The Chetco River is highlighted in this month’s edition of National Geographic magazine in an article titled “The Glory of America’s Wildest Rivers.”

The story describes early efforts leading to establishment of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in 1968.

The Rogue River was one of the original eight rivers protected by the legislation, which was signed by then President Lyndon Johnson. The Chetco was added in 1988.

“An unspoiled river is a very rare thing in this nation today,” Johnson noted in signing the act.

It’s still unusual today, despite some 200 rivers bearing Wild and Scenic designation, according to the National Geographic story.

The article says: “A Wild and Scenic designation is no guarantee that a river will remain truly wild. In fact, several of the nation’s most cherished waterways have landed on the annual Most Endangered River list produced by the advocacy group American Rivers (www.amrivers.org.)

“They include southern Oregon’s Chetco, where gold miners plan to suction-dredge some of the best salmon spawning grounds in the state.”

A California moratorium on suction dredge mining has added to the threat to salmon habitat in Oregon as miners have looked farther north, said Ann Vileisis, president of the Kalmiopsis Audubon Society.

“In the past three years, as the price of gold has quadrupled, claimants have staked five new placer claims on the Chetco,” she said. “The primary threat is that one company – Chetco River Mining and Exploration – has submitted plans to mine over half the Chetco, from the Forest Service boundary all the way up into the wilderness.”

Vileisis says suction dredge mining uses a dredge to vaccum up gravel and cobbles on the bottom of a river so they can be sluiced for gold. The debris is returned to another area of the riverbed as tailings, she said.

“In the process, the riverbed is significantly rearranged, and a silty plume is released, clouding the water for several hundred feet downstream,” Vileisis said.

However, miners counter that suction-dredge mining does not damage rivers and, in fact, can even be beneficial to fish habitat. Local mining advocate Dianna Blazo said that’s because silt from winter rains, from fishermen and children walking on the river bottom makes that surface hard packed.

“Dredging breaks it up so salmon eggs have a place to filter down and are protected,” she said.

Blazo rejects the idea that  a significant amount of mining, such as that mentioned by Vileisis, would ever occur on the Chetco. She said the Forest Service is unlikely to approve the necessary permits.

She predicts a domino effect if mining is prohibited, with mushroom picking, hunting, fishing and possibly even hiking the next to be banned.

“What’s going to come next?” Blazo asked. “It’s becoming more and more a police state.”

Mining supporters and opponents alike spoke during two public hearings in Brookings Harbor last month as federal officials took testimony on a proposed five-year withdrawal of mining along a portion of the Chetco, except for valid existing rights.

Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest officials filed the application for withdrawal with the Bureau of Land Management. Written comments, suggestions or objections to the proposal will be taken through Nov. 30.

Those who wish to comment may do so by writing to the BLM state director at: Oregon/Washington State Director, BLM, P.O. Box 2965, Portland, OR 97208-2965.

The National Geographic article says the 200 free-flowing rivers under Wild and Scenic protection make up just 0.35 percent of all U.S. river miles.

“For much of the 20th century, the federal government seemed determined to dam virtually all the major rivers in the country, harnessing their power for electricity, irrigation, navigation, water supply, and flood control,” the article said.

Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington state, which feeds into the Columbia River, was removed Oct. 26 after years of negotiations.

Contentious debate continues over the fate of four dams on the Klamath River, which runs from its headwaters in Klamath County through California to the ocean. The Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement would remove four dams along the river that Native Americans say once teemed with salmon.

Former Vice President Walter Mondale, quoted in the National Geographic article, said the biggest threat to rivers is incremental impacts.

Speaking of the St. Croix River in Minnesota and Wisconsin, he said, “If this river is ever destroyed, it’ll die of nicks and cuts. A bridge here, a power line there. These threats are everywhere.”