The Emily Camp area had been congressionally protected Wilderness for 24 years when the 1872 Mining Law’s patenting provision was opportunely used to turn three federal mining claims (about 60 acres in the heart of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness) into private property. The year was 1988, The inholding is now being advertised for sale for $599,000. The previous owner (the patenter) paid little more...
Updated March 31, 2013—Trail towns in the East—that provide unique recreation opportunities and take care of the environment—are flourishing, even in an otherwise economically depressed region. Now, two communities in the State of Jefferson are starting their own rails-to-trails project. Is there a similar model that will work for Oregon’s beautiful Illinois River Valley? Listen to...
Kathie Durbin sadly passed away on March 15th. She’s someone who mattered. For those who knew her, wished they’d known her better or have no idea who she was, I recommend Andy Kerr’s beautiful tribute at Oregon Wild’s blog and this moving moving remembrance by her colleague Andrea Damewood. My words are poor beside theirs. I just know...
The refrain often used by opponents of protecting federal lands in Josephine County is that the mostly rural southwest Oregon area has already contributed more than its share. First, Josephine County lags far behind most other counties in the Klamath-Siskiyou Region and the nation, with only 9 percent of federally owned lands protected. In the...
Update March 11, 2013: Today the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee announced they will consider S. 354, the Oregon Caves Revitalization Act of 2013, on Thursday, March 14th at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Click here for the agenda and other information. The hearing will be webcast on the committee’s website. Senator Ron Wyden, the new...
It’s been at least two decades since Josephine County could be described as timber dependent and over a century since hardrock mining contributed much, if anything, to the local economy. In the wake of the Northwest Forest Plan and reduced logging on federal lands, Josephine County’s economy did not go into decline. Instead, it boomed...
Help prevent the mining of 14 miles of this beautiful National Wild and Scenic River. The existing mineral withdrawal—the primary roadblock to the river being mined—is set to expire. You can help by sending a letter in support of extending the current withdrawal for 20 years. Update November 15, 2012 — The BLM’s comment period has...
“Watch it” is the most important thing we can say about the September 27, 2012 Livestream interview with Yvon Chouinard and Vincent Stanley at Yale University. They provide us with a successful model of a new way of doing business that’s responsible to the earth and its inhabitants. The event was sponsored by the Yale...
On July 13, 2002 a series of lightning storms ignited five fires in southwest Oregon’s rugged river-rich Kalmiopsis Country. Four of the fires eventually became the known as the Biscuit Fire. Unlike the other two large fires of 2002, the Biscuit Fire destroyed few structures and took no lives.[1] Nonetheless it became the political football...
Much of the early work on the importance and extent of the forest below the ground was done at Oregon State University. But the lessons seem to be ignored in the current debates over the fate of federal forests in the Pacific Northwest. The consequences of ignoring the complexity of relationships between the above and...
