Honored for land he fought to protect

Waldo Lake Loop Trail dedicated to Oregon wildlands champion Jim Weaver.

There was a time when the timber industry so disliked Congressman Jim Weaver that they rallied dozens of log trucks to rumble around the Lane County Courthouse where he was holding a wilderness bill hearing. The trucks sported signs reading “Ax Jim Weaver” and “Stick a cedar stump up Jim Weaver’s rump.”

That was back in the early 1980s, long before concerns about endangered species curtailed logging on public lands. Back then, Weaver was intent on preserving some of Oregon’s most pristine places — French Pete, Waldo Lake, protected areas within the Willamette National Forest that are so popular with visitors it’s hard to imagine them as anything other than wilderness.

On Monday, Weaver’s commitment to the environment was recognized with a ceremony designating the 20-mile lakeside trail around Waldo Lake as the Jim Weaver Loop. Friends, family, former congression-al staff members, U.S. Forest Service representatives and Gov. Ted Kulongoski showed up to reminisce and celebrate.

They shared memories of Weaver’s 12 years representing the 4th District, describing him as a courageous fighter willing to go up against his party and the rest of the Oregon delegation on matters that ranged from the environment to energy policy and payments for cash-strapped counties.

Tanned and fit at 81, Weaver spent the tribute flanked by his grandsons and smiling, occasionally asking anyone with a Blackberry to check on the progress of the Wall Street bailout bill back in Washington, D.C.

Weaver was elected to Congress in 1974, part of a surge of Democrats swept into office following the Watergate scandal that led to the impeachment and resignation of President Richard Nixon.

“Jim invariably found himself lined up against the corporation elite in Washington, D.C.,” said Joe Rutledge, his former chief of staff. Rutledge, who now lives in New York City working at a global marketing firm, was happy to return to Oregon to honor his former boss.

Weaver did much more than preserve wilderness, Rutledge said.

He also fought to keep utility ratepayers from being saddled with a bailout for the Washington Public Power Supply, which ran aground trying to build nuclear power plants in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

And he pushed through passage of the first federal payments to counties to offset property tax losses on nontaxable federal lands. “It was because of Jim’s efforts, and his alone, I might add, and he’s never gotten credit for it,” Rutledge said.

In Congressional hearings, Weaver once squared off against President Ronald Reagan’s interior secretary, James Watt — a Christian conservative — over the need to preserve natural resources, with this historic exchange:

Weaver: I wonder if you agree, also, in the general statement that we should leave some of our resources — I am now talking about scenic areas … for our children?”

Watt: Absolutely. That is the delicate balance the secretary of the interior must have … I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns.

Perhaps as significant as his legislative accomplishments, Weaver inspired a cadre of his aides — at least 14 of them — to seek office or continue working in the realm of public service.

Among his best-known staff members: current Rep. Peter DeFazio, who succeeded Weaver, Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorenson and head of the Oregon American Civil Liberties Union, Dave Fidanque.

DeFazio had planned to attend Monday’s dedication, but the Wall Street bailout legislation kept him in Washington, said his Eugene staff member Karmen Fore, who read a message from him: “In keeping with tradition of the Weaver legacy, I can’t be here today because I’m fighting to keep Wall Street from looting the U.S. Treasury one last time. In fighting my party leadership, Wall Street, and the administration, I’m continuing the Weaver legacy that began when you opposed the Vietnam war. This amazing trail is also part of that legacy. Congratulations.”

Sorenson, who was on hand, said he might have ended up a geology instructor at a community college if not for running into Weaver at a campaign event while he was a graduate student at the University of Oregon and wound up managing Weaver’s first successful campaign for office.

Sorenson said that after the county payments bill passed, Weaver wanted to know exactly how the money — $100 million — would be transmitted to Oregon.

Outraged when he heard it would go by mail with a lag time of five days, Weaver insisted his aides go get it and deposit it at a Washington, D.C., bank where it could be wired the same day to Oregon. The move gave the state an extra $75,000 a day in interest payments, Sorenson said.

Waldo Lake — within but not actually part of the 39,200-acre wilderness that surrounds it — is embroiled in a current legal dispute.

The Forest Service is phasing out boats powered by gas motors, permitting only nonmotorized craft or boats with electric motors, a rule that goes into effect in 2009. Eugene resident Steven Stewart — son of the late Stub Stewart, who founded the logging firm Bohemia Inc. — has filed a lawsuit against the restriction, claiming that the state of Oregon has jurisdiction over the water. A hearing in the case isn’t likely until next year.

Stewart, who attended the Monday event, called the renamed trail a fitting tribute for Weaver’s service.