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Wyden, Merkely, DeFazio Press for Enhanced Protections for Oregon’s Yellowstone

Oregon elected officials push for mining moratorium in southwest Oregon

Oregon Congressmen add to chorus of voices calling for protection of natural treasure, the Siskiyou Wild Rivers.

Three Oregon Congressmen added to a chorus of voices today, calling for a halt to new mining claims in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area of southwest Oregon. Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Peter DeFazio sent a letter to the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture to urge protection of this unique natural treasure. The request follows on the heels of a similar letter from Governor Ted Kulongoski and comes just a week after a southern Oregon man was found guilty of illegal mining – a case that attracted widespread media attention.

“Given the very real threats posed by reckless mining, it is encouraging to see Oregon’s elected leaders calling for increased protections for this unique natural treasure,” said Erik Fernandez with the conservation group Oregon Wild. “While the next step is for the Obama administration to implement a mining time-out, ultimately Wilderness protection for the area is the long term solution.”

Protections against mining in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers have been proposed before. In 2001, then President Clinton proposed a moratorium on new claims in the area. President Bush abandoned the proposal soon after taking office and in the interim the threat from increased mining has only grown. Since 2001, over 880 new mining claims have been made in this biologically rich portion of the state.

Under antiquated U.S. mining laws, claim staking is cheap, easy, and fails to reimburse taxpayers for minerals taken from public lands. The 1872 mining law has virtually no environmental safeguards. Mining activity can often lead to pollution and sedimentation of nearby streams, and destruction of scenic wildlands. With a high concentration of salmon-bearing streams, the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area is especially vulnerable to the impacts of reckless mining.

“Mining in the U.S. has a nasty history that includes taking from a public resource and burdening taxpayers with the clean-up,” added Ani Kame’enui, Healthy Waters Coordinator with Oregon Wild. “A moratorium on mining in sensitive areas in the Siskiyous will help prevent this sort of abuse.”

A moratorium couldn’t be more timely. In early November, Clifford Tracy of Gold Hill was convicted of mining illegally next to a critical salmon stream in the headwaters of the Illinois River. Tracy dug out ponds up to 15 feet deep, chopped down old-growth trees, and carved a road into the forest, all without approval from the Forest Service. Despite Tracy’s conviction, leaders in the mining community have claimed his actions are perfectly acceptable and that the federal government has no right to regulate his activities. In addition to recent illegal mining, an August ban on suction dredge mining in California is expected to push this harmful practice to southern Oregon rivers. Suction dredge miners use vacuum-like machines attached to diesel engines that pump sediment from the bottom of rivers in search of minerals.

“Not all miners or mining is irresponsible,” concluded Fernandez. “But when it comes to public lands that are as beautiful and rare as the Siskiyou Wild Rivers, there needs to be a very high standard of protection from potentially harmful activity.”

Read the Congressional letter here.

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