Environment reporter @opb.org in Portland, Oregon. Wildfires, forests, public lands, wildlife, pollution. She/her. aehrlich@opb.org Signal: aprilehrlich.10
So much of Oregon is on fire. More than 6,200 people under evacuation. About 12,000 firefighters are on the line. And it could get worse: We might get more thunderstorms on Thursday. www.opb.org/article/2026...
Live updates: Oregon wildfires explode with no signs of slowing downPeople on the Warm Springs Reservation have evacuated, and other communities in Central and Eastern Oregon are threatened as more than 1 million acres in Oregon have been consumed by wildfires.www.opb.orgLarge data centers rely on dozens, sometimes hundreds, of industrial diesel generators for backup power. If an hour-long blackout hit the Lower Umatilla Basin in Oregon, data centers could release as much pollution as 38,000 semi-trucks driving for an hour. www.opb.org/article/2026...
Why data centers pose an outsized threat to Eastern Oregon’s air qualityUnder an unstable grid, diesel pollution could threaten communities with large clusters of data centers.www.opb.orgAs of this morning, Oregon wildfires covered 415,000 acres, already surpassing last year’s total acres burned. More than 1,000 people have had to evacuate. With thunderstorms & heatwaves on the horizon, wildfires could get worse this week. www.opb.org/article/2026...
Thunderstorms could bring more wildfires to Central OregonMore than 1,000 people in Oregon have been ordered to evacuate their homes this weekwww.opb.orgThe Trump administration aims to triple logging outputs in 5 million acres of the Blue Mountains area in Oregon & Washington. www.opb.org/article/2026...
Trump administration to propose tripling logging in Blue Mountains forestsThe proposal could bring drastic changes to 5 million acres of forests and grasslands in northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington.www.opb.orgA bill that would have increased prescribed fire in federal forests was largely uncontroversial and supported across the aisle. Then Sen. Mike Lee of Utah attached an amendment that would rescind the roadless rule. www.opb.org/article/2026...
Senate Republicans propose rescinding ‘roadless rule’ — by tacking it onto federal wildfire billThe roadless rule has long prevented new road construction in certain forests, including 4 million acres in Oregon and Washington.www.opb.orgTwo years ago, OPB & ProPublica investigated a logging project in coastal Southern Oregon that included large, ancient trees. A federal judge just ruled that the Bureau of Land Management's project broke environmental laws. www.opb.org/article/2026...
Ruling halts logging project in Southern OregonThe federal government planned to log forests in Southern Oregon that included large, old trees. A federal judge ruled that those plans broke environmental laws.www.opb.orgPresident Trump is allowing the military to flout water pollution laws so it can continue flying supersonic fighter jets in the Owyhee desert in Oregon, Idaho and Nevada. www.opb.org/article/2026...
President Trump OKs supersonic jets over Owyhee desert — even if they pollute riversPresident Donald Trump is invoking an obscure law that allows the military to pollute waterways.www.opb.orgThe federal government accidentally killed two gray wolves during a coyote cull in Oregon, according to a state report. One was a collared wolf from California. More from my colleague Alejandro Figueroa: opb.org/article/2026...
Federal agency accidentally killed 2 protected Oregon wolves last year, state report revealsWildlife Services, a program under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, accidentally killed two protected Oregon wolves last summer. Wildlife conservation groups are skeptical it was a mistake.opb.orgThis is heartbreaking. Rogue Rock Gym is a community space for so many people in the Medford-Ashland area. It’s the only rock gym here — the nearest other gym is 3 hours away. rv-times.com/2026/02/17/r...
Rogue Rock Gym in Medford announces sudden closure | Rogue Valley TimesIndoor climbing community reacts to announcement, rallies to find solutions to save the 21-year-old space; GoFundMe could help it reopenrv-times.comA small part of Oregon's recycling system is on hold after a judge issued a preliminary injunction. The new system charges corporations for their product packaging. Today, more businesses called on lawmakers for a broader halt. www.opb.org/article/2026...
More businesses demand pause on Oregon’s new recycling fees, following court decisionA small part of Oregon’s new statewide recycling system is on hold, after a judge issued an injunction in response to a lawsuit filed by product distributors.www.opb.orgThe 17-acre Leach Botanical Garden in far southeast Portland says it will close if it doesn't get more funding soon. The public park is owned by the city, but managed by a nonprofit. The city hasn't provided funding since last year. www.opb.org/article/2026...
Nonprofit says Portland’s Leach Botanical Garden will close in March without additional fundingThe 17-acre public park in outer southeast Portland is part of a coalition that provides environmental education to Black and brown children and teenagers.www.opb.orgThe Dalles city officials issued a public statement criticizing my investigation into data centers, Google and water. My editors and I have poured over every sentence. Here are the facts underpinning that story, and why we stand by it. www.opb.org/article/2026...
The Dalles’ mayor called OPB’s data center story inaccurate. Here are the factsOfficials in The Dalles issued a public statement criticizing an OPB investigation into data centers, Google and water. Here are the facts underpinning that story, and why OPB stands by this reporting...www.opb.org“The company plans to build new data centers using a closed-loop water system that recycles the water… Microsoft also pledged not to accept tax incentives or subsidies from local communities, and made other commitments around workforce training.”
OPBUnder the plan, Microsoft says it will ask local utilities to charge rates high enough to cover data center energy usage and upgrade electrical infrastructure without raising prices for residents.
The Dalles wants to pull more water out of the Mt Hood forest. It says it’s for a growing population, but the city hasn’t grown much in recent years. What has: Google’s footprint. The tech giant uses a third of the city’s water. www.opb.org/article/2026...
As Google’s water demands grow, The Dalles aims to pull more from Mount Hood forestThe Dalles, a rural city in north-central Oregon, wants to expand its reservoir in the Mount Hood National Forest so it can store more water. While city officials say the water is needed for a growing...www.opb.orgOregon DEQ appears to have known that a cyber attack leaked Oregonians’ personal information since June. The agency didn’t notify most people affected by it until six months later. It also didn’t disclose the leak to the public, not until I started asking about it. www.opb.org/article/2026...
Oregon DEQ data breach leaked thousands of people’s information, but the agency hasn’t told the publicAbout 4,800 members of the public had their personal information exposed after a cyberattack on the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s servers — but nine months after that, the agency has ye...www.opb.org