At the Crossroads The Wasco County town of Shaniko was once a wool-shipping destination. Now it’s banking on the power of the arts. GREEN RUSH BUST What’s happening in Oregon’s ancillary pot scene? ROOM TO GROW Western tribes explore the possibilities of hemp $4.99 September 2024 | OregonBusiness.com The Finance and Economic Development Issue
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⁄Contents⁄ September 2024 FEATURES 24 Skating at the Edge What happened to the pick-anddagger purveyors of Oregon’s mid2010s green rush? 34 Where’s the Paper? As print media contracts, the business of home delivery has taken a sideways tilt. 44 Come Back Singing Cover Story The town of Shaniko went bust in the early 20th century and has never come back. But locals are working to make it an arts destination — and have built a community along the way. 58 New PDX Terminal Celebrated With ‘Housewarming’ The $1.6B project is finally open to the public. REGULARS 06 Editor’s Letter 10 Newsfeed 14 Tactics Outgoing Travel Portland CEO Jeff Miller talks about how Portland tourism has changed, what he recommends to tourists and what he really thinks of Seattle. 20 Spotlight: Hemp Hopes Oregon State University is partnering with 13 Oregon tribes to research how hemp could jump-start rural western economies. 54 Powerlist: Law Firms 62 Policy Brief Johnell Bell, founder and CEO of Espousal Strategies, writes about why infrastructure projects need to focus on equity. Subscribe to our weekly e-newsletter featuring the best of OregonBusiness.com, plus articles from our print publication. To sign up, go to OregonBusiness.com. BRAND STORIES 18 Port of Cascade Locks Outdoor recreation, downtown revitalization and a new era for Cascade Locks 30 Columbia Cliff Villas Book your one-of-a-kind corporate retreat in the heart of the Gorge. 40 Get There Oregon Join employers across Oregon and help your workforce to thrive during this year’s Get There Car Free Challenge. At the Crossroads The Wasco County town of Shaniko was once a wool-shipping destination. Now it’s banking on the power of the arts. GREEN RUSH BUST What’s happening in Oregon’s ancillary pot scene? ROOM TO GROW Western tribes explore the possibilities of hemp September 2024 | OregonBusiness.com The Finance and Economic Development Issue COVER PHOTO: Jason E. Kaplan JASON E. KAPLAN CHECK OUT THESE EXCLUSIVES (AND MORE) ON OREGONBUSINESS.COM n For Sale: Mt. Bachelor Resort — Powdr Corp. lists popular ski area for sale. n Lawmakers Propose Plan to Stop Illicit Packages— FIGHTING for America Act would cut down on the spread of fentanyl, counterfeit items by targeting “de minimis” customs loophole. n High-Flying Greeting-Card Shop Readies for Crowds at PDX — Q&A: Victoria Venturi of Paper Epiphanies talks greeting cards and a whole new business model. n Town of Joseph Bans Dollar General, Other ‘Formula’ Stores — City council passes ordinance targeting chain stores and restaurants. 100 BEST NEWS The 2025 100 Best Companies to Work For in Oregon Survey Is Open! Find out how satisfied your employees are with their jobs through our anonymous and confidential survey. Register at www. OregonBusiness.com/ 2025register. For information on how the survey works, visit OregonBusiness.com/Statements. 2025 Follow @OregonBusiness for breaking news, blogs and commentary. 24 COURTESY OF MT. BACHELOR 4
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⁄From the Editor⁄ Picks, Shovels, Pickers and the Sunday Paper AS THIS ISSUE went into production, the weather was turning from a pleasantly crisp false fall to a hotter and brighter second summer — reminding me that nothing is as predictable as I might imagine. Nine years ago, when Oregon’s voter initiative to legalize recreational marijuana went into effect, I heard the phrase “pickets and daggers” — or “picks and shovels” — more times than I can count. The idea was that in any economic boom, like a gold rush, the people who fare best are not those directly involved in the booming industry (the prospectors) but the people selling them the tools they need to do their jobs — the pick-and-shovel merchants. This summer Garrett Andrews took a look at the industry that sprang up to serve the cannabis field during the mid-2010s boom, and saw how those businesses are doing now that the industry is faltering due to a glut of supply and a decrease in demand. The question was: Did entering the “non-plant-touching” segment of the industry really turn out to be a sure bet? The answer: yes and no. Some ancillary businesses have gone under as entrepreneurs in the primary industry struggle to pay them, but plenty are staying alive (“Skating at the Edge,” p. 24). I also took a look at a weed-adjacent industry for this issue. In 2018 hemp was removed from the federal government’s list of controlled substances, opening the door for more research into agricultural uses of the plant, whose champions have long touted its versatility and the durability of products made from it — which can range from paper to bricks for building homes. Research universities like Oregon State University are taking notice, and so are Oregon tribes. Earlier this year, OSU’s Global Hemp Innovation Center announced that it’s partnering with 13 tribes from around the west to research ways hemp growth and manufacturing could be used for economic development (“Hemp Hopes,” p. 20). For our cover story, “Come Back Singing” (p. 44), Ellee Thalheimer traveled to Shaniko — a Wasco County ghost town with just a few dozen residents — to see how residents are working to revive the town. Music has been a part of Shaniko’s culture for decades, and it still is: The town hosts an annual music festival in August, and locals also get together for a potluck and jam on the second Saturday of every month. There’s more to reviving a struggling town than organizing a music festival or a potluck — but bringing community members together seems like a pretty optimistic start. And for “Where’s the Paper?” (p. 34), Hannah Wallace started with a weekly annoyance—her own copy of the Sunday New York Times was not coming as expected — and widened her lens to talk to other frustrated subscribers, and then to the companies involved. She found that something as simple (and once as reliable) as home delivery of a print newspaper has become oddly complicated. It’s one of a few surprising turns we found reporting stories for this issue — one that I hope will be as interesting to read as it was to work on. VOLUME 47 ⁄ NUMBER 7 OREGON BUSINESS (ISSN 02798190) is published 8 times per year, monthly except Mar/Apr, Jul/Aug and Oct/Nov/Dec issues, by MEDIAmerica Inc. at 12570 S.W. 69th Ave., Suite 102, Portland OR 97223. Subscription inquiries should be directed to 503-445-8811. Subscription charge is $24.95 per year, $49.95 for two years in the USA. Single copies and back issues available at above address and at selected newsstands. The editor is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts. Copyright © 2024 by MEDIAmerica Inc. All rights reserved. All material is protected by copyright and must not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Printed in Oregon. Periodicals Postage Paid at Portland, OR. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Oregon Business, 12570 S.W. 69th Ave., Suite 102, Portland OR 97223 EDITORIAL EDITOR Christen McCurdy christenm@oregonbusiness.com ART DIRECTOR Joan McGuire joanm@oregonbusiness.com STAFF WRITER Garrett Andrews garretta@oregonbusiness.com STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Jason E. Kaplan jasonk@oregonbusiness.com COPY EDITOR Morgan Stone CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS Johnell Bell, Bonny Jo Peterson, Ellee Thalheimer, Hannah Wallace PUBLISHING PUBLISHER Courtney Kutzman courtneyk@oregonbusiness.com EVENTS MANAGER Craig Peebles craigp@oregonbusiness.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Evan Morehouse evanm@mediamerica.net ADVERTISING AND PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Greta Hogenstad gretah@mediamerica.net DIGITAL PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Alison Kattleman alisonk@mediamerica.net PRESIDENT AND CEO Andrew A. Insinga CONTROLLER Bill Lee BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIRMAN André W. Iseli PRESIDENT Andrew A. Insinga SECRETARY William L. Mainwaring TREASURER Win McCormack 6
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SPORTS ●Athletic support. The Portland Thorns have a trio of new owners who should be familiar to Oregon sports fans. Olympic couple Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen-Eaton and former University of Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington became the women’s soccer club’s latest investors. ●French connection. Several athletes from Oregon made their mark in the Summer Olympic Games in Paris, including Oregon high school grads Ryan Crouser (track and field), Cameron Brink (basketball) and Pieter Quinton (rowing). Olympians with college ties to Oregon included Sabrina Ionescu (UO, basketball), Dillon Brooks (UO, basketball), Cole Hocker (UO, track and field) and Jade Carey (OSU, gymnastics). ●Hellgate and high water. Five people were injured on the Rogue River when a tour boat operated by Hellgate Jetboat Excursions collided with a private boat that sank and floated downriver. Hellgate conducts high-speed tours of the canyons outside Grants Pass. RESTAURANTS & RETAIL ●Chef of chefs. Portland culinary figure Naomi Pomeroy drowned while tubing the Willamette River in Corvallis. A cookbook author, Top Chef contestant and businesswoman, Pomeroy founded leading restaurants including Beast and Expatriate. At the time of her death, Pomeroy, 49, was developing a new restaurant in Southeast Portland called L’Echelle; it opened in late August. ●Comic con. An Aumsville man is accused of selling more than $300,000 in comic books he was paid to restore. Authorities in Linn County spent months trying to locate the 57-year-old, man who owned a business called “Hero Restoration.” ●Serial Killer. Portland burger chain Killer Burger is making a big push into the Puget Sound with six new restaurants planned over the next five years. The 14-year-old chain, with 20 locations in Oregon and Southwest Washington, has targeted Puyallup, Olympia and Tacoma. FARMS & FORESTS ●Up with the chickens. A plan for a massive poultry farm outside Scio survived a challenge by a coalition of farmers and residents. State regulators proposed a provisional permit for the plan by J-S Ranch to raise 3.4 million broiler chickens per year in an 11-barn facility in Linn County. ●Cease, fire. By early August, Oregon set a record for acres burned by wildfire with 1.5 million — more land than any other year since reliable recordkeeping began in 1992. But rains in the latter half of the month doused dozens of active fires and brought fire danger to historic lows. ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT ●Kelp wanted. A new report by the Oregon Kelp Alliance found that Oregon has lost more than two-thirds of its coastal kelp canopy in the past decade. A die-off of ocean life was exacerbated by 2014’s “Blob” heat wave in the Pacific Ocean, in which temperatures 4 to 10 degrees higher than average lasted more than 700 days. ●Too much fiber. The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation has sued CenturyLink’s parent company, alleging the telecom giant has trespassed for more than a decade by running fiber-optic cable across tribal land in Central Oregon. MANUFACTURING ●Processing loss. Hillsboro chip maker Intel announced it will lay off 15,000 company- wide, including around 3,000 of 23,000 employees in Washington County. ●Just Duplo. Beaverton-based Nike and toy maker Lego announced a multiyear partnership. Co-branded products are expected to hit the market in 2025. EDUCATION ●Passing the baton. Self Enhancement Inc. president Tony Hopson Sr. announced his retirement, 43 years after founding the youth service organization. Hopson, 70, hands off to SEI’s chief program officer, Trent Aldridge. ●Food for thought. Portland Public Schools announced it will provide all students free breakfast and lunch in the 2024-25 school year. REAL ESTATE ●Change, agents. One of the biggest shifts in the history of the real estate industry took place this summer. New rules that relate to seller compensation and public disclosure went into effect Aug. 17. The rules are the result of a landmark $418 million antitrust settlement between the federal government and the National Association of Realtors. POLITICS ●Courtney love. The longest-serving state politician in Oregon history, Peter Courtney, who served in both Legislative bodies and presided over the Oregon Senate for 20 years, died at 81, less than two years after he retired. Gov. Tina Kotek ordered flags flown at half-mast to honor the Salem-area leader. ●Spoiler alert. Three days after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent run for president, Oregon-based supporters nominated him to appear on the state ballot. The head of the newly formed We the People party says he hopes to siphon votes away from Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. ⁄Newsfeed⁄ Bull kelp fronds in a tidal pool in Newport SHUTTERSTOCK 10
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⁄Tactics⁄ Has Portland lost some of its luster with the traveling public? I would say the luster is returning. It’s changing. I think we really stepped up during the protests of George Floyd’s murder, which was different from the riots. We try to make sure people are aware those are two separate things. But if Portland can make this a more equitable destination for everyone to thrive, we will be a better version of Portland than we were before. What are you hearing about open drug use — is it repelling tourists? It was more of a problem in the past than it is now. One of the things we’ve done is bring meeting planners here. We brought Sports ETA, which is a large convention of sports rights holders. We spent a lot of money to bring these people here to see Portland. A lot of them are from the South. And the last time, we got three apologies: They thought Portland is the most amazing city they’ve ever been to. What have been some of the most effective ways to promote Portland? On the convention side, it’s still getting people to see Portland. One thing they say is, when people get here for the first time, they say, “Now I get it.” You know, we don’t have a Space Needle. We don’t really have that iconic thing — other than Mt. Hood, but that’s not in Portland. But we have this aura, this thing you hear about Portland. And when you get here, you get it. The people are nice. There’s beer that you’re going to like. There’s this collaborative spirit that I don’t think happens as much in any other city. Where do Portland tourists come from and how has that changed in your time here? It’s a broad section of people. One thing we say at Travel Portland is that Portland has progressive values, and we think that when you come to Portland, those change you. So I’d say it’s probably a person with an interest in community, a person with an interest in values and in meeting people. And nature — all things natural, really. And culinary is the No. 1 driver of visitation. Because we know we got good food. So they come for food and the access to nature. What about internationally? Australia’s still a really good market for us. Germany, the U.K. — anywhere with direct flights. Has technology affected tourist behavior in the past two decades? I’m thinking of apps and the like. Absolutely. We have an app called Near Me Now that I’m so incredibly proud of our team for creating. I used it yesterday, as a matter of fact. It uses geolocation, and there are points on a map of where to eat. We have a food cart finder that’s amazing. ‘When You Get Here, You Get It’ Q&A with outgoing Travel Portland CEO Jeff Miller INTERVIEW BY GARRETT ANDREWS Jeff Miller’s two-decade career coincided with a period of tremendous growth in tourism to Portland. Tourists spend billions in Portland’s restaurants, hotels and other businesses — specifically, they were responsible for $5.4 billion in direct spending in 2023. And for the past two decades, Jeff Miller has had as much to do with getting them here as anyone, save perhaps Portlandia stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein. In December Miller will step down as director of Travel Portland after 19 years helming the city’s destination marketing organization. That period saw explosive growth though the ride wasn’t all smooth, especially 2020-22. He’ll serve until the end of the year. His successor has not yet been selected. Miller, 65, grew up in the small town of Bristol, Tennessee. He worked in retail for 25 years including for heavy hitters Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. He moved to Portland in the 1990s to manage the Saks Fifth Avenue, which was located at the current site of the Apple Store. He says his time at Saks taught him the power of tourism. It was also when he joined the board of directors at Travel Portland, then called POVA, or the Portland Oregon Vacation Association. Travel Portland’s budget is made up of 1% of Portland’s tourism tax revenue as well as a 3% hotel tax and a $4 million contract with the Convention Center. Funded as it is by tourism dollars, the organization’s fortunes rise and fall with the crowds. Prior to the pandemic, Travel Portland employed 76 people with a budget of $30 million. COVID cut those figures to 38 employees and a $8.5 million budget. The budget’s now back at $30 million with 72 staff members. In Miller’s tenure, the agency’s marketing and sales professionals rolled out a food-finding app, a regular event to connect minority business owners and a number of eye-catching and effective marketing campaigns, including “Portland Is Happening Now,” and the current “Portland. Yours to Share” campaign, which Miller says is driving record numbers to Travel Portland’s website. There’s more evidence of Portland’s restored appeal. Last year visitor spending topped $14 million for the first time. And the National Education Association recently chose the city to host its 2025 annual convention. With 11,000 expected visitors, it’s predicted to be the largest convention in Portland’s history. This month Miller sat for an exit interview at Travel Portland’s office on the 11th floor of First and Main downtown, where he talked Portlandia, the city’s considerable Japanese fanbase, beer, berries and fun. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 14
JASON E. KAPLAN Travel Portland represents a wide array of interests, and many of those interests are represented on your board of directors. How does one lead a group so diverse? It’s about making sure everybody comes together for a common purpose, and that is to create economic impact through tourism. I think that one thing that people don’t understand is that Travel Portland is an economic development agency. We happen to do it through attracting tourists as well as a lot of other fun stuff. But you know, everyone on that board is interested in having more visitors come here to make more businesses successful, to hire more people, to get the word out about Portland through products and services and beer and berries and fun. Your time at Travel Portland has coincided with tremendous growth in tourism. What do you attribute that to? How much of a factor was the show Portlandia? I’ve heard that Portlandia played a role. But you know, as far back as 40 years ago, there was a TV show in Japan called From Oregon With Love. And today Portland has a huge fan base in Japan. Huge. There’s a group that comes over every year. And culinary’s been a big driver. We’ve gotten huge press over the years for food carts, fine dining and others. I think there are lots of things that build toward attracting people to a place that’s a little different than anyplace else they’ve been. What are you most proud of at Travel Portland? I think our DEI efforts. I’m a champion of it but our whole team has embraced it. Travel Portland and Prosper Portland created My People’s Market as a way for us to support BIPOC communities and small entrepreneurs who are trying to start a business. That’s why we punch well above our weight in attracting multicultural conventions. What’s your biggest regret? That I didn’t get the job sooner [laughs]. One thing I will say is that when I first took this job, it was much more about sales and marketing, and through the pandemic, it’s become politics and finance. We are at the table now, talking to our elected and appointed leaders about homelessness, the drug crisis, all the things. What’s the biggest misconception about Portland? That Portland is the whitest city in the country. That’s a huge misconception right there. It’s whiter than many other cities. But when that phrase gets used, it negates all the people here from multicultural backgrounds, and we can’t do that. I mean just walk down the street — we are a diverse city! I don’t care what you say. Lumping us in with the whitest cities in America, it really infuriates me. Really now, what do you think of Seattle? I think Seattle is an amazing city. Truly. The CEO there, Visit Seattle head Tammy Blount-Canavan, is a dear friend, and they do a lot of really cool things. We’re good partners. We collaborate, especially on the international side. We compete fiercely on conventions [laughs]. What Portland feature do you recommend to travelers every time? The Portland Japanese Garden. I live right below it and I love it. What’s at the top of your travel destination list? I’m taking my husband to Tokyo. He’s very afraid of sushi, so I’m excited to take him there. What’s a good piece of travel advice? Pack light. 15
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Together, for better health Learn more about Optum in Oregon. optumOR.com For our patients We want you to have ample time with your doctor, whether you’re at an annual checkup or seeing a specialist for a new or ongoing condition. We want to make your care convenient, with on-demand online visits. And with same-day urgent care access, we can be there for you when you need us most. For our physicians We’ve made a commitment to each of our partner clinics: To ensure local, trusted physicians can do their best work. We help them tap into Optum resources, innovations, technology, and an ever-growing array of ways to help them provide coordinated, whole-person patient care. For our communities Optum cares for more than 130,000 patients in over 22 clinics across the state. That’s a lot of family, friends, and neighbors. By keeping our goal in mind — making the health care system work better, for everyone — we can build a stronger Oregon, one person at a time. The Corvallis Clinic, P.C. and Oregon Healthcare Resources, LLC d/b/a Oregon Medical Group (the “Practices”) are both physician owned and led practices having complete authority for all medical decision-making and patient care through their physicians and other licensed professionals. Optum, through its management organizations (“Optum”) provides non-clinical administrative services to support the Practices and their physicians. Neither Optum nor its management companies employs, engages, or supervises physicians or other licensed professionals, or determines or sets the methods, standards, or conduct of the practice of medicine or exercise of medical judgment or health care provided by the Practices or by any of their licensed professionals. © 2024 Optum, Inc. All rights reserved. The company does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in health programs and activities. We provide free services to help you communicate with us such as letters in other languages or large print. Or, you can ask for an interpreter. To ask for help, please call 541-687-4900. ATENCIÓN: Si habla español, hay servicios de asistencia de idiomas, sin cargo, a su disposición. Llame al 541-687-4900. 請注意：如果您說中文，我們免費為您 提供語言協助服務。請致電：541-687-4900. A feel-good health care partnership “I recognize the importance of value-based care that’s focused on outcomes. It requires research, skill, and the right people supporting the process. I’m grateful to Optum for the support they provide me in my practice. Optum brings the technology, education, safety, and structure necessary to ensure my patients have a team that can care for them now — and into the future.” – Dr. DeOna Bridgeman, Medical Director, Davies Clinic
18 BRAND STORY PRODUCED BY THE OREGON BUSINESS MARKETING DEPARTMENT BY NATALIA HURT Cascade Locks is hard to put in a box— historically industrial, breathtakingly beautiful and, until recently, a bit stuck. After multiple unsuccessful attempts at bringing large employers to the small Columbia Gorge town, the local economic development team realized it was time for a paradigm shift. With elections bringing new energy and ideas to the City Council and the Port Commission, the community reassessed its priorities, from industry to recreation to small business diversification. Now, the Port is working toward a renewed vision of Cascade Locks as both a launchpad for outdoor adventure and an exceptional place to call home. In many ways, the Port Commission’s new five-year strategy leans into what visitors and residents already treasure about Cascade Locks, OR: a tightknit community, lively event calendar, growing number of breweries and eateries, and prime location with abundant water and trail access. “Livability is now our goal, and a holistic approach based on community partnerships is our method,” says Brad Lorang, port commission president. “We are trying to foster synergies to encourage private investment and leverage our public assets for the benefit of all who live here.” This economic redirection lets the team adopt an entrepreneurial approach to port management, leveraging its new economic development grant program, business incubation facility, strategic property management and allocation, and public-private partnerships. Enthusiastic support from regional, state and federal agencies has ensured significant funding and technical expertise. Partnering with entrepreneurs and businesses to diversify and revitalize the historic downtown “We’re now focused on diversification and working with small businesses, instead of putting all of our eggs in one basket by going after a giant project,” explains Jeremiah Blue, executive director, Port of Cascade Locks. For example, the Port is no longer pursuing a new single tenant to occupy Flex 6, its vacant 43,000-square-foot industrial building, which would result in few jobs but increased truck traffic. Instead, it actively works with current industrial park tenants to understand and meet their operational and expansion needs. Simultaneously, it seeks to partner with service providers and innovators of all sectors, including food and beverage, retail, art, fabrication, medical services and beyond. “It’s exciting that we’re really open to all ideas, and we’re currently talking to as many people as possible, including some wellknown breweries, and gathering everybody’s vision for Cascade Locks,” Blue continues. Beyond attracting new endeavors, the Port also supports established businesses that are beloved by residents and crucial to the town’s fabric. It engages in public-private partnerships to assist companies on a caseby-case basis, all part of a larger mission to revitalize the downtown. “We recently were able to assist in securing a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express for the Cascade Locks Ale House, one of our oldest businesses run by a great community member,” Blue says. “ We helped secure a $50,000 grant, thanks to the efforts of our administrative team and grant specialist, for streetside façade improvements. These businesses are led by hardworking individuals, and we’re committed to supporting their swift and meaningful progress.” The Port’s five-year strategy unlocks new business opportunities that diversify its economy and strengthen its community. UNLOCKING POTENTIAL: A New Plan for Cascade Locks Jeremiah Blue, executive director, Port of Cascade Locks
19 BRAND STORY The Port plans to continue helping its tenants and other local businesses secure funding, like the recent Business Oregon awards given to Landmass Wines and Son of Man Cidery. To attract and further support new business, the Port of Cascade Locks offers its waterfront incubation space, originally home to Thunder Island Brewing, which has since expanded, moving downtown after purchasing a much larger property from the Port. Pair that with nearby Gorges Beer Co. and Cascade Locks has established itself as a respectable beer destination with an offthe-beaten-path feel despite its convenient location for en route visitors and outdoor adventurers. Dynamic, year-round event calendar and a growing community Today, the incubator space houses the Gorge Canoe Club, equipped with a small gym that quickly became a local hangout. “The Canoe Club’s activities help to grow Cascade Locks’ profile as an outrigger canoeing destination and they are terrific volunteer partners for community clean-up days, lifejacket loaner stations and water safety,” Blue notes. “On Thursday nights, they bring canoes out and anyone can come down and enjoy them. The incubator concept is working, and we’ll likely expand it to other properties.” Aside from its weekly happenings, including Wednesday night live music at Thunder Island Brewing, Cascade Locks attracts significant crowds to its annual events, with exciting new additions in the pipeline. Its Bridge of the Gods run lets people of all ages and fitness levels enjoy the scenery, with unforgettable half-marathon, 10K, 5K and kids’ routes that take participants high above the gorge. The weekend also features the Thunder Island Twilight Music Festival. Also in summer, the popular two-day Pacific Crest Trail Days festival draws roughly 3,500 visitors per day. It celebrates outdoor recreation and stewardship with music and vendors offering food, drinks and gear, as well as overnight camping. Reimaging a future based on livability As the team reassesses and potentially rezones its industrial land, the gorge’s camping options may soon expand, with the possibility of a Port-operated RV park and campground currently under serious consideration. Its location on the east side of town would place it close to the renowned EasyCLIMB mountain-biking trail and a new six-mile trail loop constructed in partnership with the Northwest Trail Alliance, the US Forest Service and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. With a prime location in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area—among national forests, dramatic Benson Plateau cliffs and nearby waterfalls—the Port plans to prioritize useable green spaces over factory development. As owners of residential, commercial and industrial properties, the Port recognizes its responsibility to develop those spaces in ways that support the community for the long term, such as the creation of workforce housing. “We’ve even gotten involved with childcare,” Blue elaborates. “That’s something that young families obviously need, and we’re very close to having that. We want to support the development of these services for our residents through public-private partnerships and deliberate collaboration in planning.” While the Port of Cascade Locks views its next steps through the lens of outdoor recreation and community wellbeing, it also celebrates and preserves the city’s history. “Even though we’re not a mill town anymore, that will always be a part of our identity. Our vision isn’t just based on fresh and new infrastructure,” Blue concludes. “We want to highlight the natural beauty of this place, revitalize historical structures, support established businesses and then share all of it with visitors in an accessible way.” n. Momentum is building in Cascade Locks. For a business development tour with the Port of Cascade Locks, please contact: Jeremiah Blue jblue@portofcascadelocks.gov (541) 436-2539 Melanie Schmidt and Malia Myers, Landmass Wines Alex Sarames, brewer at Thunder Island Brewing Co.
⁄Spotlight⁄ BY CHRISTEN McCURDY THE COLVILLE INDIAN Reservation includes fruit orchards, wheat, barley and alfalfa, as well as some specialty crops. In 2018 the tribe — whose land is bounded by the state of Washington — decided to try a new one: hemp. That was the year Congress removed hemp (and hemp seeds) from the Drug Enforcement Agency’s list of controlled substances — and authorized U.S. farmers to start growing the crop, the male cannabis plants, which are grown for industrial and consumable use, not for their psychoactive qualities. It was an experiment, says Jackie Richter, conservation district manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. “It’s the first time as a farmer- producer that I’ve ever grown a crop where we didn’t have an end product or an end buyer, so that presented a multitude of challenges,” Richter tells Oregon Business. “But that was OK, because we were trying to learn how to farm this [crop]. How do we cut it? You know, what kind of equipment do we need, what kind of nutritional needs does it have? We spent the first growing season doing just that.” The second growing season, the tribe grew more than 200 acres of hemp but continued to face practical challenges — like harvesting with combines better suited for grain crops — and also finding a market. Eventually the tribe sold that year’s crop to Queen of Hearts, a company that sells hemp-based food products, which was at that time operating out of The Dalles and has since relocated to Hood River. “That was a really cool experience. They were able to process it into oil,” Richter says. The third year, the tribe experienced cross-pollination between Hemp Hopes male and female plants. At first, Richter says, that didn’t seem like a problem. “We thought, ‘No problem. We will go with biomass,’” she says, referring to waste products that can be refined for CBD oil or products like paper, depending on which part of the plant is involved. But it was a problem, because lots of other farmers had the same idea. “Everyone thought they were going with biomass and the market was incredibly flooded, and you couldn’t even give it away,” she says. Then COVID hit, and the tribe decided to hit pause on hemp production. Earlier this year, though, the Colville Tribes became part of a federally funded project to develop manufacturing capabilities for materials and projects made from hemp. In March Oregon State University’s Jackie Richter, conservation district manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, stands between two hemp fiber varieties on a reservation field near the Columbia River. BONNY JO PETERSON Hemp advocates have praised the crop’s durability and versatility for decades. Now Oregon State is partnering with Native American tribes across the West to study potential uses for hemp in economic development. 20
SHUTTERSTOCK Global Hemp Innovation Center was awarded a $10 million grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, to develop manufacturing capabilities for hemp-derived materials. The center will partner with 13 Native American tribes on the project, in the hopes that it will spur economic development across the West. Jeffrey Steiner, who directs the center at OSU, says the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation were early adopters in the hemp-growing field, growing and crushing the first hemp oil west of the Rocky Mountains. And other tribes were starting to show interest in the crop before the grant was announced. “There are tribes that have been growing hemp, there are tribes that have marketed hemp products, there are even tribes that have manufactured biobased materials — say bio-based plastic substitutes,” Steiner says, including the Yakama Nation as well as the Shoshone-Bannock tribes, whose reservation is bounded by Idaho geographically. “The tribes will individually decide how they want to interact with the project, and we basically will be functioning like a consulting engineering firm — an information source helping them think through what they want to do individually,” Steiner says. The first records of hemp cultivation date back to ancient China, with archaeological data suggesting it was one of the earliest crops cultivated in the region, and early written records suggesting its cultivation continued for thousands of years, according to the International Hemp Association, using the crop for fiber, paper, food and medicine. Europeans began cultivating hemp by the 16th century; like the Chinese, they both used the plant for fiber and ate the seeds. They brought hemp with them to the Americas, cultivating it in Chile in 1545 and in New England in the early 1600s. In the 19th century, the American South became a major producer of the crop, grown for cordage and sailcloth — but hemp was eventually displaced by cotton and other cheaper fiber crops. The plant is not indigenous to the Americas, but records show Native Americans began cultivating hemp as early as 1605 in Jamestown, presumably with seeds acquired in trade with colonists. In 1937 Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which put all cannabis plants under federal control. Hemp was still legal, but growers had to register with and be licensed by the federal government. While the federal government relaxed some of those standards during World War II in order to meet a demand for rope and fiber, the crop mostly remained under tight control for decades. The past decade has seen a sea change in social attitudes and legal restrictions regarding hemp’s psychoactive sister. As of April, marijuana was legal for recreational or medical use in about 24 states. The drug is still federally illegal, but Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has said she supports decriminalization. (Former President Donald Trump has said he favors leaving the matter to the states.) For a few years, hemp existed in the same legal limbo. But the 2014 Farm Bill made hemp research legal, and the 2018 Farm Bill removed hemp — which it defined as cannabis and derivatives of cannabis whose THC contents do not exceed 0.3% of the product — from the definition of marijuana laid out under the Controlled Substances Act. Nearly overnight, it seemed, hemp-derived products were everywhere — specifically CBD, a chemical linked with pain relief and relaxation. In the mid-2010s, a shopper in a state where recreational weed was legal might be able to find a topical CBD oil at a dispensary. A few years later, CBD was utterly mainstream — an additive in bath salts available at grocery stores, as well as products like diffusers or pillowcases. Tribes showed interest in the current hemp boom as early as 2015, when the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin decided to grow hemp independently — only to see their crop destroyed by Drug Enforcement Administration agents just before it was harvested. But in October 2019, the U.S. Department of Agriculture published a rule that explicitly acknowledged tribes’ authority to regulate hemp production in their territories. According to a 2023 article published by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, tribes submitted more than 34 hemp regulatory plans to the USDA, and as of October 2023, USDA-approved tribal hemp plans outnumber state programs 53 to 42. Oregon decriminalized the cultivation of hemp in 2009 but didn’t license the first hemp producer until 2015, according to information published by OSU’s Global Center for Hemp Innovation, which launched in 2018. “The tribes will individually decide how they want to interact with the project, and we basically will be functioning like a consulting engineering firm — an information source helping them think through what they want to do individually.” JEFFREY STEINER, DIRECTOR OF GLOBAL HEMP INNOVATION CENTER AT OSU 21
The center originally focused on hemp production, but those early crops also suffered from a saturated market, Steiner says. Now the center is focused on grant-funded projects to research the crop and figure out where there may still be untapped markets. The current, tribe-led project builds on a previous $10 million grant project to study the hemp market in the western U.S. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs has sold CBD products with the brand name Daminwa — a Kiksht word meaning “of all time” — since last summer. A referendum put before tribal members this spring that would allow the tribe to begin growing its own cannabis and open a dispensary didn’t get enough votes to move forward. But the tribe, which is part of OSU’s project, is still interested in exploring the potential role of hemp on the reservation, says Jim Souers, CEO of Warm Springs Economic Development Corporation. One potential use of hemp, for example, is as a building material called hempcrete — fiber compressed into bricks that are FINANCIAL SERVICES TAILORED TO YOU LEARN MORE AT: COLDSTREAM.COM Wealth Management Investment Advisory Endowments & Foundations Risk Management Leave behind the stress of managing your finances alone. We’re here to help achieve your financial goals. fire-retardant and mold-resistant. Souers says there is some interest in manufacturing hemp building materials on the reservation, but more research is needed. “We’re in the pre phase, the beta stage, whatever you want to call it, where we’ve got to create some samples that are meaningful enough for someone like OSU to determine that, yes, you have these distinct fibers, and give them maybe to a company or maybe a couple others, and see what they think,” Souers tells OB. According to Steiner, the first stage of the grant is to help develop a Native American-led intertribal manufacturing consortium. Down the road, the center will work with tribes to work out the details Souers alludes to — materials characteristics, configurations of manufacturing equipment and technology, as well as work on optimizing the quality of the product itself. The grant also includes a provision for making hemp production a part of education and workforce development. “The beginning spot is now following through with each of the tribes, and then creating this business consortium that combines them to the degree they want to be involved in that, and then moving the project forward from that place,” Steiner says. For her part, Richter says the Colville Tribe is working with universities to grow different varieties of hemp in smaller quantities to study how they do in the local climate. And she’s hopeful the OSU project will improve understanding of the barriers in the industry. “We did everything backward. We started growing a crop and had no home for it, and I don’t want people to experience that,” Richter says. “I think that hemp is an amazing crop and I think it’s incredibly versatile. I mean, I lost count of how many different ways it can be used — like, 25,000 different ways that it can be used. It’s kind of amazing, but at the same time, we’re not using it, and why not? Why aren’t we using it? Why don’t we have a clothing market? What are the barriers? My other big, big hope is that this grant will help highlight the barriers, and then we can figure out how to get around them.” “My … big hope is that this grant will help highlight the barriers, and then we can figure out how to get around them.” JACKIE RICHTER, CONSERVATION DISTRICT MANAGER FOR THE CONFEDERATED TRIBES OF THE COLVILLE RESERVATION 22
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When Oregon’s first legal recreational dispensaries started to come online in late 2015, Doc Collins, co-founder of weed-focused marketing firm Hood Collective, remembers clients showing up with duffel bags full of cash. “They didn’t know what to do with it all,” he tells Oregon Business. “Obviously, they couldn’t put it in the bank.” “The picks and shovels were definitely out,” Collins adds, using a metaphor that evokes the California gold rush but can also refer to a particular strategy for cashing in on a major economic boom. It’s thought that during that gold rush, those who did best weren’t miners but those in ancillary industries that supplied the tools of the trade, i.e., picks and shovels. There’s at least a kernel of historical truth to the claim. Levi Strauss made a fortune selling blue jeans to miners, and the company he built is still around today. The concept has become a shorthand for an investment strategy that focuses not on the hot new industry but the industries that serve it. In the mid-2010s in Oregon, plenty of entrepreneurs set about chasing the cash windfall promised by legalization — but a great many others, like the Hood Collective, decided to stick with picks and shovels. The cannabis industry distinguishes between businesses that require a state license —“plant-touching” companies like growers, manufacturers and sellers— and non-plant- touching companies, which don’t require a license. In Oregon the latter group forms a supportive ecosystem for the plant-touching companies. They make products like grow lights, fertilizer and smoking devices. They provide professional services like accounting, business consulting and legal advice (especially important in an industry as heavily regulated and taxed as cannabis). They run testing labs and ad firms, pot magazines and delivery services. Apps for finding weed. Apps for managing supply chains. Like all gold rushes, Oregon’s mid-2010s green rush was short-lived. So what does that mean for the vendors that popped up to serve it? Ancillary pot businesses depend entirely on the health of the plant-touching sector. And plant-touching businesses face extenIn the mid-2010s, thousands of Oregon entrepreneurs joined the ‘green rush’ made possible by legal recreational marijuana. Others decided to serve the industry with ancillary businesses that seemed safer. Where are they now that the boom’s gone bust? BY GARRETT ANDREWS PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN SKATING AT THE EDGE 24
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