Southern Oregon Streams Finally See Stronger Protections

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 3, 2020

Contact: Stacey Detwiler, Rogue Riverkeeper, 541-488-9831, stacey@rogueriverkeeper.org

Southern Oregon Streams Finally See Stronger Protections

[Salem, OR] - Today, the Oregon Board of Forestry voted unanimously to adopt a temporary rule to increase stream buffers along small and medium salmon and steelhead streams that flow through private forest lands in the Siskiyou region of southwestern Oregon. The temporary rule will go into effect later this year. Today’s decision brings protections for salmon and steelhead streams in the Siskiyou up to the same standards applied to the rest of western Oregon in 2017. 

For the last four years, southern Oregon communities have been fighting to ensure that the region isn’t left with a weaker stream buffer standard that puts clean water and the Rogue’s iconic salmon and steelhead at risk. Stream buffer standards establish how close industrial timber companies can cut down trees near streams, which can result in less shade and warmer, more polluted water. 

“Today, we can celebrate that the Rogue’s salmon and steelhead streams have finally received the same protections as the rest of western Oregon,” said Stacey Detwiler of Rogue Riverkeeper. “However, we also know that these current practices are still not enough to meet clean water standards and there is a lot more work to be done.”

In 2017, the Oregon Board of Forestry (BOF) adopted new stream buffer rules for the majority of western Oregon forests, modestly expanding stream buffers for small and medium salmon, steelhead, and bull trout streams. However, the Siskiyou region including much of the Rogue watershed was excluded from these increased protections. For years, local communities, landowners, businesses and forest and water advocates fought to see a new, stronger rule applied so as to see the same protections as the rest of western Oregon forests. 

"As a local business owner, who relies on healthy salmon and steelhead streams here in southern Oregon, I'm pleased that the Board of Forestry has stepped up," said Will Johnson, local angler and owner of the Ashland Fly Shop. "Streams in the SIskiyou should never have been left behind and there's still a lot more we need to do to protect clean water." 

While this is a step in the right direction to better protect clean water in the Rogue, the temporary rule does not fix the significant threats to clean water from harmful forest practices in Oregon that are decades behind other states. Earlier this spring, Rogue Riverkeeper joined with other conservation organizations and timber industry advocates in an agreement to adopt a process that could lead to stronger protections and effective reforms of current forest practices on state and private forestlands. 

This new rule is a first step, but it will be a long road ahead to effectively reform current forest practices to protect healthy waterways, forests and communities. It will require significant work over the next two years to secure a lasting legacy of healthy forests, clean drinking water, and modernized forest regulations for all Oregonians.

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