Non-Profit US Postage PAID Permit 348 Medford, OR PO Box 102, Ashland OR. 97520 www.kswild.org www.rogueriverkeeper.org PRINTED ON SAKURA 100% RECYCLED, 50% POST CONSUMER WASTE, CHLORINE–FREE PAPER Cover photo: Fall colors in the Sky High Valley looking out from Shadow Lake in the Marble Mountain Wilderness. Photo © Mike Shoys. See more of his stunning work at www.onefinity.zenfolio.com. Fall 2013 KS The Journal of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center KS WILD NEWS WILD NEWS KS Wild Staff News Around the KS Covering nearly 11 million acres, the Klamath-Siskiyou region stretches from the Michael Dotson Umpqua in the north to California’s wine country in the south, from the Pacific Ocean Development Director to the mighty Cascades. The mountain ranges and river valleys that define this region Lisa Force harbor renowned biological diversity and are some of the most spectacular in America. Associate Director 1) Sunshine Bar Morgan Lindsay Dan Cook Membership & Outreach Trees Logged Coordinator Forest Service fells old-growth trees along the Elk River that 6 Rich Nawa Upcoming Hikes Staff Ecologist serve as nesting sites for the marbled murrelet, a protected 1 September 29: Rainey Falls Salmon Jumping Gary Powell seabird. See page 10. Grants Canvass Director Join Rogue Riverkeeper for a moderate 4-mile hike along the Pass Rogue River to watch Steelhead and Salmon jump Rainey 2) S. Kalmiopsis Gold George Sexton Falls. Carpool leaves Evo’s Coffee in Ashland at 9am and the Beach 5 Medford Conservation Director north Medford Fred Meyer parking lot near the Bear Creek Rivers at Risk Lock and Safe kiosk at 9:30am. Mining companies want to Joseph Vaile 2 develop large industrial nickel Executive Director October 19, 20, & 23: Bear Creek Salmon Viewing strip mines in the pristine head- Myra Villella Come on an easy 1-mile hike along Bear Creek to see spawn- waters of the Smith and Illinois Bookkeeper ing Chinook salmon. Great for kids of all ages. 1-3pm at Lynn Rivers. See page 8. Yreka Newbry Park in Talent. 3) Little Cronon Rogue October 26: Applegate River Salmon Viewing Timber Sale 3 Riverkeeper Come on an easy 1-mile hike along the Applegate River to see 4 spawning Chinook salmon. Great for kids of all ages. 1-3pm Klamath National Forest moves forward with logging Forrest English North Entrance Fish Hatchery Park, outside of Grants Pass. old-growth trees serving as Program Director October 27 and November 2: Illinois River Salmon Viewing critical habitat for spotted Eureka Robyn Janssen Come on an easy 1-mile hike along the East Fork and West owls. See page 11. Clean Water Fork Illinois River to see spawning Chinook salmon. Great for Campaigner kids of all ages. 1-3pm Illinois Forks State Park and 3-4:30pm 4) High Bar Redding Little Falls Trail. Forks Park is a right turn about 1/2 mile south of Cave Junction. Gold Mine KS Wild continues to protect Board of *For all salmon hikes, see kswild.org for detailed driving direc- salmon and steelhead from Directors tions. Bring polarized sunglasses if you have them. Call Staff the impacts of gold mining on Ecologist Rich Nawa at (541) 218-7973 for more info. McNeal Creek. See page 11. Joseph Vaile Susan Jane Brown *For all hikes, bring plenty of water, comfortable walking 5) Victory for Rivers! Shannon Clery shoes, layers, and a lunch. Call Morgan at (541) 488-5789 for Rogue Riverkeeper scores a big win to protect fish and clean water from the impacts of Shelley Elkovich more information and to sign up for a hike! Joseph Flaherty suction dredge gold mining! See page 3. Tracy Harding Bob Hunter KS Wild’s Mission: 6) Bybee Timber Sale David Johns The Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center is an advocate for the The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest is still proposing to log wildlands directly Stuart O’Neill forests, wildlife and waters of the Klamath and Rogue River adjacent to Crater Lake National Park. More than 12,000 people have voiced their Gene Rhough Basins of southwest Oregon and northwest California. We concerns with this damaging plan. Help us keep the pressure on strong! Call Morgan at Laurel Samson use environmental law, science, collaboration, education and (541) 488-5789 to find out how you can make a difference. Laurel Sutherlin grassroots organizing to defend healthy ecosystems and help build sustainable communities.1 2 Victory for Oregon’s Good News Although the original bill called for a total statewide Salmon Streams! moratorium, the final bill is a compromise with three main sections to be implemented This July, Rogue River- over the next three years. keeper, our allies and sup- porters scored a big win for Part 1 Oregon’s salmon and the Starting in 2014, the first clean water they need to part of the bill will reduce the thrive. The Oregon House of maximum number of permits Representatives followed the from the 2,409 permits KS Wild Senate’s lead and voted to issued in 2012 to only 850 This is Suction Dredging: Gasoline-powered pass Senate Bill 838 to better permits, a 65% reduction. dredges like these cause problems for clean water and protect Oregon’s salmon Additional changes will limit spawning salmon. streams from suction dredge miners to one dredge every gold mining. 500 feet, and operators are no longer allowed to leave their equipment unattended. The 850 permits will be issued Governor Kitzhaber signed to give preference to long time permit holders and Oregon residents, rather than to the bill into law in August. Morgan Lindsay recent out-of-state permitees. Thank you to everyone who Hip Hip Hooray!: River enthusiasts of all ages wrote letters, called their leg- celebrated the new protections during Rogue River- Part 2 islators, signed petitions, tes- keeper’s annual float and barbeque in September. The second portion of the bill directs the Governor’s office to take the lead in developing tified at hearings and lobbied a new science-based suction dredging framework for the legislature’s approval in 2015. in Salem. Our rivers are going to change for the better and it’s because of you! The new framework will provide better protections for threatened salmon and trout, while simplifying the dredging permitting process. As long time readers may remember, suction dredge mining in waterways involves the use of gasoline-powered vacuums, mounted on floating rafts, which suck up the Part 3 riverbed in search of gold. Scientific studies have demonstrated that the practice harms The third and final part of the bill—a 5 year moratorium on suction dredging in salmon spawning habitat, invertebrate and bivalve communities that feed fish, and stirs up toxic habitat—will go into effect only if the legislature fails to act in 2015 by approving the mercury. California currently prohibits suction dredging, and even Idaho—a state rarely Governor’s yet to be proposed regulatory framework. known as a bastion of sensible environmental policy—has more effective protections in place for suction dredging than does Oregon. Next Steps There has been a spike in suction dredge mining in Oregon since California enacted The dramatic reduction in suction dredging activities starting next year is a big step a moratorium on the practice in 2009 due to its impacts on water quality and fish forward. We greatly appreciate those legislators whose support of clean water and populations. From 2005 to 2012, there was a 580% increase in suction dredge mining in healthy salmon populations made this victory possible. Oregon. During this time, the number of permits issued more than quadrupled from 414 to 2,409. The increasing number of suction dredgers has introduced new conflicts with While we celebrate this victory for our favorite river and the fish that live in it, it’s other river users and landowners and done more overall damage to aquatic habitats. important to look ahead to all the work it will take to preserve this win. We’ll need your This new legislation is the first step towards curbing those impacts and implementing support to ensure we can fully engage in the crafting of any new regulations so they more sensible rules. are better than what we have now, and to ensure that those regulations are adopted by the legislature. Stay tuned for more ways that you can help in the months and years Rogue Riverkeeper Mission: to come. To protect and restore water quality and fish populations You Can Help in the Rogue Basin and adjacent coastal watersheds through enforcement, advocacy, field work and community action. There is much work to do to protect Oregon’s forests, rivers, and private property from www.rogueriverkeeper.org — (541) 488-9831 suction dredge gold mining and we need your help more than ever. Contact forrest@ rogueriverkeeper.org or call (541) 488-9831 to join the fight. 3 4 Good Fire and Bad Fire Fire and Forests When it’s hard to breathe through the smoke, and young firefighters are putting their lives on the line to The summer of 2013 is protect communities, it’s tempting going to be remembered for to think of big, high-severity fires its wildfires. Forests burned, as “bad” and small wildfires as smoke filled the air, thou- “good.” There’s no doubt that the sands of firefighters arrived, lives, forests, and taxpayer dollars and millions of taxpayers consumed by fires every summer dollars were spent while fire are an irreplaceable and huge loss did what it has always done to all of us. But it shouldn’t come as George Sexton in the Klamath Siskiyous: a surprise.