Parks Service backs Oregon Caves expansion

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Rosemary Mallonee and Dylan Wimpee, shown in July 2008, fill tanks with water, as part of preservation work in the Rimstone room of the Oregon Caves National Monument. The National Park Service is supporting plans to expand the monument by 4,070 acres. Mail Tribune file photoJamie Lusch

November 15, 2009

By Paul Fattig

Mail Tribune

The National Park Service supports the Oregon Caves National Monument Boundary Adjustment Act of 2009, which would expand the monument by some 4,070 acres, according to a draft letter by an assistant secretary for the Interior Department.

However, it also recommends four amendments to Senate 1270 introduced by Oregon's senior U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and cosponsored by fellow Democrat Sen. Jeff Merkley, also from Oregon.

The 480-acre monument is surrounded by the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Similar legislation, which also would add nearly 143 miles of lower Rogue River tributaries to the nation's Wild and Scenic Rivers System, was introduced last year by Wyden and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, but the bills didn't make the final cut in Congress. They were reintroduced this year.

During a July 22 hearing before the Subcommittee on National Parks chaired by U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., an Interior Department spokesman expressed support for the "intent of the (1270) legislation" but recommended deferring action on it to allow the park service to explore ways to maintain interagency coordination.

In the draft letter to Udall, a copy of which was obtained late last week by the Mail Tribune, Thomas L. Strickland, assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, indicated the agency officially supports the bill, albeit with the amendments.

"We believe that transferring approximately 4,070 acres from the administrative jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service to the National Park Service would provide for improved long-term protection of the critical watershed that these acres encompass," the letter states, adding the proposed transfer from the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest is consistent with the National Parks Service's general management plan for the monument.

The parks service is working with the U.S. Forest Service to develop a memorandum of understanding to address areas of mutual interest in the monument and the Wild Rivers District surrounding the monument, the letter continued.

"The draft MOU calls for activities such as sharing information on research projects and identifying activities the two agencies could undertake jointly such as educational publications," the letter said. "However, the draft MOU — or any MOU — is limited in what it can achieve. It cannot resolve the fundamental issue of which authorities should govern these lands."

The parks service believes the lands should be managed under the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916 and other authorities "that emphasize resource protection to assure that the lands will not be used for logging, grazing and other activities that threaten water quality and other monument resources," according to the letter.

The four amendments contained in the letter include:

• Delete the portion of the bill that designates the River Styx, which flows out of the caves, as a recreational river. The recreational status does not afford any additional protection to the water or cave resources and may encumber the current management of the cave resources, the letter noted.
• Change the term "historical range" when requiring the Interior Secretary to ensure that forest attributes remain intact and functioning to read "normal range of ecosystem variability."
• Further explore grazing provisions which, in the current language, provide that if a grazing permittee or lessee chooses to voluntarily donate a grazing permit or lease within either federal grazing allotment in the area, the department shall accept the donation, terminate those permits or leases and permanently retire them.
• Provide for the termination of the Oregon Caves National Preserve after five years, then ban hunting, fishing and trapping in the area at that point. Out of the 892 comments received on the general management plan, only eight comments expressed concern about being able to hunt in the area, the letter said.

No one from the U.S. Forest Service or park service was available for comment late Friday.

But Joseph Vaile, campaign director for the Ashland-based Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, which has been lobbying to expand the monument, isn't surprised the parks service supports the legislation.

"The park service has a general management plan that calls for expansion," he said. "What was surprising was the fact they wanted to wait in the last hearing. It's something they've clearly studied. They've been proposing expansion since 1939."

The agency has proposed expanding the Oregon Caves monument three times, first in 1939, again in 1949, and most recently in 2000. President Taft created the monument on July 12, 1909.

But Vaile believes the Forest Service is dragging its feet to delay the change in federal ownership.

"The Forest Service is doing everything it can to try to scull this," he said. "But the reason this is happening is because the Forest Service has done a pretty lousy job of managing that area for years."

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.

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