Welcome to the Lookout Look Back, a partnership between Lookout Eugene-Springfield and longtime Eugene illustrator Jesse Springer. Over 27 years, Springer created hundreds of illustrations capturing the political, social and cultural forces shaping life in Lane County and Oregon. You can view more of Springer’s illustrations or purchase his book on his website.

Friday, April 10

For the latest Lookout Look Back, I decided to go way back to a Jesse Springer illustration from May 2007.

Oregonians were reeling from record-high gas prices. How high? Well, Springer’s caption put it best: “Oregon gas prices have risen 15¢ in the past week to $3.28 per gallon — 31 cents higher than the national average. Nationwide, only Washington and California are paying higher prices.”

Today? $3.28 gas would be the cheapest in the country, and 88 cents below the national average, according to AAA.

Alas, a gallon of gas in Oregon cost a hair over $5 as of Thursday, up 81 cents in just the past month. The war with Iran that began Feb. 28 has choked off oil supplies and spiked gasoline prices around the world.

Friday, March 27

This edition of the Lookout Look Back brings us a Jesse Springer illustration from 2021 that could easily have published any time over the past decade or so: where did the spring rain go?

So far, 2026 appears to be the same story: Most of Lane County (and all of Oregon) is currently seeing abnormally dry conditions, moderate or severe drought. With extremely low snow packs this winter, ski season was a bust at mountains across the state. And the National Interagency Fire Center on March 2 was already warning of “significant wildland fire potential forecasts.”

The roughly 386,000 acres of land that had burned across the country by the end of February was 422% above the 10-year average for the same time period.

And March has seen abnormally warm temperatures across much of the country, including here in the Willamette Valley.

Sorry if I bummed you out.

Friday, March 13

Springer created this illustration back in 2015, when the Oregon Legislature wasn’t acting on concerns from residents and environmental groups about the effects of aerial herbicide sprays over forest land near people and animals.

The Legislature eventually passed the Forest Aerial Spray Bill in 2020, mandating buffer zones to protect residents, waterways and fish. But concerns persist, including in Lane County, where supporters of the Watersheds Bill of Rights ballot measure proposed for the May ballot cite the effects of aerial pesticide spraying as a major concern.

For more than a decade, Elon Glucklich covered business, government and health care for several dailies and online news organizations across Oregon. His reporting and commentary has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists and the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association.