Think Out Loud

A new study led by researchers at Washington State University showed that butterfly populations in the U.S. shrank by more than 20% from 2000 to 2020. More than 100 butterfly species declined by more than 50% during this period, including nearly two dozen that plummeted by more than 90%.The findings are based on more than 12 million observations of hundreds of butterfly species recorded by citizen scientist volunteers and biologists during surveys conducted in the Pacific Northwest and six other regions across the continental U.S. 
 
Cheryl Schultz is a professor of conservation biology at Washington State University and a senior author of the study. She joins us to share more details and how the public can help with butterfly conservation – including  species like the Fender’s blue butterfly which is native to Willamette Valley and was reclassified from endangered to threatened status in 2023. 
 

In 2023, Oregon was awarded more than $58 million in federal grants from the Inflation Reduction Act to plant and maintain trees. The availability of much of those funds remains uncertain. 

Earlier this month, the Oregon Department of Forestry, city agencies and nonprofits told Inside Climate News that at least $40 million dollars in grant reimbursements to boost urban tree canopies in Oregon remain unpaid. 

Last week, several U.S. farmers and nonprofits sued the Trump administration for withholding grants funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.  

Vivek Shandas is a professor of geography at Portland State University and a member of the National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council. He joins us with more on the future of the state’s tree canopies and what they mean for Oregonians.

Indigenous tribes in what is now the northeastern U.S. and Canada have played lacrosse for millennia. Similar stick-and-ball games were played by tribes across the Southeast and Great Lakes region. But according to NCAA data, less than 1% of college lacrosse players are American Indian or Alaskan Native, and more than 80% are white.

Pacific Northwest Native Lacrosse is trying to change that. As reported in Willamette Week, the organization recruits Indigenous lacrosse players from across the PNW to participate in tournaments, youth camps and clinics.

JD Elquist is the founder of PNWNL. Bilįį Blackhorn is a senior at South Eugene High School who’s played lacrosse for 10 years, including with PNWNL. They join us to talk about the importance of emphasizing the sport’s Indigenous roots.

Liability waivers have been a hot topic in Oregon since a 2014 court ruling made them difficult for places like ski resorts and climbing gyms to enforce. Recreational business owners say their insurance rates have soared as a result, but trial lawyers say the waivers discourage operators from keeping their facilities safe. 

House Bill 3140 would allow recreational businesses to require customers to sign a release for claims of “ordinary negligence,” making it harder for customers to sue. Operators say they need the additional protection from frivolous claims, but attorneys say Oregon law already protects against spurious lawsuits.

Jim Zupancic is the board president of the Oregon Health & Fitness Alliance, which represents gyms, exercise studios and health clubs across the state. Gretchen Mandekor is the owner and lead trial attorney at Mandekor Law Firm. They join us to offer differing perspectives on this legislation.

Todd Prager was a planning commissioner for the city of Lake Oswego in 2011 when he discovered that  the body of water that defined their community was in fact not a private lake, but rather a navigable public waterway. He says no one seemed to want to act on this information. The city went in the opposite direction, passing an ordinance in 2012 that barred the public from “trespassing” to the water from the three lakeside public parks. That’s when he decided to file a lawsuit. He and co-plaintiff Mark Kramer said that the lake should be accessible, just like other navigable bodies of water in the state.

After more than a decade in and out of five different courts, a Clackamas County circuit judge ruled that Prager and Kramer were correct, and ordered the city to provide access to the lakeshore Millennium Plaza Park. The Lake Oswego Corporation, which represents the interests of many owners of high-value homes has said it will appeal the decision granting access. For its part, the City of Lake Oswego has said it will take a “deliberate and thoughtful approach in assessing next steps” and will hold a meeting to gather public comment on March 31 at 6 p.m.

Prager joins us to tell us why he’s persisted in this legal battle for so many years. We’ll also hear from Jeff Ward, the general manager for the Lake Oswego Corporation about what he thinks is at stake in the case and why the company is appealing. 

Since our last conversation with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, President Trump has enacted tariffs and mass layoffs that could significantly impact Oregon’s federal workforce and economy. The Oregon Legislature has also begun its biennial session, taking up issues around education, transportation and housing. Kotek joins us in the studio to talk about all of that and more.

Oregon archaeologists have found evidence of human occupation in the state that dates back more than 18,000 years. University of Oregon students and faculty working at the Rimrock Draw Rockshelter in Harney County found stone tools and fragments of camel and bison teeth beneath a 15,000-year-old layer of volcanic ash. Radiocarbon dating of the tooth enamel revealed that the fragments were 18,250 years old. Due to their position in the ash, the tools are thought to be even older — making them some of the oldest evidence of human civilization in North America.
Joining us with more details about the discovery is Pat O’Grady, a staff archaeologist at the University of Oregon Museum of Cultural and Natural History.

Three of Oregon’s college basketball teams are set to compete in this year’s NCAA Tournaments, including the Oregon State women’s team. After losing some of their best players to the transfer portal during the collapse of the Pac-12 conference, the Beavers came back to win their first conference championship since 2016. They’re now the 14th seed in the women’s bracket and will take on third-ranked North Carolina on Saturday.  

The University of Oregon men’s team is making its second consecutive appearance this year. The fifth-ranked men’s team is set to take on 12th-seed Liberty University on Friday. The 10th-ranked Oregon women’s team will make its first March Madness appearance since 2022 when it takes on seventh-seed Vanderbilt on Friday. 

KOIN 6 sports anchor and reporter Brenna Greene joins us to talk about all of those contests and more

Last week, two federal judges ordered thousands of federal workers who were on probationary status when they were fired to be rehired at 18 federal agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Education. The rulings came a day after the Department of Education announced massive staff cuts, part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce. 

Democratic Oregon US Senator Jeff Merkley joins us to discuss the mass firings of federal workers, as well as the vote on the stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown and possible cuts to Medicaid House Republicans are considering that could directly impact care for 1.4 million Oregonians.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, requires museums, universities and other institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American ancestral remains and cultural items to their original tribes. Though the law passed nearly 35 years ago, many institutions have failed to fulfill its requirements.  

Oregon State University recently opened a new facility designed to advance its NAGPRA obligations. The two buildings house a records room, a laboratory and a space to consult with tribal members as they move through the repatriation process. The new buildings are also better equipped than the old facility to store cultural items and remains of tribal ancestors awaiting return.  

Dawn Marie Alapisco is the director of the NAGPRA Office within OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity. She joins us to share more about the new facility and how institutions should be approaching their NAGPRA requirements.