What is it like living in Eugene?

[u/themetalship]

My wife might be getting a high paying healthcare job in Eugene, so we are curious what it is like to live there. I have a background in education (direct instruction, academic site management, higher ed). I'm open to other career paths, as the job prospects worry me a bit.

We also want to know how it is to live there. We lived in az for most of our lives. We've been in Texas (DFW) for 3 years. Any insight is appreciated.

[u/PyrateKyng94]

Jobs are tough to get here. Housing can be tough to get here. There is a large houseless population. It rains like 6 months out of the year. Lately half of our summers have been incredibly smokey. When wildfire season is here, Eugene has some of the worst air quality in the world. Good access to nature but lots of great spots have been burned down. Also the amount of clearcut logging in Oregon is insane. Amazing water.

[u/Proud_Cauliflower400 → u/PyrateKyng94]

Most clear-cut logging is done on private timberland and is replanted within a couple years, yes there is some clear-cut public timberland, but most of what you see is private ownership. I wish most of it was public lands, but it isn't. Not that most people would ever find themselves in all that "public land," but I digress. Most normal people don't venture into most of the public forest land to begin with. I drove 378 miles on public land/forest service/blm roads over a couple of days, sleeping in my SUV from Blue River to the Santiam River and across two major highways 126 and 20 to get to highway 22 and out of the forest. That's just a tidbit of .0001% of the public forest land that isn't clear cut. I don't specifically like the impacts of logging or private ownership of forest lands, but that's besides the point. A good portion of Oregon residents owe their livelihood from the hills to the mills. That wood in your house, the paper you use, the bridge that you drive, the curbs on the sidewalk, literally everything from stores to floors to doors wouldn't exist without a logger, logging companies, mill workers, mill companies, lumber yards/Jerry's/home depot and other materials stores/business's. Almost everything in Oregon that has ties to local economies here in Oregon can and does exist because of timber. Almost everything you interact with in some way in your daily existence you owe to the timber industry. You literally can't exist or have freedom of movement in almost any fashion without the timber industry or logging. If you exist in an fashion in Oregon it's because of the timber industry or farming industry, the valley floor was once covered in oak, maple, fir, cedar and various other hardwood species, but no one complains about that because they didn't know it or didn't see it. Oak savanna and pockets of fir trees dominated the valley once upon a time, maples and other broad leafs dominated the river banks. The hills around my farmland have been dominated by fir trees almost my entire life, I've seen only small portions to the east outside of town logged.

I love the fact that you stated a negative aspect of logging and then inadvertently stated amazing water, which further highlights that while we have clear cuts and logging, we still have some of the most pristine and protected waterways, drainage, runoff and ground water in almost all of the states. Even with the logging, industry, farming, animal husbandry, cities, towns, townships, highways, roads, cars, and humans.

The amount of logging does far less of an environmental impact long term than our collective combined human existence does on a daily basis. Loggers and other lumber affiliated workers from forest to store don't even combine to the damage we do in our daily existence. Clear cuts bother your eyes and deluded sensibilities, but driving past them doesn't? We do far worse to this state by just existing than loggers/forestry does. We ignore our own damages/contributions and focus on what we can point to on a map or see out of a window as we put-put-polute as we drive by or live in our houses made from the timber that was clear cut. Logging and "clear cuts" isn't what's insane. We are. Those clear cuts exist because we exist, the clear cuts aren't the problem, we are.

[u/Tiny-Praline-4555 → u/Proud_Cauliflower400]

Welcome to Reddit Mr. Weyerhaeuser!

[u/Proud_Cauliflower400 → u/Tiny-Praline-4555]

I wish I was. Nope though. Just Lil Ole me and my 43 acre organic farm since 1994.

[u/PyrateKyng94 → u/Proud_Cauliflower400]

Ok..?

[u/Proud_Cauliflower400 → u/PyrateKyng94]

Yes, you're absolutely on point, clear cutting is "Ok"

[u/EUGOrrigin → u/Proud_Cauliflower400]

As you can see, OP, about half the state still thinks it’s 1954. So there’s that.

[u/Proud_Cauliflower400 → u/EUGOrrigin]

Prove my points incorrect.

[u/EUGOrrigin → u/Proud_Cauliflower400]

lol. What points? Most clear cutting happens on private land- true Oregon was built on the timber industry- true. And many timber towns are now derelict ghost towns because the aggressive nature of harvest outstripped the resource. Luckily places like Oakridge have recovered because they changed lanes. Nobody complains about the disappearance of oak Savannah- false. Dozens of groups, trusts, and landowners work their asses off every day to try and save what loggers didn’t gorge themselves on and replace what they did destroy. Clear cutting and clean water are related-false. That’s just dumb. Clear cutting does less harm than cars - I don’t know. Trees and forests are an amazing carbon sink. Clear cutting an old or even oldish forest takes that all away in a matter of days. Replanting monocrops does nothing to mitigate immediate impacts of that disturbance. I’d also argue that clear cuts and tree plantations on public AND private lands contribute greatly to our current wildfire situation. When diverse forests are harvested completely and replaced with one species of one age it diminishes the forests defense against wildfires which have been a part of these forests long before white or brown folks lived here. On top of that, the forest service is the single largest builder of roads in this country so pretending that the USFS or BLM is interested in climate health is nonsense. I won’t respond further. Good luck.

[u/Proud_Cauliflower400 → u/EUGOrrigin]

Ugh. You're an intelligent idiot. As my grandfather used to say an educated idiot.

Loggers didn't do shit to the oak Savanah in the scope of logging in other places. Most people don't even fuccing know about oak Savanah or what it used to look like. Farmers in on the other hand.

New growth is a greater carbon sink than old growth. Old growth sunk their carbon long ago and decelerated their growth. Old growth trees that are harvested and made into lumber are inconsequential in the broader scheme. NEW GROWTH SEQUESTRATION OF CARBON IS FAR SUPPERIOR

I'm sitting in my polluting diesel truck right now, staring at 3 acres of my 43 acres that's covered in 80+ foot tall Douglas fir that was planted in 1979. I could frame 10 houses with that lumber, but I won't. That doesn't change the fact that they've reached their overall capacity of carbon sequestration because their growth rate has slowed or ceased.

NEWLY PLANTED TREES GROW AT ACCELERATED RATES SEQUESTRATING CARBON AT A HIGHER RATE. IT'S SCIENCE. FASTER GROWING YOUNGER TREES NEED MORE CARBON FOR GROWTH. IT'S BASIC AND PROVEABLE SCIENCE.