Cassandra Profita
Cassandra Profita is a reporter, producer and editor for OPB's Science & Environment unit.
Cassandra worked for The Daily Astorian newspaper before joining OPB and launching the Ecotrope environmental news blog. She produced radio and television stories as part of the EarthFix public media collaboration that covered the environment in the Pacific Northwest. Cassandra is a fellow with the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources and the Metcalf Institute for Marine & Environment Reporting. She’s gone out to sea to cover fisheries and marine heat waves and floated down the Klamath, Columbia and Willamette rivers to report on dam removal, sea lions and salmon. She’s ventured into active wildfires and flown over burned forests to investigate post-fire logging.
Her stories have won awards from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Radio Television Digital News Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Cassandra grew up in Chicago and holds degrees in journalism from the University of Missouri and the University of Oregon.
Latest Stories
Oregon reaches nearly $700M settlement with Monsanto over PCB contamination
Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said compounds in Monsanto's products continued to pollute Oregon's land and waterways many decades after the company knew its compounds were highly toxic.
Oregon’s Elliott research forest will be North America’s largest
The State Land Board at long last approves the creation of the Elliott State Research Forest, meant to end years of debate over what to do about a state forest that no longer generates enough money for education.
Oregon state forests deliver more than $97M in timber revenue
Generating money from logging state forestland has been hotly debated. Environmental groups are pushing for more habitat protection while counties want Oregon to meet legal obligation to maximize timber revenue for their benefit.
New boating restrictions on Portland’s Willamette River reduce complaints, create new problems
Rules limit wake surfing and other water sports to ease congestion, safety risks and property damage in crowded areas.
Here’s why the West Coast Dungeness crab season has been delayed
The opening of Oregon's most valuable commercial fishery will be delayed after testing showed some crabs don't have enough meat in them and others have elevated levels of the toxin domoic acid.
The world’s largest dam removal will touch many lives in the Klamath River Basin
A $500 million project will remove four dams from in Southern Oregon and Northern California and open up hundreds of miles of salmon habitat that's been blocked for more than a century.
Tribal elders ask US Supreme Court to hear case over a desecrated site on Mount Hood
The Yakama and Grand Ronde tribes are asking the Supreme Court to weigh in on their claim that an expansion of Highway 26 in 2008 violated their religious freedom by destroying an ancient burial site, a stone altar and old-growth trees.
Oregon health advisory warns of toxic contaminants in lamprey
The Oregon Health Authority issued a health advisory on Wednesday that sets limits on how many lamprey people can safely eat from the Columbia River and its tributaries in Oregon.
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Oregon postpones wildfire risk mapping and rulemaking plans after public backlash
After withdrawing a controversial map of wildfire risk on every property statewide, the Oregon Department of Forestry is planning to spend the next year talking with the public and revising the map.
Which pesticides are polluting Oregon streams? New site shares state findings
A voluntary pollution reduction program that has been testing streams across the state for decades recently shared all of its results on a website that allows the public to see which pesticides have been found in a dozen different watersheds.