News
Albany (OR) Democrat-Herald
Sue Hansen and Eric Hansen
January 11, 2008
Fighting for Fish on the Elk River
Port Orford – Just outside the small coastal community of Port Orford, Oregon, a wilderness treasure is tucked within the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. A treasure so priceless that concerned citizens and sportsmen’s groups have been trying to protect it for the past 12 years. For if this treasure is lost, the state would lose one of the largest remaining stands of virgin, low-elevation old-growth forest along with one of the most productive salmon and steelhead spawning streams in the nation.
The Copper-Salmon Wilderness Bill, introduced in Congress this past September by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D) and U.S. Representative Peter Defazio (D) and co-sponsored by U.S. Senator Gordon Smith (R), encompasses 13,700 acres of roadless land with Copper Mountain rising up in the southern section and Salmon Mountain peaking to the north. And flowing throughout the region are numerous creeks feeding into a pristine watershed known among both coastal commercial fishermen and recreational anglers around the world. The Elk River, running 35 miles in length, was designated a National Wild and Scenic River in 1988. Adding in the river’s confluence of its North and South Forks circling around the base of Copper Mountain, there are 44 total miles of spawning habitat for chinook and coho salmon, steelhead and sea-run cutthroat trout.
“When it comes to salmon and steelhead, both for spawning and fishing, the Elk River is one of the best outside Alaska,” said Mike Beagle, Trout Unlimited Field Coordinator for Oregon and Washington. “However, only the main stem of the Elk River and two and a half miles of its North Fork are designated Wild and Scenic, but the South Fork isn’t protected. Protection would be ensured if we can get permanent wilderness status for the entire Copper-Salmon area.”
The initial idea to seek wilderness status was spawned in 1996 by Jim Rogers and Jerry Becker, both long-time foresters and avid outdoorsmen. According to Becker, who has worked in this watershed since 1974, the Copper-Salmon is part of the Northwest Forest Plan, but that won’t save it from salvage logging. “The Forest Plan protects it theoretically and the roadless rule applies, but the Plan is administrative and can be changed.”
Added Rogers, who came to Port Orford in 1968 as a timber manager, “We thought the Northwest Forest Plan protected the Copper-Salmon, but the salvage rider opened it up to logging and 200 acres were clear cut with plans to build a road through it. But an agreement was reached to exchange timber in another area to stop the road. That’s when we realized we needed to get the Copper-Salmon designated as federal wilderness.”
Rogers, who helped in the 1984 protection of the 17,000 acre Grassy Knob Wilderness adjoining Copper-Salmon (created to also preserve fish habitat along the banks of the Elk River), started Friends of Elk River to gather support for the Copper-Salmon Wilderness Proposal. Working with Becker, executive director of the Elk River Land Trust, proponents for the proposal began on the local level: City of Port Orford, Port Orford/North Curry Chamber of Commerce and Curry County Board of Commissioners as well as fishing, hunting and local ranching interests. At the state level, Oregon’s Governor Ted Kulongoski has been a strong supporter. Plus the Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, South Coast Watershed and 11 sportsmen’s organizations forming Sportsmen for Copper-Salmon Wilderness.
“We have major supporters, including many sportsmen’s groups, backing the Copper-Salmon Wilderness Bill,” said Beagle. “Along with the fact that the support is bipartisan makes it unique from a congressional standpoint.”
With all this support, why is it taking so long to obtain wilderness designation? It’s a win-win situation for the southwest coastal region and the fish from Elk River. Both are dependent on one another to survive. For the community of Port Orford, troubled economically for the past decade, viable runs of salmon and steelhead bring in needed revenue year-round. For the fish – in addition to chinook and coho salmon, winter-run steelhead and sea-run cutthroat trout, there are resident cutthroat trout, lamprey, sculpin and dace – human help will keep their habitat healthy.
“It’s taking a long time to get Copper-Salmon designated as wilderness because it’s far away from well-known areas like Mt. Hood,” said Rogers. “Few people outside the fishing community have heard about it, so it’s hard to get their attention.”
But once that happens, Copper-Salmon treasures will captivate Oregon’s citizenry. This unspoiled natural paradise shows how nature is supposed to work, beginning in the forest. From the mountain tops down to the river’s edge, old-growth trees number 30-plus species, the most valuable being Port Orford cedar. Found mostly in Curry County, its bark is ridged and its wood smells like ginger. Rot-resistant, logs are sent to Japan, the only federal timber species that can be exported. Port Orford cedars as old as 1,000 years live in the Copper-Salmon.
The northern-most stand of Brewer’s spruce – an ice-age species also called weeping spruce – thrives here as well along with giant Douglas fir, western hemlock and sugar pine. Barked behemoths towering skyward, so tall one tips over backwards when looking up. “Having so many tree species in such a small area and so close to the ocean is extremely unusual,” said Becker. “An intact forest like Copper-Salmon is rare on the coast.”
Keeping this forest intact means clean water for the Elk River. With annual precipitation of 160 to 180 inches in the upper regions, the forest floor acts as a natural sponge, filtering rain and snow so the water is crystal-clear when it reaches the river. Even during severe storms – Port Orford itself averages 80 inches of rain annually – the Elk River remains free of mud and debris when other rivers are blown out. “Water this clear is hard to find in the state,” said Becker. “That’s why Elk River’s salmon and steelhead runs are considered the healthiest in Oregon.”
Fishing definitely reigns supreme at Elk River. Local guide Richard Wolfe, an avid supporter of the Copper-Salmon Bill and owner of Wolfe Pack Guide Service, started fishing here in 1979 at the age of 13 and knows every deep pool where returning salmon and steelhead hole up during spawning season – November to January for chinook and January to March for steelhead. Plying the river in an oar-propelled drift boat, Wolfe easily spots fish where bobbers baited with live shrimp and eggs or Kwik Fish lures wrapped with sliced sardine are dangled to drive fish wild.
“Running a Kwik Fish lure in front of a fish angers it, causing it to strike aggressively,” Wolfe said. “When a salmon or steelhead hits, it hits hard.”
Fish on is a rod-bending, reel-straining fight between a finned foe and fisherman, with one struggling for survival to spawn, the other hooked to harvest a sought-after aquatic species. Whatever the outcome, victory is at both ends of the line. For the thousands of salmon and steelhead not caught, they swim upstream to reproduce another generation. For fisherman, they can net both wild and hatchery-raised chinook – half the population is reared at Elk River Hatchery located seven miles upriver – with daily limit of two adult chinook plus five jacks and five steelhead in the respective seasons.
With great fishing numbers – “Recreational, commercial and hatchery counts vary from year to year, but a good year we can expect a return of 15,000 adult chinook alone, both caught and spawning,” said Beagle – you would think Elk River would be overrun with drift boats, causing a depletion of fish. But the only public access to the river is the boat launch at the fish hatchery as most shoreline down river is privately owned, eliminating crowded conditions that other rivers have. (However, guides including Richard Wolfe are available out of Steelblue-Chameleon Lodge near the hatchery.)
Whether in the woods or on the water, spending time in the Copper-Salmon Wilderness Area is to understand why it needs to be saved. Not only is it home to ancient trees, salmon and steelhead – as well as huntable species such as Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, black bears and mountain lions – but pure solitude in a world less silent.
But in order to preserve all this – to keep it forever forest and fish – voices of support need to be heard within the legislative halls in our nation’s capital. Says Rogers, “ Now is the time to finally get wilderness status for the Copper-Salmon. It’s an important part of our natural heritage.”
Author’s sidebar: Sportsmen for Copper-Salmon Wilderness are Berkley Conservation Institute – Pure Fishing Company; Association of Northwest Steelheaders; Oregon Chapter – Backcountry Hunters and Anglers; McKenzie Chapter – Trout Unlimited; Native Fish Society; Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association; Oregon Council – Federation of Fly Fishers; Oregon Division – Izaak Walton League of America; Oregon Council – Trout Unlimited; Southwest Oregon Chapter – Association of Northwest Steelheaders; Trout Unlimited – Public Lands Initiative. Visit www.sportsmenforcoppersalmon.org or call Mike Beagle at 541-772-7720; e-mail: mbeagle@tu.org.
For more information on the Copper-Salmon Wilderness Bill, contact Jerry Becker at Elk River Land Trust, P.O. Box 1158, Port Orford, Oregon 97465 – 541-332-7923; e-mail: ecoforester@wildblue.net; website: www.ERLT.org and Jim Rogers at Friends of Elk River, 95187 Elk River Road, Port Orford, Oregon 97465 – 541-332-2555; e-mail: chla@briskweb.net; website: www.foer.org.
To voice support for the wilderness bill, contact U.S. Representative Peter Defazio at United States House of Representatives, 2134 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 and U.S. Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden at United States Senate Building, Washington, DC 20515.
For guided fishing trips, contact Richard Wolfe, Wolfe Pack Guide Service at P.O. Box 171, Camas Valley, Oregon 97416 - 541-445-2254 or 541-580-2183; e-mail: fishon@rosenet.net; website: www.wolfefishing.com or Mark Kimball, Steelblue-Chameleon Lodge at 541-332-3140.