Greg Stabach News Today

High levels of bacteria have been found in the Bear Creek watershed, and residents should be careful when touching the water, according to a news release from the Rogue Valley Council of Governments.

Authorities are urging residents to exercise caution after high levels of bacteria were detected in parts of the Bear Creek watershed in Medford, Ashland, Phoenix, Talent, Jacksonville and Central Point.

Portions of Ashland Creek, Bear Creek, Walker Creek and Jackson Creek are contaminated with fecal bacteria levels that are too high for safe wading and swimming. The Rogue Valley Council of Government...

Spring rain falling on the Almeda fire scar has spurred a bumper crop of innocuous-looking but highly poisonous hemlock flowers. “With the Almeda fire, we just had a fairly large ecological reset,” sa...

Published April 8, 2021 at 10:37 AM PDT Listen • 41:37 / The usual lush green of the Bear Creek Greenway bike and pedestrian path was blackened by the Almeda Drive fire in September 2020. Not only was the Greenway itself scorched, but the vegetation acted as a conduit for the wind-driven fire to spread from Ashland to Medford. Since the fire, crews have cut down damaged trees before they could fall on people, and planted grass to prevent erosion. But those were ...