House panel OKs expansion of Oregon Caves monument

A bill expanding protection of the Oregon Caves National Monument moved a step closer to becoming law following approval in the House Natural Resources Committee Wednesday morning.

HR 2889, introduced last year by U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, calls for the 480-acre monument to be expanded by some 4,070 acres. Supporters say it would protect the monument's water source, improve forest health and increase tourism in the area. But a local timber industry spokesman worries it reflects an effort to continue to whittle away at the potential local harvest from public land.

The expanded area, now part of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, would be known as the Oregon Caves National Preserve and would allow continued fishing, hunting and trapping in the area. A provision in the bill allows thinning to promote forest health and reduce the potential for catastrophic wildfires that would threaten the monument's historic chateau.

The legislation provides for the retirement of grazing permits within the monument by the National Park Service. Applegate Valley rancher Phil Krouse, whose family has grazed cattle in the area each summer for three generations, has agreed to sell his grazing privileges within the monument.

In addition, the bill also designates the River Styx, the underground stream running out of the caves, as the first subterranean Wild and Scenic River in the nation.

Located about 20 miles east of Cave Junction in the Siskiyou Mountains, the caves attract more than 80,000 tourists each year, bringing a much-needed economic boost of "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to the region, according to DeFazio, whose 4th Congressional District includes the region. A recent survey by the park service found that visitors would come more often and stay longer if recreational opportunities around the caves were expanded, he noted in a press release.

In addition to the House passage, the legislation also must be approved by the U.S. Senate before being signed into law.

Similar legislation introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., last year is expected to be marked up in the Senate Energy and Resources Committee this summer, according to Tom Towslee, the senator's spokesman in Oregon. Oregon junior Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., is a cosponsor of that legislation.

Expanding the area around the monument would help protect its sensitive environment as well as boost the local tourism industry, said Lesley Adams of Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center in Ashland, which has been pushing for the legislation and worked closely with Krouse on the grazing issue.

"It's been long recognized that the paltry size of the monument doesn't adequately protect what has been called the 'Marble Halls of Oregon,' " she observed, noting expanding the protected area would prevent underground water pollution from grazing and other activities.

In its 1998 general management plan update, the park service called for increasing the monument's acreage to further protect the area from fire and environmental damage. It concluded that grazing and logging on adjacent forestland could be contributing to bacteria and soil sediments in the caves.

"Creating the nation's only Wild and Scenic subterranean river will also attract more visitors to the caves," Adams said, adding that means more tourists filling gas tanks, staying in local hotels and eating at restaurants.

But Dave Schott, executive vice president of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association, cautions that it reflects a trend to further reduce the timber harvest base from local public land.

"The concern we would have is that it continues the gradual encroachment, more and more land taken out of management," he said. "Four thousand acres isn't a lot of land but it continues that incremental increase."

He noted there also is a proposal to create a roughly 600,000-acre Siskiyou Crest National Monument along the Oregon-California border as well as another effort to expand protection along the lower Wild and Scenic Rogue River.

"Without management, you are just encouraging more severe wildfires," he said, noting the 2002 Biscuit fire burned at will in the roughly 200,000-acre Kalmiopsis Wilderness on the west side of the forest.

Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 541-776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.