• Overview of Portland’s stormwater regulations for new or redevelopment
  
• Effects on the environment ~ Thought process behind the regulations
  
• How to use the Stormwater Manual — “Stormwater Manual 101”
  
• Increasing successful “first round” building permit applications
  
• Question and Answer session with BES Stormwater Experts
  

This is a free event open to all. Bring a lunch and join the discussion. No reservation is required. The meeting will be held in the 1900 SW 4th Avenue Building Second Floor Conference Room 2500-A.

This information and a complete library of past presentations are now available on The Bureau of Development Services website at www.bds.ci.portland.or.us Click on “Lunch & Learn Seminars” for more information or call Martha Shonya at the City of Portland Bureau of Development Services at 503-823-7822.

Salmon Festival
20th annual Salmon Festival at Oxbow Regional Park welcomes visitors with guided salmon-viewing walks, Native American village, exhibits, art and more.

The festival celebrates the return of the fall Chinook salmon to the Sandy River with a variety of activities for all ages. The festival offers a fun and informative way to better understand the salmon’s struggle for survival and what people can do to help ensure that salmon continue to be part of the Pacific Northwest.

The festival takes place from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12 at Metro’s Oxbow Regional Park. Admission is $7 per vehicle.

When visitors arrive at the main festival area, they can pick up an activity schedule, map and children’s activity passport at the Salmon Nation Welcome Center. Environmental exhibits, arts, music, storytelling children’s crafts and games and food are all found here.

The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission will establish Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum Village above the shores of the Sandy River. In the native Sahaptin language of many Columbia Basin Indian tribes, Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum means ‘salmon people’.

The village will celebrate the cultures and traditions of Columbia River Basin tribes and feature Native American artists, dance performances and traditionally prepared food such as salmon and frybread. Nez Perce appaloosa horses also will be on display in the village.

At the River Learning Center, visitors can learn about the salmon life cycle and take a guided salmon viewing walk to see wild salmon build nests and battle for the rights to produce the next salmon generation. The opportunity to witness a part of the salmon life cycle as these fish return to their birthplace is what makes the Salmon festival at Oxbow Regional Park different.

The Park is a located eight miles east of Gresham on the Sandy River. Follow the signs to the park traveling east on Southeast Division Street. Sorry, pets are not allowed in the park.

For more information, call Metro at 503-797-1850 or visit the web site at www.metro-region.org/salmonfestival.

Reduce your bills
The Community Energy Project offers various types of workshops. Learn what you can do to reduce you monthly bills and protect your family.

A Water Conservation Workshop will be held Monday, October 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the East Portland Community Center, 740 SE 106th Ave. Learn how to take control of your water and sewer bills. This workshop provides information on how to detect and repair leaks, water conservation ideas in and around your home, plus details on Portland’s water system. Each Portland household receives an instructional workbook and a free kit of materials worth $25. To register, call 503-284-6827.

Free public seminars on Oriental medicine
The Oregon College of Oriental Medicine is sponsoring a series of Saturday Seminars free to the public in October on health benefits of traditional Chinese medicine.

Each Saturday seminar starts at 10 a.m. and goes for two hours.

The seminar on October 18 will focus on two elements of Chinese medicine - medicinal herbs and acupuncture. Free sample acupuncture treatments will be available.

On October 25 the public will be introduced to the benefits of Oriental massage. There will also be a demonstration of how gentle qigong meditative exercise can reduce stress and ease aches and pains.

The seminars are free, but space is limited. To reserve your place, call 503-253-3443 ext. 550. The Oregon College of Oriental Medicine is located at 10525 S.E. Cherry Blossom Drive, near Mall 205.

Public hearings to assess habitat and impacts
The Metro Council and its local partners are moving forward with a three-step planning process to conserve, protect and restore urban streams and waterways to support healthy fish and wildlife habitat. Currently the council is completing the second step of this process - the assessment of the economic, social, environmental and energy (ESEE) impacts of protecting - or not protecting - habitat areas.

Scientific research conducted during the first step, a regional inventory of the fish and wildlife habitat areas inside the urban growth boundary, and the ESEE analyses will help the Metro Council and the residents of this region formulate an economically and environmentally integrated habitat protection and restoration program.

At 2 p.m. October 23 at Metro Regional Center, 600 N.E. Grand Ave, the council will hold public hearings to obtain additional input on the appropriate mix of possible program options to be studied. It is anticipated that the results of this work will be available for community review and discussion in the spring of 2004.

Staff will be available to discuss the recent analyses and will be asking residents for views and opinions to help define the appropriate levels of development activity in and around regionally significant fish and wildlife habitat areas. In Mid County, this relates specifically to the Columbia Slough.
“There are significant competing values that the community needs to consider: the public’s desire for clean water and access to nature, for example, weighed against the public’s equally cherished values of private property rights and economic opportunity. How the Metro Council balances those goals is an important test of our leadership,” said Metro Council President David Bragdon.

“The Metro Council needs to answer a variety of questions including, how much fish and wildlife habitat we want to protect, how much emphasis to put on regulatory or other options such as land acquisition and restoration programs. These issues are all part of developing a fish and wildlife habitat protection policy that will serve this region for generations,” said Metro Councilor Carl Hosticka, lead council program advisor.

For up-to-date event information or to find out how you can be involved, visit Metro’s web site at www.metro-region.org/habitat or call Metro’s information line at 503-797-1888 option 2.

Pumpkin patch
Fall is upon us. Halloween rapidly approaches. It’s time to begin the search for that perfect pumpkin.

Visit the Rossi Farm at the corner of Northeast 122nd Avenue and Shaver Street from October 4 through October 31. They will be open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. (or dusk), Sunday from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (or dusk).

On the weekends the farm will offer a corn maze, tractor rides, a hay maze, a large slide and a petting zoo to augment that search and create a family outing that is sure to become an annual tradition.

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