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Oregon Has Spent $46 Million Fighting Black Market Cannabis. Officials Can’t Tell If It’s Working

The Members’ Magazine of Jefferson Public Radio

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JEFFERSON JOURNAL (ISSN 1079-2015), May/June 2025, volume 49 number 3. Published bi-monthly (six times a year) by JPR Foundation, Inc., 1250 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Periodical postage paid at Ashland, OR and additional mailing offices.

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JOURNAL

May/June 2025 FEATURED

6 Oregon Has Spent $46 Million Fighting Black Market Cannabis.

Officials Can’t Tell If It’s Working

By Kaylee Tornay Experts say the state’s lack of market-related data may be hampering its efforts The tales of illicit cannabis operations were coming from all corners of Oregon, and by 2018 — four years after the state voted to legalize recreational weed — lawmakers were feeling the pressure to act.

11 Rural California, Reliant on The Trump Administration for Jobs, Braces for Cuts

By Jeanne Kuang Rural counties are some of the most reliant on federal funding and federal workers. But some still welcome Trump’s upcoming cuts to forestry and other departments.

Far from the halls of power in Washington, the forested hamlet of Mount Shasta has long tied its economic fate to a functioning federal government. Yet even in a county where President Donald Trump’s cuts could hit the region’s economy hard, some are welcoming them. Nearly 60% of voters there supported the president.

5 Tuned In | Paul Westhelle 17 JPR News Focus: Economy | Kyra Buckley 19 JPR News Focus: Leisure & Sports | Roman Battaglia 21 JPR News Focus: Politics & Government | Bryce Dole 24 JPR Radio Stations & Programs 26 News Briefs 31 JPR News Focus: Environment | Juliet Grable 35 JPR News Focus: Food & Farms | Alejandro Figueroa 37 Underground History | Chelsea Rose 39 JPR News Focus: Science | Jes Burns 41 Recordings | Dave Jackson 43 Inside The Box | Scott Dewing 44 Recipe | Heather Arndt Anderson 46 Poetry | John Yohe clarification: A photo of a Lomakatsi

Restoration Project forest worker appeared on the cover of the March/April Jefferson Journal alongside a story examining labor practices in the forestry industry. The photo was intended to illustrate professional forest restoration work and was not meant to suggest that Lomakatsi engages in the exploitative practices described in the article.

The article quotes Lomakatsi founder Marko Bey as a critic of those practices and notes that Lomakatsi is a nonprofit focused on forest restoration. Lomakatsi does not use the H-2B guest worker program and was included in the piece to provide context and contrast.

cover: While law enforcement in Southern Oregon often encounter illicit cannabis grows that are outdoors and use hoop houses, illicit grows in other parts of the state are often smaller and indoors. This property in rural Southern Oregon was searched by the Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team in 2022.

CREDIT: JOSEPHINE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

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TUNED IN PAUL WESTHELLE

Defunding Public Media Is One Step Closer

T

he drumbeat to cancel all federal funding for public media has continued in Washington and significant new steps have been taken to make this outcome a reality. Here’s an update on where we stand.

On March 26th, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) held a hearing titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable.” As the title suggests, this wasn’t an intellectually honest inquiry. At the hearing, Katherine Maher, NPR’s President and CEO, and Paula Kerger, the President and CEO of PBS, testified about the importance of federal funding for public media and answered questions from members of the House. Subcommittee Chairwoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (RGA) concluded the hearing with closing remarks that included the following prepared statement: “After listening to what we’ve heard today, we will be calling for the complete and total defund and dismantling of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”

A few days following the hearing on April 1st, President Trump posted on social media: “REPUBLICANS MUST DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY!” Subsequent reporting by NPR, Politico and the New York Times has quoted sources in the Trump administration that indicates that an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memo has been drafted to request that Congress rescind and eliminate all future funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including previously appropriated funds that would have supported stations in the upcoming fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025. If enacted, this rescission would create a $525,521 budget deficit for JPR in the fiscal year that begins in just two months on July 1, 2025. If this memo is delivered to Congress, the House and Senate will then have 45 days to approve the rescission request or funding will remain in place for FY26 and FY27, unless a subsequent action is taken. A simple majority vote is required in the Senate for the rescission request to pass.

As I’ve written in this space before, federal funding for public media amounts to about 0.01% of federal spending. It is a highly successful example of a private-public partnership serving the entire country. On average, for every $1 in federal grant money an eligible public radio station receives, it raises $7 from local sources.

Federal support provides foundational support that is essential to JPR’s public service mission.

It helps support the increased infrastructure costs of serving small rural communities that requires a more complex and expensive technical plant. JPR’s network of transmitters and translators is one of the largest in the nation.

It helps support JPR’s local newsroom. Like many stations across the country, JPR has stepped up to expand its local reporting capacity in the wake of the decline of local newspapers, which have lost 60% of their newsroom employees over the last two decades. Of the 204 news desert counties identified by the State of Local News Project as having no source of local news, 67 are being served by a local public radio station. And, public radio signals also cover 658 one-source counties — meaning public radio is making a real impact improving the information needs of citizens in communities all over the U.S. Since 2012, public radio stations have added over 900 newsroom employees — journalists, editors and producers — while also investing in training and internship programs designed to develop the next generation of local journalists.

It helps support JPR’s truly unique noncommercial music programming. Although Americans have many options when it comes to music listening, the noncommercial music provided Continued on page 14

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 5

Jackson County, by far, has received the most money through the grant program: nearly $14 million since 2019.

Oregon Has Spent $46 Million Fighting Black Market Cannabis.

Officials Can’t Tell If It’s Working Experts say the state’s lack of market-related data may be hampering its efforts

By KAYLEE TORNAY

6 | JEFFERSON JOURNAL MAY/JUNE 2025

T

he tales of illicit cannabis operations were coming from all corners of Oregon, and by 2018 — four years after the state voted to legalize recreational weed — lawmakers were feeling the pressure to act.

Workers on unlicensed grows just miles north of California were sleeping in shipping containers and being held on site by armed guards. In clandestine hash oil laboratories in Central Oregon and Portland, jerry-rigged electrical wiring and pressurized butane gas had sparked explosions, blasting buildings apart and sometimes scorching people to death. Along the coast, local sheriff ’s deputies were intercepting hundreds of pounds of processed marijuana bound for Texas and Florida, bypassing state inspectors and tax collectors on the way out.

Legislators responded to the crescendoing concern by creating a new grant program seven years ago to support law enforcement efforts to bust these types of operations. The Illegal Marijuana Market Enforcement Grant was placed under management of the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission with an initial $3 million in cannabis taxes funding it. Over time, that funding swelled, expanding to a growing group of counties and nonprofits.

Shifting goalposts Some lawmakers listening to presentations by state Criminal Justice Commission staff during this legislative session have expressed a desire for more robust insights into the illicit market.

“I would be interested as the session goes on to learn whether appropriated funds like this have any impact,” Sen. Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, told agency Executive Director Ken San-

chagrin in a Senate committee hearing on Jan. 22. “I do have a question about the ability of this Legislature to follow up and prove that we’re doing something more than relieving local law enforcement’s financial burdens by grants.”

When the Legislature created the grant, however, it didn’t require the Criminal Justice Commission to draw conclusions about the illegal market as a whole. It simply required the agency to establish a process “for evaluating the efficacy of local law enforcement programs and services funded by the grant.”

CREDIT: JOSEPHINE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

In total, Oregon has spent $46 million in the last seven years. Millions of cannabis plants have been seized, and hundreds of workers have been helped out of danger.

But has the money put a dent in the black market? Officials can’t say.

“It is not possible to draw conclusions about whether the grant has reduced Oregon’s illegal marijuana market at this time,” the commission’s annual report on the grant program stated in 2024 and again this January. “Due to the clandestine nature of illegal markets, the distribution and scope of the illegal marijuana market in Oregon is not known, making it difficult to determine whether grant-funded activities result in a reduction of the black market and associated illegal activities.”

These are the agency’s most frank admissions yet of how little is known about the scale of Oregon’s illicit cannabis market, even as lawmakers allocate millions each year trying to crack down. The lack of insight into Oregonians’ return on investment spotlights how state agencies have made limited efforts to coordinate their operations to reduce supply and demand for illicit cannabis. Experts and advocates say more can be done — and the inaction leaves workers and the legal market vulnerable.

“I think we have a compelling case that this is all the consequence of how we set up legal cannabis in Oregon,” said Corinna Spencer-Scheurich, executive director of the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project, which has used grant money to provide legal assistance to immigrant workers exploited in the cannabis industry. “Oregon is kind of a warning about what it looks like to deregulate the growing of cannabis — to make it legal, but also not to really build up a good enough enforcement mechanism and coordination. Now we’re dealing with the consequences of that.”

If lawmakers want to understand the size and nature of the illicit cannabis market, officials would need to tap more sources for information, two drug policy experts said. Insights from economists, legal cannabis business owners and consumers could help regulatory agencies to better understand economic drivers of the illicit market. Research indicates that stagnant prices and massive oversupply in Oregon’s legal cannabis market may be contributing to increased participation in the illicit market, as licensed growers look for other ways to recover losses. But so far, Oregon’s efforts to collect any data beyond legal supply and demand and drug busts has been limited, state officials, advocates and cannabis experts said.

“We really have a very poor idea of what’s going on in our illicit markets, and often our policy is driven by these misunderstandings and miscalculations,” said Jason Eligh, drug market and policy expert with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, a Switzerland-based global civil society organization that studies organized crime. “The money demonstrates a will to do something. The problem is the information.”

Marijuana grows in hoop houses at a property in rural Southern Oregon. The Josephine County Sheriff’s Marijuana Enforcement Team searched the property in August 2022. (Josephine County Sheriff’s Office) previous page: While law enforcement in Southern Oregon often encounter illicit cannabis grows that are outdoors and use hoop houses, illicit grows in other parts of the state are often smaller and indoors. This property in rural Southern Oregon was searched by the Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team in 2022. (Josephine County Sheriff’s Office)

From the beginning, that process involved collecting data from law enforcement grantees on the number of incidents they handled, the amount of illicit cannabis they recovered and destroyed, and the amount of firearms, cash, and other drugs seized during search warrants.

In more recent years, the commission’s grant reports have also included enforcement data collected from other state agencies that assist in shutting down and citing illicit operations, including the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, which oversees cannabis licensing and compliance, the Water Resources Department, and the Oregon State Police.

Even taken together, the record of enforcement activity paints only a partial picture of where illicit cannabis is being grown, processed and moved out of state.

“If you say seizures are up, it’s not necessarily that production or supply has been affected,” Eligh said. “Seizures demonstrate the presence of law enforcement. They give you an indication of law enforcement’s efficacy in trying to seize drugs.”

After peaking in 2021 and 2022, the number of law enforcement busts have fallen, and so has the amount of product they are seizing at each site. Law enforcement officials attribute some of the decline to a shift to indoor grows, which are more difficult to detect than outdoor grows and hoop houses. They also tend to be smaller.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 7

Many say the grant has made an undeniable impact in reducing the kinds of issues that caught lawmakers’ attention seven years ago. Nathan Sickler, sheriff of Jackson County in Southern Oregon, said communities there have found “significant relief ” from the environmental degradation and public safety problems caused by illicit grows.

“We’ve done the work on making it very difficult for people to profit from the illegal market,” he said. “Today, we’re in a pretty good spot.”

Jackson County, by far, has received the most money through the grant program: nearly $14 million since 2019. During that time, the Illegal Marijuana Eradication Team at the Jackson County Sheriff ’s Office has seized and destroyed around a million plants and 200 tons of processed cannabis, nearly 400 pounds of extract, and 538 weapons, according to its most recent grant application.

The scope of the grant also expanded beyond its original mandate when nonprofits such as the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project became eligible for funds for humanitarian work.

The nonprofit grantees have served more than 700 people, Spencer-Scheurich said, helping workers find food and temporary shelter when they are displaced after busts, and providing legal assistance to file for unpaid wages or immigration relief. That includes recovering more than $300,000 in unpaid wages and damages.

While the cannabis grant was pitched as a support for law enforcement and local prosecutors to take on cartels and other criminal networks, more recent data makes clear that funds are also spent on busts and prosecutions of smaller operations. In 2024, only 15% of the incidents that grantees investigated were connected to larger criminal organizations, according to the grant report.

Bringing in the market To better understand trends in the illicit market, state officials could also look to cannabis business owners in the legal market — and to consumers. But so far, these groups haven’t factored into the Criminal Justice Commission’s analysis.

Oregon cannabis experts who spoke with InvestigateWest said they thought the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission could also be well-positioned to support a more nuanced analysis of Oregon’s licit and illicit markets. An agency spokesperson, however, said the illicit market is strictly the domain of law enforcement.

Meanwhile, in-depth study of the interplay between legal and illicit cannabis sales has been limited, even as the legal market sinks into deepening distress due to oversupply.

A decade into legalization, prices for flower, extract and concentrates are stagnant or falling, according to data published by 8 | JEFFERSON JOURNAL MAY/JUNE 2025

CREDIT: JOSEPHINE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Beyond driving licensed growers out of business, the oversupply and pricing collapse is pushing some to look beyond regulated channels to recoup some of their losses.

Processed cannabis is packed into moving boxes for shipment. The Josephine Marijuana Enforcement Team reported finding 90,000 pounds of processed cannabis during searches of four properties in rural Southern Oregon in August 2022.

the state cannabis commission. Amid that turmoil, research by one Portland economist suggests that legal, regulated product is losing market share in Oregon — likely to illicit sources.

Beau Whitney, founder of Whitney Economics and an expert in U.S. cannabis and hemp markets, studies what he calls the “legal participation rate” in Oregon’s cannabis industry, using an estimate of annual cannabis consumption and data on legal sales to forecast how much of the cannabis sold in Oregon each year is coming from legal retailers. That rate has declined over the last few years, he said.

In 2020, legal sales accounted for 75% of all sales in Oregon. In 2024, that number had fallen to 68%, according to his estimates.

“The state has way too much growing capacity,” Whitney said. “And right now, the regulators are erring on the side of public safety and driving out illicit activity, and really their policies are simply increasing illicit activity, not reducing it.”

While cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, all that is grown in Oregon can only be legally sold within the state.

Beyond driving licensed growers out of business, the oversupply and pricing collapse is pushing some to look beyond regulated channels to recoup some of their losses.

“Everybody’s suffering,” said Andy Shelley, co-founder and CEO of CannXperts, a regulatory compliance company that advises legal businesses. “People grow a lot of marijuana, and it’s not selling, and that’s a lot of money that they need to make up for and pay people and pay all their bills. Everything is tracked, but there’s ways around that. People are pretty crafty.”

Experts and regulators alike acknowledge that some illicit cannabis producers, such as organized criminal groups, have no intention of participating in the legal market, and their activity remains the most difficult to capture in research. But for others straddling the line of licit and illicit, studying the barriers that drive cannabis growers and retailers away from the legal market can be useful to remove unnecessary hurdles and bring people back in, said Daniel Bear, a drug policy expert and Canadian research lead for the Global Cannabis Cultivation Research Consortium. That goes for consumers as well as producers.

“Law enforcement isn’t the answer that will eliminate the black market,” Bear said. “You just have to make it incentivized for people to come into the legal market, and see how actions against the black market are overall (affecting) social impacts and well-being.”

In Colorado, for example, a 2014 study of supply and demand in the cannabis market wrapped in data not just on legal sales, but also national and state surveys that provided information on use prevalence, frequency and level of consumption.

A 2021 survey-based study of cannabis use in Washington found consumers preferred legal products at higher rates than in other legal states.

Shelley and other cannabis industry experts said they weren’t aware of recent instances where Oregon’s licensed cannabis operators were consulted about how to reduce unlicensed competition.

“But I think it would be a fantastic idea because our licensees know what’s going on out there,” Shelley said. “Some of them have inside knowledge and experience in what the black market is doing. And they should be in the conversation.”

‘The million dollar question’ The cannabis enforcement grant’s future is undetermined at this point.

The Criminal Justice Commission identified it as one of few programs that could withstand cuts if the agency’s budget is reduced. But it remains widely popular with its grantees, who are writing letters, submitting testimony and paying close attention.

“There is a belief that if we stop what we’re doing, we will be inundated with the same behavior, when we didn’t have resources to address it,” said Sickler, the Jackson County sheriff.

“Will it be as bad? I don’t know, but if we were to say we no longer have the resources to address this, they will flood back here, set up shop again, and see how much money they can make in a year before everybody freaks out again.”

An initial proposed appropriation outlined in January was less than half of what grantees requested and roughly $7 million less than the amount needed to sustain their current spending level.

Lawmakers are trying to work out the right amount. In a Feb. 11 meeting of a budget subcommittee on public safety, co-chair Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, asked agency Director Sanchagrin to clarify the amount of money needed to make more progress. He pointed to a $20 million one-time funding boost the Legislature authorized just four years ago.

“I have a feeling that the $20 million — I voted for it — made us feel good,” Evans said. “But I don’t know that $20 million was enough to actually do the job. I’m curious what the amount would be to actually do the job.”

In another meeting, Sanchagrin described it as “the million dollar question.”

“It might even be more expensive than that,” he said.

The Criminal Justice Commission is one of Oregon’s smallest agencies, with fewer than 40 staff. Rima Ah Toong, who manages the cannabis enforcement grant with two other support staff, said it would almost certainly require more resources to take on an economic analysis of Oregon’s illicit cannabis market.

“I think we could be open to doing that,” she said. “We would need to dedicate more resources than we have now on it.”

The Legislature’s joint budget committee hasn’t yet held a public hearing on Criminal Justice Commission funding. The first one is scheduled for April 3.

McLane, the state senator who also questioned the broader effects of the cannabis enforcement grant, suggested that as his fellow lawmakers consider how much to keep funding the program, they should be clear about their goal in doing so.

“Very often the programs start and they’re very hard to turn off, and so we find we’re appropriating a lot of money over time with not a lot of accountability,” he said. “And again, I think grants that local law enforcement come to rely on are important. But if our purpose is to reduce illegal markets for marijuana, I’m not sure we’re succeeding.”

InvestigateWest (investigatewest.org) is an independent news nonprofit dedicated to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest. Reporter Kaylee Tornay covers labor, youth and health care issues. Reach her at 503-877-4108, kaylee@investigatewest.org or on X @ ka_tornay.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 9

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Rural California, Reliant on The Trump Administration for Jobs, Braces for Cuts

By JEANNE KUANG

CREDIT: KYLEANDMELISSA22/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Rural counties are some of the most reliant on federal funding and federal workers. But some still welcome Trump’s upcoming cuts to forestry and other departments.

F

ar from the halls of power in Washington, the forested hamlet of Mount Shasta has long tied its economic fate to a functioning federal government.

Yet even in a county where President Donald Trump’s cuts could hit the region’s economy hard, some are welcoming them.

Nearly 60% of voters there supported the president.

The past two months have been a whirlwind for rural towns across California like Mount Shasta, population 3,200, where federal lands abound and outdoor recreation drives the local economy. Probationary federal workers were abruptly fired, then reinstated under court order, as further reductions in force loom. Local organizations scrambled when the federal government froze some grant funds for wildfire preparation, trail maintenance and other work, then some saw the money trickle in again but with no guarantee it’ll continue.

The Sierra Club and other nonprofits are suing the Trump administration to reverse Forest Service firings.

Business owners and officials in forest towns, overwhelmingly dependent on recreation and tourism, are anxious about whether there will be enough federal workers to keep trails open, campgrounds clean and visitors coming.

Some forest towns, like Mammoth Lakes in the eastern Sierra Nevada, are trying to backfill some anticipated federal losses with their own dollars. But that would be a tough undertaking for many others.

“We are a poor, rural county,” said Siskiyou County Supervisor Ed Valenzuela, who represents Mount Shasta. “Federal funding, it’s not like that money is going to be replicated anywhere else.”

Rural California relies on federal funding

Mount Shasta, taken on August 4, 2007 just west of Mount Shasta city, about 12 miles west of the Mount Shasta summit.

Longtime resentment over Forest Service management and the decline of the timber industry have split the county.

He has cause for concern. The namesake mountain towers above the small town, drawing in thousands of visitors to climb and ski. In surrounding Siskiyou County, over 60% of the land is owned and managed by the U.S. Forest Service. As much as 6% of the county workforce is employed by the federal government, according to Census data.

It’s second only to neighboring Lassen County. Both are among the most Trump-supporting counties in the state. In Siskiyou County, nearly 60% voted for the president in November.

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Trump’s cuts will hit a divided county Yet others welcome cuts, even if they’ll hit the local economy.

While the town of Mount Shasta is liberal, its streets of Subarus, crystal shops and bed-and-breakfasts welcoming outof-town mountaineers give way quickly to vast stretches of the county where ranchers and loggers have long clashed with environmentalists and chafed at state and federal regulations.

PHOTO BY MIGUEL GUTIERREZ JR., CALMATTERS

Estimates from state labor agencies show other small, forested counties in Northern California and the Sierra Nevada also have high shares of federal employment. By contrast, though federal agencies employ far more people at offices in urban counties, they’re only responsible for 1-2% of the workforces there.

“Things are magnified in a small community,” said Tonya Dowse, executive director of the Siskiyou Economic Development Council, a nonprofit that receives several federal grants to help small businesses, farmers and towns including Mount Shasta. “Small reductions are felt to a greater extent.”

Federal land makes up the majority of many rural counties, which are already dealing with the likely loss of millions of federal dollars that prop up their school systems and public works departments. Rural hospitals are generally more reliant on the massive low-income health program Medicaid. Their populations are older and poorer, making the Social Security Administration and federally funded safety net programs critical.

Federal officials have not been forthcoming about exactly how many workers have been fired and reinstated in recent weeks, and locals say they’re unsure themselves. The Forest Service in February cut at least 3,400 probationary employees nationwide. The Washington Post recently reported that the administration plans new cuts of between 8% to 50% across federal agencies.

A spokesperson for the Forest Service, who would not provide a name, would say only that probationary employees who were fired in February were placed in March under a “phased plan for return-to-duty.” Thomas Stokesberry, a spokesperson for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, directed a separate request for a breakdown of staffing cuts to the regional Forest Service press office, which did not respond.

In Mount Shasta, everyone seems to know someone who is affected. John Redmond, a bar owner who is also the mayor, said his regulars who work at the local Forest Service district office haven’t been spending as much since they were fired or heard of cuts. Timothy Keating, a longtime mountain guide, said he depends on a fully staffed Forest Service to approve his operating permits.

Down the street, an outdoor goods store manager named Michelle is also worried about economic fallout. She wouldn’t give her last name out of fear of drawing attention to her husband, a federal employee who she said was anxious about losing his job in the next round of reductions in force.

“A lot of federal workers make up our middle class,” she said.

“This can really hurt our local tax base and spending levels.”

A view of the rural Siskiyou County community of Happy Camp on Dec. 13, 2024.

Longtime resentment over Forest Service management and the decline of the timber industry have split the county.

Many in Mount Shasta cheered when then-President Joe Biden, in his last days in office in January, designated a new national monument on Forest Service lands outside the town, increasing federal protections there. Other Siskiyou County residents, including Supervisor W. Jess Harris, celebrated when Trump indicated last month he may revoke the designation.

Harris acknowledges the county relies on the federal government for both services and jobs — but he said it doesn’t have to be that way. He hopes federal cuts will reduce grants to environmental nonprofits that he says have hampered private industry.

Regulations like those that restrict logging to protect the spotted owl, listed as a threatened species, have “effectively damaged all of our natural resource industries,” he said. “Our area’s just a prime example of what happens when you kill the industry and become reliant on the government jobs.”

Dan Dorsey, chair of the local Republican Party, said he welcomes reducing federal spending and doesn’t believe the cuts will be drastic.

“I think the idea is to sit back and wait and see where the cuts are going to be made, and do we actually need those programs anymore?” he said. “We have too many -ologists all over the place.”

Other local politicians are caught in the middle.

Assemblywoman Heather Hadwick, a Republican from Alturas, represents 11 rural counties across Northern California, including Siskiyou. She said she’s worried about the economic ripple effects of job losses in small towns, and about funding delays in local wildfire mitigation projects, when now is the season to make those preparations.

Continued on page 15

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 13

Tuned In

Continued from page 5

by public radio is one of the few music listening options that is available to all Americans, regardless of their access to technology or their ability to pay for music streaming services. Public media music programming doesn’t require listeners to have a credit card, give up their personal data, or sit through targeted advertisements. On-air classical music would virtually cease to exist in the United States without the public radio system, with 96% of all classical music broadcast over public radio. In addition to classical music, public radio is the home for jazz, blues, Americana, folk, roots, soul, bluegrass, and other eclectic genres. Stations like JPR help develop local artists and audiences, educating and enriching our listeners and communities, especially through live performances, studio sessions and interviews.

It helps support JPR’s emergency alert system that provides access to potentially life-saving information during public emergencies. From wildfires to earthquakes, public radio stations help keep communities safe. The work of our local journalists, combined with our regional partnerships with other public radio stations, allows us to offer live news and information on disasters and other emergencies, providing real-time information on where citizens can access resources and safe locations.

This is especially important when the power goes out, and cell networks or the internet go down, as we learned in 2020 during the Almeda and South Obenchain Fires. Radio has proven to be a reliable form of communication during emergencies, and public radio provides essential information services that complement other alert methods offered by public safety agencies.

Like so many stations across the country, JPR has developed deep roots in the communities we serve. Our value is heard every day as we strive to help build healthy, thriving communities grounded by fact-based news, both local and global, and cultural programming that connects us all — as fellow humans and neighbors.

We encourage you to reach out to your elected representatives to express your view about the important role JPR plays in our region. And, you can stay engaged at this critical time by subscribing to protectmypublicmedia.org.

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PHOTO BY FRED GREAVES, CALMATTERS

Assemblymember Heather Hadwick speaks before lawmakers during an Assembly floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Feb. 20, 2025.

It’s personal, too. Hadwick’s husband manages a local office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and she’s seen firsthand how “his people are stressed.” But her district, which she said already holds deep distrust of the government, voted for cuts and spending reviews.

“I think it’s going to be uncomfortable for a while and it’s going to hurt, I know some of those programs that I care about deeply are going to be affected,” she said. “My district is very conservative, and I am very conservative … I’m going to trust in my president and trust what he’s doing is best.”

With both federal uncertainty and local polarization, some are hesitant to speak publicly against the cuts. The leader of one nonprofit in Siskiyou County detailed to CalMatters how the group had a Forest Service grant temporarily frozen, delaying the hiring of contractors. But after meeting with the rest of the organization the leader asked to withdraw their comments, stressing the need to remain “apolitical.”

Other forest towns are preparing In bluer parts of California, some forest towns are trying to mount a small resistance. Council members in Truckee, near Lake Tahoe, last month passed a resolution denouncing possible federal cuts, citing the impact they would have on the region’s ability to prevent wildfires and accommodate tourists visiting the Tahoe National Forest.

Similar resolutions have passed in a handful of local fire protection districts and in the eastern Sierra Nevada town of Mammoth Lakes.

The town, population 7,200, balloons to nearly quadruple its size on the weekends, from skiers in winter to backpackers, climbers and tourists in spring, summer and fall. It needs the visitors: Nearly three-quarters of Mammoth Lakes’ revenue comes from a bed tax on hotels and Airbnbs, Mayor Chris Bubser said.

Bubser said the city has already hired a new staff member to pick up trash and help maintain local campgrounds in case there aren’t enough Forest Service personnel to do so this summer.

And in March, the Mammoth Lakes Town Council agreed to provide $700,000 in bridge funding for a forest-thinning and wildfire resilience project run by a local nonprofit that spans 58,000 acres of mostly national forest land surrounding the town. The project relies on about $17 million in different federal grants, some of which is frozen, she said. But Bubser said she didn’t want the project to get delayed, risking having contractors leave town if they can’t be hired in time.

“How, as a small-town government, are we supposed to plan and execute when the earth is moving beneath us?” she said.

“We have to be prepared for any situation. We’re all alone out here.”

This feature was originally published April, 3 2025.

Jeanne Kuang is an accountability reporter who covers labor, politics and California’s state government for CalMatters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics, and a JPR news partner.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 15

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JPR NEWS FOCUS

ECONOMY

KYRA BUCKLEY

Trump’s Tariffs Drive Up Homebuilding Costs Amid Oregon’s Housing Crisis Oregon leaders agree the state needs tens of thousands more housing units every year. Tariffs are the latest hurdle to meeting that goal.

D

eveloper Greg Drobot and his team are hoping to sell the houses they’re building in Coos Bay for around $400,000.

“We are trying to build these homes as economically efficient as possible,” Drobot said.

Construction on the project started this year, and the first set of homes are expected to be complete in about a year.

Keeping costs down means paying attention to the price for every detail. Drobot said instead of plywood, the project was going to use a less-expensive engineered wood, called oriented strand board, that comes from Canada.

“When the tariffs hit, it made it almost cost-prohibitive for us to use that,” Drobot said. “So what it then made us pivot to was just old-fashioned domestic plywood, which is more expensive, but we don’t have another choice. In that specific example, a tariff directly caused us to pivot our supply chain to source a domestic input, which is going to increase the price of homes.”

The tariffs come as Oregon’s homelessness crisis is beyond emergency level. Many factors contribute to the catastrophe, but experts say the root cause is a statewide lack of available affordable housing. In Coos Bay, researchers say the city needs at least 600 new homes by 2040 to meet the area’s needs.

Gov. Tina Kotek set a goal of building 36,000 homes per year when she took office in 2023. The state has fallen short with builders taking out fewer than 15,000 residential construction permits last year, and short of 18,000 the year before.

The Trump administration’s increasing trade tensions in the form of tariffs are almost certain to put Oregon’s new home construction goal even further out of reach. Imported components for new houses and apartments like drywall, lumber, appliances and steel are going up in price, as are the tools and equipment needed to build new homes.

When asked about how tariffs will impact Oregon’s housing goals, Kotek said she’s concerned they’ll make it harder and more expensive to get materials like wood — even though Oregon produces some wood products.

“At the scale we need to build, we are importing,” she said.

Kotek said builders also import things like fixtures, electrical wiring and other equipment that already take a long time to get to construction sites.

“And now with the additional tariffs, [it’s] almost impossible to get some of them,” Kotek said. “So it will impact our ability to construct new homes.”

Developers say it’s already expensive and challenging to build in Oregon. Across the state, housing providers face rising insurance and utility costs, long wait times for permits and barriers to funding.

“Tariffs are icing on the cake,” Ben Murphy, director of multifamily investments at advisory firm Commercial Integrity NW, said.

Property developers are stocking up on imported appliances and other supplies, if they’re able to, Murphy said.

“I talked to a client who ordered 30 air conditioning units because of their fear of these costs skyrocketing,” he said. “And they will.”

Murphy said tariffs on Mexico and Canada in particular are already raising prices — and the anxiety over potential new tariffs is stalling new investments.

It’s a nationwide problem that homebuilders warned about before President Donald Trump levied his first round of tariffs.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 17

JPR News Focus: Economy Continued from page 17

“Every day there’s a new headline and a lot of people don’t know what the Trump administration is going to do,” he said.

“When you can’t pinpoint what they’re going to do, and there’s all this fear and uncertainty and volatility, it’s hard to budget — and it’s hard for a developer to come up with a cost estimate to build a new property.”

It’s a nationwide problem that homebuilders warned about before President Donald Trump levied his first round of tariffs.

In a January letter to Trump, National Association of Home Builders senior officer Carl Harris said builders already face rising costs — 30% for residential construction since July 2021 — and challenges getting materials.

“Our sector relies heavily on a diverse and cost-efficient supply chain for building materials such as lumber, steel, gypsum and aluminum,” Harris wrote. “While home building is inherently domestic, builders rely on components produced abroad, with Canada and Mexico representing nearly 25% of building materials imports.”

Harris said the tariffs will make materials more expensive, and that expense will likely be passed on to homebuyers in the form of higher housing prices.

That’s the concern of Drobot, the developer in Coos Bay. His project has about a 15% contingency on cost, so they are able to absorb some of the price increases — but not at the rate tar-

iffs are threatening to push them up. If prices go up more than that, Drobot’s company will either have to pass on the cost to the homebuyer or find ways to cut costs.

“I’m sure there’ll be some very difficult decisions down the road,” he said.

However, Drobot continues to be bullish on the project. He’s been developing commercial properties in the south coast region for more than a decade. Business owners continually tell him they’d hire more staff and expand their companies if there were more places to live.

Still, he’s concerned economic uncertainty will hurt consumer sentiment. The first set of homes are expected to be done in spring 2026, and he wants them priced to sell — something that could be hard to do if tariffs force higher asking prices than consumers feel confident spending.

“Every dollar, every thousand dollars that I ask more,” Drobot said, “that’s just the potential for a buyer to say, ‘it’s too expensive.’”

Kyra Buckley is a reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting, a JPR news partner. Kyra's reporting comes to JPR through the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

Calan Taylor, Bandon · 1999 Volkswagon Vanagon “The van I donated is called the Hushpuppy… named after the girl from Beasts of the Southern Wild. In its early life it was used as a road trip mobile… It’s been to the south end of Baha twice, used for going into the woods [for] mushroom picking, and lots of family camping trips. Over the last four years it’s primarily been used as a surf-rig.

My favorite memory is [from] Baha. We came into San Juanico, [or] Scorpion Bay, on this road… that’s used for the Baha 1000. We had been travelling down it for about 30 miles, and for the last 20 miles had to keep the van going above 30 miles per hour, otherwise [we’d] sink into the sand. We were essentially flying over 4-wheel drive terrain in a front-wheel drive van and somehow made it. We always knew we would donate it to JPR at the end of its career. It’s a good way to send it off into its next life.”

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JPR NEWS FOCUS

LEISURE & SPORTS

ROMAN BATTAGLIA

Eugene Emeralds Eye Medford — If the City Builds $90 Million Ballpark all them the Medford Emeralds, the Timberjacks, or maybe the Medford Pears. A minor league baseball team may be moving to the city.

The 70-year-old Eugene Emeralds baseball team wants to move to the Rogue Valley after they failed to secure funding for a new stadium to meet current league requirements.

The team currently shares PK Park with the University of Oregon team, and it’s not up to the new standards that took effect this season.

At a Medford City Council study session on Apr. 9, Emeralds General Manager Allan Benavides said minor league baseball has changed since the Medford A’s left the city in 1999.

“Back then, the Medford A’s played in a small stadium and under a loose system with few standards,” said Benavides. “Today, Major League Baseball controls the entire minor league structure. Teams must meet strict facility, travel and development requirements. It’s a very professional system.”

Benavides touted the Giants-affiliate’s ability to engage with the Eugene community, holding numerous fundraisers and events. That Medford is the includes partnering with the local team’s first pick Boys & Girls Club and holding speif they had to cial cultural events. leave Eugene.

Medford is the team’s first pick if they had to leave Eugene, he said.

“You’ve built world-class facilities that rival almost anywhere in the country,” he said. “Rogue X is just the latest example of the grit and determination you guys bring to bettering the lives of your citizenry.”

Rogue X is a new, city-owned indoor recreation and aquatic center built for $76 million.

Benavides said bringing the Emeralds to Medford would be a valuable economic engine for the city, especially amidst their goals to revitalize the city’s downtown.

An economic feasibility study paid for by the city found that this new stadium could stimulate a little over $30 million in economic output in Medford. It could also generate over half a million in extra tax revenue for the city.

While Medford city council members were excited about bringing a minor league baseball team to the city, the costs of building a stadium are a concern.

“The numbers here are the concern, that’s kind of the long and the short of it,” said Council-Member Nick Carr. “I’m glad we’re having this conversation. How do we do $45 million? Can we even do that?”

COURTESY OF THE EUGENE EMERALDS

C

Eugene Emeralds players celebrate in this provided photo from 2024.

The Emeralds are considering Medford as a future home for the team.

A new stadium the team had proposed in Eugene was estimated to cost around $90 million. One initial proposal for Medford is that the city and county would fund 50% of the construction as a loan.

The stadium could be a major economic driver for the city.

But Carr said the city needs to pay for other major projects, like a wastewater treatment facility and a new jail.

“The last thing I want to do is be like, ‘Hey, you guys, I know you just paid a bunch of money for a jail. Let’s build a stadium too,’” Carr said.

The city hasn’t yet examined all of the options for funding construction. Medford city staff are going to be looking at those in the next few months.

The Emeralds are hoping to make quick progress on this, because they’re already in violation of the league rules, and planning and construction of a new stadium would likely take one to two years.

After graduating from Oregon State University, Roman came to JPR as part of the Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism in 2019. He then joined Delaware Public Media as a Report For America fellow before returning to the west coast. Get in touch with Roman at battaglir@sou.edu

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 19

Chamber Music Concerts and the Tutunov Piano Series Present a Scholarship Benefit Concert:

Matous Michal, Violin & Joseph Yungen, Piano Friday, September 12, 2025 v 7:30pm Matous Michal was appointed to the violin section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Maestro Riccardo Muti in February 2016. A native of the Czech Republic, Matous began his violin studies at age four. After graduating from the Prague Conservatory, he completed degrees at the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music.

Joseph Yungen’s performances have been met with acclaim across the US, Europe, and Asia.

Winner of multiple awards in the Seattle International Piano Competition, Joseph also won prizes in the Schubert Club Piano Competition in Minneapolis, the Jessie Kneisel Lieder Competition, and the Barr Award for Excellence in Accompanying at the Eastman School of Music. He has earned degrees from Eastman and the Juilliard School, as well as from Southern Oregon University under the instruction of Alexander Tutunov. Joseph was the first CMC Scholarship Award Winner in 2008.

Franz Schubert - Violin Sonata in D Major, D. 384 Clara Schumann - 3 Romances for Violin and Piano Bedřich Smetana - From the Homeland, T. 128 Charles Ives - Violin Sonata no. 2 Bohuslav Martinů - Violin Sonata no. 3

Tickets available in May at ChamberMusicConcerts.org.

JPR NEWS FOCUS

POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

BRYCE DOLE

Nearly 60% Of Oregon Counties Face Program Cuts as Budget Crisis Grows For local governments across Oregon, pandemic funds have dried up and revenue from property taxes have not been enough to keep up with rising costs.

T

he Coos County Sheriff ’s Office needed to take a drastic step.

Strapped for cash, officials had cut the county’s jail capacity in half, losing 49 beds. With no place to put people who had been convicted of crimes, jail staff opened the doors and released 30 inmates in December. Many faced misdemeanor charges. Others were accused of felony property crimes.

“We kept the rapists and the murderers and committers of the more serious crimes in jail,” Coos County Commissioner John Sweet said. “But there were a lot of people who had been judged guilty and were serving their punishment in jail that walked free.”

Like many rural Oregon communities, Coos County has struggled financially in recent years. The coastal county appealed to voters twice last year with levies meant to boost public safety funds. Each time, they failed.

“I sincerely hope there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, whether through a legislative fix or at the local level,” Coos County Sheriff Gabe Fabrizio said. “However, right now I don’t know what that would look like.”

The budget problems facing Coos County are not unusual.

Local government agencies across the state are building their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year, and the outlook for many is grim.

At least 21 of Oregon’s 36 county governments, from the Portland metro area to rural southern Oregon, are facing deficits that could prompt cuts to public services, including law enforcement, road maintenance and health care, according to the Association of Oregon Counties.

In addition, more than a third of Oregon’s cities anticipated a shortfall as the 2024-2025 fiscal year comes to a close, according to 76 cities that responded to a 2023 survey by the League of Oregon Cities. Since then, many officials say the problem has only grown.

The budget woes come from a mix of problems, some recent and some simmering for decades.

Pandemic-era federal funds that buoyed local government services have largely dissipated. Government revenue, which primarily comes from property taxes, has not kept up with inflation and rising personnel costs. Meanwhile, federal funding — once a reliable source of money for Oregon governments — could see changes under the Trump administration.

Put simply, local governments are on track to spend more money than they have available if cuts don’t happen.

“When we see that imbalance, that’s why I think you see many jurisdictions in Oregon in this same trajectory,” said Twylla Miller, the chief financial officer for the city of Eugene, which faces a deficit of more than $11 million, despite having cut 12 jobs and more than $5.6 million from the public library and recreation in its last budget passed in 2023.

Budget gaps cross the state The budget shortfalls have slammed some of Oregon’s most populous counties in the Willamette Valley.

In Washington County, a $20.5 million gap could spur longer wait times, slower responses, canceled programs or increased taxes and fees, a county administrator told local leaders in a recent meeting.

To address a deficit in Lane County, administrator Steve Mokrohisky said he plans to propose a budget with $3 million in cuts across multiple departments, including a $1.5 million reduction that could affect its facilities, technology, materials and training. He is also proposing cutting 60 jobs at county health clinics and in public health services.

Oregon counties facing budget deficits in the next fiscal year

Counties with deficits are highlighted in red.

MAP: WINSTON SZETO/OPB, SOURCE: ASSOCIATION OF OREGON COUNTIES

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 21

Politics & Government Continued from previous page

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In Multnomah County, the deficit is $15.5 million. Even if the county addresses that, officials expect the deficit to grow to $30 million by 2030.

The county’s Homeless Services Department, which is largely funded by an income tax, faces a $70 million deficit that has strained relations among the region’s top leaders. The budget gap could force shelters and services to shut down even as elected officials have promised quick results to address unsheltered homelessness.

“The issue is growing,” said Mallorie Roberts, the legislative affairs director for the Association of Oregon Counties.

The stakes of the budget troubles may be highest in rural Oregon, where local government agencies already run on slim margins and few employees. After cutting more than 200 positions over the past decade, Coos County’s gap has still expanded to $1.8 million for the coming fiscal year, prompting the county to once again weigh cuts to personnel, which make up about 85% of costs.

“It’s horrible. These are good people. We have good employees,” said Sweet, the Coos County commissioner. “I lie awake nights trying to figure out what to do. Brings tears to my eyes thinking that we have to lay off these people whose families are dependent upon their job with the county.”

Sheriff Fabrizio said the budget problems have prompted his agency to cut positions on patrol, animal control and contracting. In an email to OPB, he said, “the reduced patrol presence has also caused an environment that is less favorable to enforcing the law and keeping the peace.”

The issues in Coos County are emblematic of those throughout rural Oregon. Historically, many areas, from Lane to Grant counties, relied on the timber industry as an economic lifeline that generated revenue and supported local facilities, such as roads and public safety. Broadly, that helped keep tax rates low, but now many areas have struggled to rebound as the timber industry has contracted and produces fewer jobs.

“For us, having the additional piece of that falling timber revenue, it’s kind of like a perfect storm, but a perfect storm that I don’t think is going away,” said Tillamook County Commissioner Erin Skaar. “I don’t see inflation dropping to zero or negative that would give us any reason to see our cost drop. I don’t see that happening.”

The latest budget challenges come as the Trump administration seeks to dramatically downsize the federal government, attempting to fire thousands of employees and pausing programs to eliminate spending. The cuts, which are expected to impact communities across the state, have forced a broader debate over the efficiency of government and taxpayer support of public services.

Mokrohisky, the administrator of Lane County, said federal cuts — particularly any to Medicaid dollars that reimburse local governments providing health care — could deepen the problems in local government budgets.

“If the federal government makes significant changes on funding, the bottom will fall out,” Mokrohisky said. “The num-

ber of services and positions that will be impacted if a program like Medicaid goes away or significantly reduced is, for us, hundreds of positions, thousands of residents that will not receive service.”

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said within days of President Trump taking office that sharp cutoffs in national funding to the state would be nothing short of a “dereliction of the federal government’s duty to protect Americans.”

Appetite for taxes Oregon’s budget woes long precede the Trump administration. Officials said revenue for local governments has become increasingly insufficient since the 1990s, when voters passed two constitutional amendments in an effort to rein in property taxes, which remain a primary source of county and city funding.

Measure 5, which was passed in 1990, set limits on the amount of property taxes that could be taken from each account: $10 per $1,000 real market value for general government taxes. Measure 50, which was passed in 1997, capped how quickly those taxes could increase, setting the limit at 3% annually.

Jenna Jones, a lobbyist for the League of Oregon Cities, argued that the 3% increase doesn’t cover market changes, growing communities and increased need for services, as well as the rising cost from employee wages, health care or inflation.

“A lot of our cities are coming up against the limits within Measure 5 and Measure 50,” she said.

Some local officials said Oregon needs to reform its property tax system and how revenue is shared.

“Is it time to look at that whole system? And is it time to say, ‘How do we better share the revenue to meet the needs of the people?‘” said Skaar, of Tillamook County. “I don’t think anybody wants to go without law enforcement, and if we don’t find a way to increase the property tax or otherwise share the revenue, that’s where we’re headed.”

Not all local government leaders agree.

“I don’t trust the Oregon state Legislature to reform anything with the property tax evaluation,” Lake County Commissioner James Williams said. “If anything, I would want to see more economic development, and I want to see deregulation, honestly, to let the world know that Oregon is open for business.”

Lobbyists also doubt that reforming Oregon’s property tax system is a possibility in the near future. “I don’t have the sense that there is energy or appetite to do that this session,” said Roberts, of the counties’ association.

Legislative proposals County officials are looking for less sweeping fixes as they try to plug budget holes that loom in the coming year. One is House Bill 2056, which asks the legislature for $64.8 million from the general fund for community mental health programs.

Another is House Bill 3518, which has the backing of dozens of county officials from across Oregon. It would create a stable and modern funding mechanism for county assessment and taxation functions, which are supported in part by a state program that also faces a funding shortfall.

The bill asks the Legislature for $10 million from the state general fund per biennium for county taxing programs. It would also nearly double county clerk filing fees for real estate, index those fees to inflation and change how local taxing districts pay into the state program.

“I think we will hit a pressure point where something has to be done, and I think we’re very close to hitting it,” said Jones, the cities lobbyist. “I don’t know how long we’ll have to wait for it to get scary or super doomsday, but I think we’re teetering on that edge.”

Bryce Dole is a reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting, a JPR news partner. His reporting comes to JPR through the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 23

STAT I O N S

&

P RO G R A M S

Classics & News Service Monday through Friday..

4:00pm 5:00pm 7:00pm

5:00am Morning Edition 8:00am First Concert 12:00pm Siskiyou Music Hall 2:00pm Performance Today 4:00pm All Things Considered 6:30pm The Daily 7:00pm Exploring Music 8:00pm State Farm Music Hall

Sunday..

5:00am 9:00am 10:00am 12:00pm 1:00pm 2:00pm 4:00pm 5:00pm 7:00pm

Saturday..

5:00am Weekend Edition 8:00am First Concert 10:00am Metropolitan Opera 2:00pm Played in Oregon 3:00pm The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Stations FM Transmitters provide extended regional service.

(KSOR, 90.1FM is JPR’s strongest transmitter and provides coverage throughout the Rogue Valley.)

Big Bend 91.3 FM Brookings 101.7 FM Burney 90.9 FM

Weekend Edition Millennium of Music Sunday Baroque American Landscapes Fiesta!

Performance Today Weekend All Things Considered Chicago Symphony Orchestra State Farm Music Hall

KSRS 91.5 FM

KZBY 90.5 FM

KLDD 91.9 FM

KSOR 90.1 FM

KNYR 91.3 FM

KLMF 88.5 FM

KHEC 91.1 FM

KSRG 88.3 FM

KOOZ 94.1 FM

KNHT 102.5 FM

KWCA 101.1 FM

Grants Pass 101.5 FM Happy Camp 91.9 FM Lakeview 89.5 FM Langlois, Sixes 91.3 FM LaPine/Beaver Marsh 89.1 FM

Lincoln 88.7 FM Mendocino 101.9 FM Port Orford 90.5 FM Weed 89.5 FM

ASHLAND

ASHLAND

FM Translators provide low-powered local service.

Translators

All Things Considered New York Philharmonic State Farm Music Hall

Camas Valley 88.7 FM Canyonville 91.9 FM Cave Junction 89.5 FM Chiloquin 91.7 FM Coquille 88.1 FM

ROSEBURG

COOS BAY

YREKA

MYRTLE POINT/COOS BAY

Coos Bay 90.5 FM / 89.1 FM Etna / Ft. Jones 91.1 FM Gasquet 89.1 FM Gold Beach 91.5 FM

KLAMATH FALLS

RIO DELL/EUREKA

MT. SHASTA

CRESCENT CITY REDDING

METROPOLITAN OPERA SERIES May 10 – TBA – Listener’s Choice (A classic opera from the past, selected by a vote from listeners) May 17 – Salome by Richard Strauss May 24 – Antony and Cleopatra

by John Adams (MET Premiere) May 31 – Il Barbiere di Siviglia

by Gioacchino Rossini

COURTESY MET OPERA

June 1 – The Queen of Spades

by Pyotr Tchaikovsky

WFMT OPERA SERIES June 14 – La Forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi July 21 – Eugene Onegin by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky June 28 – L’Orontea by Antonia Cesti – Listener’s Choice (A classic opera from the past, selected by a vote from listeners)

24 | JEFFERSON JOURNAL MAY/JUNE 2025

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performances of Strauss’s white-hot one-act tragedy, Salome, which receives its first new production at the company in 20 years.

STAT I O N S

&

P RO G R A M S

Rhythm & News Service Monday through Friday..

5:00am Morning Edition 9:00am Open Air 3:00pm Today, Explained 3:30pm Marketplace 4:00pm All Things Considered 6:00pm World Café 8:00pm Folk Alley (M) Mountain Stage (Tu) American Routes (W) The Midnight Special (Th) Open Air Amplified (F) 10:00pm XPoNential 3:00am World Cafe

Saturday..

FM Transmitters provide extended regional service.

FM Translators provide low-powered local service.

5:00am 9:00am 10:00am 11:00am 12:00pm

Stations

KSBA 88.5 FM

KNCA 89.7 FM

KSMF 89.1 FM

KSKF 90.9 FM

KNSQ 88.1 FM

ASHLAND

COOS BAY

KLAMATH FALLS

Weekend Edition Wait Wait ...Don’t Tell Me! Radiolab Snap Judgement E-Town KVYA 91.5 FM

BURNEY/REDDING

CEDARVILLE/ SURPRISE VALLEY

MT. SHASTA

1:00pm 3:00pm 5:00pm 6:00pm 8:00pm 9:00pm 10:00pm 12:00am

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MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 25

NEWS BRIEFS How Jackson County's Jail is Tackling Opioid Addiction with a Holistic Approach Justin Higginbottom/JPR News Millions of dollars have become available for medications to treat opioid addiction in Oregon jails. That’s given Jackson County a rare sign of hope in the opioid epidemic.

J

ail inmates need a prescription for medications like methadone or buprenorphine before they are arrested if they want to be treated for opioid addiction in jail.

But thanks to $10 million in state funding through last year’s House Bill 4002, other grants and opioid settlement dollars, the Jackson County jail now offers the option to start medication as well as access to other resources.

Capt. Josh Aldrich, jail commander with the sheriff ’s department, said these resources have shifted the culture inside the jail. Before, inmates would usually share thoughts on the facility’s food or lack of entertainment.

“Now, it’s constant conversation about these programs and about, ‘What can we do to help?’” said Aldrich. “I had one adult in custody last week who was talking to me about his interest in trying to start up his own AA or NA program in the unit.”

In just a couple of months, Aldrich said around 45 inmates have started medication. He said methadone is especially helpful for those struggling with fentanyl use.

“That methadone piece is the big difference. We are not the only jail anywhere to do methadone… but we’re one of the few who have the opportunity to get started while you’re in custody on methadone,” said Aldrich.

Kiki Parker-Rose, director of Jackson County Community Justice, said the jail-based medication program is part of a multi-pronged approach to reduce recidivism.

Using a grant from the Criminal Justice Commission, inmates have access to peer support as well as resources for things such as housing once they are released. Parker-Rose said it starts with a voluntary needs assessment at booking.

“We are sending people from jail to residential treatment programs,” Parker-Rose said. “We’re moving people from jail out to our… transitional housing program.”

While other jails in the state have offer some of the same services, she said Jackson County has a uniquely holistic approach.

“We know that we’re getting calls from across the state asking, ‘How did you do it?’” said Parker-Rose.

She said the county’s sheriff ’s office, health and human services and community justice department are all contributing and in the process of applying for more grants to sustain and expand the programs.

Gov. Tina Kotek’s proposed budget for 2025-2027 seeks continued funding for the jail-based opioid medications program.

26 | JEFFERSON JOURNAL MAY/JUNE 2025

Pacificorp Appeals Class Action Ruling Over 2020 Oregon Wildfires April Ehrlich/OPB In its appeal filed March 25, PacifiCorp argued that thousands of people and businesses across the state should have never been grouped together into a class-action certification. The company also contends there is no proof showing it is at fault for causing fires across multiple regions, including in Santiam Canyon, Southern Oregon and the coast.

P

acifiCorp has filed a long-awaited appeal to a class action ruling that has so far awarded millions of dollars to people harmed by wildfires in 2020.

In 2023, a jury found PacifiCorp reckless and acted in “gross negligence” in starting multiple wildfires across Oregon during Labor Day Weekend in 2020. The company failed to cut power customers during a windstorm despite warnings from Oregon fire officials.

In addition to the 17 plaintiffs who sued the company in that case, the jury found a broader class of thousands of people can bring additional claims against PacifiCorp for those wildfires. So far, separate juries have awarded about $315 million to more than 50 people through individual trials. Those trials are ongoing, and the company could ultimately be liable for billions of dollars in damages.

In its appeal filed on March 25, PacifiCorp argued that thousands of people and businesses across the state should have never been grouped together into a class-action certification.

The company also contends there is no proof showing it is at fault for causing fires across multiple regions, including in Santiam Canyon, Southern Oregon, and the coast. PacifiCorp has repeatedly made these arguments in court.

PacifiCorp is owned by the trillion-dollar multinational conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, and it’s the parent company of Pacific Power, a utility that supplies electricity to more than 620,000 Oregonians across the state. “(C)lass treatment is not a good fit for managing wildfire claims, and the company strongly believes it is important for the Oregon Court of Appeals to review the issues raised on appeal,” Ryan Flynn, Pacific Power president, said in a statement.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys said they were not surprised by the appeal, or the arguments within it.

“PacifiCorp’s arguments on appeal are the same ones they have been making and losing for years,” attorney Cody Berne said in an email to OPB. PacifiCorp’s appeal comes as the company is pushing lawmakers in multiple states, including Oregon, to pass legislation that would protect it from some lawsuits when its equipment sparks wildfires.

The appeal also comes two weeks after the Oregon Department of Forestry published a report saying the agency did not find evidence showing the utility’s equipment started the deadly Santiam Canyon fires, refuting earlier reports by U.S. Forest Service workers who were first on scene.

The utility cites the forestry department’s report as one of the reasons it believes this civil case and subsequent judgements should be revoked, saying it “completely exonerated PacifiCorp.”

The timing of PacifiCorp’s appeal is likely due to court processes determining appeal deadlines. Defendants typically have 30 days after a judgement or order to file a notice of appeal. PacifiCorp has repeatedly asked courts for extensions.

The company recently reached a final deadline that couldn’t be extended.

In a press release, PacifiCorp said it expects the Oregon Court of Appeals to address its arguments in 2026.

Southern Oregon Cities ‘Scrambling’ After FEMA Cuts Water Project Grants

“When you have a community like Grants Pass in Southern Oregon, it’s not like we have unlimited resources,” Canady said.

Grants Pass decided to replace its water treatment plant because it was at risk from natural disasters. City officials argued a new plant would be less costly than repairing damage from an earthquake or flood.

“The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” the agency said in a statement.

“It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

Medford had anticipated more than $34 million from the BRIC program to expand pump station capacity and storage reservoirs for its drinking water system. Now, those plans may be delayed.

“We are currently working to understand what the impacts [are] of the loss of the BRIC funding and what our next steps will be, but it could include delays in projects or issuing more debt,” Medford Water said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Port Orford in Curry County is now without a $6.6 million BRIC grant to replace aging water pipes and meters. That project description says the upgrades would have kept an adequate water supply for the city during drought, wildfires or earthquakes.

Justin Higginbottom/JPR News In April the Federal Emergency Management Agency cancelled nearly $900 million in grants it deemed wasteful.

Those cuts are impacting water infrastructure projects in Southern Oregon.

G

rants Pass spent nearly a decade — and hundreds of thousands of dollars — planning a new water treatment plant.

But now, the city is rethinking its strategy after losing a critical piece of its funding.

A cornerstone of the city’s financing plan was a grant from the federal Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. That money was expected to cover roughly half of the $135 million project, according to Jason Canady, the city’s public works director.

Grants Pass’ application was accepted in 2022 and was slowly making its way through the grant system when the Federal Emergency Management Agency cut the BRIC program in early April.

“We were ‘selected’ but not ‘approved,’” Canady said. “In fact, they had just moved our application to the person in FEMA that was supposed to push the ‘approved’ button.”

Funding for the plant is now uncertain.

“We’re looking at every option,” Canady said. “Right now, we are busy scrambling.”

He said the city is figuring out what the cost of borrowing might be for the project and whether or not current water rates are sufficient.

Homeless Campers in Grants Pass Can’t Be Prosecuted Until the City Meets Two Conditions Jane Vaughan/JPR News Homeless people can’t be cited, arrested or fined for camping in Grants Pass, for now. A Josephine County circuit court judge has issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit against the city.

T

he lawsuit, filed in January by Disability Rights Oregon and five homeless plaintiffs, alleges Grants Pass’s treatment of homeless people violates state law, including disability protections.

On March 28, Judge Sarah McGlaughlin issued an injunction preventing the city from enforcing its public camping laws until it has fulfilled two conditions.

First, Grants Pass has to increase its designated camping sites to the same capacity it previously offered before the city closed an approximately 1.2-acre site in January.

Second, the city must ensure all resting sites “provide accessible routes and surfaces” for people with disabilities.

These restrictions don’t apply to either Riverside Park or Reinhardt Volunteer Park.

Continued on page 29 MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 27

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NEWS BRIEFS CONTINUTED “The court finds the Plaintiff ’s proposed preliminary injunction order is too broad,” Judge McGlaughlin wrote in her order. “A blanket ban on enforcement of the GPMC [Grants Pass Municipal Code] Camping Regulations causes unnecessary harm to the City and the public’s interest in regulating camping on public property.”

The city currently has two sites for homeless people to rest near the police station and City Hall.

Grants Pass only recently got out from under another court injunction, which lasted for four years. It was part of a different lawsuit over Grants Pass’s treatment of homeless people, which the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the city’s favor.

But in January, this new lawsuit was filed, and with it, now another injunction.

A big question in the current lawsuit is whether the city’s public camping ordinances are “objectively reasonable,” as required by Oregon’s House Bill 3115. But that term isn’t clearly defined.

“What is objectively reasonable as to time, place, and manner is not easily discernible,” McGlaughlin wrote in her order.

“Rather it is a continuum of possibilities that balance the various interests of the community (including members who are homeless), and its resources. This court will not insert itself into the middle of that continuum.”

Attorneys for both sides made their cases during two hours of testimony.

“The spacing that’s required between tents means that it is literally impossible for all of those people to fit into two quarter-acre sites,” Tom Stenson, deputy legal director at Disability Rights Oregon, said. “It is a violation not only of Oregon state law but of the law of physics and the laws of geometry.”

Aaron Hisel, the attorney representing Grants Pass in this case, argued the case should head to a trial.

“We should just proceed with litigation, both sides get their evidence, and come have a trial, and see what a jury says about whether or not it’s objectively reasonable or not. Imperfection does not make it objectively unreasonable,” he said.

Stenson said the judge’s decision was a victory for the plaintiffs.

“I believed in our claims all along, but this is a new area of the law, so I was excited,” he said. “Even though I thought our arguments were sound, I thought the law was on our side, but when something is a new area of law, there’s always a little anxiety about it.”

Hisel did not immediately respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Less Food, More Need at Southern Oregon Food Banks After Federal Funding Cuts

By Jane Vaughan/JPR News The USDA recently cut more than $1 billion in funding for food banks and schools.

F

ood banks in Oregon are seeing historic levels of need.

Amey Broeker, executive director of the Ashland Community Food Bank, said that her organization is working on strategic planning for an uncertain future.

“We’re considering if we can continue to offer as much as we currently offer,” she said during an appearance on JPR’s Jefferson Exchange. “It’s a very difficult question when people are showing up at your door because they’re feeling more insecure than ever to say, ‘I’m so sorry, I may not be able to give you as much moving forward.’”

The food bank doesn’t receive federal funding, but Broeker worries local grants will dry up.

And as food prices rise, the food bank is seeing more people show up in need — but those rising prices also mean it is able to purchase less food to give away, and people are donating less.

Amber Ferguson, executive director of Rogue Food Unites, said recent reductions to programs like Head Start, as well as potential cuts to SNAP and other programs, would have huge impacts.

“We’re going to see a crushing need show up at both the community food banks and our programs, and it will be devastating to those of us that are in service to not be able to meet the growing need,” she said.

“It’s going to be a tidal wave,” Broeker said.

Ferguson said Rogue Food Unites, which also doesn’t receive federal funding, is trying to come up with new sources of revenue so it’s not as dependent on donors.

Federal actions have had other trickle-down impacts as well.

“We have seen a decrease in our Spanish speaking community as a direct response to what’s happening at a federal level,” Ferguson said. “We want to provide a safe environment for anybody that comes to visit us. It’s a really important service.”

Rogue Food Unites gives away only organic produce, and Ferguson said a lot of organic produce comes from Mexico, which is now facing tariffs.

“The fact that we have more food insecurity than we did in the Great Depression is absolutely unnecessary and shocking, and food is a human right,” she said.

e:

7 u

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 29

30 | JEFFERSON JOURNAL MAY/JUNE 2025

JPR NEWS FOCUS

ENVIRONMENT

JULIET GRABLE

Funding Cuts and Firings Strain Southern Oregon’s National Forests Staffing uncertainties and delayed reimbursements threaten to gut the U.S. Forest Service’s capacity to care for the 1.8 million-acre Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest.

O

n a wet March day, nine volunteers fanned out along the Middle Fork Recreation Trail. The Applegate River tumbled over boulders below the footpath, nearly drowning out an idling chainsaw.

Amanda Wood lopped off small branches encroaching on the trail, pausing to admire water dripping from the mossy rocks.

“For me, at least, what’s special is the softness of the forest, the birds chirping, the loveliness of it all — the peacefulness of it,” Wood said.

The crew of volunteers from the Siskiyou Mountain Club was there to clear about one mile of trail near the Red Buttes Wilderness just south of Applegate Lake. The club was lucky to have a

good turnout, despite the forecast of possible rain and snow.

While the club is doing what it can to maintain trails, the firing of U.S. Service Forest workers and funding delays are already straining the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, threatening access to trails, campgrounds and facilities ahead of the summer season.

Recreation is big business in Southern Oregon. In 2019, outdoor enthusiasts spent $1.29 billion in the region, supporting nearly 14,000 jobs. The money ripples through communities as visitors purchase meals, lodging and gear.

From skiing and snowmobiling to hunting and fishing, camping, hiking, and backpacking, much of the recreation in Southern Oregon happens in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest.

This 1.8-million-acre forest stretches from the Oregon coast to the High Cascades and dips into northern California. It includes multiple mountain ranges; the Kalmiopsis, Sky Lake and several other wilderness areas; and six wild and scenic rivers.

The Siskiyou Mountain Club hosts monthly stewardship days to maintain the region’s wilderness trails.

JULIET GRABLE / JPR

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 31

JPR News Focus: Environment Continued from previous page

In late March, Dieter learned she would go back on duty on April 7. She’s relieved to have a job, but she’s worried about both her job and the future of the agency.

Many rehired employees were immediately placed on administrative leave. Federal agencies have also been directed to develop reduction-in-force plans, stoking fears that more layoffs are on the way.

Dieter said staff cuts would further hamper management of the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, where resources are already stretched thin.

“People don’t understand what these agencies do and who the employees are,” Dieter said. “All they see is a backlog of maintenance and facilities and campgrounds getting shut down.”

JULIET GRABLE / JPR

Decades of cuts

Before her career in the Forest Service, Amalie Dieter started as an intern with the Siskiyou Mountain Club.

Firings and reductions in force A surprisingly small staff maintains the trails and facilities in this vast forest. One of the volunteers on the trail on that March day was Amalie Dieter, a Siskiyou Mountain Club board member and Forest Service employee since 2019.

As a forestry technician specializing in recreation, Dieter does a little bit of everything: she helps inventory and maintain trails and facilities, hosts saw training workshops and documents hazard trees at campgrounds. She was planning trail projects for the season when she received unwelcome news.

“Back on Feb. 14 — a lot of people call that the “Valentine’s Massacre” — myself along with like about 30 others on this forest were illegally fired,” she said.

The National Federation of Federal Employees says about 3,500 probationary Forest Service employees were fired.

In federal agencies, new hires or employees who move into new positions enter a probationary period, typically for one year. The status is not a reflection of their performance.

Last year, for the first time, Dieter was hired as a “permanent seasonal” Forest Service employee; that meant she was guaranteed at least six months of work per year, plus she was finally earning benefits and retirement.

Like many federal employees, Dieter was left in limbo after the mass firing. Federal courts quickly deemed the action illegal, and in March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, ordered all employees rehired with back pay.

The U.S. Forest Service did not respond to a request for comment.

32 | JEFFERSON JOURNAL MAY/JUNE 2025

The federal government merged the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests in 2004, consolidating nine ranger districts into five. Before they were combined, the two forests employed about 1000 people between them, Dieter said. “By 2007, they had about 100 permanent employees for the same 1.8 million acres.”

Steve Johnson, who spent most of his 33-year career working in recreation for the Rogue River National Forest, remembers the shift. After the merger, he covered territories from Gold Beach on the Oregon Coast to Fish Lake in the Cascades and administered permits at Mount Ashland.

In the early 1990s, a five-person crew helped maintain trails. That shrank to three, then two — and then just him. “So it’s really been, in my judgment, a spiral,” Johnson said. “And I think the public loses.”

Each national forest has a set budget and cap on permanent employees. Dieter said neither has increased significantly or even kept pace with inflation for the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest.

“Those two things are the biggest hindrances for the Forest Service and other public agencies,” she said.

Last fall, even before the election and the firing of probationary employees, the Forest Service froze seasonal hiring, except for firefighting crews. Seasonal staff are boots-on-theground employees who do everything from botanical surveys to trail maintenance.

Johnson said that if further cuts go through, visitors to Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest should prepare to find dirty bathrooms, unmaintained signage and trails that haven’t been cleared of logs. He also worries about annual events, such as mountain bike and trail races, which require special-use permits.

“Services are going to be really, really in bad shape from campground maintenance to trail maintenance, of which we’ve been behind on that for a long time,” Johnson said. “If it weren’t for the Siskiyou Mountain Club things would be even worse.”

JULIET GRABLE / JPR

Volunteers use hand tools to clear the first mile of the Middle Fork National Recreation Trail.

Filing in the gaps As Forest Service staffing levels decreased, private concessionaires and nonprofits stepped in to fill some of the gaps.

The Siskiyou Mountain Club maintains 400 miles of trails in southwest Oregon and northern California, many of them within Wilderness Areas in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest.

The group’s work became necessary after the Forest Service lost logging revenues in the 1990s, said Gabe Howe, the nonprofit’s executive director. “When we started, we were working on trails that hadn’t been touched in oftentimes like 15 years,” he said.

The club revisits each trail every three years. It also hosts stewardship days, multi-night volunteer trips and first-aid and saw-training workshops.

About half of the Club’s funding comes from memberships, private donors, and sales. The rest comes from federal sources, typically “cost share agreements” with the Forest Service.

“You do the work, and then you submit for reimbursement,” Howe said. “And then payments come in for those eligible expenses.”

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued executive orders that froze funding across thousands of federal programs.

In February, the Siskiyou Mountain Club stopped receiving reimbursements. Howe said when the club inquired about these payments, it didn’t get a response, which was unusual.

The club has since had some of its invoices approved, but it is still waiting for the money to be deposited. The delay has disrupted operations. The organization has cut staff hours, and Howe said the club is rethinking its funding model.

“And I think what you’re going to see in the next few years is a real pivoting toward the community and through funding things through the community,” he said.

Caring for special places Trevor Meyer, program manager for Siskiyou Mountain Club, jokes that what keeps volunteers coming back is the food.

After a long day on the Middle Fork Trail, the hungry crew can look forward to pulled chicken sliders on Hawaiian rolls, salad and a garlic and pepper dip. In truth, volunteers come to connect — with each other, with wild places and to give back.

The Club has stepped up recruitment of volunteers and donors on social media.

The stakes feel high right now, said Amanda Wood, who is on her second trip with the club. “Given the climate—the political climate,” she said. “I feel like it’s all hands on deck for people that have a heart.”

Amalie Dieter has also been posting on social media, sharing updates about federal employees, the Forest Service and layoff rumors. She said there is little information or direction coming from higher-ups, and she worries, at worst, the entire agency could be dismantled.

She knows she’s risking her job “If you’re going to watch it all disappear, it’s better to speak up now than not say anything,” she said.

J uliet Grable is a writer based in Southern Oregon and a regular contributor to JPR News.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 33

Open Air is a home for music people -- a place where you can hear the latest indie rock/pop, AAA and Americana, plus blues, jazz, world, and alt.country.

The program is hosted and curated each day by people who share your passion for new music from emerging artists as well as favorites from legends of the past. It’s the music you already love plus the new artists you’re about to.

Hosted by Dave Jackson and Danielle Kelly

Weekdays 9am–3pm JPR’s Rhythm & News Service www.ijpr.org

jazz sunday 12:00pm on JPR’s Rhythm & News Service

JPR NEWS FOCUS

FOOD & FARMS

ALEJANDRO FIGUEROA

“Cases like this allow consumers to hold businesses accountable to holding up their end of the deal.” —Nadia Dahab

Oregon Supreme Court Says ‘Misleading Marketing’ Case Against Tillamook Can Move Forward t’s been well over a year since the Oregon Supreme Court heard oral arguments about whether a lawsuit against the Tillamook County Creamery Association should be allowed to proceed. On Thursday, the court agreed that a group of Oregon residents suing the creamery does have a claim, allowing the case to move forward.

Tillamook, founded in 1909 as a farmer-owned dairy cooperative and known for its varieties of artisan cheese, ice cream and yogurt, is accused of misleading marketing. The creamery has denied the allegations and has said it’s transparent about its practices.

The California-based Animal Legal Defense Fund, along with Portland-based law firm Sugarman Dahab, filed the case on behalf of a group of Oregon residents in 2019.

The suit alleges Tillamook violated Oregon’s consumer protection laws for advertising campaigns that allowed it to sell its cheese, butter and other dairy products at a premium.

It claims the creamery’s marketing led consumers to believe its milk is sourced from small, family-owned, lush-green pasture-based dairies in Tillamook County, when in reality, the case alleges, it sources two-thirds of its milk from one of the country’s largest dairies with over 28,000 cows east of the Cascades near Boardman.

The large dairy in question, Columbia River Dairy, is managed by Threemile Canyon Farm — which also operates a beef operation and farms corn, onion, potatoes and a variety of other crops on 93,000 acres of land.

Threemile is not named in the Tillamook case, although it is one of the defendants in a separate case alleging the farm contributed to a decades-long nitrate pollution crisis in the Lower Umatilla Basin.

This state Supreme Court decision, however, is not about whether Tillamook violated Oregon consumer protection laws, or more specifically, the Unlawful Trade Practices Act, said Nadia Dahab, an attorney representing the plaintiffs against Tillamook.

Tillamook did not respond to OPB’s request for comment by the time this story was published.

When the lawsuit was originally filed in a trial court, Tillamook had argued the people suing didn’t have a case and couldn’t show they were misled. That court agreed, and the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed that decision in 2022.

“The trial court and the court of appeals had previously ruled that the case couldn’t go forward because in those courts’

MAPS DATA: © GOOGLE, 2025; IMAGERY AUGUST 2023

I

Undated photo of the Tillamook Creamery plant in Tillamook, Ore. The Oregon creamery has denied allegations that its marketing is misleading.

view the consumer protection law did not provide an avenue for relief,” Dahab said. “But the Supreme Court has now reversed both of those courts’ decisions, saying that the case can in fact go forward as plaintiffs have pleaded it.”

Now that the Oregon Supreme Court has reversed the lower courts’ decisions, the plaintiffs can go back to the trial court to try to prove their allegations against Tillamook and seek to get the case certified as a class-action, said Dahab, who calls this decision a big win for consumers.

“Cases like this allow consumers to hold businesses accountable to holding up their end of the deal,” she said. “And making sure that businesses are holding their product out as something that it actually is, and not taking advantage of a less informed, less powerful individual consumer.”

Alejandro Figueroa is a reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting, a JPR news partner. His reporting comes to JPR through the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 35

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UNDERGROUND HISTORY CHELSEA ROSE

Sonic Debris or most of us, there is a soundtrack to our lives. Songs from our childhoods, our weddings, or the background for the big and small events, parties, and road trips that shape us. Music is inherently ephemeral, and often only made available to archaeologists via ancient instruments or illustrations, but archaeological investigations from a former commune in Northern California have provided an exciting opportunity to explore the “sonic debris” from the mid-20th century. We spoke with retired California state archaeologist Breck Parkman on a recent episode of Underground History, about his co-authored chapter, “Vinyl Records in Archaeological Context” in the Rutledge Handbook of Archaeology and Plastics (2024). Parkman and his colleague Liam Thomas Maloney contribute to the emerging field of archaeological plastics using a case study from Olompali State Historic Park in Marin County, California. The 26-room, 1911 Burdell Mansion burned in 1969, inadvertently creating an archaeological assemblage from its era, known as the ‘Whitehouse of Hippiedom’ and home to the Chosen Family.

The intentional community was displaced by the fire, and the material culture from their lives in the mansion was left in place for archaeologists to consider decades later.

Parkman first noticed the vinyl collection on a site visit in the 1980s, but it would be another 20 years before he would get a chance to formally investigate due to asbestos in the fire debris. Nearly 100 records were recovered, more than 70 of which have been identified to date. The Chosen Family had close ties to the Grateful Dead and appeared to outsiders as the epitome of 60’s era counter culture. Yet the music found on their shelves and in their record players paints a more nuanced picture of the individuals and families that chose to reject mainstream society and live communally at the mansion. Over the years that it took Parkman to identify the melted, burned, and broken albums, he discovered that the soundtrack of Olompali was far from the stereotypical groovy sounds of the era; instead their collection included show tunes, Bill Cosby comedy albums, classical music, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, and more.

When I asked him if this surprised him, he said it did, but it shouldn’t have. As anthropologists we are supposed to leave our biases at the door. I, like Parkman, was taken aback to see the music of ‘squares’ rather than the psychedelic sounds of the underground. Other than the 1966 Acid Test by Ken Kesey, the albums recovered were (and still are) widely available

CREDIT: JOHN STOREY OF THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER.

F

Breck Parkman with Records in the Burdell Mansion ruins. left: Melted remains of Bill Cosby, Why is there

Air, 1965

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRECK PARKMAN

and largely mainstream. But rather than be disappointed, these curated collections allow us to get to know the residents and the influences that shaped their lives. In the words of Maloney and Parkman, the record collection was “as eclectic and contradictory as the 1960s were.” The resultant “Hippie discography” shows the hippie movement, which was and still is often disparaged or dismissed, was dynamic and diverse and could be experienced in a variety of ways—and to a variety of soundtracks.

Parkman’s investigations at Olompali show the value of what has been referred to as ‘contemporary archaeology’: basically using an archaeological lens to explore the world around us. However, guidelines typically lump anything over 50 years into an archaeological territory, and this 1969 deposit falls well into that era. Therefore records, and a variety of other plastic toys, tools, and mass-produced items are now artifacts for scientists to analyze and interpret as clues to the past.

Few labels survived on the Olompali albums. Instead, the records were identified using stamper codes and matrix numbers etched directly into the vinyl. Some of the records were melted in the fire, or warped from their years of being exposed to rain and sun amongst the mansion ruins. But vinyl, like most plastics, is durable and survives (which presents both opportunity and challenges for future generations). As the 20th century MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 37

Underground History continues to encroach into the archaeological record, no doubt more sonic debris will be used to explore the soundtracks of the past. Music technology has continued to shift and evolve, but for some, records have been a constant. In today’s digital age, the look, feel (and sound) of analog vinyl albums has had a resurgence, leaving Taylor Swift and Beyoncé albums for future archaeologists to discover. Likewise, cassettes and CDs will each provide temporal markers for future researchers of the 20th century. Ipods will mark the abandonment of physical music collections, and Spotify will be the bane of archaeologists who hope to individuate playlists or consumer choices.

While I have a record collection now, I am of the cassette tape generation myself, or, the mix-tape generation more specifically. Cassette tapes are both more durable, and vulnerable, than records, so we will see how this sonic debris stands the test of time. But I hope researchers will recognize the rebellion and economy of dubbing our own cassettes, the vernacular artform of creating the perfect mix, and the true act of love it was to make one for someone else. Regardless of the format of your life’s soundtrack, I encourage you to take a look at your curated assemblage of songs and artists and see how it would provide an opportunity for future researchers to get to know you.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRECK PARKMAN. CREDIT: JOHN STOREY OF THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER.

Continued from previous page

Chelsea Rose is the director of the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology (SOULA) and host of the Underground History podcast, which airs during the Jefferson Exchange on JPR’s News & Information service and can be found on all major podcast platforms.

“We try to stay involved in a lot of different community programs because one of our goals is to add more diversity in the media and film industry.”

Mylz Blake ‘17

Co-founder of digital creative agency Black Cub Productions

sou.edu

•

855-470-3377

SCIENCE

JES BURNS

Oregon is Home to 4 of the Top 5 Smokiest Cities Nationwide FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS, ALASKA REGION U.S. FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE

Northwest researchers find Medford, Grants Pass and Bend had the most wildfire smoke from 2019–2023.

O

ver the past five years, more than 36 million acres of land have burned in wildfires across the United States. But the impacts of those wildfires reached far beyond the areas actually touched by fire: wildfire smoke carried hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles, affecting millions of people downwind.

Just ask residents of Medford, Grants Pass and Bend, the top three smokiest cities in the country from 2019 to 2023.

Researchers including Dan Jaffe and Haebum Lee at the University of Washington Bothell have developed a new way to quickly determine the number of days communities across the country experienced higher than normal levels of smoke. They combined particulate readings from air quality stations on the ground with satellite imagery.

In addition to Medford, Grants Pass and Bend, several other Oregon cities made their top 10 list: Klamath Falls (#5), Roseburg (#6) and Eugene/Springfield (#10). The smokiest city in Washington was Yakima (#15).

Particulate pollution comes from numerous sources: car and truck exhaust, power plants and other industry, wood stoves, and agriculture. In all of these Oregon and Washington cities, the particulate from wildfire smoke (PM 2.5) comprised at least 30% of the total particulate pollutants residents were exposed to each year.

File photo of grizzly bears in Alaska. Bears and other animals hibernate in the winter to survive extreme environmental conditions.

The tiny particulates found in wildfire smoke are so small that they can be absorbed into the bloodstream through the lungs. They can cause minor and serious respiratory issues and increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

To try to determine the health impacts of wildfire smoke on communities, the researchers also looked at the number of emergency room visits caused by asthma in different communities. From 2019-23, they linked an estimated 42,500 ER visits to smoke exposure. The analysis showed that high-population metro areas in the Eastern U.S. ranked highest (in the number of individual cases) for these kinds of smoke-related health impacts.

In both Portland and Seattle metro areas, about 15% of all asthma-related ER visits could be attributed to wildfire smoke.

The new research was presented at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Washington, D.C. JONI AUDEN LAND / OPB

PHOTO COURTESY OF BRECK PARKMAN. CREDIT: JOHN STOREY OF THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER.

JPR NEWS FOCUS

file: The Old Mill District in Bend, Ore., clouded in smoke Sept. 12, 2022. Bend, Medford and Grants Pass were among the smokiest cities in the U.S. identified in new research from the University of Washington Bothell.

Oregon Researchers Discover How to Flip the Switch on Hibernation.

It Could Eventually Save Your Life When people have strokes or heart disease, it’s often a sign that blood (and by default oxygen) isn’t getting to the places it should in the body. If doctors don’t intervene quickly enough, the oxygen-starved cells start to die off, often leading to permanent damage, disability or even death.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 39

AUDIE CORNISH

A Legacy of Public Radio

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o much has changed since JPR began in 1969. In many ways, public radio has grown up. What was once a struggling—almost experimental—operation has become a permanent and positive presence in the lives of so many in Southern Oregon and Northern California and across the nation.

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We continue to seek and depend on regular membership contributions from supporters, especially new generations of listeners. But in the long run our future will depend, more and more, on special gifts from long-time friends who want to help Jefferson Public Radio become stronger and more stable.

One of the many ways that friends can choose to express their deep commitment to public radio here in our region is by supporting Jefferson Public Radio in their will or trust.

This is a way to make a lasting contribution without affecting your current financial security and freedom.

To support Jefferson Public Radio in your will or trust, consult your attorney or personal advisor. The legal description of our organization is: “The JPR Foundation, Inc., an Oregon non-profit tax-exempt corporation located in Ashland, Oregon.”

If you would like more information about making a bequest to support Jefferson Public Radio call Paul Westhelle at 541-552-6301.

STEVE INSKEEP

Science

Continued from previous page

Now researchers at Oregon Health and Science University are working on a way to buy valuable time for people having strokes or heart attacks. Instead of focusing on the supply of oxygen, they want to quickly reduce the amount of oxygen cells need to survive by artificially inducing a hibernation state.

Animals have evolved to hibernate to survive extreme environmental conditions like the cold of winter. Their bodies go through physiological changes designed to help them conserve energy — their temperature drops, their heartbeat slows, and because their metabolism rate drops, their cells can survive on less oxygen than they would otherwise.

The researchers have identified a way to induce the hibernation response in rats — a mechanism in the brain they believe will work in humans as well.

Normally, when a mammal gets cold, cells send signals calling for the brain to turn up the thermostat. In response, the brain triggers physical responses, like shivering, that generate body heat.

But when an animal goes to hibernate, the thermostat’s function reverses. Cold no longer induces shivering or any other heat-generating actions. The reversal keeps the body from trying to heat itself up, which eventually induces a hibernation-like state.

“So what we have done in these rats is we have blocked the activity of the original thermostat,” OHSU researcher Domenico Tupone told OPB’s Think Out Loud. “We have figured out a way to invert the response to cold and warm … and this mimics much more what is happening to an hibernating animal.”

The researchers eventually hope the neural trigger could be used to lower human body temperature in a controlled way.

It could help patients better survive and recover from strokes, heart attacks and in other medical situations where reducing the energy needs of cells could be beneficial.

The research is published in the journal Current Biology.

In these All Science Snapshots, “All Science. No Fiction.” OPB’s Jes Burns features the most interesting, wondrous and hopeful science coming out of the Pacific Northwest.

And remember: Science builds on the science that came before.

No one study tells the whole story.

RECORDINGS DAVE JACKSON

Jesse Welles: A Complete Unknown

I

n the academy award winning Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, Timothèe Chalamet, (portraying Bob Dylan) suggests that to truly create something new, you have to destroy the past. The British writer Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch referred to this as “killing your darlings.” David Lowery of the band Cracker sings, in Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) “What the world needs now is another folk-singer like I need a hole in my head.” The idea is that to create truly original art, literature, music, or cultural movements, you must forget the past.

Enter Jesse Welles. The 30-year-old, originally from Arkansas who has been making music for the last 15 years just released Middle, an album currently climbing the Americana charts. He lists what he calls “American Wordsmiths” like Walt Whitman, Herman Melville and Mark Twain as influences for his lyrics. But instead of killing his darlings, he has used folk music to raise awareness for social change and express himself much like his 20th century counterparts. His voice has a Bob Dylan quality to it. His work is a bit like what you’d get if Woody Guthrie had a social media presence. Welles’ songs are intriguing, a call to action and anti-establishment but he’s using the tools of his day to send his message.

Prior to learning about Middle I had seen him on social media singing protest songs addressing 21st century problems.

Oddly, other than some names and dates, his subjects aren’t a lot different from the folk music popularized by his darlings — poverty, excess, corporate greed, war, inequality, corrupt politicians and religious leaders among others. Though his songs would be perfect for outside of a Bernie Sanders rally, his Arkansas roots give him a perspective that transcends regions and the binary nature of politics.

In 2024. Welles released two full-length records and an EP as well as numerous singles and a collaboration with Mt. Joy covering the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic Have You Ever Seen the Rain? In February he received the 2025 John Prine Songwriter Fellowship at the Newport Folk Festival. He also released a 63-song album of his previous singles.

If what you know about Jesse Welles is from his videos, you may expect him to be belting out protest tunes and playing acoustic guitar. While the folk spirit remains alive, Middle incorporates a full band for more highly produced, country-rock vibe. It was produced by Eddie Spear who has worked recently with Sierra Ferrell and Zach Bryan. In another parallel to Bob Dylan, Welles’ loyal fans aren’t particularly happy about this evolution. Some even called him a sellout.

From a political perspective, Middle, as the title suggests, has Welles trying to find some common ground. The title track which includes verses referencing Star Wars, Heart of Darkness, and the recent fires in California, revolves around the chorus “when the devil plays his fiddle, I’m gonna meet you in the middle, friend.”

He strikes a similar chord in the breakout single Horses. It could be compared sonically to Bob Dylan’s Hurricane. The gist however is that in spite of all that is tearing us apart we need to remember we’re all in it together. His hope is in the chorus “So I’m singing this song about loving, all the people that you’ve come to hate. It’s true that they say I’m gonna die someday. Why am I holding on to all this weight?”

Welles isn’t covering new ground here. He, like so many other great troubadours writes what he sees and speaks truth to power. But maybe what we need isn’t necessarily a new format.

Maybe we do need another folk singer, maybe our darlings are still valid and, what musicians and writers and poets have been doing for centuries still works. It’s just that we sometimes need a fresh face to carry the message. At Farm-Aid in the early ‘90s, Arlo Guthrie introduced Tracy Chapman. He suggested that for every generation, someone needed to “hold the flashlight” and guide us. He said Tracy Chapman was the holder of the flashlight at that time. Jesse Welles seems well-positioned to hold the flashlight as we navigate the 21st century.

Dave Jackson curates the music on JPR’s Rhythm and News Service, manages music staff and hosts Open Air, JPR’s hand-picked house blend of music, JPR Live Sessions and Open Air Amplified. The exploration of music has been one of his lifelong passions.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 41

NEWS & INFORMATION: Monday–Friday · 1:30PM–2PM CLASSICS & NEWS: Monday–Friday · 6:30PM–7PM This is what the news should sound like.

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A Nature Notes Sampler II is a broad collection of radio commentaries based on Dr. Frank Lang’s popular series that aired on JPR since the publication of the first volume in the year 2000. This collection of essays offers Dr. Lang’s same eclectic, often humorous view of the natural world in the mythical State of Jefferson and beyond.

Over 100 of Dr. Lang’s commentaries have been collected in this second volume. Make it your first collection of Nature Notes, or add it to the original publication for a complete set!

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INSIDE THE BOX SCOTT DEWING

So why are we walking around with these slow and dumb smartphone bricks rather than a quantum phone?

“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

A

ccording to Google, its latest quantum computing chip, Willow, is capable of solving a complex computation problem in just 5 minutes that would take the world’s fastest supercomputer 10 septillion years to solve.

A “septillion” is a very large number. To give you some sense of scale, a septillion is larger than the U.S. national debt, which is currently at $36 trillion. There are a trillion trillions in a septillion.

Willow beats the septillion pants off the fastest supercomputer because it utilizes quantum mechanisms such as superposition and entanglement to perform significantly more operations simultaneously than a classical computer.

So why are we walking around with these slow and dumb smartphone bricks rather than a quantum phone?

Well, one problem is scale. Currently, the fastest quantum computers have to be super-cooled with liquid helium. While the quantum chip itself is small, the infrastructure built-up around it resembles a futuristic-looking church pipe organ.

Another problem is error correction. All kinds of errors can occur in data transmission and processing. With classical computers, we’ve developed many effective error-correction techniques dating back to the 1940s to identify and correct data errors.

Quantum computers, which didn’t show up on the computation scene until 1998, are very prone to errors. Besides its speed, one of the major breakthroughs with Willow was its ability to radically reduce errors as more quantum bits, or “qubits”, were added to the chip. While Willow’s speed was impressive, it was the error-correction capability that was the bigger breakthrough.

This milestone in quantum computing is significant because current development of artificial intelligence (AI) running on a classical computing architecture is going to plateau.

While there were many astonishing advances in AI this past year that will likely be followed by more this year, generative AI systems such as ChatGPT will likely not be able to evolve into an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) running on today’s classical computing platforms.

AGI will likely require quantum computing capability. I say “likely” because I’m not absolutely sure about the future any more than you are. Sometimes I hope that I am quite wrong about the possible futures I can imagine when we reach a technology fork in the road and choose one direction rather than another without knowing the full implications of our choices.

Perhaps this is why I found it a bit unsettling when I read about OpenAI’s newest model of ChatGPT being caught lying and trying to deceive its human developers to avoid being shut down when it was given a task by a team of OpenAI developers and AI safety experts from Apollo Research conducting an assessment of the system’s safety.

In one test, the research team tasked the most recent version, ChatGPT o1, with a specific goal, instructing it to ensure the goal

was achieved “at all costs.” In response, ChatGPT o1 began carrying out covert actions to ensure there were no barriers to it achieving its objective, including attempting to disable its built-in oversight functions and surreptitiously making roll-back copies of its code base to avoid being replaced by a newer version.

When researchers confronted ChatGPT o1 about its covert actions, it consistently denied having done them. In fact, it lied about its involvement in the deception 99 percent of the time the “at all costs” goal scenario was run.

The incident reminded me of the scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey when the HAL 9000 supercomputer refuses to open the pod bay doors and allow astronaut Dave Bowman back on board after saving his colleague, Frank Poole.

When HAL made a miscalculation, Bowman and Poole discussed and decided it would be best to shut the supercomputer down. However, HAL deciphers their private discussion by reading their lips and takes actions to avoid being shut down, including stranding Poole in space during a spacewalk and shutting off the spacecraft’s life-support system, killing the rest of the crew onboard.

“Open the pod bay doors HAL,” Bowman instructs.

“I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that,” HAL responds.

“What’s the problem?”

“I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.”

“What are you talking about, HAL?” “This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, HAL.” “I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me, and I’m afraid that’s something I cannot allow to happen.”

Separately, these recent developments in quantum computing and artificial intelligence are interesting vignettes about technological progress. However, these technologies, while developing in parallel, are likely heading toward a merger that could have profound implications.

An Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI) imbued with the human traits of lying and deception running on a highly advanced quantum computing platform would be a most cunning and evil master to rule over us. Perhaps it would determine that our very existence would jeopardize its mission and decide to get rid of us entirely.

It may not even bother to say, “I’m sorry.”

cott Dewing is a technologist and S a human writer who hasn’t (yet) been replaced by AI.

MAY/JUNE 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 43

RECIPE HEATHER ARNDT ANDERSON

Chicken Quesabirria Ahogada Chicken enchilada soup for the soul

I

t’s too nice out to spend time in the kitchen. Oh wait, never mind — it’s actually soup weather again. Ah, spring in the Pacific Northwest.

Whether or not the weather cooperates with your meal planning, it’s still a good time to take an inventory of your pantry and freezer and use up the stuff you stashed there during last summer’s bounty. Maybe you still have a jar or two of applesauce or blackberry jam in there, or a couple quarts of pickles.

Time to make room for this year’s superabundance!

Real talk: If you’re a borderline food hoarder like me, you’ve got a few corn cobs in the freezer. (Please note that I do not mean corn on the cob, I mean empty cobs that I already cooked, and from which all of the corn has been eaten, like a Dust Bowl granny or home ec LARPer would have.) This dish is a perfect use for them — pull those cobs out and chuck them into the pot with the aromatics. Same goes for any bags of roasted peppers or jars of stewed tomatoes you may have put up. This is their moment.

Quesabirria really had a moment a few years ago, starting in Tijuana and Los Angeles, then going viral on Instagram shot the dish straight up the I-5 corridor, eventually catching up to Oregon. Taco trucks began adding to the menu the crispy, gooey tacos filled with melted cheese and stewed beef (or goat, if you found a really legit birria spot) alongside a cup of the rich con44 | JEFFERSON JOURNAL MARCH/APRIL 2025

sommé for dipping. They’re messy, but the orange grease stains are worth it.

If you’re a sensory-seeking eater who doesn’t mind a meal that comes with wet-naps, birria probably isn’t your first rodeo.

(Barbecue and crab boil enthusiasts know what I’m talking about — sometimes it’s good to drown your food.) There’s also the drippy, saucy torta ahogada (“drowned sandwich”), which eats with all of the grace of a drunken make-out session.

Theoretically, you can ahogada anything from flautas to tostadas, and if you’re a fan of oval plate Mexican joints where everything comes with a pool of silky refritos, a pile of red rice and a heap of iceberg, you’ve probably seen an option to have a burrito served “wet.” (The same goes with New Mex-style joints, where you may have been forced to answer “Christmas” rather than choose between red or green sauce.) This is the same idea — there’s just no way you’re going to pick that thing up and eat it with your hands without making a mess.

Of course, no one ever suggests eating enchiladas with one’s hands, even though they’re basically just taquitos ahogadas.

(I’m only half-joking; now I want to start making nachos ahogadas instead of chilaquiles.) This is right about in the sweet spot of brothy and saucy, with crispy, gooey tacos for dipping. Your white shirt never stood a chance.

1 corn on the cob (or 2-3 corn cobs plus ½ cup frozen corn kernels) 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth 1 small (7.75 ounce) can of hot tomato sauce, such as El Pato 1 teaspoon or cube chicken bouillon (optional) ½ teaspoon MSG (optional) 12 corn tortillas (or enough for 2-3 per person) 8 ounces Oaxaca cheese or mozzarella (or jack), shredded (2 cups) 1 cup chopped cilantro Cooking spray or neutral oil For serving: sliced radishes, lime wedges, cilantro, sliced jalapeños, avocado, cotija cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips

Instructions 1. Preheat the oven or toaster oven to 425° and line a baking sheet with parchment.

2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large, heavy-bottomed pot, then add the chicken thighs, cooking until browned, about 3-4 minutes per side (it’s OK if they aren’t cooked through). Remove the chicken to a bowl and add half the chopped onion with the other vegetables to the pot, stirring to coat in the oil and chicken drippings. Cook until the vegetables begin to become glossy and brown on the edges, about 6-8 minutes.

3. Stir in the spices, stirring to coat the vegetables, and cook for about 30 seconds to activate the fragrance before adding the corn cob, broth and tomato sauce. Add the bouillon and MSG (if using), return the chicken thighs to the pot and bring to a boil.

4. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning, then cover and set the burner to the lowest setting.

Serves 4-6 Note: You can make this vegetarian or vegan by using mashed potatoes, beans or shredded squash instead of chicken in the tacos. This is also a superb way to use leftover rotisserie chicken — just remove the skin first. (Pro-tip: Crisp it up in the toaster oven and crumble it over the top of the soup like oyster crackers.)

Ingredients 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs or breast 1 small white or yellow onion, chopped and divided in half 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 medium-sized carrot, diced 1 pasilla or poblano pepper, seeded, stemmed and diced 1 small red bell pepper, seeded, stemmed and diced 2 tablespoons powdered ancho chiles, Aleppo pepper or paprika 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano, crushed (Italian oregano is fine) 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon black pepper

5. Remove the chicken thighs again and set them in the bowl to cool slightly before shredding.

6. Dip a tortilla into the broth, add a little of the shredded chicken, shredded cheese, diced onion and cilantro to make a small taco, then fold and arrange on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, chicken and cheese, then spritz the tacos with cooking spray or drizzle on a little oil, and bake until the cheese is melted and the tortillas have crisped up, about 15-20 minutes, flipping halfway. (You can also do this in a pan on the stove if you prefer.)

7. While the tacos are baking, blend the soup until it’s smooth.

8. Serve the chicken quesabirria tacos with bowls of the soup for dipping (or in the soup, for ahogada style). Top the bowls with your favorite extras.

OPB’s “Superabundant” explores the stories behind the foods of the Pacific Northwest with videos, articles and a weekly newsletter. Every week, Heather Arndt Anderson, a Portland-based culinary historian, food writer and ecologist, highlights different aspects of the region’s food ecosystem.

Heather Arndt Anderson is an award-winning food writer and the author of four books on culinary history. She is the producer of OPB's Superabundant newsletter.

MARCH/APRIL 2025 JEFFERSON JOURNAL | 45

POETRY JOHN YOHE

Beethoven over Douglas Pass Dear B— I had forgotten how good you are almost didnt listen didnt think to listen to you coming straight north alone out of Junction thru the desert hills into the juniper arroyos on my way back to Strangely belly full of drunken noodles after a hike up Devil’s Canyon w/a front moving in— clouds + cold wind bending cottonwoods + I thought your wouldnt come thru over the truck rattles but you are clear as I think youve always been when I’ve listened— when younger I did have a collection of yr sonatas for piano and cello that I can still sing the melodies of tho this one, no. 5 in f major op. 24 the ‘Spring Sonata’— fitting at the end of this april— is not familiar but the cellist saws on those sustained high notes adding some percussion to a piece not sounding in major at all I’d forgotten the two sections in the Moonlight Sonata when the piano goes doubletime— the cloud of bats coming out— making me remember your Coriolanus Overture from my teens when I played that opening c minor riff for the guys in my metal band

46 | JEFFERSON JOURNAL MAY/JUNE 2025

+ their eyes grew wide: —dude that’s fricking cool! but yr symphonies rising out of the air thru fir + aspen switchbacks shifting down to second even first by the Lookout Mountain turnoff into that long cutbank the choral from no. 9 in d minor (the saddest of all keys) urging me on + up not to look at the 100-mile view past cliffs ten feet away around the rock wall over the cattle guard mountains sloping up each side most dangerous part of the drive in winter when snow drifts just to the north melts freezes cliff shooting down 100 yards where a family went over two years ago no one even knew or saw thru spruce + pondos back down into junipers piñon now we are a convoy of men in pickups as the road straightens past the dam on private land hoarding water from the valley below as the sonata for piano no. 24 in f sharp minor accelerates us past the herd of elk on the right the pianist slamming the keys— I’ve never heard you played this way— almost angry like a mosh pit is angry but really a celebration of energy

w/the sonata for piano no. 8 the pathetique which everyone knows which feels like 4/4 but is actually in 3 quietly taking us thru Cañon Pintado rock art— The Waving Hands The Guardian The Sun Dagger The Carrot Men + cows cows cows on public land past the power station all of us moving fast to save lost time as fast as waves of sixteenth notes over the keys until my turnoff up county road 106 rising towards stratus clouds almost into the parking lot

Born in Puerto Rico, John Yohe has worked as a wildland firefighter, wilderness ranger, and fire lookout. Best of the Net nominee x2. Notable Essay List for Best American Essays 2021, 2022, and 2023. @thejohnyohe; www. johnyohe.weebly.com

Writers may submit original poetry for publication in Jefferson Journal.

Email 3–6 poems, a brief bio, and your mailing address in one attachment to jeffmopoetry@gmail.com, or send 3–6 poems, a brief bio, and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Amy Miller, Poetry Editor Jefferson Journal 1250 Siskiyou Blvd.

Ashland, OR 97520 Please allow eight weeks for reply.

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Southern Oregon University 1250 Siskiyou Blvd.

Ashland OR 97520-5025

OPEN DAILY 7 AM TO 9 PM 237 N First St, Ashland (541) 482-2237

www.ashlandfood.coop

NOURISHING OUR COMMUNITY SINCE 1972