Wilderness Area of the Week - Copper Salmon

Tucked away in the northwest corner of the Siskiyou National Forest, 11 miles east of Port Orford on the Elk River, lies a 13,700-acre gem. Adjacent to the east boundary of Grassy Knob Wilderness, this natural wonder, known as Copper Salmon, includes the North and South Forks of Elk River. The congressional bill that designated Copper Salmon as a protected wilderness area was signed by President Obama in March of 2009, making it one of Oregon’s newest protected areas.

The Copper Salmon area contains one of the region’s largest remaining stands of low-elevation old-growth forest featuring Douglas fir trees as large as 10 feet in diameter and up to 300 feet in height as well as large disease-free stands of Port-Orford cedar, North America’s most endangered forest tree.  This forest is also home to an abundance of wildlife ranging from endangered marbled murrelets and northern spotted owls to Roosevelt elk, mountain lions and black bears.

Running through the heart of the Copper Salmon Wilderness area is the North Fork of the Elk River; one of the healthiest salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout runs in the continental United States.  The health and resilience of the watershed allows the river and its feeder streams to clear twenty-four hours after a big storm making the clean, cold water ideal for spawning and hatching Salmon. These optimal conditions are credited to the allowance for natural processes to evolve over the past century. Due to its amazing productivity, scientists study the North Fork of the Elk River as a benchmark for conditions that support especially high diversity and abundance of native fish species.

Advocates like Jim Rogers (Friends of Elk River) worked for years to develop local support for the protection of the Elk River as Wilderness. Along with help from other local advocates he was able to generate an amazing diversity of support from the commercial salmon fishing industry to local businesses and county commissioners to the Port Orford City Council. Senators Wyden, Smith (supported but didn’t pass during his tenure), and Merkley (his first vote in Congress was in favor of protecting Copper Salmon) as well as Congressman DeFazio were the legislative champions shepherding the protections through Congress. 

Photo Credits
Photo of old growth in the Copper Salmon Wilderness by Mike Beagle.