Oregon
Central Oregon celebrates Dark Sky Week
The sun, as seen from the Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory using a Televue 102 telescope on Apr. 16, 2025 in Sunriver, Ore.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
This week is International Dark Sky Week and Central Oregon is once again joining in the celebration. For the second year in a row, Bend and Deschutes County have each made a proclamation that skies free of light pollution are important.
For DarkSky Oregon board member and treasurer, Cathie Flanigan, getting the support of Bend’s city council is one step closer to helping Bend become a “Dark Sky community.” The City of Sisters became a certified Dark Sky community in January, bringing the number of official Dark Sky places in Oregon to seven.
A proclamation of support is different from actually becoming a certified Dark Sky community. That involves changing lighting fixtures or bulbs, using timers for certain lighting effects and measuring ambient light.
The process can take about five years, according to Flanigan. A Bend city councilor has lately become a champion of the cause, but it’s not without controversy. One county commissioner has said the effort disregards the needs of rural residents, especially when it comes to safety. But Flanigan said that educating people on how to “light the night wisely” is important.
DarkSky International is active in more than 70 countries with thousands of volunteers and supporters, according to its website. Their message is simple — to preserve the wonders of the night sky by reducing light pollution.
Flanigan said the organization promotes five basic principles of responsible lighting: useful, targeted, low level, controlled and warm colored.
When Flanigan and her husband moved to Bend in 2017, she said the lights on U.S. Highway 97 were very bright and visible from their house.
“We said, ‘let’s do something about that.’ And so we contacted International Dark Skies,” she said.
That’s more or less the origin story of DarkSky Oregon, as well. The DarkSky Oregon chapter grew and in 2023, became a standalone nonprofit.
Now, the organization is lobbying to update Bend’s lighting ordinance. A few items Flanigan listed as priorities were string lights, LEDs and light color technology. Chris Hill, another Dark Sky Oregon volunteer, said they’re hoping to include “light pollution” as a priority for the council.
Hill met with Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler in early 2025 to address what he called “sky glow” beyond the city limits.
The quick clip of Bend’s population growth has strained affordable housing and infrastructure for water and waste, while also fueling perceptions of roadway congestion and light pollution.
The impacts of the city’s growth ripple into surrounding communities, said Tim Merrill with the Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory, located 16 miles south of Bend. He said Bend’s ambient light pollution spills over Sunriver.
“We call it the Bend-orealis,” he said.
Tim Merrill places a protective cap on a telescope at the Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory in Sunriver Ore., on Apr. 16, 2025. The observatory has over a dozen telescopes for viewing celestial bodies.
Kathryn Styer Martínez / OPB
The observatory claims to be one of the largest in the nation, meaning they have the most telescopes available for public use. The largest is a 30-inch telescope, which allows people to see “galaxies far, far away,” Merrill said.
The Sunriver observatory relies on dark skies, he said, and, if light pollution were to increase, it would make it harder to give people a place to explore space.
Over the past 12 years, he said he’s noticed some stars in the night sky have become harder to see. Objects in deeper space that were once viewable are now often occluded by light pollution from cities and towns.
Bend City Councilor Steve Platt has been joining forces with Dark Sky Oregon advocates for the past few months. Platt has been working to add Dark Sky certification to the city’s environmental goals, which councilors plan to adopt in June.
“I do hope that we can help our lovely city join many of the other communities in Oregon who have already shifted in this direction,” Platt said by email.
But not everyone supports the DarkSky movement. Deschutes County Commissioner Patti Adair said at a recent public meeting that she’s “not about dark skies” when it comes to her home.
Adair lives between Sisters and Redmond. A self-described “country girl,” she said in an interview that people who live in rural areas need to be able to pay attention to their surroundings, especially at night, because of predators.
She shared concerns about the safety of her pet fish and animals. She recounted how river otters killed a giant koi fish named “Beav”, short for Beaver, that she kept in her large pond.
“I just know in my situation, and out where we live in the county, I think people have to be very aware of what else is out there,” Adair said.
Flanigan said safety concerns are often a key point of resistance to DarkSky efforts. She said a common perception is that more lighting is safer, but she said, “actually, good lighting is safer.”
She pointed out lighting that cuts glare and uses warm colored bulbs, and added that motion sensor lights are a good option for people with security concerns.
Merrill said the Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory will be teaming up with DarkSky Oregon to host a “star party” on the summer solstice, June 20, in La Pine State Park. There will be telescopes and people will be on hand to share information about preserving the night sky.
Far away from city lights, this remote corner of Southeast Oregon provides great views of the night sky.
Amanda Peacher / OPB
For Merrill, he said some people remark that looking into space makes them feel small.
“I think it just makes my problems feel small,” he said.
The Oregon Ducks and the Texas Tech Red Raiders are set to face off against each other in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 1. As this College Football Playoff quarterfinal game gets closer, the betting odds are moving in the Ducks favor.
Oregon Favored By 2.5 Points
When it was confirmed that Oregon would be advancing to play Texas Tech after their first round playoff win over the James Madison Dukes, the betting line opened up on DraftKings Sportsbook with the Ducks as a 1.5-point favorite. Over the past few days, that number has increased a full point.
Oregon is now a 2.5-point favorite over the Red Raiders with odds of -125 to win outright. Texas Tech has odds to win outright of +105. The current over/under is at 52.5 points.
The movement indicates the public backing of coach Dan Lanning’s Ducks over the Big 12 Champion Red Raiders. Notably, ESPN’s matchup predictor gives Texas Tech a 51.6 percent chance to beat the Ducks.
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Ducks Coming Off First Round Win
Oregon comes into this game with a 12-1 record. Their lone loss came to the undefeated No. 1 ranked Indiana Hoosiers.
The Ducks beat James Madison by a final score of 51-34 in the first round to advance to the quarterfinals. The Ducks earned the No. 5 ranking in the playoff bracket, meaning they were the highest ranked team to not receive one of the four first round byes to the quarterfinals.
This is different to what happened last season for Oregon, as they entered that year’s playoff as the No. 1 ranked team with a bye to the quarterfinals. It didn’t end well, as Oregon was bounced immediately in their first game against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Could not getting a bye this time around change the Ducks’ fortunes for the better and set up a long playoff run?
Texas Tech’s Elite Defense
Texas Tech also enters this game with a record of 12-1. The Red Raiders last game was a Big 12 championship victory over the BYU Cougars. They earned the No. 4 ranking and first round bye to the quarterfinals. Their one loss this season was to the Arizona State Devils.
The Red Raiders are anchored by an elite defense that has allowed opponents to score an average of just 10.9 points per game. This is the third lowest points allowed in all of college football this season, behind only Indiana and Ohio State.
This defense will be a major challenge for Ducks’ quarterback Dante Moore and company. If Oregon wants to advance to the semi-finals, they will have to be on their “A game.”
Kickoff for this matchup is an early one for those on the west coast at 9 a.m. PT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and announced by play-by-play announcer Joe Tessitore and color commentator Jesse Palmer.
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The Oregon Ducks’ 2025 season has looked a lot different from when they went undefeated in the 2024 regular season and won the Big Ten Conference Championship. The Ducks entered the postseason with a loss on their record and a handful of young players gaining their first College Football Playoff starts in the first round vs. Jams Madison.
The path for Oregon to make a deep postseason run is still there. Coach Dan Lanning went on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday and revealed what he thinks his team’s biggest superpower is ahead of their quarterfinal matchup against Texas Tech.
What Dan Lanning Said About Strength in Numbers
The Ducks’ regular season didn’t lack adversity. Between a high-pressure overtime game, having to comeback with two minutes left on the road and a plethora of injuries, Lanning’s squad has had a lot to overcome. Throughout all the adversity, the team stuck together.
“I think our superpower is our love for our teammates,” Lanning said. “I think our superpower is the amount of guys that make an impact on this team.”
Quarterback Dante Moore said after the Ducks’ first-round win that the group has grown throughout the season because of the way they’re connected.
With players like wide receivers Dakorien Moore and Gary Bryant Jr., as well as various players on the offensive line, coming in and out the lineup, the offense has barely missed a beat. Other players have stepped up when their number has been called.
“I think strength in numbers has really been a superpower for us. We’ve been down players and then we’ve had players available,” Lanning said. “We’ve had guys that you didn’t expect to make an impact, make a huge impact. So, I think really our superpower is the strength in numbers and the buy in from our players.”
Lanning’s roster seem to be getting healthy at the right time. Moore and Bryant both returned to the field vs. the Dukes after missing over a month of action. Wide receiver Evan Stewart and defensive back Trey McNutt have both been seen practicing in the past week despite not playing yet this season.
The Ducks should become harder to scout with more players returning from injury. The way that players like wide receiver Jeremiah McClellan have stepped up for Oregon when its needed creates a variety of options for the coaching staff to choose from, and it makes the team more unpredictable.
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The Team’s Trust in the Coaching Staff
The players on the Ducks may have a lot of chemistry and trust in one another, but part of their “superpower” seems to be the trust they have in the coaching staff.
After Oregon had a lackluster second half against JMU, Moore said that he’s confident the team will clean up its mistakes because he knows his coach is going to continue to push them in practice.
“Coach Lanning’s our leader. We go as he goes,” Moore said. “He’s going to make sure that he’s going to push us very hard next week. We’re going go watch film. Of course, he’s proud of us for us making it this far.”
The great gray whale migration is back on the Oregon coast.
The massive migration of eastern North Pacific gray whales — the longest mammalian migration in the world — sees thousands of whales traveling roughly 12,000 miles from their Arctic feeding grounds to breeding grounds in Baja, Mexico. That migration will once again pass Oregon this month.
Oregon whale watchers will celebrate the peak of the migration from Dec. 27 to 31, when the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department hosts Winter Whale Watch Week at parks up and down the coastline.
Park rangers and volunteers will be stationed at 14 park sites, there to help visitors spot the big cetaceans as they swim past the shore. Park officials said they expect 13,000 whales to pass by Oregon on their way south this season.
The parks department also celebrates Spring Whale Watch Week when the gray whales make their migration north in March.
While there are many good places to go whale watching on the Oregon coast, the town of Depoe Bay, called the Whale Watching Capital of Oregon, is easily one of the best. The central coast town is home to the Whale Watching Center, which will be open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. every day of Winter Whale Watch Week.
Depoe Bay is a popular stop for some of the Pacific gray whales, which sometimes break off their migration to spend the summer months feeding in the kelp beds just offshore. Several whale watching tours are available in town to see the animals up close.
Those staying on shore can more easily spot the animals with binoculars. Scan the ocean slowly and look for the whale’s spout, which will appear as a vertical spray of mist. You can also look for a tail, called a fluke, which sometimes emerges from the water as the whale dives. If you’re lucky, you might see the whale breach, or jump out of the water, though gray whales do so less frequently than some other species, like humpbacks.
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