OREGON OUTDOORS & RECREATION

Your guide to getting out in Oregon, from hunting to hiking and biking

Watching pros run a waterfall right before kayaking over it yourself might not be the best way to learn.

The smooth paddle strokes, the flawless style: They make it look too easy.

Photo courtesy of Bo WallaceKim Russell of Bend launches off of Steelhead Falls on the Deschutes River.

"My next step is to take a step. I know I'm going to walk again, that's for sure. It's just a matter of where and when."

- Sean Powell on his next goal in recovery. Powell has returned to hunting two years after suffering a loss of oxygen to the brain and entering a coma.

Nancy Powell Sean Powell of Oregon City made good on a goal in fall 2008 to resume hunting, a sport he was passionate about before he suffered a dural sinus thrombosis, in which blood clots in one or more of the main veins draining the brain.

Heidi Swift/Special to The OregonianHeather Gundersen is part of a small, quirky sisterhood of cyclists who share camaraderie and competition.

I recognize her immediately. She is wearing the helmet I'd coveted for more than a year. Long brown hair. Laughing tentatively. She looks as nervous as I feel.

I roll up to where she is standing on the start line and introduce myself. "Are you Heather Gundersen?"

Brent Wojahn, The OregonianTy Adams of southeast Portland bought a 1994 Safari Trek motor home and turned it into a sustainable tool to teach about renewable resources. It runs on biodiesel, has solar panels for its electricity and hot water, a composting toilet and channels to catch rainwater.

The 1994 Safari Trek motor home parked in the green-living southeast Portland neighborhood draws curious looks.

Which is just what Ty Adams wants.

Curiosity breeds questions. Questions give Adams the chance to preach his passion -- for alternative fuels and energy independence, for conservation of natural resources and for creative, sustainable design and construction practices.

U.S. Coast GuardA portion of the hull from the Network floats near the jetty in the Tillamook bar Friday morning.

BARVIEW -- In town to visit relatives for Thanksgiving, Mark Headley thought it would be fun Friday morning to join locals watching the fishing boats cross the Tillamook bar. Instead, the Eugene resident watched a boat capsize, leaving two presumed dead and setting an ominous tone for the crabbing season that opens Monday.

This from the Idaho Statesman:

(and perhaps a message to the upcoming Oregon Legislature)

By ROGER PHILLIPS

A new law passed in the Idaho Legislature earlier this year requires a
"restricted vehicle" license plate for all off-highway motorcycles, ATVs and
utility vehicles starting Jan. 1.

The restricted vehicle plate and the traditional off-highway vehicle
registration sticker will both be required to operate your vehicle, even if
you never ride on roads.

The new license plate is through the Idaho Department of Transportation and
is separate from the traditional OHV sticker program through Idaho Parks and
Recreation.

Don Ryan/The Associated PressSalmon pass through the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam in this file photo.

The motion for an injunction was filed today in U.S. District Court in Portland.

The Oregonian file photo/2004A California sea lion nicknamed "Gaucho" by biologists made his third year in a row visiting Bonneville Dam to feed on salmon in 2004.

A federal judge ruled that states, as a last resort, can begin killing as many as 85 sea lions annually for five years, removing animals that state wildlife officials say threaten billion-dollar efforts to save and restore salmon runs.

Two Oregon duck callers will head to Stuttgart, Ark., this weekend for the national calling championships.

Eric Strand of Monmouth, a perennial calling champion since 2003, will be joined by a newcomer, Brandon Eckert of Milwaukie.

I joined the chorus a few days ago when Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska (does anyone not know where she's from by now?) "pardoned" a turkey in front of a camera against the backdrop of a turkey processing plant where other fowl were meeting a...umm..."foul" fate.

Biologists call it a "Conservation Plan" for white sturgeon, the top perennial gamefish in the Columbia River.

Between the lines, they've gone from scratching their heads to genuine concern about what might be a declining number of fish.