Oregon Cattlemen Fight Wild & Scenic River Designation

Courthouse News Service ^ | March 16, 2017 | Karina Brown

[Twotone]

WASHINGTON (CN) – Sixty-three miles of Oregon’s Rogue River cannot be designated a Wild and Scenic River because it’s been extensively modified by ranchers and miners, cattlemen claim in suing the Department of the Interior.

The designated section runs through Grants Pass and smaller cities in Southern Oregon, whose established municipal and agricultural uses take precedence over the designation, the Double R Ranch Trust, the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association and the Oregon Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association say in their March 10 federal lawsuit.

Were the segment designated Wild and Scenic, the cities would no longer be allowed to discharge treated wastewater, use river water for irrigation, maintain boat ramps or build new bridges, the groups say.

Not only is designation illegal under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, it would prohibit some protections for the river, according to the complaint. For instance, after a New Year’s Day storm in 1997, the river raged outside its banks and enveloped a gravel pit pond left by excavation from the Oregon Department of Transportation.

As a result, 95,000 tons of sediment flowed into the river for six years year until environmentalists, government entities and mining companies stopped the breach.

[Steven Scharf]

As a result, 95,000 tons of sediment flowed into the river for six years year until environmentalists, government entities and mining companies stopped the breach.

I suspect contractors hired by the mining companies actually stopped the breach while the govt and environmental groups stood in the way.

[sasquatch]

There will be 17 million yards of sediment sent down the Klamath if the dams are breached. Thats about enough
to cover I5 from Hornbrook to San Diego with about 2 feet
of sediment.