Mission Statement

For future generations of all species, the Siskiyou Project is the grassroots network dedicated to permanently protecting the globally outstanding forests, botanical areas and wild salmon streams of the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area. The Siskiyou Project combines science, education and advocacy to build an inspired and effective local and national constituency for this special place.

Organization Description

Siskiyou Project has been working to protect biodiversity in the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion of southwest Oregon and northwest California since our incorporation in 1983. Based near the rural community of Cave Junction with an office in Grants Pass, our primary purpose is to gain permanent protection for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area. We use environmental education, science, conservation advocacy, and economics as tactics to achieve our goals. 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. Our current campaigns include protecting Siskiyou Wild Rivers from logging, mining, increasing and lawless off-highway vehicle use and other threats such as the introduction of invasive species. Our main goal is to help promote and create the Siskiyou Wild River National Preserve. Please join us today, click here to learn more about becoming a member! 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 nine more rivers eligible for protection give Siskiyou Wild Rivers it's 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 six full-time and one part-time staff, the Siskiyou Project relies on volunteer and member support to accomplish it's goals. Four of our staff members have been with us longer than five years. Our members receive action alerts, the color 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 primary partners in the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Campaign include the World Wildlife Fund, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Wilderness Society, and American Lands Alliance. 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 sponsered almost 75 special educational events such as hikes, workshops, and slide shows.

2001
We provided logistics and research assistance to Martha Stewart's telivision show on the Siskiyou area that was broadcast on national telivision. 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 Siskiyous Wild Rivers protection campaign. The first Siskiyou Environmental Film Festival was held in Ashland, OR! We submitted dozens of coments 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, recieved nearly two million hits to our website, hosted 700 participants at the 3rd Annual Siskiyou Environmental Film Festiva, 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.

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 telivision show on the Siskiyou area that was broadcast on national telivision, 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 Siskiyous 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