https://www.redfin.com/OR/Scotts-Mills/Abiqua-Falls-Lot-400-...
Seems like reasonable use of public dollars (~$2.1M) to protect and preserve a public good as public land.
Very cool visible basalt
Studying geology in Portland as an undergraduate, I didn't appreciate how unusual it was to have widespread basalt formations. It's super common in the area due to some ancient flood basalt. I appreciate it more visually after leaving and getting some perspective from other landscapes.
A lot of the Cascade range is basalt, and you don't need to cut down very far to expose it. A result is that most waterways in Oregon have revealed a lot of basalt around them, at least in the mountains.
Yep, there's a ton of it to be found especially in the Columbia River Gorge. For anyone not hip to Nick Zentner, allow me to introduce you to this national treasure...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQhjkemEyUo
It's rare to have basements where I live in Bend, because it's all lava rock right under our feet, which is really expensive to remove.
Pilot rock outside of Ashland you can even hike to the top
... how is a comment observing the really cool basalt rock formations in the photo being downvoted? Most HN readers are (I'd assume) nerds, are we not allowed to nerd out about geography?
> Its owner, a nonprofit that supports a community of Benedictine monks, put it on the market earlier this year.
>The foundation put the property up for open auction in early February, meaning there was no minimum or maximum bid, she said. It accepted the offer the state made under the bill that passed.
>The listing worried fans of the natural wonder. But at the tail end of the legislative session this month, a bipartisan group of lawmakers stepped in and approved $2.1 million to buy the falls and its surrounding land.
Zero chance this wasn't arranged in some capacity off record.
Probably they had been trying to sell it to the state for months/years/decades, and nothing had happened, so they escalated. Here in California in east bay there are thousands of acres of land around Mt. Diablo that are held by a non profit trust because the state/parks department is too lazy to aquire it/don't have funds to manage it. The privately owned/managed land around Mt. Diablo is roughly equal in size to the state park it surrounds.
This kind of thing exists in many places in the USA for many reasons (tax relief, government stupidity or inability or lack of funds, etc).
Sometimes the government is forbidden from buying land but nothing stops an individual or charity.
Drat! I was going to buy this and put the entrance to my secret lair behind the waterfall. I would have gotten away with it too if not for those darn kids!
meddling kids. :P
One of the rare times where I’m probably kind of ok with it
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It feels like it's back where it belongs.
I just want to remind everyone: Washington, Idaho and Oregon are terrible places to live.
In 2 of these states, it just rains all the time. You never ever want to visit these waterfalls, because you're perennially living in a waterfall. The local population is always depressed/suicidal. The only Oregonian of note got in trouble for that whole Nancy Kerrigan fiasco. And Washington is under the grip of Bezos and Gates. If you think Windows is bad ...
And Idaho, is, well, Idaho. There's a reason people doubt its existence.[1] It's because there is absolutely nothing of note there.
Texas is great! Lots of land. Number 1 in green energy. Go there.
[1] https://www.facebook.com/groups/221739400799965/posts/302745...
Please move to Texas. Those of us who like waterfalls, are not suicidal, and who will accept beautiful nature in lieu of a functional state government appreciate you freeing the capacity for someone else.
Yes everyone should stay away from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho! Terrible places to live! California is a dream compared to those hell-holes.
Indeed! No one made a song with the title "Washington Dreamin". Same with Oregon and Idaho.
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Yep, this is sooo true. Washington and Oregon are especially terrible. I tell you what, you're going to be sitting in traffic in Seattle just as much as you do in LA. And it's all very expensive. Texas is a much better decision.
Have you seen Texas city traffic lately?
Have you visited Seattle in rush hour?
I kid you not when I say it took over 20 minutes for me to drive one block to get on to the freeway. There was no accident or other problem.
I go to LA often. Seattle is way worse.
I guess the OP has never experienced any part of eastern Oregon or Washington.
As a Texan,
stop telling people to move here, I-35 just keeps getting worse
Going around shitting on other states is a very Texan thing to do
That I don't get about the PNW is the property prices of places hours away from any economic center that pays well enough to justify them. Are that many people still working remote for FAANG that those prices can be justified?
No, but rich assholes like getting away from it all too.
I have no doubts you're right, but got any examples? Just curious to see them.
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Is this a meme? I've never heard it before.
The meme is "<____> sucks, dont' go there." Traditionally spoken by a "local", in reference to stuff they love. It kinda/sorta makes sense in the broader culture of "locals define themselves by excluding others" left-coast parochialism. (I don't think HN is the correct place for it.)
Another example of the meme style is this ski resort "tier" map: https://www.reddit.com/r/skiing/comments/1d96f93/my_tierlist...
Which is actually funny. And the "joke" is that the person who made the tier list is trying to "hide" the resorts they want to ski (Mt Rose., Mammoth, Kirkwood, Sugar Bowl, Alpine) from whoever's reading the blog post. While falsely "praising" the famous places in an effort to divert the crowds there. (The Reddit post is great b/c the author clearly communicates that they're being ridiculous.)
Sort of. Phrasing varies, but at least for Idaho it's very common for people who live in Idaho to go on the internet and tell people how awful Idaho is and how you should absolutely not move there. On a related note, for people who do move to Idaho, one of the things they are advised to do as soon as possible is get new license plates so that they're not constantly advertising the fact that they came from out-of-state. Idaho has received a massive amount of immigration from other states and many people are unhappy about this.
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As the state struggles being ranked 47 in education, crime and homelessness are running wild, budgets are being cut (schools being permanently closed), we bought a waterfall. Thanks.
> As the state struggles being ranked 47 in education
That's wild. I would have never guessed Oregon to be that low somehow. I could have seen some poor southern states maybe or West Virginia.
Wonder what data you found? I found https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/public-scho... and it's 40th with a downtrend. Not sure how reliable that is though.
It's sadly true that Oregon schools are underperforming, but the idea that spending money on public land is somehow removing money from schools is an uninformed trope. Public funds are usually earmarked for specific uses; it's not just one big slush fund.
My understanding is that Oregon schools are bad because they barely enforce truancy laws and they pass everyone regardless of test scores. So you can skip and flunk your way to a high school diploma. Throwing more money at the problem wouldn't necessarily fix that.
The number bounces around a bit, but 47/48 is widely found.
https://wallethub.com/edu/e/states-with-the-best-schools/533...
Really stunning piece of land. Glad it’s able to be protected
"Street View" LoL. (It's a bit of a hike from the nearest street)
https://maps.app.goo.gl/btpxqpNopb79DxBz7
https://maps.app.goo.gl/ddRk8RUzBfEd47ya7
Yeah, it's a bit of a hike from the nearest street.
Google Stream View