Floras Lake Land Swap:
Last fall, I reported that the Curry County Board of Commissioners (BOC) had taken an important step toward considering a land swap for the county lands south of Floras Lake. Oregon State Parks (OPRD) had proposed to swap 32.6 acres of land it owns on Highway 101, directly across from Pacific High School, for 70 acres of the county’s Floras Lake property, the westernmost portion adjacent to Floras Lake State Natural Area. In August, the BOC authorized an appraisal and timber cruise for the county property; at the same time, OPRD authorized an appraisal for its property. The appraisals are now complete but not equivalent, and so the state and our BOC will soon need to convene to discuss and negotiate a possible deal.
In the fall, Commissioner Boice indicated that he’d prefer to swap the entire 500-acre county property to state parks. While I’d love to see the whole property go to state parks, I am concerned that pushing for a larger deal could sink the deal at hand. State parks has indicated it is interested only in the 70 acres adjacent to Floras Lake Natural Area. Also, we’ve lost some people who had developed knowledge about this issue at the county: Carolyn Johnson, who organized the Langlois community meeting back in April 2017 and conducted indepth property research, is no longer working for Curry County, and Commissioner Tom Huxley, who had been committed to considering a swap, is now gone, too. Furthermore, the new commissioners have hired a new director of operations who could have a different approach in mind for the Floras Lake lands.
At the new BOC’s first meeting in January, the county administrator (subsequently-dismissed) sought to put the swap on the BOC agenda, but the matter was punted. New commissioner Chris Paasch asked for a briefing packet, and Commissioner Boice indicated that his preference was not to accelerate forward movement on this issue –given so many other county priorities. He also cryptically stated that there would be a lot more relevant information available in the coming weeks. Time will tell.
I have reached out to our new Commissioner Chris Paasch and hope to brief him soon on the long background on the Floras Lake lands. It may be very important for people to contact our commissioners or to attend a public workshop on this issue in the coming month. I will keep you informed through the KAS HOOT OUT so please make sure you are signed up.
Wild Rivers update
Remarkable things can happen in “lame duck” sessions of Congress, and so it was late last year. Despite so much dysfunction in D.C., Senators and Representatives on respective natural resource committees worked to assemble a bi-partisan, omnibus public lands bill. Though there was no full vote before the end of the session, Senate leadership has said this bi-partisan bill is now in the queue for a full Senate vote as soon as the impasse over the government shutdown ends. Then it is expected to move to the House for conference, for more negotiations.
The good news is that this public-lands-legislation package includes many elements of the Oregon Wildlands Act (OWA), which would add protections for some of our beloved local rivers –the Elk, Chetco, and Rogue, plus also for “Devil’s Staircase” in the lower Umpqua watershed near Reedsport. The Elk part of the bill would add wild and scenic designations for all the river’s tributaries, helping to protect this river’s outstanding water quality for salmon into the future plus habitat for marbled murrelets. The Chetco part would finally secure a permanent mineral withdrawal for the public lands portion of that special river. The Rogue part of the bill would add wild and scenic designations for tributaries from Gallice down to Marial –these all flow into the Rogue upstream from Curry County but would help provide much needed protections for water quality that would benefit the lower Rogue, too.
However, one important item that got dropped out in the bi-partisan compromise, apparently owing to opposition by Rep. Greg Walden, was a provision that would have extended wilderness protections in the Wild and Scenic Rogue River Canyon upstream. Currently the Wild Rogue Wilderness (managed by the U.S. Forest Service) protects the Curry County portion of the Rogue River canyon from Marial down to Don’s Creek near Illahe/Foster Bar, but the reach, just upstream, from Gallice down to Marial (currently managed by BLM), is not protected as wilderness. Although much of it is roadless, the forests in this area were threatened not long ago by a big timber sale, fortunately fended off by activists. But this threat could return with recent directives from the President to massively increase logging on our public lands. The Wild and Scenic Rogue River is a renowned national treasure that deserves the highest level of protection.
Also, we’re still waiting for the Southwest Oregon Watershed and Salmon Protection Act (SOWSPA) to be reintroduced into Congress. Unfortunately, it was not included in the big public-lands legislation package. (OWA was started before SOWSPA, and there is a queue.) As most KAS members will recall, SOWSPA is the bill that would permanently protect areas at the headwaters of Hunter Creek and Pistol River, Rough and Ready Creek at the headwaters of the National Wild and Scenic Illinois River and Baldface Creek at the headwaters of the National Wild and Scenic North Fork Smith River from the threat of mining. At this time, these areas are temporarily protected from new mining claims by the Southwest Oregon Mineral Withdrawal.
As the public-lands legislation package will soon move to the House, what’s needed now is two-fold: Foremost, we need for people to give Congressman DeFazio’s office a call (or send an email). Please THANK Congressman DeFazio for his longstanding efforts to protect SW Oregon’s rivers and encourage his support for the Oregon Wildlands Act including protections for the Elk, Chetco, and Wild Rogue, and also for the Southwest Oregon Watershed and Salmon Protection Act. Here are his office numbers: (202)-225-6416/541-269-2609. (Rep. DeFazio just became Chair of the Transportation Committee, and so he’s focusing on lots of important infrastructure projects, which means we need to graciously and gratefully remind him to keep up his great work in protecting our rivers, too.)
It would also be helpful to call or email Senator Wyden and thank him in a similar way. As our senior senator, and owing to his position on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, Senator Wyden’s leadership on these matters has been and will continue to be absolutely critical. Here are his numbers: (202) 224-5244/541-858-5122.
I know there are many, many issues that we are all worrying about these days –and many reasons to call our elected officials, but I hope you can take 3 minutes to take these actions to help us work toward securing increased protections for the important riparian habitats in our extremely special public lands backyard!
Jordan Cove update
In January, the Oregon Department of State Lands held 5 hearings to consider public input about the dredge and fill permit for the Jordan Cove LNG terminal and the Pacific Connector pipeline, now proposed by the Canadian company Pembina. Thousands of people turned out to express opposition. In Central Point alone, more than 1,000 people attended. The 229-mile pipeline would cross southern Oregon from Malin, east of Klamath Falls, to Coos Bay. Pipeline construction would impact many waterways along the way including the Klamath, Rogue, Umpqua, and Coos Rivers and their tributaries– more than 400 river crossings in all that would be subject to clear cutting, earthmoving, erosion, and use of water for testing, not to mention the potential for risk of spilling drilling fluids. The dredging associated with LNG facility, to be located on the north side of Coos Bay, just west of the McCollough Bridge, would have many impacts on the estuarine habitats used by fish, birds, wildlife, and recreational crabbers and fishermen. Beyond direct local impacts, the Jordan Cove project would become the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon. For this reason, I think opposing Jordan Cove is probably the single most effective way for local citizens to work on the critically important issue of climate change.
At the Coos Bay hearing, more than 400 people showed up (about 2 to 1 in opposition), and I was heartened to hear articulate testimony by so many local people describing the ecological values of Coos Bay, loss of wetlands that has already occurred, cherished recreational and subsistence uses, problems of climate change, and traditional values of local indigenous people. Even a descendent of the eponymous, local Jordan family showed up to testify in opposition. While a few local people testified in favor (including 2 from the Chamber of Commerce), the majority of support for the project came from members of the pipefitters and plumbers’ union, bussed in from the Willamette Valley. Of course, it’s unfortunate when the only jobs are ones that will so clearly damage Southwest Oregon’s natural environment.
According to the Klamath Falls Herald and News, Pembina Co. has been politically active, contributing over $150,000 in campaign contributions to PACs and local and state candidates who have supported the proposed project –and so this regional project in many ways exemplifies how powerful international corporations operate. The Jordan Cove project still needs to obtain many permits, state and federal, before construction can begin and so we’ll continue to track it and contribute comments from KAS. (If you’re feeling deja vu, another Canadian company, Veresen, made a similar proposal a few years back that was roundly rejected by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); but the proposal is now back, likely buoyed by the Trump Administration’s avowed support for the fossil fuel industry).
Thanks to all our HOOT OUT recipients who submitted comments for this!
Little Chetco inholding
I have some good news! The Wilderness Land Trust announced in late fall that it has purchased Emily Camp, the only private inholding within the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. For decades, KAS together with activists on the east side of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness (Siskiyou Project, Friends of Kalmiopsis, Rogue Riverkeeper) have been fending off threats associated with this inholding on the Little Chetco—from road opening and motorized use in the wilderness to helicopter-supported suction dredge mining in the Chetco River. In 2014, the property owner lost his mining claims on the river when he tried to claim an exemption that he was not entitled to, and the 5-yr Chetco mineral withdrawal that we’d advocated for precluded him from staking new claims. Then, in 2017, the Chetco Bar Fire burned the cabins and shipping containers that were used for rustic lodging at the extremely remote Emily Camp site (the area had also burned in the Biscuit Fire). Ultimately, the property owner sought to make a conservation sale, and the Wilderness Land Trust, a national organization that specializes in acquiring wilderness inholdings and transferring them into public ownership, was ready to buy the remote property. The deal will not be complete until this inholding is transferred to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, which is responsible for managing the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, a process that could take some time. Nevertheless, this story shows how local citizen advocacy applied over time can ultimately lead to a conservation success. After more than 50 years, it looks like the Kalmiopsis Wilderness will be whole!
After the Klondike Fire
Fall rains finally put out the Klondike Fire, which ended up burning nearly 175,000 acres, mostly in the vicinity of the National Wild and Scenic Illinois River canyon. A sizable portion of this mostly National Forest acreage was burned by the Forest Service (USFS) as part of its fire suppression strategy. Firefighters used “back burns” to reduce flammable materials, aiming to stop the wildfire before it reached private property. Fortunately, high winds did not intercede. The natural fire and the USFS burnout fires resulted in a mosaic of high-, moderate-, low-severity, and unburned areas. If the build-up of “fuels” caused by fire suppression has indeed increased fire risk, this kind of burn may help to reduce risks in the future.
After 2017’s Chetco Bar Fire (CBF), Curry County Commissioner Court Boice pressed repeatedly for more post-fire logging (in fact, he continues to decry that too few acres were salvage logged and blames environmentalists). But after the Klondike, we’ve heard no calls for salvage. Why? According the USFS Rapid Assessment Team’s report, the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest (RR-SNF) leadership met with the timber industry, which was “not expressing much interest in salvage off of Forest Service lands.” Industry wants the USFS staff to plan for green tree sales instead, but at least, we’ll not be facing large, post-fire logging proposals.
Nevertheless, Mr. Boice continues his crusade. In a January 23 opinion piece published in the Curry Pilot, he now blames environmentalists for wildfires. Of course, the reasons for increased fire risks are many, but the limitations on USFS management to address fire risk has not been environmentalists’ lawsuits as Mr. Boice alleges, but rather lack of funding for project planning because the Forest Service has had to spend a huge amount its funding to fight fires –an insidious situation called “fire borrowing” that has reduced staffing for management of all National Forest values, including timber, recreation, fisheries, wildlife.
It appears now that Boice and the timber industry want to go back to more commercial timber sales putting forth the false idea that commercial logging and replanting of Douglas firs will help protect us from fires. In fact, fire analysts, foresters, and ecologists now tell us that commercial clearcutting and the resulting dense growth of young trees in plantations are making fire hazards worse. Fires in these areas have been found to burn hotter and with more damage than in mature forests, which tend to be resistant to fire.
What’s really needed is thinning of overstocked plantations, controlled burning, restoration of more diverse and mature forests that can better withstand fires and pathogens, and creation of strategic fire breaks and defensible spaces near our homes. The recently passed Farm Bill has provisions to end fire borrowing and should soon provide more funding for forest management to reduce fire risks, but what that will look like on the ground –with President Trump’s recent order to increase timber harvests by 30 percent–remains unknown.
Finally, the RR-SNF has been planning a large “landscape restoration” timber sale, “Shasta-Agness,” in the vicinity of Agness and the Shasta Costa Creek watershed. This project was scheduled for public comments this January, but USFS staff will need to review how the Klondike Fire impacted landscape conditions and make adjustments before bringing their logging/restoration plan forth for public review. This and critical post-fire restoration work have been delayed by the government shutdown.
The Spray Free Coast Campaign
Community concern about aerial herbicide spraying in forestry has been on ongoing issue since the 1960s and 70s when increasing knowledge of associated health risks compelled local activists to press for reform, ultimately leading to a ban on aerial spraying in National Forests in 1984.
However, the aerial spraying of toxic herbicides remains a common practice on both private and state forest lands, and while the Oregon Forest Practices Act outlines regulations for “safe” application, these regulations are not adequate to eliminate the risks of chemical trespass and harm to ecosystems. Many commonly-used chemicals are known to relocate through transpiration on coastal fog, travel through waterways, and some can persist in groundwater and in the food chain. In some cases, there have been accidents, such as what happened to residents in Cedar Valley back in 2013.
Given these risks, it is important for communities near private or state forestlands to be aware of when aerial spray events will occur. The Oregon Dept. of Forestry (ODF) has a statewide notification system called “FERNS” (ferns.odf.oregon.gov/e-notification) that provides this information to the public, but this resource is not well known. To help raise public awareness, KAS has started to track aerial sprays near Port Orford and will post these notices at the post office (If you live near an area to be sprayed, you may want to contact the operator to let them know you’d like to have more specifics about when the spraying will occur or to alert them to specific concerns, such as drinking water streams or livestock. If you subscribe to FERNS you can also submit these kinds of comments to ODF on the notification webpage).
We are also sponsoring an educational event on Wed. Feb. 27 at the Curry Public Library (6-8pm) in Gold Beach, which will include presentations about the effects of aerial spraying in forestry and how to use FERNS to learn about spray events near you. There is growing concern about aerial spraying in communities coast wide, and we will be working this year to help KAS members understand the complexities of this issue. Please visit sprayfreecoast.org for more information, and feel free to contact Teresa at kalmiopsisaudubon@gmail.com with any questions.
