Lawmakers offer bills to protect Chetco

Chetco mining map

“This legislation would protect the Chetco from the threats of out-of-state miners, preserve it for generations and save critical salmon habitat,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said. “Suction dredge mining presents a clear danger to the Chetco, and we want to do everything we can to prevent it.” 

Wyden and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., introduced bills in both the House and the Senate to permanently raise the federal protection levels of more than 3 miles of the river and put in place new prohibitions on future mining that will preserve the Wild and Scenic portions of the river.

Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and David Wu, D-Ore., have also co-sponsored the legislation.

Supporters of the Chetco in Curry County lauded the bills.

“I think that’s good news,” said Tim Palmer of the Kalmiopsis Audubon Society.

“The problem, basically, there has not been a real problem thus far with minor amounts of mining, and we are not opposed of that. But there is the specter of greatly increased mining,” Palmer said.

“David Rutan has requested permission for eight-inch dredges. That would be a lot more effect than we have seen in the past. We don’t know the forest service can protect the Chetco. The best way is to have legislation like that passed.”

Harvey Young, owner of Fishawk River Company, calls it “probably a good designation.”

“It’s good for the city of Brookings and Curry County,” Young said. “I don’t think it affects anything to do with logging, cow grazing and gravel.”

He said it would include gold with mechanized methods, “but we’re not talking about gold panning.

“I think that looking up and down the coast, the Chetco River has one of the largest intact runs of salmon and steelhead, a free running resource. We don’t have to have a hatchery boost,” Young said. 

He said the hatchery fish in the Chetco amount to about 10 percent.

“Hatchery costs a lot of money. If we can keep the habitat as it was, to produce the wild salmon and steelhead, it’s a real thing for economic revenue versus the one-time shot of the miners,” Young said. “The Chetco in the summertime doesn’t have the adult fish, but it has all the juvenile fish left behind from spawning in fall and winter. Those unique aspects of the Chetco are worth putting gold on hold because of its impact on juvenile fish.”

DeFazio, on introducing the House bill, said the Chetco River is one of the state’s most pristine and beautiful rivers.

“It should be enjoyed by all Oregonians, not just a few dozen miners who can potentially patent mining rights on the river at 19th Century prices using 21st Century technology,” DeFazio said. “This legislation will help put an end to the often illegal, sometimes violent, user conflicts between a small group of rogue miners and the general public in southwest Oregon.” 

Merkley said the Chetco River is one of the most endangered rivers in America and opening it up to destructive mining would put the health of the river and its fisheries at even greater risk.

“We have a responsibility to protect the Chetco River and prevent threats to the livelihood of Oregon’s salmon and steelhead fishermen,” Merkley said.

The bill would not have any impact on proposed gravel removal, according to Rep. Peter DeFazio’s office, because that project isn’t within national forest boundaries. 

Palmer said what the legislation is all about is the fish.

“We’ve got a threatened run of coho. Salmon and steelhead are extremely important to the fisheries. They support guides and a lot of business in towns,” he said. “We think it would be foolhardy to risk any of that for the sake of increased mining.”

Young said the dredge mining is also noisy.

“I don’t have anything against miners per se,” he said. “I have a permit from the Forest Service. They removed my rights to take a motor on a boat in that area. They also removed motor crossing, jeeps running around, but the Forest Service would allow suction motors.”

Young said a lot of townspeople go to that area to camp.

“It’s the poor person’s playground in the summer, if they can’t go to Alaska and Hawaii. There’s a lot of value up there because of the quietness of the canyon,” Young said.

He said the dredges also affect the cleanliness of the water, including from gas and oil spills, when the river is at its lowest flow.

“That river is really teaming with insect life, baby fish, just like a nursery in a hospital ward,” Young said. “They are at the mercy of the environment. Anything to hold that environment intact is a good thing for the Chetco.”

The Chetco River was recently identified by American Rivers as one of the nation’s most endangered rivers. The legislation introduced by Wyden, Merkley and DeFazio would provide federal distinction for much of the Chetco river as Wild and Scenic, carrying with it protections meant to preserve the waterway. 

The legislation would also prohibit any new mining claims along the river and will require current claims to meet a rigorous validation process in order to have their claims maintained. 

Earlier this year, Wyden, Merkley and DeFazio asked the Obama administration to exempt the Chetco River from an antiquated 1872 law that would have allowed the mining to proceed.