, especially on the eastern side, is chock-full of rocks of all kinds. From obsidian to thunder eggs, an abundance of rocks can easily be found if you know where and how to look for them. Bailey Lefever is one of the Pacific Northwest’s most prolific rockhounds, having a collection of more than 10,000 rocks and counting. He lives and breathes rockhounding and turns his treasures into jewelry, which he sells by referrals, at events and via his Instagram account (www.instagram.com/rockhounding_jewelry). For him, rockhounding is a way of life—he spends most…

A researcher using a microscope in a modern laboratory setting.

Itsy Bitsy Worlds

Professor Greta Binford follows her love for biodiverse habitats, and arachnids written by Joni Kabana | photography by Amanda Loman Many shudder at the thought of seeing a brown recluse spider, but not Greta Binford, professor of biology at Lewis & Clark College. Binford revels in studying and teaching biodiversity, including research of brown recluse spiders and their relatives. For her, Oregon is a playground of diverse habitats. “I absolutely love spending time lying on the ground in old-growth forests and looking closely at the tiny, super-diverse life living in the deep, peaty forest floor,” she said. “That’s where soil is made, and the ecosystem of tiny life there will blow your mind.” Binford attended Purdue University thinking she wanted to be a veterinarian but quickly realized she did not have the fortitude to work with blood and sick animals. After trying a couple other majors, she dropped out of…

Chamber Music Unites Burns, Oregon

In blue-collar Burns, chamber music helps bring a small community together written by James Sinks | illustration by Kristiina Almy A former county commissioner plays tenor sax. A research ecologist plays the violin. A police officer plays bass clarinet. And a college student and enrolled member of the Burns Paiute Tribe plays tuba. Twice a year in the Oregon high desert, the nonprofit Chamber Music Society of Harney County brings together volunteer musicians from Burns and the vicinity for free concerts. The most recent, in March, featured fifty-four musicians, and a crowd of more than 200 came to watch and listen to their friends and neighbors in the association’s three ensembles: a choir, bell choir and orchestra. The repertoire is wide, from folk songs to movie soundtracks to patriotic marches. And the shows are a testament that even in one of the more remote places in the country, music has…

Newport’s floating sea lion platforms, pictured here before recent replacements, are a draw for visitors to Oregon’s central coast.

Newport’s Sea Lions Return to the Bayfront

Nonprofit helps to buoy Newport’s local sea lions—and bayfront commerce written by James Sinks | photography by Visit Newport You can hear them before you see them. Nobody is quite sure what they’re talking about, but pretty much everybody is able to find the source of the ruckus along the historic waterfront in Newport: a lazy scrum of sea lions basking and jockeying for space on dedicated floating platforms just off Port Dock One in Yaquina Bay. The barking fellas are one of the region’s more popular tourist attractions, sometimes drawing hundreds of people hourly to laugh and watch the action and wonder just how big a California sea lion can get (really big, like more than 1,000 pounds). The popular and free-to-visit pinniped posse also translates into customers for nearby businesses and eateries. So when a massive winter storm careened into Newport in late 2022 and tore all of…

Rankin Renwick

Filmmaker and Creative Rankin Renwick Finds Inspiration Off the Beaten Path

written by Joni Kabana Imagine yourself sweeping floors for an Oregon-based designer who is creating puppets for The Lion King on Broadway when the thought occurs to you that you should be focusing solely on your own art. You quit your job on the spot and start laser-focusing on your lifelong passion in experimental filmmaking, documentary, video installation, writing and whatever tickles your artistic fancy. Freedom is what defines Rankin Renwick’s artistic style. Take Renwick’s gonzo film promotion process, for example, of calling museums, grange halls, universities and film centers on the fly. The game, Renwick said, is not driving more than one day without securing a paid showing. Renwick still takes extended backroad trips meandering through impromptu artists’ studio visits, following leads to rooms full of stored film footage and stopping along the road to capture something inspired by an intuitive feeling. “Everything I do I consider is working…

Meat and vegetables hang from a fire dome during Tournant’s recent Oregon Asado event near Dundee.

Tournant: Dreams on Fire

A couple’s foray into community building through ancient cooking techniques written by Joni Kabana photography by Aubrie LeGault During both of their childhoods, Mona Johnson and Jaret Foster spent a lot of time in the great outdoors growing and eating bountiful food choices. While a natural progression for both of them was ending up working in professional kitchens, they also both shared a dream of creating a more immersive dining experience. In 2009, the couple met and bonded over their love of food, farms, nature and community building while working at Portland Farmers Market, a nonprofit organization that organizes various farmers’ markets. They began to formulate a plan centering on a new way of cooking that would engage and inspire both themselves and their guests. Tournant, their open-fire cooking and events company, was born out of this shared vision. Tournant’s signature offering is an unparalleled outdoor dining experience using farm-to-fire…