The News - a newsletter, a report, a new park

Cedar Mill residents are lucky to have a monthly newsletter that provides all kinds of local news. You can sign up for it at http://www.cedarmill.org.

Who knew that there is a "State of the County" report for Washington County? I found out about it through the Cedar Mill newsletter. You can find it here: http://www.co.washington.or.us/deptmts/cao/st_cty07.htm. It worth reading, if you like to know what's going on around you.

The most surprising thing in the report is that Washington County is getting a huge new state park this summer. It's called Stewart Memorial State Park. The Park is on the east side of Highway 47 between Highway 26 and Vernonia, four miles north of the U.S. 26-Hwy. 47 junction. So that's pretty nice. I've been meaning to check out the long trailway they've been developing out there, too.

Geography

Do you know where you are? I've been trying to find a good watershed map showing the streams in the Beaverton area and what they drain into. Beaverton is in the Tualatin River watershed. Major creeks flowing through Beaverton include Fanno Creek and Beaverton Creek. The hills throughout the area are lined with smaller creeks that feed into larger ones. The maps I've been able to find are unreadable.

However, I did find a good page on Beaverton at Answers.com. I'm adding it to the links.

Reducing consumption and carbon emissions

Given the choice, I think more and more people would like to reduce their consumption, make purchasing decisions that support local businesses, and reduce their impact on the environment.

But we are all time-starved, and there is a lot of confusing information out there. On this site, I hope to present suggestions that people can actually use. Some of the collected links are a start.

Most of us could make the biggest difference by reducing our trips that use gasoline and jet fuel. As for plane travel, we can question the need to fly to that business meeting, and we can consider a vacation closer to home. If we still need -- or want -- to fly, there are several programs selling carbon offsets that will purportedly make our travel "carbon neutral".

For example, my round-trip flight from Portland to Bend will apparently create 435 lbs of greenhouse gases. For a few dollars, I can purchase a "green tag" from Bonneville Environmental Foundation (the local option, see link at left), which will invest the money in renewable energy sources. Or I can buy a "ski green tag" at Mt. Bachelor.