Kalmiopsis Audubon Society -- Protecting Natural Habitats

We have some very good news to report. On Jan. 15, the U.S. Senate voted in favor of the Copper-Salmon Wilderness, finally protecting the headwaters of the North Fork of the Elk River. Only some minor adjustments with the House version will be needed before the bill can finally be signed into law by President Obama. The decade-long campaign for the Copper-Salmon Wilderness was spearheaded and carried by Jim and Carrie Rogers and Jerry and Sharyn Becker of Friends of Elk River (KAS members), who worked tirelessly to build local support. We thank them heartily for their hard work and congratulate them on this significant victory. Through the years, many KAS members have no doubt written dozens of dozens of letters to back their efforts. Thanks to all of you who have helped to make Copper Salmon Wilderness a reality. What a legacy to know that it will remain a significant habitat stronghold for salmon, marbled murrelets, and other birds of wildlife dependent on old-growth forests.

WOPR update

We also have some bad news. On Dec. 31, the Bush Administration’s BLM adopted the WOPR (Western Oregon Plan Revisions), taking a final whack at Oregon’s old growth forests. This was over the objection of Governor Kulongoski, who had asked for a delay based on 8 key objections, including that the plan didn’t account for climate change and that it didn’t follow the Endangered Species Act requirement for consultation with scientists. (The administration also made a rule change that eliminated mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have performed for at least 35 years.) This was also despite 260 protests, including one filed by KAS, that the plan did not adequately address concerns raised about endangered species.

At this point, several environmental groups, including KS Wild and OR Wild, have filed a notice of intent to sue. It will not be easy to “undo” WOPR, and so we are being asked to contact the new Obama Administration straight away to ask them to block the misguided plan. Go to www.whitehouse.gov and ask that the new Interior Dept. stop WOPR and start over. Federal forest policy in Oregon should be based on peer-reviewed, not politicized science, and it should focus on employing people to restore forests after decades of abuse --not on degrading and fragmenting them further. Because the new administration will be confronting so many difficult issues--from war to economic collapse to global warming--the only way to get WOPR on the radar screen is if MANY Oregonians raise concern.

Thanks to everyone who wrote a letter to Governor Kulongoski about WOPR back in November. In future legal suits, the governor’s objections may prove very helpful.

Chetco Gold Mine Update

In early December, I went down to Brookings to the Chetco River Watershed Council’s monthly meeting to make a presentation about the gold mining threat. I told the group about Rep. Peter DeFazio’s bill that would close the river to new mining claims and require existing claims to be verified. The group was very interested and concerned, asked good questions, and voted to support the bill. It is expected that Representative DeFazio will introduce it again into the new Congress. Keep posted for ways you can help with this important effort.

Rogue River Estuary Gravel Mining update

You may recall that in the last Storm Petrel I reported a victory in the Rogue estuary when the Curry County Board of Commissioners (BOC) denied Tidewater’s proposal to expand its gravel operations just upstream from Patterson Bridge into an area zoned “Natural Estuary.”

In October, Tidewater initiated an appeal of the BOC decision to LUBA (the Land Use Board of Appeals), but then in November, after the election, the company withdrew its case. I suspect they will try again with the next crop of County Commissioners. The lower Rogue estuary provides key habitat for rearing coho, plus other fish and fish-eating birds. We’ll need to keep vigilant.

Measure 37 unexpectedly rears its ugly head again

Although we thought that Measure 49 trumped Measure 37 in 2006 and made those claims moot, a U.S. District Court judge in Jackson County recently handed down a decision that M 37 claims are contracts that the local government must honor. [Background: Measure 37 was the state ballot initiative that said longstanding landowners didn’t have to follow new zoning regulations unless local governments paid them for any diminished property value—the result would have been the wholesale conversion of farms and forests into subdivisions; Measure 49 supplanted it, allowing limited development of 3 houses on a fast track or 10 houses if certain ownership requirements were proven.] The District Court decision only applies to Jackson Co., but similar reasoning could be applied in other counties if they decided to make similar arguments in court.

You may remember that KAS joined Oregon Shores in petitioning the state to review M 37 claims that were made in Coos and Curry County. With the passage of Measure 49, these cases were abated. However, given this adverse court decision, KAS is joining with other groups all over Oregon to press the 9th Circuit Court to address the issue in a broader context. The claims we petitioned will be joined with dozens of others into a case that will be brought by Cascade Resources Advocacy Group (CRAG).

Back to News Archive