Archived News Stories

Spring 2010

Chetco Gold Mining Threat

As you all know, a Washington man has proposed to mine for gold on 24 miles of the Wild & Scenic Chetco River. With California’s ban on suction dredge mining (owing to potential threats to salmon), his company, the Chetco River Mining & Exploration Co. (CRME), has invited California mining clubs to “Come Mine the Chetco” for free in 2010. CRME plans to lease out its lower claims (from Steel Bridge to Nook Bar). If miners obtain a state permit—available like a fishing license online--they could use suction dredges with 4-inch nozzles and each move up to 25 cubic yards of gravels per year. The Forest Service has agreed that the dredges could operate every half-mile for the next 10 years. (Apparently, some rule changes under the last administration loosened up regulations for suction dredgers so the Forest Service has even less authority.)

In the meantime, CRME also has a proposal in the pipeline to dredge these claims with 8-inch dredges, which are considered commercial in scale. This larger operation will require environmental studies so that will take some time.

You may have seen the front-page article in the Oregonian about Mr. Rutan, the owner of CRME, and his plans for Emily Camp, a private inholding on the Little Chetco, high in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The article has riled up miners, who on their blogs have been saying they will converge on the Chetco this summer in great numbers to exercise their right to mine. I hope that this is a lot of smoke blowing, but it’s hard to say given how mining issues have been coming to a head in other places in Oregon.

Hoping to head off this threat and conflict on our river, I went back to talk with the Curry County Commissioners with some other concerned citizens and asked them to pass a resolution supporting Congressman DeFazio’s bill to upgrade protections for the National Wild & Scenic Chetco River. Although the Commissioners were very concerned about the Chetco and have been trying to bring Mr. Rutan’s development into compliance with county laws, the BOC decided NOT to support a resolution in favor of Congressman DeFazio’s bill. They are hoping that the Forest Service and state will be able to manage the situation.

However, I don’t have the same faith in the Forest Service’s ability to deal with this. Our District Ranger Alan Vandiver has been very clear that the Mining Law of 1872 gives him limited options in what he can decide to do with regards to mining. Also, the Forest Service believes that there is very little gold in the lower Chetco and that miners will not waste their time dredging if there is no gold, but this seems like quite a gamble to me. Once suction dredge mining becomes established on the Chetco River, it will be difficult to restrict it.

In fact, miners have now targeted our County Commissioners asking them to keep the Chetco open for suction dredge mining --and to open up the Rogue River, too. So there already there has been an escalation of interest in mining our rivers that could become much bigger unless we figure out how to put an end to it now.

In my opinion, the best precautionary solution would be for Congress to upgrade protections for the Wild & Scenic Chetco River as soon as possible. Some upgrades were recommended in the Forest Service Management Plan in 1993 but were never acted on. Rep. DeFazio introduced legislation to do this in 2008, but he did not reintroduce the legislation last year. Our other wild rivers—the Elk and Rogue—are already protected by mineral withdrawals, and now the Chetco needs this protection, too.

Last fall, Congressman DeFazio and our Oregon Senators asked Secretary Vilsack for an emergency withdrawal for the Chetco River, given the mining threat. Governor Kulongoski also asked for the federal agencies to look at the threat of mining to wild rivers in Oregon. The administration has not responded.

What we need to do now is to be squeaky wheels for the Chetco. Please contact Congressman DeFazio and ask him to introduce his bill to upgrade protection for the Wild & Scenic Chetco soon. The bill would withdraw the Chetco from new mineral entry, which will prevent future mining-related conflicts on our river, as have been happening on other rivers. Please contact our Senators about this issue, too. (Even if you’ve done it before, please do it again. It will take only a short phone call or email—and the Chetco needs you!) 

Congressman Peter DeFazio/ 2134 Rayburn House Office Bldg/Wash., DC 20515
202-225-6416/ www.defazio.house.gov

Senator Ron Wyden/ 223 Dirksen Senate Office Building/
Wash., DC 20510
202-224-5244/ www.wyden.senate.gov

Senator Jeff Merkley/107 Russell Senate Office Bldg./Wash., D.C. 20510
202-224- 3753/ www.merkley.senate.gov

Instream mining season begins on the Chetco on July 15, so if you see any suction dredge miners operating on the river before then, please contact the Oregon State Police and the Gold Beach District Ranger Alan Vandiver: 541-247-3600. And if we see mining occurring in the river through the summer, it is still important to report it to the Forest Service. District Ranger Vandiver has told me he is committed to monitoring the situation, but the agency has a very small staff to do what it needs to do. If you live on the Checto, you can really help by keeping an eye out. Finally, if you get a chance to talk with any of our county commissioners, please tell them you are concerned about the expansion of gold mining on the Chetco. We need to do everything we can to protect our river’s salmon and steelhead runs.

For more info, here's a recent Oregonian editorial about the need to slow the Oregon gold rush.

Here's another website with more info and background about threats to the Wild & Scenic Chetco River: Save Our Chetco River

Destination Resort Ordinance

In early March the Curry County Board of Commissioners (BOC) considered the new Destination Resort Ordinance referred to them by the Planning Commission in late January. KAS has participated in the public process of developing the ordinance with the aim of making it as strong as possible to protect public values of wildlife habitat and state parks and our national wildlife refuge. Some important things we advocated for that ended up in the current draft include requiring developers to submit plans to deal with pesticides and fertilizer runoff, which could be a significant impact to high quality aquatic ecosystems. The big news announced at the March 29th meeting was that two properties that we’ve been very concerned about have been removed from the Destination Resort Eligibility Map. These are the Sweet Ranch on the Sixes River estuary (directly across from Cape Blanco State Park) and the wetland studded county property on the south end of Floras Lake (adjacent to Floras Lake State Natural Area). The properties were deemed ineligible because they are too close to high-value farmland --cranberry bogs. One of the foremost goals of Oregon’s land-use planning laws is to protect farm and forest land, and so destination resorts don’t get to trump these key economic uses. This is great news. Tim Palmer presented testimony on behalf of KAS, urging adoption of the ordinance without any watering down. Crook Ranch Golf Resort supporters also encouraged adoption of the ordinance with their argument that the development would benefit the most important “endangered species” of Curry County –children. The Board of Commissioners held the record open in order to make a change required by a recently passed state law that will make developers provide an economic and transportation study as part of their proposal. The BOC is expected to pass the Destination Resort ordinance in late April. New proposals for destination resorts are likely to follow soon thereafter, though it’s hard to imagine how they could possibly be successful in the current economy.

Port Orford Becomes Dark Sky town

In February, the Port Orford City Council adopted a Dark Sky ordinance, making it the first city in Curry County to take action to protect the beauty of its night sky. The ordinance passed unanimously after Councilors agreed on some compromises that everyone could live with. The ordinance requires that all new developments comply with Dark Sky lighting provisions and that Coos Curry Electric decommission or cap the most offensive, upward spilling mercury vapor lights within 18 months. However, existing lights are grandfathered in until they are replaced, and porch lights are exempt. Some energy conservation provisions were cut back, but businesses are encouraged to turn off lights at night on a voluntary basis. To read the full ordinance, check out the link on the KAS website Dark Sky page.

The Port Orford Dark Sky project was started 14 years ago as a joint project between KAS and CCEC. For all these years, KAS vice president Al Geiser has spearheaded the effort to put skycaps on over 100 lights in Port Orford. Owing to his dedication and hard work, citizens of Port Orford have been able to enjoy the beauty of our night skies.

Also, in January, KAS received a grant from the Port Orford Transient Lodging Tax fund to purchase 100 skycaps that can be used to help local businesses and residents to shield their lights. These will be available soon. For more information contact Al Geiser at 541-332-6762.

Chetco Regional General Permit

In March, the Army Corps of Engineers made recommendations for a Regional General Permit (RGP) for gravel extraction on the Chetco River. The permit was supposed to rely on scientific information derived from interagency studies conducted over the past few years with regards to gravel recruitment—in other words, how much gravel actually gets accumulated in the river system each year. Recent science has suggested that removing too much gravel can significantly destabilize estuarine ecosystems with impacts to salmon. The idea of the permit was to streamline the regulatory process so that there aren’t so many appeals and problems by coming up with a science based program, but the gravel companies are not happy with the proposal. In an article in the Curry Pilot, they claim that they’d not be able to supply two new developments in south Curry if they can’t mine more gravel from the Chetco. Ironically, both of these big proposed developments, the Lone Ranch campus of SWOCC and the Crook Ranch Golf Resort, are always proclaiming themselves to be “green.” Environmental groups are also displeased with the Corps’ RGP because it does not do enough to protect fish, including the Chetco’s endangered coho. They have argued that the RGP needs to better consider alternatives and base actions more clearly on recruitment studies.

Appeals on Rogue River

As you may remember, KAS joined Oregon Shores and Curry Sportfishing Association in appealing Curry Co. Board of Commissioners’ decisions to allow expansion of gravel extraction operations at two sites in the Rogue River estuary—one at Wedderburn, and one at the old Millsite. I am disappointed to report that our appeals did not succeed. The appeals hinged on lack of sufficient evidence regarding the continuous use of particular tax lots and also their zoning designations. The Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) did agree that there was not substantial evidence for the County to conclude that gravel mining was always occurring on particular tax lots at the Wedderburn site. But LUBA decided that even though the County made an error, it was not enough of an error to make them correct it.  LUBA found that the County was allowed to rely on composite images, which showed the tax lots as being outside the “Natural” zoning area. Before the gravel operations can expand, Tidewater will need to secure both state and federal permits. Tidewater was cited for a significant violation of its permits in 2007. As of last year, the violation had not yet been rectified.

Pelicans' Plight

Over the winter, many brown pelicans were grounded by storms in Oregon. As many as 1,000 pelicans failed to migrate south to California, and many of these birds were seen on the coast, injured or begging for food in parking lots. This is highly unusual because pelicans are usually fearful of humans. This is the second winter that brown pelicans have stayed in Oregon for the winter. From 1918 to 2002, the Audubon Society tallied fewer than 100 pelicans in Oregon during the winter. But then the number started to shoot up. In 2008, 3,647 brown pelicans stayed. Researchers are not yet sure why this change is happening. Some have suggested that the pelicans may be taking advantage of an extended upwelling of nutrient rich waters—normally limited to the spring and summer. In January this upwelling ended, and high winds hit. According to Dawn Grafe of the U.S. F&WS. “Wind just grounds these birds. They cannot get out and hunt for fish, and once they are grounded for three or four days, they don’t have the strength to get out and do the fishing when the weather does improve.” The mystery remains, but wildlife officials warned against feeding the birds, which could further injure them. Although this year’s mass stranding is one of the largest in recent years, researchers say that it probably won’t significantly damage the pelican population. Brown Pelicans were officially removed from the Endangered Species list just this year after finally rebounding from decimation by pesticides in the 1970s.

Updated April 12, 2010