Sierra Club--Juniper Group
It is without question that the Sierra Club is a powerful environmental organization with well over 700,000 members. Here in Oregon, our membership has risen to over 21,000.
We urge you to consider joining a committee at your group level or at the chapter level. Our projects are varied and diverse, and it is through grassroots volunteerism that we educate the public to protect and restore the quality of Oregon's natural and human environment.
The Oregon Chapter can use your help in any one of these areas:
- Protecting the Tillamook and Clatsop State Forests.
- Saving the salmon runs on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.
- Halting ski expansion on Mt. Ashland.
- Keeping intact the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.
- Attending to Eastside grazing and forestry issues.
- Voicing disapproval on unnecessary new power plants.
- Reducing commercial agriculture and toxic pesticide use in the Klamath Basin's National Wildlife Refuge.
- Helping with endorsements, election work and proactive legislation.
- Opposing the killing of half the cougar population in two study sites.
- Coordinating federal forest strategies throughout the state.
- Promoting population stabilization.
The Juniper Group of the Sierra Club focuses attention on protecting Central and Eastern Oregon forests. One such project is the North Fork of the Crooked River Project.
The North Fork flows out of the highest peaks in the Ochoco National Forest and is classified as a "Wild and Scenic River". Even with that designation, it has serious problems. The land is used for summer grazing of cattle and has been badly damaged by the grazing. Several healthy creeks flow into the property and only the North Fork flows out. What does flow out resembles a sewer and the river bottom is brown slime for the first six or so miles as it flows through the scenic North Fork Gorge above the Upper Falls.
As a result, the Ochoco Forest Service has initiated a study of the entire North Fork watershed. Presumably, they will be looking at grazing damage, water rights, ecosystem health and water quality. It is uncertain if they will be able to influence the practices of the private landowners. The Juniper Group, ONDA and other environmental organizations are involved in the process and ultimately may have to seed recourse through the courts and through public pressure.
For information on this project, and other National Forest projects of concern to the Juniper Group, please visit www.oregon.sierraclub.org
To volunteer with the Juniper Group Sierra Club, visit us here.
To support our programs through membership, click here.
