Day: March 29, 2017

Contact Your Legislators About OR SB3!Contact Your Legislators About OR SB3!

Hi everyone! If you listened to our show this morning about suction dredge mining, you heard us mention that you should contact your Oregon representatives and let them know how the health of salmon and the stream ecosystem is important to you. Specifically, that you would like them to vote YES on Senate Bill 3.
Below is the contact information for some of our state-level legislators, plus a script of what to say in your email.

(If your rep isn’t listed here, click on this link: Find Your Legislator and find your district on the map. Remember, each district has a senator and a representative! Double the fun!)

Mt. Tabor area: 

Senator Michael Dembrow – 503-986-1723 – Sen.MichaelDembrow@oregonlegislature.gov

Representative Alissa Keny-Guyer – 503-986-1446 – Rep.AlissaKenyGuyer@oregonlegislature.gov

Reed College, Milwaukee & SE Portland:

Senator Kathleen Taylor – 503-986-1721 – Sen.KathleenTaylor@oregonlegislature.gov

Representative Rob Nosse – 503-986-1442 – Rep.RobNosse@oregonlegislature.gov

Lake Oswego, West Linn, Tualatin: 

Senator Richard Devlin -503-986-1719-  Sen.RichardDevlin@oregonlegislature.gov

Representative Ann Lininger – 503-986-1438 – rep.annlininger@oregonlegislature.gov

North Portland: 

Senator Lew Frederick – 503-986-1722 – Sen.LewFrederick@oregonlegislature.gov

Representative Tawna D. Sanchez – 503-986-1443 – Rep.TawnaSanchez@oregonlegislature.gov

 

Be sure to share the science by emailing your reps a link to this episode & the following (you can copy and paste, we don’t mind!) :

“Dear _____________(your rep’s name here),

I love being a resident of Oregon, in part because I love the natural beauty of this state. This includes the streams, rivers, and lakes that are essential to our way of life. I care about protecting these bodies of water, and our ecosystem as a whole, so I am urging you to vote YES on Senate Bill 3, expanding the moratorium on suction dredge mining.

I learned about SB 3 on the science show, Everything Is Interesting, that aired this morning on Portland’s XRAY 107.1fm station. By presenting the science in an approachable and interesting way, the show put me in a better position to understand the importance and fragility of the stream ecosystem and how suction dredge mining threatens the integrity of our water ways. I urge you to also listen to it. Click on this link and it’ll bring you right to it: “Salmon, Streams, and Suction Dredge Mining”

Thank you for your time,

__________________ (your name here)

29. Salmon, Streams, & Suction Dredge Mining29. Salmon, Streams, & Suction Dredge Mining

A healthy stream ecosystem is an intricate fabric, where pulling one thread could cause the whole system to unravel. Furthermore, each aspect of this ecosystem may provide a service to you directly, but in ways you probably often overlook. You eat the salmon, but the Aquatic Reed Sweetgrass makes your oxygen, the Western Pearlshell Mussel filters the toxins out of your drinking water, and the stable riverbanks supply nutrients that eventually end up in the food you eat.

On this episode, Keera and Kira talk with Jack Williams of Trout Unlimited and Matt Sloat of the Wild Salmon Center, 2 of Oregon’s premiere experts on fishery science and aquatic ecosystems, about our streams, why they matter, and what’s threatening them.

********(Looking for the information about how to send this show to your legislators? Go here: Contact Your Oregon Legislators)*********

(Looking for more information about Suction Dredge Mining and healthy stream ecosystems? Go here: OLCV 2017 Legislative Priorities, here: Trout Unlimited, or here: Wild Salmon Center