Conservation Today

Joe Wallachy describes decades of wilderness organizing in Douglas County, including the Umpqua Wilderness Defenders' push that led to Boulder Creek, Rogue-Umpqua Divide, and Mount Thielsen being protected in 1984.

["Winchester Dam on the North Umpqua River is framed as a private-lake dispute, a fish-passage problem, and a water-quality issue north of Roseburg.", "Frances Etherington speaks with Mike Rooley and Adam Miller of Community Rights Douglas County, who focus on 99 district owners and the dam's long-running control structure.", "They say the dam was built in 1890, raised to 16 feet in 1907, sold to the Winchester Water Control District in 1969, and condemned by Oregon in 1976 as a high-hazard dam.", "The discussion centers on a 2023 repair window, lamprey deaths, a nearly $27.6 million lawsuit, and the possibility that Roseburg's drinking water intake sits downstream of the dam."]

["Frances Etherington interviews Kai Huske of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on Conservation Today about Oregon environmental fights, from the Jordan Cove Pacific Connector pipeline to timber practices.", "Huske says the common problem is a top-down legal structure that gives fossil fuel projects, factory farms, timber permits, and worker-rights disputes the same corporate advantage.", "He connects that structure to capitalism, extractivism, corporate personhood, and the way nature is treated as property instead of a rights-bearing part of the community.", "The conversation turns to rights-of-nature examples in Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, Mexico City, India, and New Zealand, plus the question of how communities can organize beyond elections."]

Lane County's Watersheds Bill of Rights is framed as a response to government failure, with Michelle Holman saying the measure would recognize a right to clean water for animals and "nature herself." Holman, who has served on the Mapleton School Board for 35 years, says the campaign filed through Protect Lane County Watersheds and now faces a ballot-title challenge from the same timber interests that opposed an earlier spray-ban effort.

Conservation Today's part two on native wild horses on public lands opens with Linda saying cattle grazing on public lands is less than 3% of U.S.

Host Frances Etherington interviews Will Falk about his occupation of a proposed lithium mine site in Nevada, discussing environmental, tribal, and political concerns.

Host Frances Etherington interviews Dr.

Interview with Jason Gonzalez about the Oregon Forest Practices Act and its impact on forest management.

An interview with the president of the Umpqua Valley Chapter of the Native Plant Society about the importance of native plants and their conservation.