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Pelican Butte Roadless Area
A look at the Pelican Butte Roadless Area in Oregon's Winema National Forest
Winema National Forest
Pelican Butte, 8,036 feet high and located in the southern Cascades, is
an 11,000 acre unprotected roadless area adjoining the Congressionally designated Sky Lakes
Wilderness to the east, and Upper Klamath National Wildlife Refuge to the west.
The Klamath Basin is extremely important to bald eagles and contains approximately one third of all the nests located in Oregon. In winter, up to 100 bald eagles roost near the base of Pelican Butte’s lakeside slopes. In addition, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the area as critical northern spotted owl habitat, as much of the area is characterized by old-growth and mature forests.
The endangered Lost River and shortnose suckers (Qapdo & C’wam), have lived in Klamath Lake since time immemorial, and have special cultural significance to the local Klamath Tribes. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service: "Part of Pelican Butte has been identified as being critical to the survival of the listed suckers. Pelican Bay, located at the base of Pelican Butte (in the National Wildlife Refuge), is important to suckers and other aquatic species seeking refuge from poor water quality within the lake, as the majority of the precipitation within the project area percolates into the ground and emerges as springs in and around Upper Klamath Lake."
Despite objections from the nation’s top wildlife agency, the U.S. Forest Service has announced its intentions to continue planning the development of a massive ski resort complex within an old growth forest reserve on Pelican Butte.
The proposed $34 million ski resort, located 28 miles north of Klamath Falls, would be built over most of the mountain’s small lakes basin and northeast slope. The development, if approved, would set an incredibly bad precedent—potentially allowing the clearcutting and logging of other ancient trees in Forest Service established old growth forests and spotted owl reserves throughout the northwest.
Although Pelican Butte is already administratively protected in National Forest plans as a semi-primitive area, late-successional reserve, Bald Eagle Management Area, and USFWS’s designated northern spotted owl critical habitat, it doesn’t seem that all the "administrative" protection in the world is still enough to save Pelican Butte.