A KS Wild Review of 2009 and Vision for 2010

In 2009, with your support we:

•  Defeated the WOPR! KS Wild was instrumental in defeating this plan to open up millions of acres of old-growth and riparian forests to clearcutting across BLM lands in western Oregon. •  Challenged destructive post-fire logging projects. The Forest Service pushed destructive post-fire logging projects during 2008 and 2009. KS Wild defeated the most troubling projects and will continue work in 2010 to steer toward a more ecologically sound approach to fire management and community fuels reduction projects.

•  Jumpstarted the Rogue Riverkeeper Program. KS Wild's newest program reviewed pollution discharge permits, identified gaps in local Clean Water Act implementation, fought a 225 mile long liquefied natural gas import facility and pipeline across Oregon, took on abandoned mines that leach poisons into our waterways, and began documenting and challenging suctions dredge and placer mines - all this in its first year!

•  Got proactive in managing our failing road network on public lands. KS Wild succeeded in establishing road closures for rare botanical areas in the Illinois Valley and continues to influence the travel planning processes for the Klamath, Fremont-Winema, Rogue River-Siskiyou, Shasta-Trinity, and Six Rivers National Forests.

•  Crafted a Restoration Plan for the Rogue River Basin. This comprehensive look at the region's tree farms, road networks, and fish barriers will help set the tone for small diameter logging and restoration work in coming years.

•  Defended and built protections for rare species and wild places. We defended protections for rare species like the northern spotted owl and extraordinary landscapes like roadless areas, while expanding protections for special places like the Wild and Scenic Rogue River and Oregon Caves National Monument.

•  Launched the Siskiyou Crest National Monument campaign. KS Wild led a 90-mile trek across the Siskiyou Crest in August 2009, bringing attention to the botanical diversity and beauty of this forested montane landscape and the need to protect it from encroaching degradation.

We've come a long way in the last year.

KS Wild needs your generous support to continue forging ahead as the leading voice for the wilderness areas, ancient forests, and salmon-filled rivers of the Klamath-Siskiyou region.

In 2010, we will:

•   Continue pressuring the Forest Service to better manage off-road motorized recreation through the creation and enforcement of an ecologically-defensible and logistically-enforceable road network.

•   Put an end to plans for a fossil fuel import facility on Oregon's coast and an associated LNG pipeline across (and under) southern Oregon's rivers and streams.

•   Move proposals to expand Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and Wilderness protections for the Lower Rogue River and expand the Oregon Caves National Monument across the Congressional finish line.

•   Advance substantive protections for the Siskiyou Crest National Monument.

•   Stop the expansion of suction dredge and placer mining in southern Oregon's salmon rivers and other harmful mining practices.

•   Take on bad federal fire management policies, including fire suppression in Wilderness Areas and post-fire logging.

•   Push for scientifically-sound small diameter logging and restoration projects that restore our public lands and encourage community economic stability.

•   Provide incentives and support for the removal of Gold Ray dam on the Rogue River.

•   Advance proposals with Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality to ban the carcinogenic burning of plastic in fuels reduction projects, more fully regulate stormwater in the Rogue Basin and to control activities that contribute to the growth of toxic algae in our public waters.