Oregon’s Rouge River Listed As Endangered
By Joseph Friedrichs, 4-18-08
As a slap-in-the-face move against recreation business, salmon and wilderness areas in and along the Rouge River, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management continues to negotiate logging projects in remote areas of southern Oregon.
However, on Thursday a conservation group named the Rogue River to its annual list of the most threatened rivers in the nation. In fact, the Rogue was placed at Number 2 on the list.
According to the Associated Press, BLM spokesman Jim Whittington said the listing is unwarranted, because the nearest timber sale is more than a mile from the protected section of the Rogue, cannot be seen from the river, and may well be canceled depending on developments in protections for the spotted owl.
The Rogue, arguably Oregon’s second-most popular river behind the Columbia, was Oregon one of the first bodies of water in nation to be protected by the 1968 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. And, quite frankly, it’s ridiculous that the BLM continue to attempt logging projects along the Rogue when people such as Whittington admit they’re likely to be canceled anyhow. Perhaps the reason so many people hate the spotted owl is because the federal government keeps giving them reasons to do so?
Below is a list of the most threatened rivers in America, based on a study by the Washington-based group American Rivers.
1. Catawba-Wateree River (N.C., S.C.)
2. Rogue River (Ore.)
3. Cache la Poudre River (Colo.)
4. St. Lawrence River (N.Y., Canada)
5. Minnesota River (S.D., Minn.)
6. St. John River (Fla.)
7. Gila River (N.M., Ariz.)
8. Allagash Wilderness Waterway (Maine)
9. Pearl River (Miss., La.)
10. Niobrara River (Wyo, Neb.)
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Comments
The Rogue: love it and stay the hell away from it.
When JFK was el Presidente, and fitness was a national rage, instead of the 50 mile hike, a group of us college kids ran the river trail in one very, very long weekend. But it was interesting. Lots of old shacks and mining claim stuff. Just plain interesting. Then it became a Wild River, and the BLM and USFS tore down all those buildings and shacks, and flew in fiberglass outhouses to spots along the trail. Zealots begat zealots. I was lucky enough to be there when it really was a wild river, and it had the character of the land and its people. Now it is a carnival ride with great scenery, habituated wildlife, and worn out beaches by summer's end. Great floods keep it sorted out and renewed. Thank you global warming.
Other laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act require the BLM to take certain stands of trees out of the harvest base. Right now, over half of the lands BLM manages in western Oregon are protected. If folks want less logging, talk to their representative in The Congress and get the law changed.