Landsat Timelapse of Baker Valley and Phillips Reservoir Understanding how our landscape changes over time is essential for responsible water management. Thanks to the Landsat satellite program, we can look back across forty years of imagery to see how fields, vegetation, and water in Baker Valley have shifted through wet years, drought cycles, and evolving…

The discovery of gold in Sumpter Valley in 1861 brought the first settlement of the area. Baker Valley attracted some of the home seekers following the Oregon Trail toward western Oregon. Baker, situated where the old trail entered the valley, was first settled in 1863. Mining attracted many of the pioneers, but stock raising and…