Fire issues raised in Caves expansion debate
From our weekly issue dated August 05, 2009
Legislation has been introduced in Congress to expand Oregon Caves National Monument, located 22 miles east of Cave Junction, but its passage could be complicated by potential fire suppression issues.
On June 16, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced S.1270, which would expand the 480-acre monument by more than 4,000 acres. It would prohibit grazing, and transfer administration of much of the land from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to the National Park Service (NPS).
Wyden invited Cave Junction resident Greg Walter to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks in favor of S.1270. Walter did so on Wednesday, July 22, and said that the proposal was met with some resistance by USFS officials.
“There are pieces in there they didn’t like,” Walter said.
Walter said that the provisions regarding grazing and the “Wild and Scenic” designation of streams near and under the cave caused consternation by USFS.
Also noted were concerns about NPS ability to fight wildfires in an expanded monument area, he said.
“The park service felt like they needed more time to figure out what units would receive treatment and who would provide the funding,” Walter said.
Concerns about wildfires were mentioned on a Tuesday, July 21 e-mail from Southern Oregon Resource Alliance Vice Chairman Jack Swift that was submitted in opposition to S.1270.
Swift mentioned the 1988 fire at Yellowstone National Park as proof that NPS is ill-equipped to deal with catastrophic events. Swift wrote that the 2002 Biscuit Fire “began in a wilderness area, precluding effective rapid response.”
“The fire management of these lands under national forest policies is infinitely preferred to those of the national park system,” Swift wrote. “We doubt sincerely that the National Park Service appreciates the hazard, has the resources to undertake the management required or even operates under the philosophical inclination to do so.”
Walter said that he disagrees with Swift’s assessment of the Yellowstone blaze.
“The park service made some mistakes at that, but that was 20 years ago,” he said. “There’s been an increased amount of tourism at Yellowstone because of that fire and people seeing the recovery.”
Walter said that the NPS has a “very active fire management and fuels reduction program.”
“There are units where fire management is an issue,” he said. “But there is evidence that the park service has more equipment and the funds necessary to carry out fuel-reduction projects in a timely and efficient manner due to their larger budgets.”
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In his testimony, Swift wrote that the area surrounding Oregon Caves has a “semi-arid geography and the intermixed and adjacent (Bureau of Land Management) lands in the area are all rated extreme hazard for a catastrophic stand replacement event.
“It should be kept in mind that under the Northwest Forest Management Plan and traditional Congressional funding for the national forest, effective fuel management has not existed for almost two decades,” Swift wrote.
“We are discussing an area which historically has been visited by low intensity fuel eradication fires every 10 to 12 years.”
Swift also opposes the proposed expansion on the grounds that it would harm the area’s economy and jeopardize the ability of the county government to fund basic services.
“The economic management of the lands in the proposed expansion under national forest policies is more than beneficial to the economy of Southern Oregon whose timber industry has been devastated by the Northwest Forest Management Plan in combination with the current economy,” Swift wrote.
“Revenues from the public lands are crucial to the support of local schools. The expansion proposed will be a loss to those interests with no mitigation.”
Walter said that the monument expansion is “not meant to be a cure-all” for the area’s ailing economy, but that it could have some positive benefits.
“I don’t think it will drive the area’s economy, but I think it would help,” he said. “I do not see this as the main and only driver for the economy.
“It’s about diversifying the local revenue streams and further promoting the tourism that is already here.”
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