3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 6, 2018
Man visiting all Oregon rivers
for law’s 50th anniversary
Federal act
protects rivers
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The Nehalem River passes near the Nehalem Falls Camp-
ground southeast of Manzanita.
Part of Nehalem River
could become ‘scenic’
Decision may
come by
November
By MATEUSZ
PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
SALEM — Oregon parks
officials believe a portion of
the Nehalem River qualifies as
“scenic,” but potential restric-
tions have met with consterna-
tion from agriculture and local
government representatives.
The Oregon Parks and Rec-
reation Department has com-
pleted a study concluding that
17.5 miles of the river meets the
criteria for scenic designation,
such as free-flowing water, out-
standing views and recreational
opportunities.
The report was submitted in
June to the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Commission, which
oversees the agency and plans to
vote on a “scenic” recommen-
dation as early as November.
Restrictions meant to protect
the natural features of scenic
waterways can be problematic
for landowners, particularly the
requirement they notify state
parks at least one year before
making certain changes to their
property within a quarter-mile
of the river.
During that time, the land-
owner can negotiate with the
agency over possible alternative
plans or a sale of the property.
In the forested areas sur-
rounding the Nehalem River,
the primary concern would
be delayed timber harvest-
ing, which is already regulated
under the Oregon Forest Prac-
tices Act, said Mary Anne Coo-
per, public policy counsel for
the Oregon Farm Bureau.
“It’s a complicated structure
that’s on top of anything else,”
she said.
Changes to roads or farm
buildings may also be hindered
by the requirement, Cooper
said.
Though the rules for scenic
rivers do make allowances for
agriculture, the construction or
modification of a structure —
such as a pumphouse — must
be compatible with the sur-
rounding aesthetics, she said.
Whether a design is visually
obtrusive is a highly subjective
question that could prove prob-
lematic for landowners, she
said.
The scenic designation
is also meant to protect river
flows, potentially interfering
with the development or trans-
fer of new water rights, Cooper
said. The protections may have
implications for water qual-
ity, which is already regulated
under other laws for agriculture
and forestry.
The Farm Bureau is also
skeptical whether the 17.5 mile
stretch actually meets the cri-
teria for a scenic designation,
since the landscape has long
been managed, she said.
“There are homes and roads
throughout the area, so it’s not
really undisturbed,” she said.
Tillamook County’s Board
of Commissioners has also
come out against the scenic des-
ignation, arguing that restric-
tions on logging will violate the
state government’s duty to gen-
erate revenues from property
donated by the county.
“Although we support pub-
lic uses on the Nehalem River
… we cannot support the pro-
posed designation as it fails to
take into account the primacy of
timber production on properties
which the county deeded to the
state decades ago,” according to
a letter sent by the board.
By MARK FREEMAN
The Mail Tribune
MEDFORD — When Zach
Collier paddled down the cool
and clear upper Chetco River in
June, he couldn’t help but think
back to events five decades ago
that helped put him there.
Men in suits on the East
Coast who were worried about
the river-damming era of their
time pushed for a law that
would protect wild streams
and their banks for future
generations.
“Future generations,” says
Collier, a 44-year-old rafting
and kayaking guide and out-
fitter. “I get goosebumps every
time I read that. That’s us.”
The National Wild and Sce-
nic Rivers Act turns 50 this
year, and Collier is helping pay
homage to the law by system-
atically researching and per-
sonally experiencing each of
Oregon’s 58 river reaches pro-
tected by that act.
The Wild and Scenic sec-
tion of the Rogue downstream
of Rainie Falls is one of the
eight original rivers protected
under the act that now cov-
ers 203 river designations,
including a second one on the
far upper Rogue in the Union
Creek region.
Oregon has the most
streams protected under the
1968 act, thanks largely to 40
designations championed in
1988 by former U.S. Sen. Mark
Hatfield, who earlier helped
shepherd funding to complete
Lost Creek and Applegate
dams in the Rogue River Basin
and attempted to complete Elk
Creek Dam, which was later
abandoned and demolished a
decade ago.
The designation means the
rivers must be protected as
free-flowing and managed to
preserve natural, cultural and
recreational values. The pro-
tections extend a quarter-mile
from each bank, but not the
river’s source or other aspects
of it outside the designated
boundaries.
Southern Oregon contains
the largest concentration of
Kayakers paddle through the Magic Canyon of the Chetco River in June.
Wild and Scenic rivers in the
lower 48 states, and the Rogue
Basin is well represented in the
three designations of the act —
Wild, Scenic and Recreation.
Wild rivers are largely
primitive and generally inac-
cessible other than by water
or trail, while Scenic rivers are
similar but accessible in places
by roads. Recreation rivers are
readily accessible, have some
shoreline development and
may have housed dams in the
past.
On the Rogue, those three
designations cover 84.5 miles
of water from the mouth of
the Applegate River to Lob-
ster Creek about 16 river miles
upstream of the Pacific. That
includes the Rogue’s famed
Wild section from Whisky
Creek near Rainie Falls to Was-
som Creek near Foster Bar.
The far upper Rogue from
the Crater Lake National
Park boundary to the end of
the Rogue River-Siskiyou
National Forest boundary near
Prospect is also designated, as
is part of the Illinois River.
The
designation
has
brought certain protections to
the Rogue, including caps on
commercial guides and pub-
lic launches during popular
spring and summer rafting and
fishing seasons, and it helps
squelch any possibility for the
once-proposed Copper Can-
yon Dam on the lower Rogue
downstream from the mouth of
the Illinois.
The proposed hydroelec-
‘I’m really
partial to the
Chetco. To
me, it’s the
epitome of
a Wild and
Scenic river.’
Zach Collier
tric dam detailed in a 1931
report was to stand 200 feet
tall and back up the Rogue far
upstream, says Tim Palmer, a
Port Orford author of several
books, including “Wild and
Scenic Rivers: An American
Legacy.”
When talk of the dam resur-
faced in the 1960s, fishing
guides and others coalesced
their opposition and turned
toward support of the Rogue
being added to the original list
of eight Wild and Scenic rivers,
Palmer says.
“I think the Rogue was
probably a shoe-in from the
beginning,” Palmer says. “The
Forest Service knew it was
a pretty amazing river. Ever
since Zane Grey people knew
that.”
In all, Oregon’s Wild and
Scenic rivers stretch more than
1,916 miles, or 2 percent of
Oregon’s nearly 111,000 miles
of river, according to the U.S.
Forest Service.
Some, like the lower Rogue
Canyon stretch and the upper
Chetco, Collier runs regularly
either for pleasure or for his
Hood River-based Northwest
Rafting Co. But the quest to
visit all of Oregon’s Wild and
Scenic stretches began last
year with Collier “not really
knowing how hard that would
be,” he says.
Some, like the North Fork
of the John Day River or the
Minam River in the Wallowa
Mountains, take more plan-
ning and preparation for what
amounts to multiple-day floats
through technical water.
“We could just go visit them
and check them off the list,”
Collier says. “But they deserve
to be done the right way.”
Some are not floatable,
such as the River Styx that
flows underground in Oregon
Caves near Cave Junction.
So far he’s hit 41 of them,
and he hopes to get through 50
by the end of the year.
Collier and others on these
expeditions are chronicling
their journeys and experiences
at www.oregonwildandscenic.
com, “like a portfolio of what
we’ve visited,” he says.
Among all the truly remote
Wild and Scenic rivers in Ore-
gon, however, one continues to
stand out to Collier.
“I’m really partial to the
Chetco,” Collier says. “To me,
it’s the epitome of a Wild and
Scenic river. It’s wild, clear and
untouched. It’s mentally and
physically exhausting. It’s the
Chetco.”
Oregon family waits for remains of Korean War soldier
Nearly 7,700
Americans are
still missing
By KATE DAVIDSON
and CRYSTAL LIGORI
Oregon Public
Broadcasting
The other day, the U.S.
military moved 100 empty
coffins to the border of North
Korea.
That’s because during the
June summit between North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un
and President Donald Trump,
North Korea agreed to repatri-
ate the remains of soldiers lost
in the Korean War.
They’ve been missing for
almost 70 years.
There are almost 7,700
Americans still unaccounted
for, according to the Depart-
ment of Defense POW/MIA
Accounting Agency.
Crystal Ligori/OPB
Corinne Steiger holds a
photo of her younger broth-
er, Cpl. Wayne Barton Gill Jr.
One of them is Cpl. Wayne
Barton Gill Jr.
Born in 1930, Gill grew
up in Woodburn, the young-
est of three children. At 19, he
enlisted in the military, first
serving in Okinawa, Japan.
On July 16, 1950, he wrote to
his family in Salem saying he
was packing his stuff to move
out to “you know where.”
WANTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
Northwest Hardwoods • Longview, WA
Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500
much more. About 10 years
ago, Brekas started look-
ing more seriously into what
happened to her uncle; she
worked with the Coalition of
Families of Korean & Cold
War POW/MIAs for answers.
They learned his name
appeared on a chalkboard
in a former schoolhouse in
Seoul where North Korea
kept prisoners of war. Brekas
said some of those POWs
were taken north; others were
killed en route.
“His name does not appear
on any list of any group that
was living or that was found
dead,” Brekas said. “So it’s as
if he just kind of vanished.”
The family submitted
DNA samples to a laboratory
Fre
e
Est Fast
ima
tes
Call me
ti
Any
Jeff Hale Painting
•
•
•
•
Residential
Commercial
Cedar Roof Treatments
Exterior Repaint Specialist
Over 25 years local experience
503-440-2169
Jeff Hale,
Contractor
LICENSED
BONDED
INSURED
CCB#179131
OREGON’S OWN
Volunteer
Pick of the Week
234th Army Band
Brass
Ops
Oscar
calls of the calvalry
young American
Shorthair
“Brass Ops”, a detachment of the 234th Army
Band, explores the development of bugles,
drums and military traditions used for tactical
movements, ceremonies and morale
Life is more important
Than therapy. Adopt
And love a pet.
Read about Oscar on Petfinder.com
Sponsored
By
Eleven days later, he was
reported missing in action in
South Korea.
At 95, Corinne Steiger,
Gill’s sister, is still waiting for
her brother’s remains.
“I think that’s the only rea-
son I am still alive,” she said,
“to get the whole family back
together. Then I can go.”
Gill’s niece, Pam Brekas,
was only 2 years old when
Gill left to serve, but she
was able to connect with him
through his letters home.
“Every letter he wrote
home asked about me,” she
said. “‘How’s Pammy?’”
Brekas knew her uncle had
fought in the Korean War and
never came home. Beyond
that, her family didn’t know
C LATSOP C OUNTY A NIMAL S HELTER
1315 SE 19 th Street, Warrenton • 861 - PETS
www.dogsncats.org
Noon to 4pm, Tues-Sat
PRESENTS
This light-hearted show (really - it is!)
is fun for all ages!
july 8 th
AT
10 AM
SEASIDE AMERICAN LEGION
1315 Broadway St., Seaside
in Hawaii that’s been work-
ing to identify some remains.
They sent in letters Gill had
licked, leaving his own DNA
on the envelopes. They found
samples of his baby hair and
some of his baby teeth.
Twice before, the fam-
ily thought they had identi-
fied remains that might be
his. They’re still waiting
for one set to be identified.
Brekas said another identifi-
cation ended in disappoint-
ment when it turned out not to
be her uncle.
“Somebody else got an
answer which is really good,”
said Brekas. “We don’t know
whether we ever will or not.”
The family is hopeful but
cautious about the new agree-
ment between North Korea
and the U.S. to repatriate
remains.
“I would like to hope that
through this dialogue that the
leaders are having, that the
remains could be recovered,”
Brekas said. “I’m hopeful that
would happen, but I’m really
skeptically optimistic because
they’ve had agreements in the
past only to fall apart.”
With Gratitude
Words cannot describe the
actions of so many, caring
individuals,
who
helped
me and my family, during
the recent loss of my
husband, and very best friend,
Chris Summerer. From the
endless
messages,
visits,
concerns and love, we had
an army with us the entire
way! I just cannot express
how much we appreciated
it all, as well as giving us
the strength we needed
to get from one moment
to the next. We would also
like to say “Thank You”
to
the
businesses
(and
subsequent individuals) who
brought the abundance of
food for Chris’ memorial. The food, like the friendship,
was literally overflowing. And please know that we
will take each, and every one of you, up on your
offer of “being there.”
We have experienced the worst day, minute and second
of our lives and because of you all, we will be able to
pick ourselves up and move forward. I was so honored
to reference the coast as our “home”, and the
wonderful people who live here as “family.” From me,
and my entire family, Thank You for all you have done.
Lastly, I want to call out Renee Caldwell, of Caldwell’s
Luce-Layton Mortuary in Astoria for the care, and
professional sensitivity, in every step of the farewell
process. I had very high expectations in every detail, yet
Renee (and her staff) exceeded Them all. For all of this,
you have our gratitude.
Russell Maize & Family