Marion County earns spotlight in Oregon climate health report

Marion County's work helping older adults install heat pumps and weatherize their homes earned a statewide spotlight in a new Oregon Health Authority report released Oct. 22.

The OHA's 2025 Climate and Health in Oregon report found that the estimated number of extreme heat days across Oregon nearly doubled between 2006 and 2025. Wildfire smoke days tripled. Days with both heat and smoke more than quadrupled.

The report singled out Marion County as an example of local resilience.

The county is working with local partners to lower energy costs for older adults through home energy assessments and to connect residents with contractors for heat pump installations and home weatherization, according to OHA.

The specific partner organizations were not named in the report.

ER visits climbing statewide

Hospital emergency departments saw spikes in heat-related illness visits and smoke-related respiratory illness visits between 2016 and 2025, the report found. Southern, central and eastern Oregon had the highest annual rates. Western Oregon saw lower rates overall, but all regions experienced increases during extreme heat events.

Wildfire smoke days increased fastest in Oregon's most populated areas. Multnomah and Washington counties see less smoke overall, but wildfire-related particulate matter is rising more quickly there than in other parts of the state, according to the report.

"This year's Climate and Health in Oregon report demonstrates that extreme climate effects continue to be a reality of our daily lives in Oregon," said Naomi Adeline-Biggs, director of OHA's Public Health Division.

Youth and broader health effects

The 2024 Oregon Student Health Survey found 71% of 11th-graders reported stress about the future due to climate change. Thirty-seven percent said those feelings negatively affected their lives.

Members of OHA's Youth Advisory Council youth data subcommittee, a group of 15- to 19-year-olds who advise on health policy, analyzed the survey data. They found that stress stems partly from students feeling climate change is beyond their control and that teaching lacks actionable steps or youth-led examples.

Beyond heat and smoke, the report flagged new risks. OHA investigated 51 suspected harmful algae bloom events in 2025 and issued 20 freshwater recreational use health advisories.

Mosquito surveillance in 2024 and 2025 detected Aedes aegypti in Jackson County, a tropical species not previously found in Oregon that can carry dengue and Zika.