Oregon Wild (formerly ONRC)

Save the Wild Rogue!

Rogue River Area Threatened with Logging, Roads

The Wild Rogue area is one of Oregon’s most pristine, scenic, and rugged landscapes. Located in Southern Oregon and nestled in the Siskiyou Mountain Range, the Wild Rogue area is home to the famous Rogue River. The area is one of the state’s premier recreational spots, attracting tens of thousands of visitors every year and contributing millions of dollars to the local economy. The Wild Rogue also provides important salmon and steelhead spawning and rearing habitat, providing the backbone for one of Oregon’s most important sport and commercial fisheries.

At the heart of the Wild Rogue area is the Zane Grey Roadless Area, named after a best-selling adventure novelist who kept a cabin along the Rogue River in early 1900s. The landscape that Grey admired still serves as an important wildlife corridor, containing designated critical habitat for the northern spotted owl and providing habitat to dozens of other species, including bald eagles, black bear, river otters, and Roosevelt elk.

But the Wild Rogue is threatened.

Despite the importance of this unique landscape, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is threatening to turn bulldozers and chainsaws loose into the unspoiled old-growth forests of the Wild Rogue area. In one logging project, the BLM plans to clear-cut hundreds of acres of old-growth forests in the Zane Grey Roadless Area. The logging and necessary road building would destroy ancient forests, impair water quality, degrade spawning habitat for wild salmon and steelhead, and scar a once pristine landscape

Take Action!

The threats to the Wild Rogue area serve to underscore the importance of establishing permanent protection for this pristine landscape. Under the federal Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Acts, the Wild Rogue area would receive lasting protections that safeguard the land’s fish and wildlife, scenery, and recreational values. Send an email to your Congressional representative, telling them to “Save the Wild Rogue” by passing Wilderness and Wild and Scenic River legislation!

(For more information about the Wild Rogue, including a map of the proposed Wilderness areas and Wild and Scenic rivers, please click here)

November 21, 2009

Subject:

I am writing in support of the roadless, old-growth forests and wild salmon of the Lower Rogue River watershed northwest of Grants Pass.  I want to thank Senator Wyden and Representative DeFazio for their excellent leadership in 2008 by introducing companion legislation that would have added 143 miles of Rogue tributaries to the Wild and Scenic Rivers system. This action demonstrates visionary leadership in protecting our natural resources to recover salmon, protect our quality of life, and mitigate climate change.

I urge Oregon's new representative in the Senate, Senator Jeff Merkley, to work with our state's delegation to secure protections for the Rogue in 2009.

The value of protecting these wildlands is clearly a benefit to Oregon. The roadless region and nearby Rogue River exemplify the grandeur of Oregon’s natural heritage. Every year, thousands of people from around the world travel to this area to float the river and enjoy and the stunning landscape, and in doing so contribute millions of dollars to the local economy. The area is widely enjoyed for wildlife viewing and fishing.

The Zane Grey Roadless Area protects important tributaries to the Rogue River, safeguarding water quality and critical habitat needed for salmon and steelhead. With our salmon runs still frighteningly low, we must take swift action to protect remaining high quality habitat that is necessary to recover these iconic symbols of Oregon.

Together with the existing Wild Rogue Wilderness area just to the west, the area also serves as an important wildlife corridor, containing designated critical habitat for the northern spotted owl and providing habitat to dozens of other species, including bald eagles, black bear, river otters, and Roosevelt elk.

I applaud Senator Wyden and Representative DeFazio for taking action in 2008 to protect this special corner of the planet for this and future generations.

I ask that Representative DeFazio and Senators Wyden and Merkley work to protect the Rogue in 2009 by passing legislation that will protect 143 miles of Rogue streams via the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and nearly 60,000 acres of the Wild Rogue as Wilderness.

Sincerely,

We will add your signature from the information you provide.

First Name*

Last Name*

Email*

Street*

Street 2

City*

State/Province*

Zip/Postal Code*

Your message will be sent to Oregon Senators Wyden and Merkley, and to Oregon Representative DeFazio.

Oregon Wild

Email alert signup

Save the Wild Rogue!