Henry Sessions

Henry Sessions of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports on the pitched election battle between four-term Republican incumbent Bob Packwood and veteran Democratic Congressman Les AuCoin for the U.S. Senate. The race has largely become a referendum on the fate of the region’s forests, the northern spotted owl and the Endangered Species Act.

Henry Sessions of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports on one of the most ambitious urban greenspace preservation programs in the country. The combined public-private effort aims to set aside as much land as possible in and around Portland, Oregon, the last big metropolitan area on the West Coast with a large amount of undeveloped land.

The Federal policy of “no net loss” of wetlands doesn’t mean wetlands can’t be destroyed. Developers who want to build an airport or shopping mall over wetlands can choose to “replicate” nature nearby. Henry Sessions of Oregon Public Broadcasting reports on the varying successes of these substitutes.

Voters in Oregon will decide next month whether food that is genetically modified should carry a label. Henry Sessions reports the food industry is waging a concerted campaign against the measure in the first real U.S. battle over GM labeling.

Now that the federal government has come up with a “certified organic” label for fruits and vegetables, some farmers want to broaden the definition of organic. They now want it to mean food grown in a “socially responsible” manner. Henry Sessions reports from Portland, Oregon.