Oregon Wild Spring/Summer 2009 Volume 36, Number 1 Mount Hood Forever Wild 1 Spring/Summer 2009 Volume 36, Number 1 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Wilderness {4-7} What’s Next {9} Formerly Oregon Natural Resources Council (ONRC) Working to protect and restore Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy. Evergreen Society Profile {14} Main Office Western Field Office 5825 N Greeley Avenue Portland, OR 97217 P.O. Box 11648 Eugene, OR 97440 FRONT COVER IMAGE: TOM KLOSTER Mt. Hood view from Owl Point Phone: 503.283.6343 Fax: 503.283.0756 454 Willamette, Suite 203 www.oregonwild.org Phone 541.344.0675 Fax: 541.343.0996 The e-mail address for each Oregon Wild Conservation & Restoration Coord. Doug Heiken x 1 staff member: [email protected] Western OR Wildlands Advocate Chandra LeGue x 2 (for example: [email protected]) Executive Director Regna Merritt x 214 Conservation Director Steve Pedery x 212 Director of Finance & Admin. Candice Guth x 219 Eastern Field Office Director of Development Allison Oseth x 223 16 NW Kansas Avenue, Bend, OR 97701 Wilderness Coord. Erik Fernandez x 202 Phone: 541.382.2616 Fax: 541.385.3370 Klamath Campaign Coord. Ani Kame’enui x 205 Eastern OR Roadless Wildlands Advocate Rob Klavins x 210 Wildlands Advocate Tim Lillebo Communications Associate Sean Stevens x 211 Membership Coord. Cheryl Lohrmann x 213 Naturalist Wendell Wood x 200 Oregon Wild Board of Directors ONRC Action Board of Directors President Gary Guttormsen President Pat Clancy Vice President/Treasurer Megan Gibb Treasurer Megan Gibb Secretary Rand Schenck Secretary Jan Wilson Susan Applegate Jim Baker Susan Applegate Jim Baker Pat Clancy Chad Kromm Gary Guttormsen Chad Kromm Mike Helm Jane Malarkey Tom Lininger Rand Schenck Jan Wilson Oregon Wild is a tax-exempt, non-profit charitable organization. ONRC Action is a tax-exempt, non-profit social welfare organization. Contributions to Oregon Wild are tax-deductible for those who itemize; contributions to ONRC Action are not. Staff are employees of Oregon Wild, which contracts with ONRC Action to carry out its activities. Portions of this newsletter are paid for by ONRC Action. Spring/Summer 2009 Volume 36, Number 1 2 From the Director’s Desk Along the Way to Wilderness Regna Merritt new threat, Oregon Wild staff wor- (who worked hard to protect Mount ked closely with activists, raising Hood, Soda Mountain, Copper wilderness as a solution. Partnering Salmon, Badlands, and Spring Basin), with municipalities, public interest law Congressman Blumenauer (for superb firms, and elected officials, we staved efforts on Mount Hood), and off immediate threats. We built trust. Congressman DeFazio (for years of We turned outrage into hope. work on Copper Salmon). A wilderness, in contrast with Through our Adopt-a-Wilderness Individuals, organizations, busi- those areas where man and his works dominate the landscape, program, hundreds of volunteers nesses, and funders played key roles. is hereby recognized as an area refined wilderness maps. Over 90 Many, though not all, are featured in where the earth and its comm- businesses and 90 conservation groups this edition of Oregon Wild. Huge unity of life are untrammeled by helped us launch our statewide thanks go to our own hero, Erik man, where man himself is a campaign in 2000. Folks showed up to Fernandez, who led the statewide visitor who does not remain. —The Wilderness Act of 1964. speak at town hall meetings. Hundreds wilderness coalition. gave passionate testimony at hearings. It has always been difficult to legislate My deep gratitude goes to our staff, wilderness. Despite seemingly We guided legislators and media on board and families (1998 – 2009). insurmountable odds, Oregon Wild tours. Friends joined us to advocate in Yes, life happens along the way to has repeatedly pushed ahead, helping Washington, D.C. A well-coordinated Wilderness: love, loss, illness, marriage, pass wilderness bills in 1975, 1978, groundswell of support got results: wil- divorce, birth, and death. But you DARRYL LLOYD Lost Lake Butte 1984, 1996, 2000, and now 2009. We derness legislation was introduced in stayed with it, knowing the enduring couldn’t have gotten there without you! both houses of Congress. And then value of wilderness and wholeness for introduced again…and again. Getting the land and for future generations. Remember when development threat- the ball around an obstructionist ened the quiet side of Mount Hood? senator from Oklahoma was no fun. And, dear readers, big thanks to each Logging sales threatened the drinking But what a difference an election—or one of you! Your strong advocacy, water of Sandy and Hood River? two—can make. We finally did it! financial support, and green votes The U.S. Forest Service proposed made the difference. Congratulations an unlimited number of clear-cuts We thank all in the Oregon delegation on a job well done! in the Columbia Gorge? With each but particularly laud Senator Wyden 3 Spring/Summer 2009 Volume 36, Number 1 Wilderness: Today, Tomorrow, Forever Erik Fernandez I recall my first project with On March 30th President Obama Oregon’s newest Senator, Jeff Merkley, Oregon Wild as a volunteer in 1997 signed the Omnibus Public Lands Act got in on the action with his very first —drawing some of the very first draft of 2009—finalizing protections for vote a “yea” for Wilderness protections. lines on the map for areas that would 202,000 acres of Wilderness and 90 later be protected as Wilderness. As miles of Wild and Scenic Rivers in It is also important to note that this volunteers, we got the “cushy” office Oregon. We won permanent Wilderness victory would not have in the attic that was roasting on protections for Mount Hood, the been possible without the support of summer afternoons. Columbia River Gorge, Soda our members. Folks like Kate and Mountain, Copper Salmon, Spring Mike McCarthy, Leslie Logan (see The previous maps of potential wil- Basin, and Badlands. That means the page 8), and countless others devoted derness were drawn in the 70s using old-growth forests, wildlife habitat, so much to the wilderness cause. You the accuracy equivalent of crayons. world-class recreation opportunities, are the champions who showed up to We were tasked with bringing that and clean drinking water these areas countless town halls, summits, inventory into the 21st century using provide will be forever protected. hearings, and wrote thousands of fancy GIS/mapping software. Today, letters demanding more protections for not only are the volunteer digs at the By protecting Oregon’s wilderness Oregon. Your contributions of time office much improved, but a lot of areas we are also taking responsibility and financial support got us to the water has passed under the bridge for doing our part to help curb global summit. We couldn’t have done it since then. warming. There are approximately without you! seven million trees in Oregon now Oregon Wild has relentlessly pursued protected by the Wilderness bill. These It was a powerful moment when, after increased Wilderness protections in trees store vast amounts of carbon— years of working to protect these areas, our state for the past ten years. Today, the primary pollutant responsible for I took my first steps into the new I’m thrilled to tell you those efforts global warming. wilderness. I will never forget that paid off. feeling. I hope you get out there and MOUNT HOOD WILDERNESS MAP Oregon’s entire congressional deleg- experience the exhilaration of ex- On March 30, President Obama ation voted in support of increased ploring one of Oregon’s new Wilder- signed a bill adding 128,000 acres Wilderness protections, with Senator ness areas—seeing it as it has been for surrounding Mount Hood to the Wilderness system. Wyden leading the charge in the generations and knowing it will survive Senate and Congressmen Blumenauer for our descendants to enjoy. and DeFazio leading in the House. Spring/Summer 2009 Volume 36, Number 1 4 Your New Wilderness Columbia River Gorge Clackamas River Wilderness You’ll find more waterfalls here than anywhere else in the country and no shortage of trails connecting you from one to the next. The This area is home to cedar trees that started growing over one Gorge has everything from spectacular, short easy hikes for the thousand years ago, when everyone still thought the earth was flat. family like Wahclella Falls to multi-day backpacking trip options like You may also want to check out “The Narrows” where the mighty Herman Creek. Most of the trails in the Gorge are accessible year Clackamas River shoots through a slot that’s only 15 feet wide. round and have some of the most amazing wildflowers around— some found nowhere else on Earth. ERIK FERNANDEZ Ancient forests tower over hikers in the Big Bottom Wilderness unit along the Clackamas River. JAMEY PYLES The rushing water of Wahclella Falls is familiar to many a Gorge hiker. Copper Salmon Steep hillsides covered with abundant old growth help the Elk River salmon run maintain its status as the most productive for a river of its size in the continental United States. MIKE BEAGLE/TROUT UNLIMTED Old growth cedars blanket the landscape in the untouched forests of the Copper Salmon Wilderness. 5 Spring/Summer 2009 Volume 36, Number 1 ELIZABETH FERYL Soda Moutain Soda Mountain Now that the area is protected it serves as a proper welcoming committee for those hiking into Oregon from California on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. Badlands/Spring Basin “Wilderness is a common thread that binds us to the generations that have come before us and to the generations that will follow.” –Brent Fenty, Executive Director of the Oregon Natural Desert Association and—along with Alice Elshoff and previous ONDA director Bill Marlett—a champion of the Badlands and Spring Basin SEAN STEVENS Badlands Wilderness proposals.