Month: December 2025

KTVZ

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — For millions of years, volcanoes have been the most powerful force in nature. And for many in the West, the impact of volcanoes is forever tied to the May 18, 1980, eruption of Washington’s Mount St. Helens.

The science, spectacle, and significance behind these massive peaks will soon be at the center of an immersive new exhibition, “Under Pressure: A Volcanic Exploration,” which will run from Feb. 7, 2026, through Jan. 3, 2027, at the 2021 National Medal for Museum and Library Service recipient High Desert Museum in Bend, which announced the details on Tuesday: 

On the heels of the Museum’s recent “Sensing Sasquatch” exhibition – which won the Western History Association’s prestigious 2025 Autry Public History Prize and earned national praise for exploring the Indigenous perspectives of what many call Bigfoot – comes the latest groundbreaking exhibition from the High Desert Museum.

Under Pressure will take visitors on an educational, insightful, and thought-provoking journey into the forces that make volcanoes among the most majestic and often misunderstood natural wonders of the world, while exploring their individual stories and temperaments.  

“From cultural and historical significance to the 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens, the Pacific Northwest and High Desert have a particularly long, complex, and symbiotic relationship with volcanoes,” says Dana Whitelaw, Ph.D., High Desert Museum executive director.

“We live in their shadows, recreate on their slopes, and admire their beauty, but it’s the volcanoes’ ability to simultaneously cause destruction and creation that evokes feelings of awe. Under Pressure will provide an immersive and deep exploration.” 

WHAT: Under Pressure: A Volcanic Exploration, a groundbreaking new exhibition from Oregon’s High Desert Museum. 

WHEN: Feb. 7, 2026, through Jan. 3, 2027 

WHERE: High Desert Museum (Spirit of the West Gallery) 

59800 US-97, Bend, OR 97702 (map HERE) 

COST: Free with Museum admission or membership 

Active U.S. military and their families, as well as Tribal members, are FREE with ID 

Among the highlights that visitors to Under Pressure can expect to encounter include: 

Engage the senses through interactive displays and exhibits, including volcanic rocks and a volcanic hazard map, to learn about cutting-edge volcano research. 

Hear stories and learn the significance of volcanoes to the people of the High Desert region. 

Get to know 4-6 individual volcanoes through biographies that explain the similarities and differences between them. 

Learn about present-day volcano hazards and how lava flows. 

Understand the technologies that scientists use to detect volcanic activity, which allow us to live among volcanoes while also enjoying their many benefits. 

“These geologic giants exist all around us, come in all shapes and sizes, and tell a story of our past, present, and future,” says Whitelaw. “With 350 million people living in the ‘danger range’ of an active volcano worldwide, the more we understand about volcanoes, the better we can exist alongside them. ” 

Under Pressure: A Volcanic Exploration opens to the public on Feb. 7, 2026, and runs through Jan. 3, 2027, in the High Desert Museum’s Spirit of the West Gallery. For additional information on exhibitions or to start planning your experience, visit highdesertmuseum.org.  

About The High Desert Museum 

The High Desert Museum opened in Bend, Oregon, in 1982. It brings together wildlife, cultures, art, history, and the natural world to convey the wonder of North America’s High Desert region. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, is a Smithsonian Affiliate, was the 2019 recipient of the Western Museums Association’s Charles Redd Award for Exhibition Excellence, and was a 2021 recipient of the National Medal for Museum and Library Service. To learn more, visit highdesertmuseum.org and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

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KTVZ

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Deschutes County Solid Waste is expanding options for residents to recycle items that can’t be placed in curbside recycling bins. Starting Tuesday, more recycling containers will be available at county transfer stations and at Knott Landfill for:

Plastic bags

Plastic lids from items like yogurt and sour cream tubs

Shredded paper in paper bags

Aluminum foil & trays

Rigid product buckets and pails from items like cat litter or laundry detergent

Rigid plastic package handles such as six-pack carriers

Residents can drop off of these items — along with all previously accepted recyclables — at the Negus, Southwest and Northwest transfer stations, and at Deschutes Recycling at the Knott Landfill.

“Residents now have additional recycling options for some of those hard to recycle items and can drop them off at our county transfer stations for free,” said Solid Waste Director Tim Brownell. “These changes allow us to keep valuable materials out of our landfills and put them back into use as new materials.”

This expansion is part of Oregon’s Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, which took effect in July. The RMA is making recycling simpler and adding more convenient drop-off locations across the state. Producers of packaging and paper products help fund these expanded programs.

For more information about what items can be recycled, as well as drop-off locations and hours, you can visit the Deschutes County Solid Waste website.

For more information about the Recycling Modernization Act, visit the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality website.

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