Another Kalmiopsis and Wild Rivers Coast Mining Proposal

Written by Michael Dotson in May 2024

Kalmiopsis leachiana. Credit: Haleigh Martin

If you’ve been following KS Wild for a while, you will know our organization has a long history of supporting grassroots advocacy in the Kalmiopsis region of southwest Oregon. A unique geologic landscape, the region is defined by the large Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area which is also home to a rare flower of the same name – Kalmiopsis leachiana.

The southwestern corner of Oregon contains the headwaters of the premier wild rivers in the West. Beautiful rivers like the Wild & Scenic Illinois and Wild & Scenic Chetco gather water and come to life in the mountain valleys of this region.  Sparkling emerald water flows through forested canyons to the ocean, these rivers are important fish and wildlife habitat and provide clean drinking water that local communities depend on.

Map of areas protected from mining in the Wild Coast/Kalmiopsis region in 2017.

These rivers anchor a region often referred to as the Wild Rivers Coast, and it’s an area that has also long been a target of mining companies and speculators. Adjacent to the Wilderness Area, speculators have tried for decades to to seek fortune from mining for nickel in these watersheds, but local groups like the Siskiyou Project pushed back against the exploitation of one of the largest roadless areas in the Pacific Northwest. Despite a 2017 ruling by the Obama Administration to put a 20-year moratorium on mining in the headwaters of the North Fork Smith River and Illinois River, a new mining company has emerged with plans to mine for nickel in the Baldface Creek watershed. 

KS Wild is working closely with Friends of the Kalmiopsis and Kalmiopsis Audubon to monitor potential mining exploration activity that Homeland Nickel Corporation is proposing for the North Fork Smith River at their Cleopatra mining claim. We are currently working with the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest leadership to ensure that any proposals from Homeland Nickel are vetted and scrutinized to the highest degree. We also continue to advocate for permanent protection of Oregon’s North Fork Smith watershed, and the adjacent Rough & Ready Creek watershed, as part of Senator Wyden’s and Representative Hoyle’s Southwest Oregon Watershed and Salmon Protection Act. 

You can read past blog posts about mining threats to the Kalmiopsis/Wild Coast region here and here.

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