Yachats Lions Hall, Doors open at 130p and starts at 200p
Andrea Scharf – How a persistent group of activists blocked a multi-million dollar resort, rescued an endangered butterfly, and expanded opportunities for citizen involvement in land use decisions in Oregon
In 1979, a developer from Honolulu bought 186 acres on both sides of a small creek on the Central Oregon Coast. His plans for “Big Creek Resort” included a lodge, rustic cabins, a trading post, and two houses for the future owner/managers. The developer dismissed the opposition as “a bunch of hippies,” but the idealistic activists proved to be resourceful and persistent as they fought to preserve the land in its natural condition – habitat for elk, salmon, and the endangered Oregon Silverspot Butterfly. The nearly 40-year fight to save Big Creek is an inspiration to all of us who struggle to make sure people’s voices are heard, and that our irreplaceable natural world is protected.
Saving Big Creek takes a deep look at one place on the planet – the geological forces that shaped it, the people who settled there beginning with the people who migrated across the Bering Sea and down the coast to current residents with their differing and often contradictory ideas about what should happen on this land.
Andrea has been writing since she was ten years old. She sold her first short story, to Ingenue Magazine, at sixteen. She graduated from UCLA in international relations and French and began teaching high school social studies in East Los Angeles and later in New York City. She moved to Oregon after earning a Masters in Education from Occidental College and started a new career in urban planning.
After returning to Oregon, she wrote and produced a quarterly newsletter about salmon recovery and wrote brief articles as the marketing director of a small town on the Oregon Coast. Saving Big Creek is her first full-length book.
Lions Focus Area – Environment
