Locus Focus

This program was originall broadcast on May 3, 2021

Is it possible that trees are sentient beings, rather than simply the source

of timber and pulp? For decades forest ecologist Suzanne Simard has been

exploring the complicated, interdependent communities that are forest...

For years, community members, organizations, and coalitions have been calling

on the City of Portland to shut down Zenith Energy’s dirty, dangerous

oil-by-rail operations in NW Portland. When the City of Portland failed to

take action, dedicated community members refused to...

This program originally aired on March 29, 2021

 

Before European settlers transformed the north reach of the Willamette River,

near its confluence with the Columbia, it was a braided river of shallow

channels and islands rich in biodiversity. Today the area is designat...

This program originally aired on March 15, 2021

Beavers have been called “Nature’s Engineers.” In fact, the Army of

Corps of Engineers could learn a lot from beavers. Instead of re-engineering

nature to serve narrow human interests, beavers engineer the natural

environm...

Hummingbirds, with their jewel-like plumage, acrobatic flight, and fearless

character, have fascinated us for centuries. For hundreds hese mythic-like

creatures have played a central role in the folklore and spirituality of many

cultures. But the future of these amazing lit...

Since the 1930s, the Columbia River has been tamed and reshaped by an array

of dams that stretch from the Bonneville Dam east of Portland to the Grand

Coulee Dam near the Canadian Border. Not only have these dams destroyed

abundant salmon runs, they have also inundated innu...

We are still a long way away from recovering from last year's wildfires in

Western Oregon. But if the damage and dislocation those fires wreaked was not

traumatic enough, now the Oregon Department of Transportation is carrying out

systematic clearcutting along the scenic wa...

For nearly 17 years Oregonians have been fighting to stop the massive Jordan

Cove LNG export terminal from being built on Coos Bay, as well as its

companion 229 mile pipeline that would cross much of Southern Oregon. In the

past year, this struggle has begun to pay off.

On...

Is it possible that trees are sentient beings, rather than simply the source

of timber and pulp? For decades forest ecologist Suzanne Simard has been

exploring the complicated, interdependent communities that are forests. She

discovered that trees communicate their vitality...

The place where ocean meets land has long been inspiration for poets,

artists, scientists and beach lovers. It is the subject of Waves and Beaches,

a classic guide to the stirring science of sand, surf and waves, written in

1963 by engineer, scientist and adventurer Willard...