Oregon Wild Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3

America's Common Ground Celebrates 100 Years Working to protect and restore ’s wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy.

Main Office Western Field Office INSIDE THIS ISSUE 5825 N Greeley Avenue Portland, OR 97217 P.O. Box 11648 Eugene, OR 97440 Phone: 503.283.6343 Phone 541.344.0675 Fax: 541.343.0996 America’s common ground - www.oregonwild.org Forest & Watershed Organizer Jason Gonzales 100 years of the national parks {4-7} The e-mail address for each Oregon Wild Conservation & Restoration Coord. Doug Heiken staff member: [email protected] Western Oregon Field Coord. chandra LeGue An Oregon wolf update {12} (for example: [email protected]) Northeastern Field Office Crater Lake Wilderness Coord. tara Brown x 202 P.O. Box 48, Enterprise, OR 97828 Call of the Wild: a camp-inspired benefit {back cover} Outreach & Marketing Coord. marielle Cowdin x 213 Phone: 541.886.0212 Development Director Jonathan Jelen x 224 Office Manager Gaby Diaz x 200 NE Oregon Field Coordinator rob Klavins Finance Director tony Mounts x 219 Central Oregon Field Office Conservation Director Steve Pedery x 212 2445 NE Division St, Bend, OR 97701 Communications Coordinator Arran Robertson x 223 Phone: 541.382.2616 Fax: 541.385.3370 Wildlife Policy Coordinator lena Spadacene x 226 Executive Director Sean Stevens x 211 Ochoco Mountains Organizer Sarah Cuddy Membership & Event Manager Shasta Zielke x 205 Wilderness Program Manager erik Fernandez Central Oregon Field Coordinator pam Hardy Oregon Wild Board of Directors Vik Anantha, President Hillary Barbour Brett Sommermeyer, Vice Danielle Grabiel President Nathan Kennedy Megan Gibb, Treasurer Mellie Pullman Kate Blazar, Secretary Colin Rath Daniel Robertson

www.facebook.com/OregonWild Oregon Wild is a tax-exempt, non-profit charitable organization. cover photo: Kim Elton Establishing the National Park Service 100 years ago gave all Americans shared ownership of some of our most exceptional wildlands, like Crater Lake. Will @oregonwild Newsletter printed on New Leaf 100% recycled, 50% post-consumer, we have the foresight to ensure better protections for these shared spaces and others that FSC certified paper with soy based inks. Oregon Wild is printed locally by need preservation in the next century? Environmental Paper and Print, an Oregon Wild donor and business partner.

Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 2 From the Director’s Desk Year, after decade, after lifetime Sean Stevens, Executive Director

ear, after decade, after after our 2013 legal settlement It’s why we have been lifetime.” forced ODFW to use lethal force as so committed “Y a last resort? The state legislature throughout our I remember hearing the wise words and Governor Brown bypassed the history to pursuing of Dave Willis as he accepted the courts and codified the removal of the lasting inaugural Tim Lillebo Wildlands wolves from the state endangered protections that Warrior Award last year and being species list. Days later, four Imnaha Wilderness struck by the poetry and truth of Pack wolves were gunned down. designation affords. the statement. Protecting the wild A funny thing can take years of hard work, decades We’ve even gotten so used to happens once those of perseverance, and sometimes fighting the same awful timber sales places are even a lifetime. a decade after they were first emblazoned in dark proposed that we have a name for It is the curse of the conservationist green on the state them: zombie timber sales. We’re map. People forget that many of our losses are challenging a handful – Goose, frank walter The incredible landscapes that enjoy permanent protection today exist the controversy, as a result of the visionaries who spent their lifetimes fighting for them. Let’s honor and permanent and our victories Polallie Cooper, Loafer – right now. temporary. forget why anyone continue their legacies by working tirelessly to protect the places that remain vulnerable. It takes stamina, determination, and ever thought a Did we beat back the Bush-era particular place the backing of thousands of people these people who were the quiet More details can be found here: WOPR clearcutting plan for wasn’t worthy of protection. They www.oregonwild.org/LilleboAward just like you to keep our collective force behind saving the places that western Oregon BLM forests in become embedded in our shared efforts going. We can’t rest because we cherish. 2008? Yes. Is the Obama we know that some piece of the natural heritage. Thank you for your support and for administration proposing a 37% From time to time, it is essential to ensuring that someone is standing wild will be destroyed, an For every place that has a special increase in logging for these lands recognize those among us who carry up for the wild – year, after decade, endangered species will lose more of designation on the map, there is a in 2016? Sadly, yes. on this sometimes thankless work. after lifetime. its habitat, if we get complacent. good chance that someone gave the To help us do just that, please send What happened after Oregon’s better part of their life to protect it. Of course, there are certain in nominations for the annual Tim wolves were spared a sniper’s bullets We celebrate on page 6 a few of campaigns that achieve permanence. Lillebo Wildlands Warrior Award.

3 Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 America’s common ground – national parks as freedom in practice Marielle Cowdin, Outreach & Marketing Coordinator

’ve never been to Disneyland. When my brother and I were kids, learned the names of wildflowers, wildlands are where I developed Or Disneyworld. Or any of my mother would pack us up in braved lightning storms, stood my sense of self. In these thoseI iconic, childhood-defining our little silver Nissan Stanza, barefoot in glacial waters far landscapes I was unburdened by franchise destinations. Judging by bundled in our coveted Ninja longer than advised without losing my social awkwardness, from the commercials I saw frequently Turtle and Little Mermaid toes, and practiced calling native societal expectations for my in the 1980s and early ’90s, a sleeping bags and armed with tiny wildlife (which largely consisted of gender, age, or class. Disneyland vacation is the peak of boxes of cereal. From D.C. we weird, loud squeaking at marmots). Unencumbered by judgement American childhood experiences; went west into the Blue Ridge from others and myself, I found every kid wants and deserves it, I Mountains and set up our tent at a Here, I felt free and capable. hours upon days full of possibility. was told. How could I have such campground in Shenandoah Maybe it was the lack of oxygen. The only limitations were those of an enormous gap in my National Park. We wandered the But these national parks and other my own making. Well, that and upbringing? woods in search of deer and caterpillars, crunched around in For one, my family was solidly the brightly-colored leaves, and lower-middle class - the kind waited for the fireflies to emerge supported by the single parent, the after dark. We impatiently and overworked and underpaid eagerly devoured overcharred and teaching kind. Second, I’ve always undercooked hot dogs on sticks, been terrified of alligators. You somehow avoiding raw food-based could chalk it up to being diseases. We loved it. unnerved by Florida generally. Every summer, we made our So rather than getting pictures annual flight west to Colorado to taken with strangers wearing giant visit family and explore Rocky foam heads and waiting in long Mountain National Park. Away lines for the terrifying joy of riding from the density and development Space Mountain, the family of the east in this even wilder vacations of my youth took a landscape, I summited my first different route. But they embodied national park service Glacier Point, Yosemite 1890s. peaks, earned views of the Early advocates of public lands saw an opportunity something just as, and if I may Continental Divide, scrambled up to preserve some of our most magnificent and still argue more so, quintessentially giant rocks, and discovered the dan cowdin Enjoying the untrammeled landscapes for the public at large – American: visiting our national freedoms of wilderness something that had not yet happened anywhere else in terrifying joy of tumbling down in the clouds of Rocky the world. parks. snowfields at high speeds. I Mountain National Park.

Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 4 the laws of physics. I was hardly rather the tenet of American ideals: a Peter Pan jumping from rock to rock free and just society for all people. As Lessons from Opal Creek in the wild, but out there, no signs a country we’ve taken a long road to Arran Robertson, Communications Coordinator told me I wasn’t tall enough (or rich achieve this, enacting amendment enough) to ride. after amendment to become less off to protest in ago that the idea of an Opal The Old World and the New discriminatory, more true to our Salem and Creek Wilderness seemed founding principles, and to this day surround the inconceivable. Now the idea that “National parks are the best idea we we still fall short. However, Capitol Building we wouldn’t protect such a ever had. Absolutely American, establishing the national parks was with logging special place seems just as absolutely democratic, they reflect us at and continues to be one of the best trucks during impossible. our best rather than our worst.” examples of this goal in practice. key debates. - Wallace Stegner, 1983 Oregon’s The national parks were also the first timber-friendly For better or worse, America is a of their kind. When the earliest parks politicians made young nation of competitive ambition, were marked for preservation in the sure that Opal our history punctuated with a healthy mid-19th century - Yosemite and Creek was mix of both celebrated and shameful Yellowstone among the first - no removed from achievements. We’re number one tradition of rural nature parks existed both the 1984 1 when it comes to populations of bald anywhere else in the world. Oregon eagles, best-selling solo musical artists, Protecting vast, beautiful landscapes Wilderness Act and the 1988 cheese produced globally, and citizens had historically been reserved for the peter c blanchard Oregon Wild searching the internet for “jorts.” elite, the upper class, the wealthy and Scenic We’re also tops at incarceration, landowner. In 1864, when Congress Walking among the mighty Rivers Act. obesity, energy consumption per set aside Yosemite Valley and the old-growth trees or looking down person, and healthcare expenditures. Mariposa Grove from development, It wasn’t until 1996 that the nearly our federal government became the into its brilliant waters, it’s hard to But there’s one historical first the imagine a time when the Opal 21,000 acre area was protected first to preserve land for all. Maybe United States can undoubtedly take Creek Wilderness was not as Opal Creek Wilderness. Even “America’s Most Original Idea” or pride in: the invention of national universally beloved. But it was then it took , as one “America’s Most American Idea,” is parks. not always regarded so highly. In of his final acts as a U.S. more apt. But let’s be honest, that’s fact, the Opal Creek Wilderness Senator, threatening to hold up Historian and nature writer Wallace not as catchy. campaign is considered one of the entire Congressional Stegner often gets credit for calling the most contentious in the state. appropriations process for it to the national parks “America’s Best The concept of preservation for the be designated. Idea.” The phrase caught fire in the public good caught on though. As one of the last remaining environmental crowd, and in this Disparate interests came together as low-elevation old growth areas in As we consider the campaigns 100th year of the National Park advocates, delicately united under the Oregon, it was long sought after to protect Crater Lake, , the Owyhee Canyonlands ONRC celebrates the Service, it’s made for some great Park common ideology that wilderness by the logging industry. They protection of Opal C and the Ochoco Mountains, this reek Service branding - and with good lobbied vigorously against its as their #1 accomplishment story provides important in an Oct 1996 edition of reason. As a caveat I will say, the 1 Hans Huth, Nature and the American: protection, giving loggers the day perspective. It was not so long “Wild Oregon” “best idea” concept isn’t so much Three Centuries of Changing Attitudes (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, about the parks themselves, but 1972), chap. 4. 5 Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 Our country has grown rapidly over Second Amendment isn’t either. the last century. The number of These are by-products of a democratic Champions for the wild – Oregon visionaries national parks and protected society, but they’re not the defining wildlands has grown too, with over heart. Bald eagles can’t exist without 400 national parks throughout the 50 protected public lands; the beauty of states. An America without National our country is embedded in our Parks and Wilderness is now shared heritage and our shared inconceivable, but protection for legacies. The true patriots are the public lands has grown increasingly individuals and communities working difficult to achieve. Crater Lake has to uphold them (see sidebar page 6), remained Oregon’s only national park, the visionaries who work for decades established back in 1902, and it still and lifetimes so our greatest assets Judge John B. Waldo William Finley Nancy Russell Brock Evans lacks the Wilderness protections remain in our collective hands. In the late 1800s, Waldo was A voice for Klamath Founder of Friends of the A former Marine, Evans has most other western national parks one of Oregon’s first wetlands and wildlife in the Columbia Gorge, Russell helped secure Wilderness hold. When it comes to further Their successes have ensured no one conservation voices – a early 1900s, Finley battled campaigned to protect the protection for public lands permanent protection for our public comes to America empty-handed - as champion for protecting the poachers, land speculators, area from sprawl across the Northwest, lands, politics and collective memory citizens, everyone holds a key to our Oregon and Crater and agribusiness interests development and was stopped the damming of most magnificent places. We are all Lake from logging and first with his camera and instrumental in the passage Hells Canyon, and aided in lapses present significant roadblocks. livestock grazing. Waldo later as Oregon’s first State of the Columbia Gorge the formation of numerous Today, protected wildlands like Opal Lake Wilderness bears his Game Warden. National Scenic Area conservation groups name. Protection Act in 1986. (including Oregon Wild). Creek Wilderness (see sidebar page 5), , and Wilderness are places most people adore and held value for all - either in its heart. Through the parks we broke people are free to walk their own pace 2 appreciate, even if they don’t fully symbolic and inherent qualities or as from the Old World - the one of and face what is wild within. comprehend or recall the politics that a commodity for public (non- monarchs and lords, of pre- Inconceivable preserved them. This latter part is extractive) consumption. By August determined class and fated lives. In problematic, as the recent movement 1916 when the “Organic Act” this new society, protected public “The exercise of imagination is against public lands and its twisted established the National Park Service, wildlands would allow the ordinary dangerous to those who profit from the rhetoric attests. How quickly we 35 national parks and monuments citizen to disengage from the daily way things are because it has the power forget the value of our public lands already existed for the new federal grind. The grand scenery, free of to show that the way things are is not and their vulnerability without higher bureau to take under its wing - typical cultural distractions, would permanent, not universal, not protections. How quickly words like including Oregon’s own Crater Lake give the working person freedom for necessary...We will not be free if we do “patriot,” “liberate,” and “freedom” get National Park. contemplation, inspiration, and not imagine freedom.” - Ursula K. Le co-opted and redefined to suit private individual expression they were not These shared, democratic spaces Guin, from A War Without End interests under the guise of common otherwise afforded. In experiencing a benefit. The Bundys and their ilk are helped solidify our national identity, place where success is something 2 Joseph L. Sax, Mountains Without about as patriotic as a payday loan. or more accurately, what we still strive other than conquest, outside the Handrails: Reflections on the National Parks to be - a country of open doors and society that tames and conforms, the Capitalism and the free market are opportunity with “freedom” at its (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1980), chap. 2, 3. not the core of our nation; the

Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 6 protectors of the lands that provide impose on ourselves have the power to Continuing efforts to protect public us clean air, clean water, habitat and shape our experience.” - Joseph L. Sax lands is no doubt a difficult road, healthy ecosystems - the things history has proved that. But we Pay it forward that all can (and do) enjoy without So what happens in the next 100 must not forget that the inherent Jonathan Jelen, Development Director even having to step within the years? When we reach the National values and the grandeur of wilderness. In this lies our freedom Park Service bicentennial, will we Yosemite and Yellowstone, of Opal Sisters or Mount and our wealth as a nation, lest we look back with regret that we Creek and Mount Hood, are well Hood. forget. allowed our wildlands to be sold to worth the years of effort to Looking upon the the highest bidder; our forests and guarantee their lasting place on the Back to the future beauty of Crater mountains paved, our rivers landscape and in public hands. If Lake or standing degraded, fishless and full of society makes us complacent, if we “A trout in a trout stream is more in an old-growth chemicals? Our wildlands already fail to see when our elected provocative than a trout in a grove in the will face enough challenges with representatives are looking out for fishbowl; an undeveloped forest is Ochocos instills a climate change without our more corporations as constituents instead more likely to engage our similar sense of direct efforts to destroy what’s in of citizens, we’ll lose what is most concentration than the cornfield we see our best interest for small, awe. But the valuable: our most democratic frank walter every day...the circumstances we question here is: short-term gains. place. “How have we not To keep it we must continue to Last month, I set out protect much of this protected these amazing national park service imagine. We must imagine a world on a solo backpacking area was strongly landscapes yet?” Teddy Roosevelt and John with and a world without our wild Muir in Yosemite, 1903 trip in the Three opposed by the We owe it to future places. Imagine the Wild Rogue Sisters Wilderness. logging industry for generations to protect flowing free, or a Rogue dammed Hiking through the many years. the likes of Crater down to a trickle. Imagine Crater low-elevation old Lake, the Ochocos, Lake crystal and blue with pristine, Exploring our growth and wildflower Devil’s Staircase, and forested wildlands stretching for protected Wilderness meadows, I was met the Wild Rogue. For miles in all directions, or a Crater areas today, I’m deeply with some of the most my part, I’d like to pay Lake roaring with helicopters and a thankful to the awe-inspiring views it forward by helping backcountry scarred by clearcuts. Oregonians who came I’ve seen. Anywhere. protect the next We must continue to imagine so before me and voiced generation’s we may continue to fight like hell To imagine this place their unwavering Wilderness to protect them. not being protected is support for preserving incomprehensible. The special places - experience. Take Action! Three Sisters without their vision, Please stand with Visit www.oregonwild.org to learn Wilderness is easy to we wouldn’t be able to me by joining our more about Oregon Wild’s take for granted now tap into a personal Evergreen Society proposals to protect our public as one of Oregon’s Wilderness experience with a monthly gift at lands and help save our shared most cherished places. in places like the Three www.oregonwild.org/ heritage across the state. But the campaign to donate

7 Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 Brewed to be wild – reflections on a year of Brewshed® Alliance Marielle Cowdin, Outreach & Marketing Coordinator

clicked in the public mindset – great beer just opened its doors days before, won first begins with clean water. place for their Instinctive Travels Saison, which has continued to get buzz in the craft Having Oregon’s brewing community deeply beer scene since May. Second and third place engaged played no small part. It’s remarkable went to Migration Brewing for their Straight how quickly an idea can spread when local, Outta Portland IPA and Portland Brewing respected businesses lend their voices in for their Rose Festival Lemon Blonde support. Our seven charter partners – respectively. Congrats and many thanks to all Widmer Brothers, Migration, Hopworks, Alliance partners and supporters who made Claim 52, Elk Horn, GoodLife, and Fort the event an enormous success in year one! George – led the charge and before we knew it, we had 32 partners signed on to the To date, about $25,000 has been raised Oregon Brewshed Alliance initiative in just through Oregon Brewshed Alliance events, over a year. Special brews like GoodLife’s Brewshed Session Ale brought the Alliance message straight to people’s homes, and regular partner-hosted happy hours, tap takeovers, and other creative events connected craft beer drinkers across the state with our forest and watershed efforts. We celebrated last May with our first annual Oregon Brewshed Brewfest. Hosted by McMenamins Kennedy School, the fest tula top coalition brewing featured 21 of our brewery partners, each pouring at least one special brew for hen we started laying groundwork for “It’s all about the water,” we’d explain, going attendees to enjoy along with games and a the Brewshed Alliance at outreach into the basics of water-in-beer percentages, fantastic raffle. With over 200 guests in Wevents several years ago, we put out a sign: the role of old-growth forests and the attendance, we raised well over $5,000 for the Forests = Beer. The concept was oversimplified, importance of overall forest health for Alliance and Oregon Wild’s forest and but it made for a great conversation prompt. watersheds. Many had never thought about watershed work that night. The event also Folks walking by our table would pause, raise this before and were intrigued. And when we allowed us to honor our charter partners and a quizzical brow and ask, “How exactly do officially launched the Oregon Brewshed introduce our “Brewshed Best” people’s happy mountain kombucha forests equal beer?” Alliance in April 2015, the concept really choice awards. Wolves & People, which had

Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 8 Oregon’s water problem Chandra LeGue, Western Oregon Field Coordinator

jason gonzales

Oregon has some of the soils – keeping it cold, Brewshed Alliance best drinking (and beer- clean, and tasting great. members and supporters making) water in the understand that protecting Unfortunately, not all of jason gonzales country – in large part our forested watersheds is because so many of the Oregon’s drinking and key to ensuring the rivers and streams we brewing water is protected. success of Oregon’s benefit brews, and other efforts. In our voice for our forests and watersheds draw water from originate On the half of forested growing brewing industry, recent months, we’ve even expanded – the lifeblood of our communities and on public lands with strong lands owned privately or by and for the health and Alliance partnerships to include our identity as Oregonians. We look stream and forest the state, state laws leave well-being of everyone who non-beer craft beverage businesses by forward to continuing to build this protections. A brewshed® most streams inadequately lives, visits, and brews beer welcoming Happy Mountain amazing program with you in the years like the McKenzie River in protected from clearcuts, in Oregon. Kombucha and Portland Cider Co. into to come. Eugene, the Bull Run in road building, and logging the fold. We couldn’t be more thrilled to Portland, or Tumalo Creek runoff filled with silt and Take Action! grow the Alliance in this way and Take Action! in Bend benefits from chemicals. These include Join our Backyard Forest If your business is interested in involve an even greater number of protections that ensure drinking water sources for Action Group to learn more joining the Oregon Brewshed® businesses and individuals in Oregon’s forests and streamside rural communities and and get more involved in Alliance, contact Marielle at craft scene. As the Oregon Brewshed vegetation naturally filter residents, and many forest protection efforts. [email protected] Alliance initiative gets stronger, so does water through deep, rich coastal towns.

9 Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 PHOTOS ©JIM DAVIS (left two), francis eatherington (right) Conservation roundup Sean Stevens, Executive Director

One WOPR Jr. to go in watchdogging new timber sales irresponsible and illegal use of public adopt a natural resources plan that southwest Oregon. DSL decided that since the BLM has already released a lands. We’ve hosted numerous town elevates logging and cattle grazing the Elliot, the only state forest in The Bureau of Land Management new logging project under the halls and information sessions to above all other uses of the Ochocos. Oregon with significant old-growth seems determined to ignore laws like auspices of the new plan. hear the views of local residents, as Oregon Wild and our partners are left, is worth just $220 million. That’s the Clean Water and Endangered Militants versus the mountains well as reaching out to the broader still working through the feedback a far cry from early estimates of $300 Species Acts when it comes to the public in Oregon and beyond—the we received, while standing strong million to $700 million by DSL. western Oregon forests they manage. Over the last several years, Oregon actual owners of this amazing against Bundy copycats who want to Conservationists now fear that the In early August, Oregon Wild and Wild and our partners have explored landscape. shout down the voices of hikers, low-ball assessment may make it our partners filed a legal challenge to how best to protect and expand campers, anglers, equestrians and more likely for a logging company to the latest plan for logging (including But the healthy dialogue between recreational opportunities in the mountain bikers who love and use snap up this public land with the clearcutting) on 2.6 million acres different Ochoco user groups took a Ochoco Mountains, a secluded gem the land. intent of clearcutting its ancient from the Coast Range to the dark turn in January. Emboldened by on public lands in Central Oregon. forest. One question remains: will Siskiyous. The new plan removes the Bundy occupation of Malheur Bargain shopping on the Elliott Our goal is to protect Wilderness- officials wait until after November’s BLM forests from the requirements National Wildlife Refuge, Prineville- quality lands and old-growth forests, In July, after months of anticipation, election when an entirely new State of the Northwest Forest Plan, and area militia groups began disrupting while safeguarding recreational the Department of State Lands Land Board takes over responsibility eliminates key protections for rivers public meetings by hurling insults opportunities and getting ahead of (DSL) issued the official assessed for the Elliott? and salmon. The wheels of justice will and threats, and are now trying to problems with overcrowding and value of the in grind slowly, but we’ll remain vigilant convince the county commission to

Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 10 Putting wildlife first on Klamath Refuges Steve Pedery, Conservation Director

hey have been called “the development has drained and refuges to private commercial Last year, Oregon Wild, together required plan. A draft was released in Everglades of the West.” destroyed many of the region’s agribusiness. This shameful practice with Portland Audubon and May, with public comment ending in BiologistsT have long known that the wetlands, and the basin’s National displaces wildlife and gobbles up WaterWatch of Oregon, took the early August and a final document National Wildlife Refuges in the Wildlife Refuges were created to precious water supplies. It has U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to court expected by early next year. USFWS Klamath Basin are the most protect what remains. Even in their continued despite chronic water over the abusive lease-land will be under intense pressure from important wetland areas for degraded state, plagued by drought, shortages, wildlife die-offs, and major agribusiness program. The agency agribusiness groups to ignore the migratory waterfowl west of the as much as 80% of the birds that declines in overall bird numbers. It was already years overdue on a harm the leaseland program causes in Mississippi River. travel along the Pacific Flyway each also continued despite passage of the legally-required conservation plan to this final document. Oregon Wild year use the Klamath refuges to rest, 1997 National Wildlife Refuge ensure agribusiness on the refuges will be ready to keep the pressure on A century ago, Klamath wetlands feed, or raise their young. System Improvement Act, a law does not undermine their primary and if necessary, head back to court were estimated to support as many as designed to ensure local economic purpose – wildlife. to ensure wildlife come first on our 10 million migratory waterfowl each Despite their importance, the U.S. interests don’t undermine actual National Wildlife Refuges. year – one of the largest Fish & Wildlife Service continues to wildlife conservation on refuge lands. This spring, we won the first round of concentrations in the world. A lease over 22,000 acres of public land this fight when the agency agreed to century of agribusiness and irrigation on Lower Klamath and Tule Lake finally do its job and complete the

PHOTOS BY brett cole

11 Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 On the trails and in the halls – an Oregon wolf update Lena Spadacene, Wildlife Policy Coordinator & Rob Klavins, Northeast Oregon Field Coordinator

Hosted by the Pacific Wolf Coalition, the management in Oregon for the next five To keep recovery on track and reduce Pacific Wolf Family website details wolf years. conflict, ODFW needs to extend what we packs, lineages, locations and stories in all already know works. three West Coast states. Pacific Wolf Family First adopted in 2005, the plan is a social interactive map (at left) gives the lineage, and political compromise. It was initially Will Oregon honor its highest values or give history, and geographical location of opposed by the livestock industry and led to in to the livestock industry and those who Oregon’s 11 packs. conflict. However, since a legal settlement in want trophy hunts for wolves? Let your 2013, Oregon’s plan has largely been voice be heard. Join us at the Commission www.pacificwolffamily.org Check it out: considered a success. Greater transparency, meeting December 2 in Salem. Wolf town halls clarity, and enforceable standards led to more wolves on the landscape and fewer Take Action! Election season is not typically a time you’d conflicts with livestock. Submit your comment to ODFW today A family affair expect wolves to take center stage politically. and request a wolf plan update that However, these successful provisions have Yet that’s exactly what happened in August prioritizes conservation and conflict Oregon’s fragile, recovering wolf population expired and some are already calling for thanks to the leadership of two of our U.S. prevention: bit.ly/WolfPlanComment grew in number and cute factor this sport hunting of wolf. Representatives. summer, as trail cameras captured images of new pups. Congressmen Peter DeFazio and Earl Blumenauer put a spotlight on wolf recovery USFW Two pups from OR-7’s Rogue Pack USFW OR-3 and a pup of the Silver Two wolves from northeast Oregon found were seen in the Rogue River-Siskiyou Lake Wolves captured via trail camera in alongside a panel of scientists and National Forest (July 12, 2016). western Lake County (June 22, 2016). one another in southern Oregon. OR-3, conservation experts at events in Portland from the former Imnaha Pack and OR-28, and Eugene attended by nearly 300 people. from the Mt. Emily Pack welcomed at least They highlighted the need for stronger one pup. Donning the new name Silver protections and better leadership from Lake wolves, this pair have made the Oregon’s legislature and public agencies. Klamath Wildlife Refuges their home. Wolf Plan update The Rogue Pack, led by OR-3’s older brother OR-7 ( Journey) and his uncollared Wolves also continue to dominate discussion mate, also welcomed new additions with at at the Oregon Department of Fish and least two pups by their side. Wildlife. The agency has begun an overdue five-year-review of its Wolf Plan. The Wolf Keeping up with new pups and wolf families Plan will guide wolf conservation and is now easier than ever.

Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 12 Creature Feature: Marbled murrelet Doug Heiken, Conservation & Restoration Coordinator

nests at 60 miles per Recovery is challenging as well, as they hour. lay only one egg per year. Nests are Oregon logging laws vulnerable to jays and crows, and the Trained spotters birds themselves are threatened by & Marbled murrelets monitor the gill-net fishing, oil spills, and marine Jason Gonzales, population on boats, pollution. Forest & Watershed Campaign Organizer navigating transects along the coastal Oregon Wild has long worked to protect feeding habitat the marbled murrelet, fighting to get The Oregon Board of Forestry recently denied a request where it’s easiest to them listed under the Endangered by Oregon Wild and our partners to take necessary see and count the Species Act, to improve the recovery plan steps to protect murrelets in Oregon’s privately owned birds. Their surveys and defend its critical habitat. With help forests, so I asked a leading expert about the impact revealed that more from EarthJustice and others, we’ve forest policy has on the birds. murrelets were resisted timber industry efforts to delist “Marbled murrelet populations are continuing to present offshore murrelets and helped make the decline. Creating and maintaining large blocks of from public lands Northwest Forest Plan as strong as Juvenile murrelet contiguous older-aged forest with suitable murrelet containing a possible to protect their nesting habitat habitat are key to murrelet survival and recovery,” said significant amount in the Coast Range. Kim Nelson, Research Wildlife Biologist at Oregon of mature and threatened seabird, the marbled Much work remains, however. Both the State University. murrelet nests in old-growth forests old-growth forests; while relatively few A murrelets were offshore adjacent to Bureau of Land Management and the Oregonians don’t want to watch species go extinct while up to 50 miles inland. For decades, Forest Service are working to amend and marbled murrelets were known to feed in industrial forest lands where their nesting corporations clearcut their habitat, but current forest habitat had been logged off. weaken the Northwest Forest Plan, and rules don’t do enough to protect wildlife. Oregon Wild the ocean off the coast of Oregon, but no the Oregon Forest Practices Act must be one knew where they nested. The first and our supporters are calling on Governor Kate Brown The birds’ favored coastal forest habitat reformed to protect murrelets and other marbled murrelet nest wasn’t discovered to appoint Board members happens to be some of the most public values (see sidebar). Some of the until 1974! who are not beholden to the productive and heavily exploited forest last best murrelet habitat is in the Elliott timber industry. Knowing more precisely where murrelets land in the United States, but it was State Forest, which the State of Oregon nest helps for protecting occupied nest systematically destroyed by logging for is trying to sell off for logging interests. Take Action! sites. For this, dedicated surveyors must decades before we even knew where they Oregon Wild is working to keep the Find out more at wake before dawn, hike into remote nested. Now listed as threatened by both Elliott in public hands with a new www.oregonwild.org/bof old-growth stands, and survey the sky the federal and state Endangered Species conservation mandate that will help the near sunrise, scanning for fleeting glances Acts, the murrelets overall population has murrelet, salmon, and many other public of murrelets flying to and from their shown steady decline over recent decades. values.

13 Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 Keeping it wild Featuring the supporters, foundations, businesses, and volunteers that make our work possible. This issue’s focus: local activists from east to west!

Nancy, what has been your most What would you say to enjoyable and/or rewarding Oregonians who want to take experience as an Oregon Wild action to protect native wildlife and volunteer? wild places? NW: AS: Oregon Wild has been very Get involved and speak up supportive of our coastal about protecting native wildlife. communities. In 2012 we formed a Learn the USFS process and how to citizens’ group called Rockaway effectively advocate for conserving rick seymour Beach Citizens for Watershed your favorite special places. Protection. Our municipal water NW: source is within an industrial forest. We are all connected and it is important to speak up and become Amy Stuart (above) is a recently retired our state, it becomes very apparent particularly special to me because of Since 2003, at least 82% of this an advocate for wild places and ODFW fish biologist of 30 years and a that these wild areas are my personal and professional history watershed has been clearcut and wildlife. Our health is dependent on Central Oregon LandWatch board disappearing. Oregon Wild is there. The [OHV] proposal will add aerial-sprayed with pesticides. the health of our environment. member. Nancy Webster (at right) has working to change the Oregon new motorized trails at the expense Oregon Wild helped us build a Along the way, we connect with lived on the for almost 80 Forest Practices Act, the current of protecting fish and wildlife and coalition with other environmental others and continue to discover the years and started the citizens group regulations are not adequate to their habitats; it also legitimizes groups to support our efforts to wonders of the natural world around Rockaway Beach Citizens for protect air and water quality. existing illegal OHV trails and seeks ensure clean air and water. us. Thank you Oregon Wild. Watershed Protection. Working together, we can safeguard to make the Ochocos a destination Are there particular places in this vital resource. area for OHV riders. Oregon that inspire you to give Amy, how did you begin your time? advocating for the Ochoco Mountains? What concerns you AS: Public lands are special places about the Forest Service proposal that I think should be protected and for an Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) appreciated. Lots of places in central system in the Ochocos? Oregon give me peace, enjoyment of AS: the great outdoors, and an I worked for ODFW for over opportunity to see beautiful country 30 years as a fish biologist and and wildlife. watershed manager, advocating for NW: protection, restoration, and I enjoy walking in wild areas, conservation of native fish and especially the forest. Driving across tj thorne Oceanside wildlife. The Ochoco Mountains are

Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 14 Falling for adventure Oregon Wild migrations

Neighborhood House. He Sun, October 9 Fri, October 21 spent three years there Upper Middle Fork Round Mountain Hike helping to lead their finance Willamette Hike (EUG) (BEND) team as they navigated

Fri, October 14 Wed, October 26 complicated government Call of the Wild: a Oregon Wild Wednesday: contracts and budgeting. Before joining the non-profit camp-inspired benefit (PDX) Rivers of Oregon with Tim Protecting wilderness, Palmer (EUG) world, Tony served in lead wildlife, and wild rivers takes Sun, October 16 financial planning roles for Alsea & Green Peak Falls Sat, November 12 some skills that we don’t numerous municipalities Hike (EUG) Opal Creek Ancient Forest often talk about – budgeting, across the state, including Hike (PDX) reconciling revenue, and Wed, October 19 Eugene, Salem, and Gresham. mastering financial Oregon Wild Wednesday: Sunday, November 13 Welcome Tony! Rivers of Oregon with Tim Fall Creek Mushroom Hike statements. For the last two Palmer (COR) (EUG) years, Finance Director Laura Mears has been keeping our brizz meddings Hart Mountain aspens fiscal house in order. So, it nachiket rajderkar Opal creek was with sadness that we bid “He found himself wondering at times, goodbye to Laura this especially in the autumn, about the wild summer when she moved on to a new job. We’re especially lands, and strange visions of mountains going to miss Laura’s positive In July, we welcomed Tara that he had never seen came into his attitude and her incredibly Brown to the Oregon Wild dreams.” —J.R.R. Tolkien corny jokes! team as our new Crater Lake Wilderness Coordinator. For those who love the outdoors, fall is the time of year Originally from Alaska, Tara when the crowds disperse and you can revel in the found a passion for all things crisp and subtle beauty of the leaves, the mushrooms, and the salmon returning to spawn. Let Oregon Wild wild and outdoors. On her show you the way. way to Oregon, she made a stop in the California Join us for this next wild season of hikes and Legislature where she worked events celebrating our state’s most pristine and iconic for the Chair of the Natural wild places - from the beautiful colors of the aspen and Picking up the torch as our Resources Committee to larch trees in the Ochocos to the emerald waters of new Finance Director is . protect the environment, Opal Creek. Visit www.oregonwild.org to find out more Tony Mounts Tony comes to and sign up. including legislation to us most recently from the protect coastal areas from oil Portland-area non-profit spills. Please welcome Tara!

15 Fall 2016 Volume 43, Number 3 NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID Portland, OR 5825 N. Greeley Ave. Portland, OR 97217 Permit No. 226

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