Coast Range Radio

Of all the myriad harms modern society is inflicting on our oceans, overfishing is right up there with climate change itself as one of the biggest threats to both marine ecosystems and the billions of people who rely on seafood as a major source of nutrition and income.

The authors of the new book, “Sea Change: unlikely allies and a success story of oceanic proportions”, argue that there is a proven policy that has been working arou...

I have been a vocal critic of the so called “Fix our Forests Act” or FOFA, that is making its way through Congress. I think it is a cynical, bad faith bill that at best, doesn’t address the wildfire issues it purports to solve, and could actually make those issues much worse.

Combined with the attempt to repeal the ‘roadless rule’, which protects vast swaths of public lands from road construction and extraction, and the Trump admini...

It is plain for anyone to see that the short rotation, financialized plantation management practiced by the Wall Street investors who own the vast majority of private timberland is destroying our communities and ecosystems.

Coast Range Radio has been highlighting the need for an alternative model of forest management that sustains both economies and ecosystems for years.  So when I heard about today’s guest’s research into...

Are Amazon data centers fueling a water contamination crisis in Eastern Oregon

Rolling Stone recently published a major investigative piece asking that question. But Amazon is far from the only major corporation polluting the drinking water of Morrow County residents, and this crisis has been going on for decades.

Oregon Rural Action has been organizing in and advocating for communities in Eastern Oregon for years.  They were heavily...

Is the conservation movement being as effective as we need to be?  

This is a moment in time when so much is on the line, and we need to act not just boldly and quickly, but wisely and strategically.

To discuss all of this and more, my guest today is Mitch Friedman, founder and Executive Director of Conservation Northwest, and the author of a brand new memoir: “Conservation Confidential: A Wild Path to a Less Polarizing and More Effe...

Should we be logging our drinking watersheds to protect them? That’s the question for residents of Walla Walla Washington, whose pristine drinking water  comes off of National Forest land.

The Forest Service is planning to a major and multi-faceted project with the stated purpose of protecting Walla Walla’s drinking water from wildfire.  

But what about the impacts of road building and commercial logging in intact, native forest?

Thes...

By now, many, if not most of you have heard that ICE has been secretly planning to build some kind of jail or detention facility in Newport here on the Oregon Coast.

The community pushback has been immediate, fierce, inspiring, and seemingly successful, at least so far.

This is a developing story, and only one skirmish in a wider war to protect our communities from these masked and lawless thugs.

The Newport City Council has been proa...

My guest today is Britney Van Citters, Political and Organizing Director at the Oregon League of Conservation Voters.

Britney joins to discuss how the Environmental Protection Agency is being refashioned into the Environmental Destruction Agency, OLCV’s legislative Scorecard, and what we can do to push Oregon legislators to meet this moment of overlapping crises with real action.

My email is coastrangeradio@gmail....

I’m joined today by filmmaker Jesse Andrew Clark, to talk about his recent documentary, “Free to Grow”.

Free to Grow uses deeply personal first person storytelling to highlight the harms of herbicide spraying on industrial timberlands in the Northwest.

Show Notes:

https://www.oldgrovefilms.com/forest-stories

https://www.opb.org/news/article/blm-investigates-after-company-sprays-pesticide-on-public-land-without-license/

My guest today is University of Oregon professor and longtime activist, Sarah Wald.  Sarah is the author of multiple books, and as you’ll hear today, a profound thinker on a wide variety of issues concerning the conservation and environmental justice communities.

This is one of my favorite conversations I’ve ever had on this show, in part because Sarah was so game to explore some really complicated points of tension within our movem...

As I’ve talked about on this show before, the Trump administration is using every tool available to target public lands and our mature and old-growth forests (along with, of course, democracy, basic human rights, any shred of protection against corporate oligarchy, etc etc. But this is primarily a show about northwest conservation and climate, so as much as I want to rant about all the things, I’m going to keep it focused!)

As we ge...

I don’t have to tell anyone how bleak things look at the federal level.  Here in the Pacific Northwest, if we’re being honest, there is not a lot that we can do at the moment to influence federal policy.

But when it comes to climate and the environment, I’ve always been a little ambivalent about how much can be done at the state and local level.

I want to be clear, local activism and organizing are incredibly important, and that’s wh...

We’re heading East today!  

Oregon’s Blue Mountains encompass some of the most beautiful landscapes and habitats anywhere. Within the Blue’s 15,000 square miles, you’ll find such Oregon gems as the John Day river, the Eagle Cap wilderness, Hell’s Canyon, and a huge percentage of Oregon’s forests. 

But because they are geographically isolated from major population centers, they often don’t get the recognition they deserve.

That remoten...

My guest today is author and journalist, Paul Koberstein.  I spoke with Paul in 2024 about a book he co-authored called “Canopy of Titans: The Life and Times of the Great North American Temperate Rainforest”.

I recently read a great new article of his entitled “Greenwashing in the Evergreen State”, exploring how an industry funded quasi-academic entity got the Democratically controlled Washington State Legislature to endorse industr...

If you’re hearing this before September 19th, I need you to do me a favor: the Trump administration is attempting to eliminate a policy called the “Roadless Rule”, which would open tens of millions of acres of vibrant forests and public land to industrial logging and mining.

The Forest Service is accepting public comment on the plan to eliminate the Roadless Rule until September 19th, and it is important that we flood them with comm...

I just got back from a really amazing backpacking trip in the wilderness of Wyoming, and I’ve been reflecting on how nature, wilderness, sacred lands, whatever you want to call them, have always been a source of refuge, spiritual rejuvenation, and healing for humans.

But a question I and so many others are grappling with right now is, how do we continue to find inspiration and healing in a world that is being so deeply harmed.

My gue...

Just keeping up with the Trump administration’s all out war against our environment is exhausting.  Fortunately, we in the northwest are blessed with incredible activists, organizers, and more relevant to today, environmental attorneys to help us understand the attacks so we can fight back effectively.

One of the best of those attorneys is Brenna Bell, formerly of 350pdx and now with the Crag Law Center.  This episode features a rec...

I’m delighted to be joined today by Rebecca Heisman, freelance journalist and the author of “Flight Paths: how a passionate and quirky group of pioneering scientists solved the mystery of bird migration”.

Flight Paths is a fascinating and engaging deep dive into the history and science of bird migration research, and how understanding bird migration matters for effective conservation efforts.

My 'emailbox' is always open co...