Page 48 RAIN Summer 1986 Pacific Cascac1ia Bioregion Report On a rare cfay of partial cfearing clouds separate tO reveal the Maritime Northwest. . On the east, the Cascade Range protects it from · the thirsfy Pfateau. On the west is the Pacific. "Bioregion--a continuous geographic area seen in terms of similarities of plant and animal life and climatic and geological characteristics ... and a terrain of consciousness-a place and the ideas that have developed about how to live in that place." -Peter Berg The Pacific Cascadia bioregion is that continuous geographic area roughly bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade mountains, from southwest Oregon to southwest British Columbia. The Pacific Cascadia Bioregion Report Southward the .Siskiyous and Trinify Afps palisade the Maritime ·Northwest against the 6are 6rown hilfs and 6uming pfains of California. Northward, though maritime climate persists, agricufture ceases, turned 6ack 6y mountains that rise from the sutf. is our attempt to help further the "terrain of consciousness" in this place by tracking community-based efforts to enhance citizen participation, selfreliance, social justice, and ecological ·sustainability throughout the region. We hope the information provided here can serve both to increase networking within the region, and to provide useful models for those living in other bioregions. If you would like to report on a worthy project in your neck of the woods, please write to us. Compifed by F. Lansing Scott Portland Seeks to Trim Waste As landfills fill up and incineration 'facilities need replacement, communities all over the country are trying to reduce the amounts of solid waste generated. Oregon, like many other states, faces an impending crisis that requires immediate attention. One response to this has been the Oregon Senate Bill 405 which provides curbside recycling to cities of 4,000 or more. The bill was passed in the 1983 legislature and requires that the recycling programs be in place by the first of next year. Now Portland's Metropolitan 1 Service District (Metro) has devise~ a plan to meet the challenge of SB 405 and go beyond it, combining community an·d government support in a comprehensive waste reduction program. Metro's waste reduction plan addresses the particular needs in the Portland area. Portland already recycles 22 percent of its waste, one of the highest recycling rates in the country, but Metro would like to incr~ase the rate tO 52 percent. The remaining 48 percent of the waste stream will be landfilled or incinerated. This two tier system is divided into many more parts. The recycling section consists of three areas. The first is an attempt to "reduce and reuse." ·Plastics and packaging will be targeted as items to be reduced through consumer awareness and expansion of, the bottle bill.. Reusing building materials will be emphasized through salvage at disposal facilities. The second part will concentrate on retail businesses, where a high quantity of paper is generated, and collection of yard debris. Presently, yard debris consists of 13.4 percent of the waste stream and would become 10 percent of the waste reduction. The third part of the recycling plan is the implementation o.f SB 405. The plan thus covers almost all areas of need. That which cannot be reused or recycled will be incinerated and landfilled. Regarding incineration, first priority will be given to those technol0gies that recover materials, second priority to those that provide a fuel to replace a conventional fuel, and the lowest priority will be given to those that generate electricity. . The implications of this new recycling plan are enormous. A goal of a
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