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Oregon Wild Blog
Oregon Wild Blog RSSGetting along in the Coast Range
Collaborative efforts on the Siuslaw National Forest to help the plan restoration projects in the Alsea basin.
A little more than two years ago, the Alsea Stewardship Group (ASG) members (including me) were just starting to get to know each other. The group - made up of a diverse range of interests from private contractors, long-time basin and coastal residents, fish and wildlife advocates, watershed councils, and conservationists - has worked hard since then to get on the same page regarding restoration needs for fish and wildlife habitat in the Alsea River watershed that empties into the ocean at Waldport. Demonstrating success, a few weeks ago the Forest Service signed a decision for the West Alsea Project - incorporating the many site-specific suggestions on needed restoration made by the ASG. Now there's something new!
Now, the Siuslaw National Forest is starting a new process to plan the East Alsea Project in collaboration with the ASG. Last week, members of the group headed out to the field to look at some of the areas proposed for restoration.
What does "restoration" mean in the Oregon Coast Range? Well, for starters it means dealing with the legacy of clearcuts and the dense plantations planted between the 1950s and 1990s. (This photo is of private land recently clearcut adjacent to the Siuslaw National Forest. It offered a sunny place to have lunch on the field tour, but nothing in the way of wildlife habitat...)
The thousands of acres of plantations in the Coast Range don't provide much in the way of habitat for threatened species that depend on the diverse structure of an old-growth forest. But a lot of science shows that careful thinning (selective logging) in these unnatural forests can help add the diversity and structure found in unlogged forests faster than if left alone. Faster is better when these critters are teetering on the edge of existence!
Such thinning generates income through timber sales, and if done using a "stewardship contract", the money can be reinvested to do projects like stream and fish habitat enhancement in the National Forest, as well as on private land where such projects benefit the natural resources (like fish and wildlife and water quality) on our public lands.
In the East Alsea area, this could mean expanding a historic meadow and incorporating more native plants for deer and elk to eat. 
As this planning process gets underway, I'm excited to once again give input, along with my fellow collaborators, on how this project should be shaped - what restoration priorities exist, how can the dense plantations be treated to provide quality habitat for old-growth species, and how can any excess funds be best put to use to restore fish and wildlife populations in the area? With the trust the Alsea Stewardship Group has built over the last few years, and the demonstrated commitment by the Siuslaw National Forest to listen to the public, I bet the result will be another great example of Oregon Wild's common sense vision for our forests.
She's a (Black) Butte
Three years, 15 presentations, more than 20 field tours, several media stories, and multiple volunteer projects after the Glaze Meadow project near Black Butte was begun, it's one step closer to reality today.
Back in 2005, Oregon Wild Eastsider Tim Lillebo strapped on his thinking cap and started to figure out how to design a Forest Service project that would do some good. Tim thought that the best way to get the Forest Service to protect and restore old growth was to roll up his sleeves and get to work with them.
Early on Tim teamed up with Cal Mukumoto of the Warm Springs Tribe and together they proposed a project to the Sisters Ranger District on the Deschutes National Forest that would be a logging project (gasp!) that Oregon Wild could get behind.
To be clear, the Glaze Meadow project is not your grandfather's logging project. The express purpose of the proposed action was and is to restore a 1,200-acre expanse of dry eastside forest to a more natural condition. And if you are talking about "natural" on the eastside, you are definitely talking about fire.
With that in mind, here are the three main goals of the Glaze project:
- Reduce the risk of forest fire for homes.
- Protect old-growth trees and wildlife from hot, stand-replacing fire.
- Restore a more natural landscape where low-intensity fires can once again play a natural role in maintaining the health of the land.
Now that you know a little bit about the project, on to the good news. Earlier today, the folks at the Forest Service issued their record of decision, identifying the Glaze project as approved and ready for implementation. At Oregon Wild, we are excited that this process is moving forward. Working with all of the interested stakeholders and coming up with a project that will restore old growth has been rewarding.
Now, on to the bigger fish to fry. Federal legislation to protect and restore old growth! Coming soon to BLM and National Forests across the Northwest.
Today's selection from the Wilderness vending machine: Soda Mountain
Momentum continues to gather in Congress for Wilderness protections for several Oregon areas. This time, it's a hearing for Soda Mountain.
Just a quick note on Wilderness happenings in Congress today. Sometime today, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will likely unanimously pass a bill that contains protections for 23,000-acres in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument known as Soda Mountain.
That means this ecological wonder will join Copper Salmon and the Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness bill as Wilderness areas ready to pass the Senate floor. You might know by now that they have to make it past the infamous Dr. No, but there is a light on the other side of the tunnel since Senate leaders finally figured out a way to move legislation around Senator Coburn (they just did it last month to get Washington's Wild Sky Wilderness through).
So, if everything comes together, all of your hard work advocating for new Wilderness across the state could be coming to fruition soon. As always, we'll keep you updated.
Bringing the toolbox home
Patagonia's "Tools for Grassroots Activists" Conference ended with a pledge to bring home our newfound knowledge. What better way to open up the toolbox than to share a few stories with you.
One of the mantra's of the weekend was delivered by Brock Evans, current president of the Endangered Species Coalition, former Sierra Club activist, and veteran of the fight to protect Pacific Northwest old growth. In his keynote address on Thursday night, Brock delivered an inspirational speech that centered on the idea that "endless pressure, endlessly applied" held the secret to protecting our last wild places.
His message resonated with me because it spoke to the influence that everyday citizens can have on decisions made in D.C. One particular story stood out. In the 1970s, Brock and others were working to pass federal protections for hundreds of thousands of acres in Alaska. The coalition working on the bill had worked hard to nationalize the issue, knowing that a majority of Americans were in favor of keeping Alaska as wild as possible. On the eve of a big committee vote, a key representative from New Jersey told Brock that he wasn't going to be voting with them the next day. His vote was the difference between passing the bill out of committee and seeing it die on the vine. So, Brock went back to his office and worked with others to contact as many Sierra Club members in New Jersey as they could find. In the end, they got commitments from five members to call the decisive congressman and tell him they supported the additional protections. The next day, the representative voted to pass the bill out of committee and the conservation victory had been won because five people took the time to call and make their voices heard.
Other presenters at the conference had similar stories, some of them pertinent to current Oregon struggles. Owen Bailey from the Sierra Club in California spoke about the successful effort in Southern California to defeat an LNG project that had been on the fast track to approval. Owen organized a broad coalition of community members opposed to the project and packed a hearing with 2,000 grassroots supporters, effectively overwhelming the opposition. Owen's story of citizen involvement is being repeated here in Oregon as folks from across the political spectrum band together to oppose the damaging LNG projects proposed in Oregon.
Aside from inspirational stories of citizen involvement, the conference was chock full of workshops and advice on messaging, campaign strategy, effective fundraising, making meetings matter, lobbying and public speaking. One of the common threads in all of the presentations was that people who care about protecting our wild places already have the most essential tool for making change: passion.
If any of you out there who care about Oregon's special places think you can't make a difference in protecting them, you're wrong. Pick up the phone, call your elected representative and let them know what you hold dear. It makes a difference.
Building the tool box
This year is the tenth annual Patagonia Tools for Grassroots Activists Conference. At the event, Patagonia brings together dozens of conservation and environmental activists from across the country to give them the tools they need to save the planet.
I'm sitting by a fireplace in the lodge at the Stanford Sierra Camp on Fallen Leaf Lake right next to Lake Tahoe. Suffice it to say that it's a pretty nice place to get together to talk about saving our last wild places.
Along with donating lots of schwag for non-profit fundraising events, Patagonia gives away gobs of money to worthy conservation groups. Oregon Wild is lucky to be a recipient of the Patagucci beneficence and this week they are also putting me up in this fine establishment.
Among my fellow travelers are folks from the Oregon Natural Desert Association who work to protect all the magnificent desert wildlands east of the Cascades (including the Badlands and Spring Basin). Also out here are the Executive Director and new staff member for the Conservation Alliance, another group that generously grants money to Oregon Wild. The Conservation Alliance collects dues from outdoor industry companies and channels them back into non-profit conservation work. They also produced the Keen Hybrid.Pedal film that featured our very own Erik Fernandez. I've also run in to folks from our legal defenders at the Western Environmental Law Center.
One of the most exciting figures I have run into so far is Brock Evans. Brock is currently the president of the Endangered Species Coalition (of which Oregon Wild is a member). He also worked for the Sierra Club for many years as the point man on establishing the North Cascades National Park. I'm hoping to pick his brain later about old growth/ancient forests issues to get some tips on moving forward with our campaign.
More updates to come.
The Big Bad Wolf Hunter
Gray wolves are under the gun throughout the West. The Associated Press is reporting that 37 wolves have been killed since the animal was removed from Endangered Species Act protections in March.
Sometimes you read things that make your jaw drop. Other times, you have difficulty understanding where other folks are coming from. It is these times when you have to work even harder.
Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolves were removed from the Endangered Species Act one month ago today. Thirty-seven wolves have been shot and killed since then. Thirty-seven wolves is over 2% of the entire population; all killed in just 30 days.
Oregon Wild has joined with several other conservation groups to sue the federal government over the decision to delist wolves. Earthjustice is heading up the legal challenge ("because the Earth needs a good lawyer"). We all feel we've got a pretty good case given the fact that most biologists say wolf populations need to be anywhere between 2,000 and 4,000 for genetic diversity to be robust. Currently, there are only 1,500 wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. In the next day or two, we will also file an injunction to stop the wolf slaughter that is currently underway in states like Montana, Idaho and primarily Wyoming.
With federal protections gone, the states have been free to set up there own management plans. In Wyoming that has meant a virtual free-for-all for wolf hunters. Aside from a small portion of the state near Yellowstone National Park, the rest of the state is designated as a "predator zone" where wolves can be shot on site for no reason at all. In fact, many of the hunters that have driven snowmobiles dozens of miles to track down wolves to kill them, have admitted that their sole motivation is revenge.
I don't know about you, but it seems to me that plotting revenge is a bad way to make public policy. In Oregon, we are lucky to still have state laws that fully protect wolves. The question is, where are they going to come from now that our neighboring states have instituted public policies seeking to eradicate them once again. The five wolves confirmed to have returned to Oregon in the past nine years are believed to have crossed over from Idaho. The Governor of Idaho has said he wants to apply for the first permit to hunt and kill a wolf.
Even with our state protections, wolves returning to Oregon have faced the same dangers they face across the West. One was hit and killed on the freeway and two others were illegally shot and killed (some might say murdered). Oregon Wild chipped in part of a reward to find the most recent killer, but no one's turned up yet.
All of this news is a definite downer, but it is encouraging that there are so many out there eager and willing to support wolf recovery. While we work in the courtroom to make sure wolves get the federal protections they deserve, you can work with your neighbors and friends to educate and inform folks about wolves. We are encouraging everyone who cares about the future of wolves in Oregon to join the Oregon Wild Wolf pack today. Sign up now and we'll send you along a free wolf howl ring tone for your phone.
More wolf updates to come.
Spring in the Coast Range
Wild weather, an intrepid group, wildflowers, raging waters, and ancient trees - a report on the spring Sweet Creek Falls hike.
I woke up to snow outside my window Saturday morning in downtown Eugene. Great day for leading a hike in the Coast Range!
Only half of the 10 scheduled hikers turned up for the chilly morning drive to the coast - and who could blame those who stayed home: the forecast called for a mix of rain and hail in town, and snow in the passes to the east and west.
Someone on the trip had good weather karma, though, and as we started our walk up Sweet Creek, a few miles south of Mapleton, the sky opened up to let down some sunshine. Pink fawn lilies, trillium, corydalis, and salmonberry were all in bloom; and the mosses, lichens, and fresh young leaves on trees and shrubs glowed green in the damp sunlight. Ah, spring in the rain forest!
We watched American dippers - those delightful little brown birds that land on rocks and logs in fast-moving creeks to dip and dance. These ones seemed to be courting - even carrying moss to a log jam on the edge of the creek that might have held their nest.
After the short 3 mile hike up the creek and back (taking in the multiple waterfalls along the way) and lunching in a sunny spot, the group was game for a drive out to the PAWN old-growth grove near the headwaters of the North Fork Siuslaw River. 
PAWN (named after 4 families that settled in the area) is one of my favorite places. My husband and I saw it on a map and found our way there on another cold, rainy spring day a few years ago. And last summer Oregon Wild staff showed Senator Wyden's staff what a real coastal old-growth forest should look like. If the ripe huckleberries, massive trees, and cool shade weren't enough to convince someone of how special ancient forests are, I don't know what would.
Our group got another sun break (after it snowed on the way to the trailhead!) while we walked the 1-mile loop past 8-foot diameter Douglas-fir trees, towering huckleberry shrubs, and fat snags and logs dripping with stored water.
I think everyone enjoyed their visit, but I know I did. It's places like this that keep me willing to work weekends and long hours!
Old growth and owls - Bush plan falls short
Top scientists say Bush plan logs too much old-growth, doesn't do enough to protect threatened wildlife.
Over the last several years, the Bush administration has tried to shift forest protection rules on public land to encourage a return to old-growth logging. A key component of their strategy was to re-write the recovery plan for the northern spotted owl, a threatened species that has been decimated by logging and habitat destruction.
Now, several years and several million dollars later, an independent scientific review has found what most Oregonians know to be common sense--you can't recover the owls unless you protect the old-growth forests they call home.
The Oregonian took a look at the story this morning in a story titled "Review says spotted-owl plan falls short."
A few key snippets include:...The Bush administration's plan to recover the northern spotted owl underestimates the risk that wildfires and logging of large trees will damage the owl's habitat, according to scientific review of the plan released Monday...
"...We view the continued conservation of (old growth) to be paramount for northern spotted owl recovery," the reviewers wrote. They said risks to the survival of the species remain substantial...
The Associated Press also covered the story, citing this key quote from the report:
"...We view the continued conservation of [old-growth] forests to be paramount for Northern Spotted Owl recovery," the reviewers wrote...
The Bush administration's effort to re-write the spotted owl recovery plan is aimed at allowing more logging of their old-growth habitat, particularly on Bureau of Land Management lands in Western Oregon. The administration's so-called "Western Oregon Plan Revisions" seek to increase old-growth logging on these lands by a staggering 700%. Recently, Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio has spoken out strongly against this scheme, as have the federal Environmental Protection Agency and NOAA Fisheries.
The Bush administration's latest shenanigans on science and old-growth logging once again highlight the need for Congress to step in with federal legislation to protect our remaining ancient forests.
Welcome to the Oregon Wild Blog
During my first month working for Oregon Wild, a couple of staff members stayed late one Wednesday afternoon to clean out the attic. Thirty years of history boxed and stacked along the walls threatened to topple over and block our efforts to open up space to play ping-pong (an important conservation mission).
It was behind the ping-pong table that I found the real treasure trove of Oregon Wild/ONRC/Oregon Wilderness Coalition history--the newsletter archive.
A filing cabinet held one of every published issue of "Wild Oregon" dating back to the early 1980s. We all took some time to glance through them, pointing out the bad haircuts and worse clear-cuts.
We've come a long way since the days of typewritten facsimiles. Today, new technology allows us to spread information more quickly and broadly. However, the goal of the new blog will be the same as the old newsletters: inform and inspire.
A neat part of the Wild Oregons of the early 80s was the letters feature, titled "Your 20 cents worth," where readers wrote in to comment on the articles. Back in those days, we'd publish letters from foresters, sister groups and even notes from government officials turning down invitation requests (apparently, James Watt didn't want to discuss Wilderness with us). One of the most exciting aspects of the blog will be carrying this interactivity into the 21st century.
We hope the Oregon Wild Blog can serve as a space where interested folks can debate the conservation issues of the day. The staff at Oregon Wild will all post occasionally to kick start discussion by introducing timely and interesting topics. We also plan on asking you to submit questions that our expert staff can answer. Need to know the genus of the mushroom you found on your hike? Wendell Wood probably knows. Wondering how NFMA impacts NEPA if you are in the framework of the NWFP? Doug Heiken can untangle that alphabet soup.
The goal of our new blog is to engage more people in the effort to protect Oregon's special places. We hope you'll come be part of the discussion.
"The Geography of Hope"
The passage of Washington's Wild Sky Wilderness bodes well for other pristine areas across the country awaiting protection.
Every time we start to feel a little sorry for ourselves here about the long and winding road that has been the Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Bill, we only have to look to our neighbors to the north to realize things could be worse.
Luckily, a vote yesterday in the Senate is turning things around there too.
The proposed Wild Sky Wilderness area outside of Seattle is about to lose its "proposed" status and actually become law. This is a piece of legislation that has passed the senate three times before yesterday's vote but has failed to make it out the door of Congress (and that is a big door, let me tell you). This time, the bill has passed both chambers of Congress (although they will need to iron out some minor differences). If backers of the bill can get it to the president's desk, it will be the first new Wilderness area in Washington in 23 years!
Seattle P-I columnist Joel Connelly could hardly hide his enthusiasm in his column today (in fact, he couldn't, he was very enthusiastic). Connelly made note of the hurdles Wild Sky has had to overcome to get to this point, including weathering the Richard Pombo years and dodging a hold by Senator Tom Coburn. Connelly also mentioned that the passage of Wild Sky bodes well for other Wilderness bills, including our very own Mount Hood bill. Coburn has a hold on that one too.
Connelly also had some words for the challenges we face in working to protect Wilderness, especially when we are facing those who think protecting our region's last wild places will destroy local economies:
Protecting places has never been easy.
At a long-ago Bellingham hearing, a local activist forced the director of the local chamber of commerce to fess up that the Puget Sound Pulp & Timber Co. had ghost-written his speech decrying the proposed Glacier Peak Wilderness.
Lines of logging trucks protested creation of the North Cascades National Park. A timber industry front group fought to minimize protection of the Alpine Lakes country between Stevens and Snoqualmie passes. Forestry professors on the industry's payroll -- nicknamed "biostitutes" by Bob Simmons of KING/5 news -- forecast economic doom.
Well, we've protected these places and the sky didn't fall in. Our state's unemployment rate is at a near-record low.
Gently satirizing a certain presidential candidate, conservationist-writer Peter Jackson joked Thursday, "Chalk one up for 'The Geography of Hope.' "
Let's hope the "geography of hope" has a little more mileage for Mount Hood and the rest of Oregon's special places.
Oregon's not so hidden treasure
Natural icons Mount Hood, the Wild Rogue and Oregon Caves National Monument are all one step closer to additional protection today thanks to a couple of Oregon elected officials.
They're calling it the "Oregon Treasures" proposal. And if there is one thing that Mount Hood and the Wild Rogue are, it is natural treasures of our great state. The list of treasure for Congressmen Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio includes 132,000 acres on Mt. Hood, 142 miles of river surrounding the Rogue and 4,000 acres near Oregon Caves.
Hopefully, we aren't talking about buried treasure, though. As in the kind that takes another five years to dig out from the pile of Pombos and Coburns and Bush appointees. Although, with the number of people that support Wilderness protection for Mount Hood and Wild and Scenic protections for the Wild Rogue--with a few million shovels--we could probably dig our way out.
For Mount Hood, this House proposal goes along nicely with the Senate bill that has already passed out of committee. It actually adds in a few areas here and there, including what's known as the Salmon Huckleberry Keyhole, a patch of old-growth forest left out of the original Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness designated in 1984. Why is it called a keyhole you ask? Well, it's a gap right in the middle of 44,000 acre Wilderness area, left unprotected so that the logging industry could have at it. Well, if Blumenauer and DeFazio get there way, they'll close the loophole by making the keyhole protected.
Of course, like many things Congress produces, this proposed bill is not perfect. One hundred and forty two miles of Wild and Scenic rivers is alot, but think about all the land surrounding those tributaries. Governor Ted Kulongoski was thinking about those areas when he advocated for their protection in a letter to the Oregon delegation in February. One thing that would make this "Oregon Treasures" proposal really sparkle would be adding in protections for 58,000 acres of rugged backcountry in the Rogue River valley.
DeFazio on the war path
It's not often you get to see the word lambaste in a press release from a government official. But when you're dealing in the upside-down world of the BLM's WOPR, anything goes.
It's not often you get to see the word lambaste in a press release from a government official. But when you're dealing in the upside-down world of the BLM's WOPR, anything goes.
Today's lambaster, Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) who uncovered the fact that the Bureau of Land Management had buried the scientific review of the Western Oregon Plan Revisions deep in it's website for the past few weeks. From the press release:
"I am shocked that the BLM appears to have quietly sat on the findings from its own Science Team,” Congressman DeFazio said. “This doesn’t pass any credible attempt to fully disseminate this report and make the public aware that the Team’s findings were even available. Given the Science Team took issue with much of the findings in the WOPR, the BLM leaves the impression that it didn’t want this report to be widely known anytime soon."
Wait. A Bush administration agency doesn't want science to see the light of day? I won't hear of it. Obviously a conspiracy theory. Who would believe that a government agency would completely disregard their own scientists?
So much for all those claims by BLM officials that the agency was consulting with the best scientists and making sure that their plan met endangered species and clean water guidelines. Of course, the "Science Team" isn't the first group of lab coat wearing, field experimenting folks to get there hands on the WOPR and tear it to pieces. The EPA, federal fisheries managers and the Oregon DEQ have all found serious flaws in the plan that would boost clear-cut logging in Oregon.
Now, the question is: What will DeFazio do to stop the WOPR and protect the forest values that these scientists have identified?