Letters to the Editor
From our weekly issue dated July 01, 2009
(Editor’s Note: Views and commentary, including statements made as fact, are strictly those of the letter-writers.)
Typed, double-spaced letters are considered for publication. Hand-written letters that are double-spaced and legible also can be considered. “Thank you” submissions are not accepted as letters.
Positive reactions
From Fred & Karen Luevano
Cave Junction
Several times the Illinois Valley News has included Lue-Van-O’s in articles, which has brought us positive reactions. We just wanted to let you know how much we appreciate this.
Monument expansion
From John Roth
Cave Junction
Josephine County Commissioner Dwight Ellis was quoted in Illinois Valley News (June 24) as saying, “It seems like Congress is just trying to grab more and more land. Any time there’s a land grab by the feds, I am against it.”
First, the land in question is already federally managed. Second, it is not owned by Congress or other “feds,” but owned by all of us.
Knee-jerk reactions like this are often based on an ideology both anti-history and anti-science. For the past eight years, the most ideologically driven administration we have ever had declared war on the science of managing federal lands. Now, with the new administration based more on science, Ellis laments and imagines that the Oregon Caves expansion is already “a done deal.”
Since Dwight moved to Josephine County in 1988, why didn’t he comment when Oregon Caves solicited public input on the proposed expansion starting in the 1990s? Nearly all of the thousand or so letters and verbal comments the monument received supported the expansion.
It’s also not a “done deal.” Anyone can still contact their federal and state representatives whether or not they think the expansion would enhance tourism in Illinois Valley or better protect a “crown jewel” of our nation.
The monument so far this year has had at least a 10 percent increase in visitors on cave tours over last year, an amount reflected in increased local tourism. Since most other areas of Oregon are not showing a comparable increase, some of this may be due to the increased marketing by the monument, the monument’s concessionaire (I.V. Community Development Organization), the Friends of Oregon Caves, and local people too numerous to mention.
Does anyone think that having a monument big enough to have a recognizable shape on the Oregon State Highway Map might make it easier for tourists to find us, rather than the dot the monument now is?
We should not let knee-jerk reactions not based on facts get in the way of a proposal that could have a positive economic effect on our community.
Ellis fear unfounded
From Greg Walter
Cave Junction
Commissioner Dwight Ellis expressed concern over protecting the water quality of our iconic Rogue River and Oregon Caves (“Huge expansion proposed for Caves Monument,” Illinois Valley News, June 24).
As a small business owner, I’d like to shed some light on these common-sense proposals offered by legislators Peter DeFazio and Ron Wyden so that Ellis can sleep better.
He might be pleased to know that every acre of the proposed expansion of Oregon Caves is already owned by the American people -- no feared “land grab” here. The bill would simply change the agency in charge of managing the land to better protect the monument’s water supply. I think that’s a good thing for the area’s most-visited attraction, and so does the local rancher who holds the grazing permit. He is voluntarily retiring his permit.
More good news: The acres of land that DeFazio rightly aims to protect around the Rogue River are already public land too. Protecting the salmon runs of Oregon’s second most-productive river must mean protecting the river’s fish-rearing tributaries as well. And I hope Ellis joins me, DeFazio and Wyden in wanting to protect the nearly $20 million in economic activity generated every year by the Rogue River.
Ellis should rest assured that Josephine County would not lose a single acre of land under any of these proposals, and that none of the land would be closed to hunting, fishing, or recreation activity. Indeed, DeFazio wrote his bill to ensure that hunting would not be curtailed. These bills are specifically designed to enhance recreation opportunities of all kinds.
Our business has seen large increases in recent years based on people moving here for the clear streams, healthy lands and the quality of life that are become increasingly hard to find in other parts of the country.
Ellis has nothing to fear in protecting what makes Southern Oregon so special. I hope he joins me in supporting these commendable legislative proposals.
‘Wonderful proposal’
From Jim Gurley
Selma
I must respond to the Illinois Valley News article that ran last week, “Huge expansion proposed for Caves Monument,” by Scott Jorgensen.
The article quotes Josephine County Commissioner Dwight Ellis regarding his objections to legislation which will expand the Oregon Caves National Monument and add Wild & Scenic Rivers Act protection to many of the tributaries of the Wild Rogue on Bureau of Land Management land.
First, the land is already federal land, owned by the American people, that is managed by BLM or the U.S. Forest Service.
Second, the legislation does not ban fishing, hunting or recreation: it promotes them.
Third, the land will stay right where it is. It will not be taken out of the county, I promise that.
Fourth, the area of the Rogue in question is within the Zane Grey area, a stretch of land that is only 20 miles long - not from “here” to Gold Beach. In fact, it is about 35 miles from Gold Beach as the crow flies.
And fifth, Ellis did get this one right: There will be half-mile buffers on each side of the streams. That was determined to be ecologically important to protect the world-class salmon spawning habitat. One of the main purposes of the legislation is to protect the $17.5 million a year commercial and sport salmon fishery of the Wild Rogue. I don’t understand why he would be opposed to protecting one of our largest economic engines.
Finally, I want to say that the grazing elimination on the Caves expansion area is a win-win. The rancher supports the legislation, and is voluntarily selling his lease to retire it.
So, now that we have the facts, I hope all of us, including Ellis, can support this wonderful proposal.
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