Page 2 RAIN is a publication of Eco-Net, an environmental education network funded by the Hill Family Foundation and an Environmental Education Grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The office is at the Environmental Education Center, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon 97207. Director: Don Stotler. Energy Center I Oregon Museum of Science and Industry 4015 S.W. Canyon Rd., Portland, Or. 97221 503-248-5900 or 248-5920 Linda Craig, Lee Johnson, Mary Lawrence, Shabtay Levy, Rusty Whitney, Rick Siewert RAIN I Environmental Education Center Portland State University Portland, Or. 97221 (Room 317, Lincoln Hall) 229-4692 Anita Helle, Lee Johnson, Steve Johnson (editor), Mary Wells (layout, design) Environmental Education Center Portland State University Portland, Or. 97207 (Room 373, Lincoln Hall) 229-4682 Randi Krogstad, Don Stotler, Laura Williamson Cover Photo: Ancil Nance Typesetting: Irish Setter PLEASE NOTE There are two special pull-out sections in RAIN this month. An on-going Roughdraft section (this month on Funding) and the second part of.the Energy Environmental Center Directory (A-H). Both sections are designed to be pulled out. SELF-STAMPED return envelopes please. Remember that many of the groups we list are small. Responding to questions can take time, money and energy away from daily work. We have recently gotten several letters complaining of people's failing to include self-addressed, stamped envelopes, so please do. RAIN as a bulletin board and introduction service fails if we drain energy from people we wish to support. Also, it is important to be two-way about it. Sharing is better than requesting. Tell people why you want to know what you want to know and who you RAIN: No such thing as a free lunch RAIN will continue next year. We have been granted an extension of the Hill Family Foundation grant that carries with it, however, the assumption that RAIN will be growing towards self-sufficiency. This means that soon we will be distributing RAIN by subscription and sale in retail outlets. The exact price, marketing strategy and exchange subscription philosophy are still being worked out. You will soon be notified by mail of the decision, and, likely, a request for money. The reason to move toward subscription now is two-fold: (1) to eventually become self-sufficient, and to pay for increase in coverage (features, columns, wider geographic emphasis, more pages); and (2) because we can no longer afford to send RAIN gratis to people we just think might be able to use it. The subscription request will be just one way of separating the readers/users from the non-readers/non-users. Our original policy of distribution was based on certain assumptions of growth; we added to the mailing list throughout the year lists that we obtained or that were given us, on the theory that RAIN was free as long as we could afford it. When you reach 8,000 (this month's printing) this scatter gun approach doesn't seem feasible, especially because it means the people who really want it may not be able to receive it. The requests alone, of about 125 a week, are more than we can handle with present staff. Feedback is always lopsided. We've gotten hundreds of letters of encouragement, and assume from that we are filling some kind of need. At the same time, the majority of people receiving RAIN we don't hear from. We have had to assume from the positive responses that chances were pretty good the majority of RAINs were being appreciated. We hope the move toward subscription will be gradual, and with adequate flexibility to allow for continuation of the network of readers we know are out there. Included in the subscription mailing will be a reader enquiry card which we hope you will fill out regardless of your decision on whether to subscribe, perhaps telling us what you have or have not enjoyed, or under what circumstances you would subscribe. are and, when possible, what you can give in return. ENERGY PRIMER. You should find in this issue a flyer announcing the publication of The Energy Primer. While we are not trying to sell you things, we feel The Energy Primer is an important publication. In summary form and usual Whole Earth Catalog succinctness, it is one of the best introductions to energy self-sufficiency available. And since we are spending a lot of our time answering questions about energy, we feel the wider availability of The Energy Primer could lighten our load. OUR APOLOGIES. We underestimated the number of RAINs we would need last month and ran short. If you are not receiving RAIN and requested it, send us a note. We arc also pretty much out of back issues, but hopefully most of the information will be in the RAIN package/catalog later this spring. Steve johnson €GRICULTURE ·FOO~ Pacific Northwest Forest & Range Experiment Station P.O. Box 3141 Portland, Or. 97208 A major research and report producer of the U.S. Forestry Service. Usually pretty technical (so see also Forestry Update). Information on economics in forest management, wood utilization, chemicals, insect control, plant ecology, recreation, timber management, mensuration, fire, physiology. One of the best vegetation guides for Oregon & Washington produced by them, "Natural Vegetation of Or. & Wash." Jerry Franklin & C.T. Dyrness. Now available from Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. $4.65. Stock No. 0101-00329. The experiment station publishes a yearly annotated bibliography of publications, available on request. Continued on page 6
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