Mission Statement

Siskiyou Project is a grassroots organization dedicated to permanently protecting the globally and biologically outstanding wild rivers, forests and botanical richness of the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area.

Organization Description

Siskiyou Project subscribes to a vision that ecological, social and economic forces in our community must be balanced for them to be sustainable. No one force can dominate or be compromised over the others. When all three factors are included in decision making with integrity our wildlands, wildlife and communities will thrive.

Our campaigns are designed to promote and build sustainability in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area. Siskiyou Project has been working to protect biodiversity in the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion of southwest Oregon and northwest California since our incorporation in 1983. Starting near the rural community of Cave Junction we are now based in Grants Pass, our primary purpose is to gain permanent protection for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area. To that end we have developed a strategic plan that utilizes four integrated campaigns to promote and implement a model for sustainability:

Conservation Policy – to establish policies for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers region by establishing an ecologically, socially and economically integrated management plan for protecting wilderness, botanical areas, wild & scenic rivers, and other federal lands in the area.
Community Forestry and Restoration – by restoring degraded habitats and building public support for ecological restoration we will: reduce wildfire danger in the wildland-community interface; defuse community conflict by building common ground for ecological restoration activities; increase local family-wage jobs in the restoration industry; increase ecological function on public lands; and protect backcountry wildlands from fire prone timber plantations.
Biodiversity and Conservation Advocacy – by defending the habitat, and protecting the species we will: reduce/eliminate public and agency activities which damage or degrade the habitat; seek a mining withdrawal in the SWR area which reduces the number of active mining operations; increase monitoring, public education, and involvement in “community watchdog” programs; establish biomass retention guidelines creating a truly sustainable emerging “green economy” in southwest Oregon; and ensure that off-road vehicle travel will not be allowed in roadless areas, botanical areas and other sensitive areas such as coho spawning habitat.
Community Outreach and Education – we will educate the public about our programs and the natural history of the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area utilizing events and educational opportunities such as: the Siskiyou FilmFest, a two day festival featuring films about the area and issues which affect it; tabling at events throughout the year (i.e. ELAW, Growers Market); and conducting a series of hikes to important areas we are restoring or protecting.

In 1998 Siskiyou Project organized the first conference on Klamath-Siskiyou Ecology and founded the Siskiyou Field Institute (SFI), an ecological field studies program for all ages and educational levels. SFI has grown to become it's own organization and can be found by visiting www.thesfi.org.

Please join us today, click here to learn more about becoming a member!

Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area

The SISKIYOU WILD RIVERS AREA is one of the world's most botanically rich conifer forests. The region is renowned for its diversity of rare plants, many that exist nowhere else on earth. Containing the largest, unprotected wild area from the Olympics to Baja, the Siskiyou Wild Rivers is part of the larger Klamath-Siskiyou bio-region, which has been proposed as a World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Five National Wild & Scenic Rivers with nationally outstanding water quality and many others eligible for protection give Siskiyou Wild Rivers its name. Many of these rivers, home to endangered wild salmon, wind their way through the Kalmiopsis Wildlands - an ancient landscape of fire-sculpted forests and deep canyons. Please help Siskiyou Wild Rivers get the permanent protection it deserves. Learn more here.

People

With five staff, Siskiyou Project relies on volunteer and member support to accomplish its goals. Our members receive action alerts, the quarterly newsletter Voice of the Wild Siskiyou, email updates, and plenty of educational materials to go around. Many of our local and national supporters still remember Lou Gold's slideshows that inspired a generation to take action in support of our region. Our Grants Pass based Executive Director, Shane Jimerfield, inspired by Lou Gold's tireless advocacy, now leads the way in presenting the Siskiyou Wild Rivers slideshows to audiences across the west and lobbying officials in Washington D.C.

Partners

We work closely with many national and regional conservation groups. Our partners in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Campaign include Oregon Wild, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Friends of the Kalmiopsis, Environment Oregon, Pacific Rivers Council, Trout Unlimited, The Wilderness Society, Cascadia Wildlands, American Rivers, and Campaign for America's Wilderness. In our Community Forestry and Restoration Program we are partnered with Lomakatsi Restoration Project. We also work collaboratively with local community organizations, business and community leaders.

Here are some testimonials from some of our partners and collaborators:

"I would like to thank the Siskiyou Regional Education Project for all the work they have done to protect the beauty of the land and the homelands of my people."

- Agnes "Tao-why-wee" Pilgrim, Last Surviving Elder of the Takelma Indian Tribe

"I'm a long-time resident of the Illinois Valley, and am currently a Board Director of the Illinois Valley Community Response Team. Over the 25 years I have lived in the valley, I have watched local attitudes change with regard to the remarkable landscape we live in, and I attribute much of this change to Siskiyou Project. The Field Institute, the public hikes each season, and, yes, the fearless public advocacy to protect our rivers and forests-Siskiyou Project has created the space for ordinary people to claim the landscape we take for granted here as a precious treasure. What a different place this would be if not for that organization!"

- Shel Anderson, community activist and development director, Grants Pass Boys and Girls Club

"Our group, the Friends of the Applegate Watershed has been trying to stop a big aggregate mining project that would tear up the river and send huge amounts of road-damaging truck traffic through our neighborhoods. Siskiyou Project ecologist Rich Nawa has been helping us with environmental analysis and speaking for us at the public hearings. Thank you, Rich and the Siskiyou Project."

- Jack Goldwasser, Friends of the Applegate

"The Siskiyou Regional Educational Project has a vision for sustainability that is supported by a capable community of people who are dedicated and passionate about creating a better future."

- Josephine County Commissioner Jim Brock

"The Siskiyou Project has been a very important partner in our work to identify and protect ecologically important riparian properties in Southern Oregon. SREP has also done a great job of working with landowners to finalize their conservation easements."

- Dan Kellogg, President Southern Oregon Land Conservancy

"Siskiyou Project staff are the sort of tireless advocates for a place that are absolutely essential for success. Successfully defending a place under current mining law requires enormous effort. Siskiyou Project has shifted the whole debate on mining in the Siskiyou Mountains. Before they got involved, mining was always assumed to be the preferred use of public land. Now, the protection of wildlife and wild places comes first-as it should."

- Roger Flynn, Executive Director, Western Mining Action Project

"The Siskiyou Project is one of the hardest working, most effective groups I know of working to protect wild rivers and fish in Southern Oregon."

- Dave Strahan, Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association

"Siskiyou Regional Education Project is a truly effective grassroots advocate for the globally significant Siskiyou Wild Rivers including the Rogue, the Illinois, the Chetco and Rough & Ready Creek. I've worked with their staff for many years and they are top notch."

- Kristen McDonald, Director, Wild & Scenic Rivers Program, American Rivers

"The Siskiyou Project shares with the Native Plant Society of Oregon a common mission of protecting and restoring the outstanding biological diversity of the Siskiyou ecoregion. The Siskiyou area harbors an outstanding array of native habitats and species, and because of their efforts, many of these will be preserved for future generations. The Siskiyou Project not only provides excellent public education programs (such as the Siskiyou Field Institute), but also works tirelessly with management agencies as an advocate for the native plants, animals and other species in the region."

- Bruce Newhouse, President, Native Plant Society of Oregon

"The Siskiyou Project is a leader in grass-roots conservation, spearheading an effective campaign last year that made protection of the Siskiyou Wild Rivers among the state's chief environmental issues that also received recognition from President Clinton. The Siskiyou Project has a history of effective campaign organizing through creative proposals to protect the region's unique values. They have been a most effective conservation partner to WWF through efforts to link grass-roots activism with coordinated actions of national groups. Siskiyou Project campaign efforts have consistently included well-thought out and collaborative projects that take into consideration local community interests and sustainable resource use in conservation actions."

- Dominick A. DellaSala

"Mineral Policy Center relies on its local grassroots partners to help lead the resistance to the destructive 1872 Mining Law. The Siskiyou region faces severe mining threats, yet, thanks to excellent work by the Siskiyou Regional Education Project, a great deal of progress has been made. SREP is one of the best groups we work with."

- Bonnie Gestring, Mineral Policy Center

"Thanks to our partnership with the Siskiyou Project, together we were able to achieve a great victory for the Wild Chetco River and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness by buying out 2000 acres of patented mining claims and returning them to public ownership, thus permanently protecting nine river miles of the Wild Chetco."

- Phil Wallin, President of River Network's Western Rivers Conservancy

History and Accomplishment Highlights:

1991

The Siskiyou Project moved from a purely outreach effort based on storyteller Lou Gold's slideshow tour to add a strong advocacy program.

1994

Due to our efforts 100,000 acres of roadless forests on the Siskiyou National Forest were added to the Late Successional Reserve system of the Northwest Forest Plan.

1995

We convinced the Bureau of Land Management to protect 1,162 acres of unique Redrock Rainforest as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern.

1997

We organized the successful First Conference on Siskiyou Ecology attended by 300 scientists, students, land managers and local citizens. The Siskiyou Field Institute grew out of that conference with the mission of holding science-based field courses on the unique ecology of the Klamath-Siskiyou region.

1998

Working with the River Network, we helped secure Land and Water Conservation Funds to buy out 2000 acres of private inholdings and mining claims with nine miles of river front on the Wild & Scenic Chetco River inside the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. 1999 In conjunction with World Wildlife Fund, we produced the Klamath-Siskiyou Conservation Plan, a landscape level conservation biology assessment by leading scientists Dr. Reed Noss and Dr. James R. Strittholt of the Conservation Biology Institute. The first Siskiyou Field Institute classes were held co-sponsored by Southern Oregon University.

1999

We mobilized massive public input, which convinced the US Forest Service to deny a large strip mine operation (while allowing some test mining to prove economic viability) in Rough & Ready Creek, the most botanically diverse watershed in the State of Oregon.

2000

We launched the Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Monument Campaign. As a result of the campaign, we were granted a two-year moratorium on new mining claims in the Siskiyou by the outgoing Clinton Administration. Through our Siskiyou Field Institute, we organized an ecology conference with over 300 people and offered 33 science based field courses on the unique ecology of the area. We distributed about 20,000 Quarterly newsletters, 40,000 informative publications, and 13,000 action alert emails. We sponsored almost 75 special educational events such as hikes, workshops, and slide shows.

2001

We provided logistics and research assistance to Martha Stewart's television show on the Siskiyou area that was broadcast on national television We gained 194 new members, distributed about 16,500 newsletters, 6,000 action alerts, and put on over 75 special educational events. In 2001 the Siskiyou Field Institute served more than 300 students in science based courses exploring the unique ecology of the region. We also hired a fulltime director for SFI to expand its programs to three seasons to serve broad sectors of the public. SREP worked cooperatively with the BLM to protect rare plant habitats from off-road vehicle damage. We performed a field survey of mining damage on Siskiyou streams.

2002

The Siskiyou Project opened a Portland office and hired a campaign director for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers protection campaign. The first Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival was held in Ashland, OR! We submitted dozens of comments on dozens of timber sales, some of which were stopped, and won a lawsuit that ended a cougar killing program.We responded to the Biscuit fire with monitoring and reporting of the fire's progress to our members locally and across the country.

2003

We distributed about 15,000 quarterly newsletters and 10,108 action alerts. SREP collaborated with local, regional and national conservation organizations to challenge the Biscuit Fire Recovery Project proposed on the Siskiyou National Forest. In working with these groups, we garnered about 20 thousand public and written comments in response to the draft Environmental Impact Statement. SREP held the 2nd annual Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival in Ashland on March 18-23 with 750 people attending. The Siskiyou Field Institute convened the Second Conference on Siskiyou Ecology to bring together 150 scientists, educators, land managers, naturalists, and students to present and discuss the latest findings. Over 500 participants, including local youth and community members participated in over 50 field courses, community meetings and other events. In 2003, our Siskiyou Field Institute significantly increased programs to include Elderhostel, Upward Bound, Illinois Valley Youth Programs and Science Camps.

2004

In 2004 our conservation staff, members, and supporters mounted an all-out challenge to the Bush Administration’s plans to log in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area in the wake of the 2002 Biscuit Fire. Siskiyou Project lobbied in Washington DC and mobilized supporters to write letters and phone calls opposing a legislative rider advanced by Senator Gordon Smith that would limit citizens’ access to the courts. We poured over thousands of pages of documents, researching concerns raised by scientists, writing extensive technical comments and coordinating with national and local groups on action alerts. When the dust settled the Forest Service had received 23,000 plus letters from far and wide on its extreme proposal to log the Biscuit Fire Area, ninety-five percent opposed the Bush Administration’s extreme logging proposal. Outreach efforts included 36 slideshow presentations by Campaign Director Rolf Skar, to audiences in Oregon, Washington, and California, 12,000 newsletters distributed to members and the public, 2,645 action alerts mailed to members, 30,000 action alerts emailed to supporters, received nearly two million hits to our website, hosted 700 participants at the 3rd Annual Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival, and 4,000 informational brochures and action alerts distributed to the public. Monitoring of Biscuit logging units exposed problems with the proposed logging and, as a result, protection of riparian areas was improved. News coverage on Biscuit logging impacts included stories in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, National Public Radio, High Country News, Oregonian, Medford Mail Tribune, Grants Pass Courier, and the Eugene Register Guard. There were also numerous stories on the Medford and Portland TV stations.

2006 Accomplishments

Led a national campaign opposing Biscuit post-fire logging and protected Riparian Reserves on hundreds of stream miles through sale monitoring and litigation

Biscuit Fire Logging Finale
In the final year of the Biscuit Fire aftermath, Rolf Skar cultivated national and local media to oppose destructive logging. News reports appeared in the New York Times, L.A. Times, Men's Journal, Time, Sierra, and Science, plus radio and television. Hundreds of miles of streams received 350 foot no-cut buffers, thanks to intense scrutiny of Forest Service sale markings and a lawsuit.

Post-fire Logging Critiques
Significant gains were made in debunking myths about post-fire logging. Rich Nawa gathered and presented data on the abundance of native seedlings in burned areas, along with studies showing that post-fire logging actually hinders natural regrowth. We contributed data to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, triggering a Government Accountability Office report criticizing Forest Service mismanagement and the project's two million dollar deficit.

Worked with local and national allies to restore the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, through intensive media outreach, grassroots organizing, and legal actions

Return of the Roadless Area Rule
Siskiyou Project was a co-plaintiff in the court victory that restored the Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2001, protecting more than 300,000 acres in the Siskiyou National Forest from logging and road building. Rolf Skar helped spur Gov. Kulongoski and three others states to file suit as well. Sadly, two Roadless Area timber sales in the Biscuit Fire zone slipped under the wire and were logged.

Influenced numerous Forest Service and BLM proposals for logging, mining, and road building, using public education, scientific critiques, negotiations, and administrative appeals/protests.

Six Illinois Valley Timber Sales
We participated extensively in BLM planning for six low-elevation timber sales in the Illinois Valley. We gathered 700 postcards and generated 2,000 phone calls and e-mails through community meetings and grassroots organizing to influence the outcomes.

Defending the NW Forest Plan
We were co-plaintiffs in a suit that restored the Aquatic Conservation Strategy in the Northwest Forest Plan, after President Bush rescinded it. An earlier lawsuit (still pending) seeks enforcement of stream protections for in-stream mining.
Another lawsuit restored survey requirements for rare plants and animals in proposed old growth logging projects. We then supported the Northwest Ecosystem Survey Team to locate red tree vole nests in Illinois Valley timber sales and demonstrated the inadequacy of BLM's survey methods.

Defeat of Walden/Smith Bills
We played a central role in defeating the Walden/Smith legislation, designed to sidestep environmental laws and speed up logging after natural catastrophes, such as fire, wind, and floods.

Wild Rogue Legislation
We collaborated with Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Oregon Wild to promote designation of more Wilderness plus Wild and Scenic status for tributaries of the Wild Rogue River.

Siskiyou Wild Rivers Legislation
We hosted a strategy conference to make plans for long-term protection of the Siskiyou Wild Rivers region via Congressional legislation. Mike McCloskey began to work with us, along with conservationists from SW Oregon and beyond.

BLM's New Westside Plans
We submitted scoping comments and co-hosted a forum on the BLM's proposed Western Oregon Plan Revisions (WOPR). More than 75 people discussed the upcoming WOPR, as well as opportunities for forest restoration, fire safety, and eco-tourism.

Promo Video on Klamath-Siskiyou
Julie Norman and film-maker Ralph Bowman produced a video highlighting the wonders of the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion, which premiered at our 5th Annual Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival in Ashland.

Outreach, Hikes, & Earth Day
Staff gave 45 presentations to businesses, activists, community groups, and house parties in Oregon, Washington and California. Rolf Skar talked to over twenty Aveda Hair Salons during Aveda's Earth Month campaign. We organized twenty-five free hikes for the public on geology, post-fire ecology, salmon spawning, Pacific lampreys, mushrooms, wildflowers, and Wilderness. Our Earth Day clean-up focused on Rough & Ready Creek, with help from the Forest Service, civic groups, and local businesses.

Siskiyou Field Institute Takes Wing
After eight seasons of popular conferences and educational field courses, our Siskiyou Field Institute program became a separate nonprofit group and moved to the 800-acre Deer Creek Center in Selma.

2008 Accomplishments

Conservation Policy: Securing permanent legislative protections for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area has been a long-held goal of Siskiyou Project. In 2008, we came several steps closer to achieving that goal: (1) Legislative concepts for the creation of a Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Salmon and Botanical Area were developed, with the assistance of former Sierra Club Executive Director Mike McCloskey, (2) Siskiyou Project staff worked with regional botanical experts to analyze existing protections for the botanical diversity of this area and have formulated concepts for expanding key Botanical Areas in our legislation, (3) Siskiyou Project Executive Director Shane Jimerfield traveled to Washington, D.C. in Spring 2008 to introduce our proposal to legislators and national conservation allies, (4) In late 2008 we set the stage for other organizations in the region to join us in our efforts gain legislative protections for the area. That stage is now being developed further and a collaborative campaign is being developed by Siskiyou Project with many other important conservation groups in the region and state.

Community Forestry and Restoration: In November 2008, Siskiyou Project and Lomakatsi Restoration Project entered into an historic ten-year, 10,000 acre Master Stewardship Challenge Cost-Share Agreement (MSA) with the Wild Rivers District of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. This precedent-setting agreement provides an opportunity to address the ecological, social and economic challenges facing the area by providing opportunities to advance community participation in the selection and development of forest and aquatic habitat restoration projects within previously managed areas of the forest. The retained receipts generated by these projects will be used to help fund in-stream restoration projects throughout the region, with a special focus on the Sucker Creek watershed, which is the leading producer of Endangered Coho salmon in the Rogue basin.

Biodiversity and Conservation Advocacy: Siskiyou Project, in partnership with KS Wild and others, developed a Citizen’s Alternative for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest’s Travel Management Plan. This alternative provides a framework for protecting roadless areas, botanical areas, wilderness, and salmonid-bearing streams from off-road vehicle use and erosion caused by poorly designed roads. Siskiyou Project’s goal is to ensure that destructive roads are closed, and quiet recreation is protected as a result of this process.

We also submitted a successful joint application with Pacific Rivers Council (PRC) to EcoTrust for a Sediment Reduction Action Plan and Priority Pilot Project on the Sucker Creek watershed of the Illinois River in 2008, and in 2009 we will be working with PRC to complete a Sucker Creek Watershed Assessment and Restoration Plan.

Community Outreach and Education: During 2008, Siskiyou Project hosted 17 free, educational hikes, which were attended by a total of 131 individuals. In addition, we held six Siskiyou Wild Rivers Legislative Campaign outreach meetings during the funding period (two in Washington D.C., one in Eugene, one in Portland, and two in Josephine County), and also had Siskiyou Wild Rivers Legislative Campaign materials available at staffed tables for seven additional public events in Jackson and Josephine County. Finally, in February 2008 Siskiyou Project hosted our 7th Annual Siskiyou FilmFest in Grants Pass, which drew a record 500 participants and offered our first Youth FilmFest, which was also well-attended.

Some highlights from 2009

• Victories over two lawsuits resulting in important conservation and protection: defeating the Western Oregon Plan Revisions and overturning of the Bush Administration’s attempt to remove the Roadless Rule;
• Establishment of strong campaigns to address two of the biggest threats currently facing the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area: off-road vehicle use and destructive mining operations;
• An invigorated Siskiyou Wild Rivers Campaign, which succeeded in garnering a request to the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management from Governor Kulongoski, Senators Wyden and Merkley, and Representative DeFazio for a mining moratorium for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area; and,
• Ecological restoration treatment of degraded habitat in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area that helped bring over $1.4 million of Economic Stimulus funding to Josephine County creating family-wage jobs through our partnership with Lomakatsi Restoration Project and the US Forest Service.
• Siskiyou Project hosted 15 free, educational hikes. These hikes were well-attended, and averaged between 20 and 25 participants per hike.
• Presentations about the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Area to the California Native Plant Society and the 3rd Klamath-Siskiyou Ecology Conference, held a workshop on mining law, and hosted numerous field trips and community meetings about our Community Forestry and Restoration program in the Illinois Valley. In addition, Siskiyou Project’s programs were featured in a number of newspapers; including two stories that were picked up by AP and went nationwide.
  

History Summary

We have a strong history of accomplishment. In 1994, due to our efforts 100,000 acres of roadless forests on the Siskiyou National Forest were added to the Late Successional Reserve system of the Northwest Forest Plan. In 1995 we convinced the Bureau of Land Management to protect 1,162 acres of unique Redrock Rainforest as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. In 1997 we organized the successful First Conference on Siskiyou Ecology attended by 300 scientists, students, land managers and local citizens, and launched the Siskiyou Field Institute program. Working with the River Network, in 1998 we helped secure Land and Water Conservation Funds to buy out 2000 acres of private inholdings and mining claims with nine miles of river front on the Wild & Scenic Chetco River inside the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. In 1999, in conjunction with World Wildlife Fund, we produced the Klamath-Siskiyou Conservation Plan, a landscape level conservation biology assessment by leading scientists Dr. Reed Noss and Dr. James R. Strittholt. In 2000, we launched the Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Monument Campaign. As a result of the campaign, we were granted a two-year moratorium on new mining claims in the Siskiyou by the outgoing Clinton Administration. In 2001 we provided logistics and research assistance to Martha Stewart's television show on the Siskiyou area that was broadcast on national television, gained 194 new members, and presented over 75 special educational events. In 2002 we opened up a Portland office, hired a campaign director for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers protection campaign, and the first Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival was held in Ashland, OR. In 2003, SREP held the 2nd annual Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival in Ashland. In response to the Biscuit Fire Recovery Project we collaborated with local, regional and national conservation organizations to garner about 20 thousand public comments in response to the draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The Siskiyou Project is a proud member of Earth Share of Oregon. Earth Share is a federation of America's leading non-profit environmental and conservation organizations, working to promote environmental education and charitable giving through workplace giving campaigns. Earth Share is an opportunity, a system, and an answer for environmentally conscious employees and workplaces to support dozens of environmental groups at once through a charitable giving drive. To learn how you can bring an Earth Share giving campaign to your workplace, or for more information, visit www.earthshare-oregon.org