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Groups fight to protect mining ban They plead with Interior Secretary Gale Norton to hold off on new Siskiyou forest claims By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune CAVE JUNCTION - Environmental groups have launched an 11th-hour campaign to persuade Uncle Sam not to lift a two-year ban on new mining claims in the Siskiyou National Forest. Interior Secretary Gale Norton is expected to decide soon on last month's request by U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth to remove the moratorium, originally called for by former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt Jan. 22. The ban applies to new claims in the forest and on about 150,000 acres of the western edge of the Bureau of Land Management's Medford District. About 1.15 million acres are impacted. The Illinois Valley-based Siskiyou Regional Education Project and the Sierra Club have sent postcards containing short letters in support of the ban to members who are urged to sign and forward them. One card is addressed to Norton, another to Bosworth and the other two to Oregon Sens. Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden. Each postcard asks that the Forest Service not lift the ban. "All we're asking is they continue with the process," said Barbara Ullian, conservation director for the Siskiyou Project. "They can always come up with an alternative proposal if the public and the federal government doesn't think the withdrawal (ban) is necessary." The ban will provide the time needed to study further the impacts of mining on the region's salmon fishery and its rare plants and unique biological diversity. Babbitt asked for the temporary ban after announcing he would not recommend a 1 million-plus-acre Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Monument proposed by environmental activists. It was needed to protect "nationally significant ecological and biologic diversity of the Siskiyou Wild Rivers area," according to Babbitt.The ban did not affect existing claims. Walt Freeman, a longtime Illinois Valley miner and member of the Waldo Mining District, doesn't think it's necessary. "That withdrawal was a last-minute thing signed by the Clinton administration," he said. "It was devised so that no matter what step was taken by the new administration, they would be seen as anti-environment." He believes the ban is too broad. "This is a blanket withdrawal over southwestern Oregon," he said. "It's unprecedented. In my view, it was something they just threw up against the wall to see if it would stick." Forest Service and BLM officials say a decision by Norton is anticipated soon. "The mechanics are in the works but it hasn't happened yet," said Rob Shull, recreational lands and minerals staff officer for the Siskiyou and Rogue River national forests. The Interior manages minerals while the Forest Service manages surface resources. The Forest Service proposes to lift the ban affecting 1.15 million acres and replace it with one of about 80,000 acres. Earlier this month, Wyden and Oregon's four Democratic House members sent a letter to Bosworth in support of the existing ban. Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber echoed similar sentiments in a letter to Norton on Monday. Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who originally had asked the Bush administration to review Babbitt's decision, has yet to make up his mind on the ban, said Smith spokesman Chris Matthews. "The senator is still reviewing the proposal," Matthews said. "He hasn't come out one way or the other. But he felt that, because it was done at the last minute, then it should be reviewed." Meanwhile, a letter supporting Babbitt's original proposal and representing more than 40,000 people was sent to Bosworth on Tuesday, Ullian said. In addition to a dozen environmental groups, others endorsing the letter included the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.