North Fork Smith River Threatened by Mining (CA/OR)
Posted: 07/07/2014
By: Megan Hooker
The North Fork Smith River needs your help. An international corporation has their sights set on developing a nickel strip mine on a tributary of Baldface Creek, which is a tributary of the North Fork Smith River. Both are whitewater gems with pristine water quality that also provide strong salmon and steelhead habitat and supply drinking water for residents downstream. Mining activities in this region will threaten all of these values, and is not in the public interest.
Red Flat Mining Corporation has filed for a 5-year temporary water right (a.k.a. "limited
license") for exploratory drilling actives in the area and the Oregon Water Resources
Department is accepting public comment on the application until Tuesday, July 8th. If granted,
this will bring the company one step closer to their strip mine, and we need your help to stop
them in their tracks.
Submit comments to jerry.k.sauter@state.or.us, and be sure to reference "LL-1533" in
your comments or just use the simple online
comment form. They can be as simple as asking the ORWD to deny the application for LL-1533
and that using water from the headwaters of the North Fork Smith River for industrial mining
operations is not in the public interest.
Here are some additional talking points to consider:
- If you've recreated in the area, it's especially important to talk about your personal experience and why the area has special meaning for you.
- Metal mining poses serious risks to human health and ecological functions. If developed, this proposed mine will have negative impacts on the high quality recreational experience provided by the region, harm salmon habitat and water quality and pollute downstream water supplies.
- The high ecological and wilderness value of the region has already been recognized through several important designations, including Wild and Scenic on the North Fork Smith, Wilderness for the Kalmiopsis area, and National Recreation Area.
- The proposed mine will impact rivers that are eligible for Wild and Scenic designation.
- The downstream reaches in California have already been fully allocated.
For more information, you can check out the comments that
American Whitewater and 16 other conservation groups sent to the Oregon Water Resources
Department to urge them to deny this application. You can also view the application with the
OWRD, and read an
article about the issue in the Del Norte Triplicate.
American Whitewater will continue to work with our partners to keep the headwaters of the Wild
and Scenic North Fork Smith free from mines. Please add your voice to those opposing this water
right by July 8th!
Thanks!
(And many thanks to Northwest Rafting Company for the
photo!)