Commissioners oppose Crater Lake Wilderness proposal

by SAMANTHA TIPLER H&N Staff Reporter  Dec 2, 2015 

Klamath County commissioners say the fire danger is too high to allow 500,000 acres around Crater Lake National Park to become designated wilderness. Tuesday the board unanimously voted to sign a resolution opposing Oregon Wild’s bid to classify a corridor from Brown Mountain to Crescent Lake as the Crater Lake Wilderness.

“I think this is something Klamath County really needs to oppose,” said commissioner Jim Bellet. “There is already wilderness up there, there’s plenty. We just don’t need any other catastrophic wildfires.”

Historic fire season The commissioners’ formal resolution of opposition referenced the “let it burn” policy of the national park, the lack of fire protection for homes, resort lodges and campgrounds, and last summer’s National Creek Complex fire. That historic blaze burned more than 20,000 acres on the north end of Crater Lake National Park, the largest in the park’s history.

“Much of the forest within the proposed area is categorized as high risk for catastrophic fire,” the resolution reads. “We the Klamath County commissioners support and continue to enjoy Crater Lake National Park, but strongly oppose Oregon Wild’s proposal to designate a 500,000 acre ‘Crater Lake Wilderness Area.’ ”

“I’m really concerned about forest health. We have not done a good job as a country, and certainly as a state, of really having proper forest management,” said commissioner Kelley Minty Morris. “Our forests are susceptible to fire much more than they should be.”

Helicopter tours opposed Oregon Wild promotes the wilderness designation as a way to keep intrusions from the national park, such as helicopter tours and logging operations. “To combat the misguided logging of the Bybee project and the threat of noisy helicopter flights over the national park, wilderness protection is needed,” 

Oregon Wild’s website on the proposal says. “Wilderness designation is the gold standard when it comes to protecting America’s public lands.” A designated wilderness area prohibits any mechanical use within its boundaries, such as motorized vehicles, trail bikes, helicopters, etc. Klamath County Commission Chairman Tom Mallams showed a map of the proposed 500,000 acres, which includes areas west of Klamath Falls such as Pelican Butte, and Brown Mountain near Lake of the Woods and Fish Lake, as well as the Sawtooth Mountains between Mount Thielsen and Diamond Peak. “North of Crater Lake and south, both. Huge, huge areas, scattered all over the place,” Mallams said. “It is a very drastic picture. It really shows how gigantic an overreach this is.”

“That would really affect the recreational opportunities that people have just west of Klamath Falls,” Bellet said.

Mallams is opposed to “government management” of public lands, he said, noting 58 percent of Klamath County falls into that category. Air quality issues “One acre is too much additional land,” Mallams said. “We can’t use the land for what it was intended for, a wise and balanced use of natural resources.”

Another issue the commissioners raised was air quality. Wildfires produce smoke, which affects Klamath County’s air quality in the summer. “Any proposal that increases the likelihood that we are going to have even more catastrophic fires that really impact our health outcomes is something I can’t support,” Minty Morris said. As a hiker and trail runner, Minty Morris said some sort of solution may be workable, but not the one Oregon Wild is proposing.

“I don’t think in this instance it’s the right solution,” she said. “Let’s do that in a way that’s collaborative, in a way that still puts us on a path to increased forest health, in a way that still puts us on a path toward better forest management .... But let’s not just do this blanket proposal as it’s crafted today.”

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In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml