How would you define Southern Oregon? (Eugene, Beaverton: live, agriculture, moving)

[MimzyMusic]

I would say the area south of Cottage Grove and west of Lakeview.

[Steve97415]

For all practical purposes, Jackson and Josephine Counties. To a lesser extent, the central portion of Douglas County and the western portion of Klamath County might at times be considered part of "southern Oregon." The term "southern Oregon" usually does not include the coast, the Cascades or the southeastern desert despite the fact that these areas might be equally far south.

[rickers]

Dedends on what the definition of define is !

[mdvaden]

Originally Posted by MimzyMusic

I would say the area south of Cottage Grove and west of Lakeview.

Cottage Grove? That's north Oregon to me. We've lived in Beaverton for years and years, but went to Applegate Valley / Medford area for 3 years, now we are back in Beaverton. Down there, I was called to work in Medford, Klamath Falls, Roseburg, Brookings and Ashland. Grants Pass of course.

The area has Crater Lake, Oregon Caves, Harris Beach State Park, Rogue River, Upper and Lower Table Rock.

Roseburg is probably borderline Southern Oregon - but it seems to count.

[bluebird39]

Broad question.

S Oregon is beautiful, it's much drier than areas further North, which is nice. It gets really hot in the summer and can go months without any rain, but it's very dry too, so it's bearable. Close to the mountains (snow in winter), and close to the Ocean.

The economy used to be heavy forest products, and this is still an important part. There is a lot of BLM and Forest Service land (and jobs). Another important part of the economy is agriculture. In the Rogue Valley, pears are king. There are lots of orchards. Increasingly there is grapes for wine being grown too, as well as plenty of other crops. It's a great place to grow. But water to irrigate plays an important role in many ways.

I'd say the culture there is much more conservative in general than most of Western Oregon, with Ashland being the main exception. There has been a seemingly growing trend of retirees moving there, especially from California.

As a former natural resources worker, I'd plug that it's one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the whole country, due to the Siskiyou Mountain range that runs East West converging with the Coastal and Cascade range that run N-S. That same range though can trap winter air and summer wildfire smoke in the valley for days and even weeks, depending on wind direction.

HTH

[pw72]

If you put Redding, CA, Eugene, OR, and Boise, ID into a blender you would come up with Southern Oregon. Part woodsy, part granola, part farm-oriented, part lumber-oriented, individualistic, mild weather, and quite scenic. I like the area a lot, but find it to be a bit isolated.