The Remodel
US Forest Service building in Enterprise after July fire.
As I am writing this, movers are hauling boxes, carting furniture and rolling desks out the door. OPB is remodeling the building here in Portland and at the same time the Rural Economy Project comes to an end, a poetic coincidence that heralds a new beginning for us all.
This does not mean however that reporting or conversations on rural issues will end. On the contrary, OPB is committed to providing more expansive and more dynamic coverage of issues in the Northwest – and I believe much of that new coverage will rely on the knowledge, relationships and experience developed, in part by the rural economy project. We are truly in an age of technology that has changed how, when, where and what new toy we communicate with. Personally I can’t wait for more rural communities to come on line because it’s a voice that needs to be at the table as critical resources come under increasing pressure. (And by resources I mean intellectual resources from people connected to place as well as those related to land, water and air, etc.)
As for me, I learned a ton from this project and am grateful for the time and friendships I found at OPB. From blogs to back yard broadcasting, I was continually reminded how to push on perceived boundaries with little more than determination and a healthy dose of flexibility.
Thanks for tuning in and turning up the volume for rural Oregon over the last few months. You can see any of the stories we produced on our project page or visit RIPPLE to follow stories into the future. Stay tuned for more from OPB and to my friends, stay in touch.
Luna Sea Fish House
Juggling his time between fishing on the sea, a restaurant, a family and fish market is no small feat. Robert Anthony is the last entrepreneur participating in our video project and is working hard to get his video finalized. Here are a few tidbits about Robert and some photos of time I spent in Yachats with him. (FYI – the clam chowder is AMAZING)
Meet Robert Anthony. He’s been a fisherman out of Newport for 31 consecutive seasons. Recently when the salmon season closed Robert got an idea. Not just an idea for his community in Yachats but for his personal ambitions. Robert dreamed of being on the sea and supplying good, clean seafood for his own restaurant. He enrolled in a small business management program and combined his fishing expertise with good business sense. Just two years ago he opened Luna Sea Fish House in Yachats. The business has been very successful, doubling sales and increasing staff to six full time employees. How does that happen in the great recession? I’m not sure but I think it may have something to do with Robert’s deep love for the sea and his commitment to investing in his community and the place he calls home.
Entering the workforce
As I recruited volunteers for the video project I was aware that we were getting a fairly good cross section of places, people and small businesses from around the state and yet there still seemed to be something missing, a youth perspective. Then I met Tommy. Tommy is 19 and entering the workforce with a bright mind and a strong heart for his community. He’s been on his own since he was 17 and continues to try and overcome lack of housing, reliable transportation and healthy food sources – but that hasn’t stopped him.
Tommy participated in the youth media project at The Oregon Consortium/Workforce Alliance working on Region 14: Rural Economics. Now Tommy is a part-time employee at Ontario’s Employment department and attending Treasure Valley Community College to receive his associate’s degree. He plans on joining a four-year college and then going into the Peace Corp where he intends on making his media/communications experience to develop a platform for global stories. Go get’m Tommy!
Building Community and Economic Resilience
The next entrepreneur video comes from Southern Oregon. Meet Clay and Theresa Chocktoot. Clay is a member of the Klamath tribes, who returned to Chiloquin after a life changing illness. Eight months ago Clay and his wife opened Black Buffalo, a coffee shop and Internet cafe that they envisioned for many years as a community-gathering place. “We are doing this because our community deserves it.” In the first nine month of business they have been able to break even and this fall are kicking off a school to work program with the local high school. Clay is also working to build his collection of Piute, Modoc and Klamath Indian portraits and artifacts from his family heritage.
The Black Buffalo Cafe is in Chiloquin (If you don’t know where Chiloquin Oregon is, when you look at the map, look south.) The Chiloquin area is roughly 540 square miles in south-central Oregon in the heart of Klamath County and is home to about 3800 people. What I didn’t know until I started working with Clay and Theresa was that in the 1920′s and the 1930′s Chiloquin was a rowdy little boom town, often referred to as “Little Chicago”. The closure of the lumber mills has changed the area significantly, but still there is a population of forward-looking individuals who are working towards steady, controlled regeneration and the town is gaining respect among many in surrounding communities.
Something about Mary
The first in a series of entrepreneur videos is Mary Stevenson. She’s a single mom with four kids that decided to take a leap of faith and open her own business in Baker City OR. I first talked to Mary back in March and was immediately taken with her very personal story about following her dream. Mary opened Earth and Vine in the heart of the recession, November 2008. She knew that even when the economy is bad, especially when the economy is bad, people want to connect and feel like the community is still in tact, so she took the plunge. It was a sink or swim moment but Mary equipped herself with a generous dose of self-confidence, positive attitude and this year was recognized as entrepreneur of the year by the Northeast Oregon Economic Development District.
It’s not just business – it’s personal
Just to refresh the blog memory – Since this last April, The Rural Economy Project has been producing stories and conversations about the impacts of the recession on rural communities. Reporter Kristian Foden-Vencil did a six part series where he talked with farmers, manufacturing businesses, banks, entrepreneurs and more about what it takes to live, work and thrive in rural Oregon. Then, Emily Harris and Dave Miller went on the road for not two, but six on-location shows around the state, drumming up conversations about wind energy, timber towns and one by one approaches to bringing entrepreneurs to build a vibrant coastal community. Our bloggers have been keeping us updated about local campaigns in southern Oregon and the dynamics of a changing economy throughout the west.
Now we’re going to get personal. Partnering organizations helped recruit individuals who have inspiring stories of entrepreneurial triumph. Working with them over the last month or so they’ve really become my heroes. Not just because of the daily optimism and vision they have to innovate on the spot solutions, but because of their commitment to their community and the dive-right-in ability to write, direct and edited their personal story. Over the next few days I’ll be posting these self-made videos – please applauded, inquire and stop in at their business as you cruse through the last of summer.
The New Rural Economy
source: USDA website
Ask any of my friends or family and they’ll tell you – I’m not a morning person. Truth is, I can get up and go in the morning just fine, it’s when I have to actually speak that I have a problem. Needless to say at 7:30am in the morning, I didn’t ask Secretary Vilsack any of the half dozen questions I’d been stewing over last week. I did however perk up when I heard him talk about a “framework for a new rural economy.” The traditional perspective is that rural economies are driven by the extraction of natural resources. (think timber, gold, farming) But now, with increasingly large amounts of funding targeted at renewable energy, broadband and entrepreneurs, Vilsack claims more and more rural communities will flourish. (Ok, he didn’t use the term flourish but you get the point) I tend to agree…IF there are any teeth in the recovery funding. Vilsack didn’t get to some of the nuts and bolts of how we get more boots on the ground but he was very responsive to audience questions and concerns about farm worker rights, funding for renewable energy projects, rural hunger rates and the work OGC is doing with farmers for certification requirements that impede local markets.
It’s no surprise that not everyone got to ask their question – Nearly 300 people gathered in Keizer at 7:30am, and with only a little more than half an hour for questions, I couldn’t help but wonder – how will he better communicate and engage in social media as so many more rural communities get on line?
Biomass or biomess?
The emerging biomass industry has gained significant attention and funding to spur economic development in rural areas – not just in Oregon but across the country. The question remains, is biomass helping jobs at the cost of the environment? Recently feds have struggled to define regulations on carbon outputs without undermining the development of much needed rural jobs in biomass energy, leaving many forward thinking communities in the lurch between helpful and harmful. The proposed plant in Lakeview will support up to 25 new jobs and a good deal of construction positions initially, but it will also release smoke and particles into the air – disturbing local residents. The Herald and News has been following the biomass conundrum as both Klamath and Lakeview have sorted through public hearings and appeals. The next hearing will be held Monday at 6pm at the Lake County Senior Center in Lakeview.
Cascade Locks – A Safe Bet
I’m not a gambler but I’d bet a pretty penny that Warm Springs will get final approval to build the proposed $389 mil casino and resort at Cascade Locks. The Fed’s just gave a nod to the environmental impact statement last week so it’s a sprint to the finish line to get the Governors approval by the end of the year. This casino for Warm Springs has been ten years in the making and would be a boon for the rural – tribal economy. “We sure need the jobs and the revenue. We don’t have a strong economy on the reservation.” Louie Pitt Jr. Director of Government affairs and planning for the tribes. Pitt estimates the Cascade Locks site would bring in ten times the amount Kah-Nee-Ta’s revenue.
Needless to say I’ve got a lot to learn about tribal economies and Native perspectives – this mention of a casino in Cascade Locks is just the tip of the iceberg. The economic analysis from 2005 is a good eye opener, and now I have a lot more questions. Are tribal casinos governed differently from state to state? What are the economic drivers on a reservation? Are employees in casinos primarily residents from the reservation? What is the employee turn over rate? Do casinos suffer in a recession? I’ll be digging in to these subjects and more but feel free to point me in the direction of more information or your opinion.
Bright Idea
Hearing the story about the glowing seafood in Newport made me giggle. “This seems to be a banner year for glowing seafood. One person turned her lights off to watch a movie, and her shrimp salad started to glow. Another man left his pink shrimp (out) to thaw, and when he got up, it was glowing in the sink.” Katey Hildenbrand. The Register Guard reported that according to Katey Hildenbrand of Oregon State University Sea Grant Extension these glowing bacteria does not pose any health risk and that there are quite a few luminescent bacteria in the ocean that can cause a glowing effect on various seafood including alternomonas handedai and photobacterium hosperoreum. I suppose the only health risk might be the surprise of finding your food all aglow in the kitchen.
I realize this has less to do with the rural economy than it does human interest – that is of course until someone in Newport finds a way to bottle the bacteria into a salt shaker and sell it on ebay. Hmmmm…
