Trouble In Paradise

When the Amtrak train that I was traveling on last year made an unscheduled stop in Oakridge, I saw a panorama of natural beauty and decided to come back to visit, which I did in early November.

The plan was a peaceful, quiet, scenic trip; that plan quickly fell apart when I discovered the following: hunting season; clear-cut forest; open, flat areas of land that were orange, yellow, brown and antifreeze-colored green (not natural, especially for the Northwest); and bulldozers knocking the land down flat.

When I found a flyer, written by an Oakridge resident, concerned about the increasing contamination in the area due to rock quarry mining, I understood what I had observed.

I’m glad someone in Oakridge is also disturbed about the environmental degradation happening in such a beautiful area, and then made the effort to inform the public.

Travel Lane County failed to mention any of these things, so the lesson is that we should rely more on locals for accurate travel info.

The flyer directs the public to “Facebook: Save TV Butte” for additional information.

Robbie Sesso

Wilsonville