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Andy Kerr (born May 29, 1955) is a conservation advocate, consultant, lobbyist, lecturer, and writer in Oregon. [1] [2] He has been involved in conservation efforts [3] including protecting timber habitat of the northern spotted owl from logging, water for salmon and sucker fish in the Klamath Basin (Klamath Water Crisis), and the creation of Steens Mountain Wilderness and other preserves. He worked for the Oregon Natural Resources Council (later renamed Oregon Wild) in the 1970s and the Wilderness Society in 2000. The Oregonian said he was the most famous environmentalist in the state during the northern spotted owl timber controversy. He played a leading role in advocating for the Steens Mountain Wilderness preserve area. He also advocated, unsuccessfully, for population control measures in Oregon. [1]
According to the biography page on his website, Kerr is a fifth-generation Oregonian and was born and raised in Creswell, Oregon, a former timber town in the upper Willamette Valley. He now lives in Ashland, Oregon and Washington, D.C.
When Kerr bought a log house in Eastern Oregon during the 1990s it caused some controversy because of his anti-logging advocacy. [4]
Kerr married Nancy Peterson. In 2009 he was engaged to Randi Spivak, who worked for the Center for Biological Diversity. [1]
The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly-populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast Ranges, the Klamath Mountains have a varied geology, with substantial areas of serpentinite and marble, and a climate characterized by moderately cold winters with very heavy snowfall and warm, very dry summers with limited rainfall, especially in the south. As a consequence of the geology and soil types, the mountains harbor several endemic or near-endemic trees, forming one of the largest collections of conifers in the world. The mountains are also home to a diverse array of fish and animal species, including black bears, large cats, owls, eagles, and several species of Pacific salmon. Millions of acres in the mountains are managed by the United States Forest Service. The northernmost and largest sub-range of the Klamath Mountains are the Siskiyou Mountains.
The Klamath River flows 257 miles (414 km) through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second largest river in California after the Sacramento River. It drains an extensive watershed of almost 16,000 square miles (41,000 km2) that stretches from the arid country of south-central Oregon to the temperate rainforest of the Pacific coast. Unlike most rivers, the Klamath begins in the high desert and flows toward the mountains – carving its way through the rugged Cascade Range and Klamath Mountains before reaching the sea. The upper basin, today used for farming and ranching, once contained vast freshwater marshes that provided habitat for abundant wildlife, including millions of migratory birds. Most of the lower basin remains wild, with much of it designated wilderness. The watershed is known for this peculiar geography, and the Klamath has been called "a river upside down" by National Geographic magazine.
The Adirondack Park is a part of New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for "the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure", and for watershed protection. The park's boundary roughly corresponds with the Adirondack Mountains. Unlike most state parks, about 52 percent of the land is privately owned inholdings. State lands within the park are known as Forest Preserve. Land use on public and private lands in the park is regulated by the Adirondack Park Agency. This area contains 102 towns and villages, as well as numerous farms, businesses and an active timber-harvesting industry. The year-round population is 132,000, with 200,000 seasonal residents. The inclusion of human communities makes the park one of the great experiments in conservation in the industrialized world. The Forest Preserve was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963.
Olympic National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Washington, USA. With an area of 628,115 acres (2,541.89 km2), it nearly surrounds Olympic National Park and the Olympic Mountain range. Olympic National Forest contains parts of Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, and Mason counties. The landscape of the national forest varies, from the temperate Olympic rain forest to the salt water fjord of Hood Canal to the peaks of Mt. Washington.
The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal subrange of the Klamath Mountains, and located in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately 100 miles (160 km) from east of Crescent City, California, northeast along the north side of the Klamath River into Josephine and Jackson counties in Oregon. The mountain range forms a barrier between the watersheds of the Klamath River to the south and the Rogue River to the north. Accordingly, much of the range is within the Rogue River – Siskiyou and Klamath national forests, and the Pacific Crest Trail follows a portion of the crest of the Siskiyous.
Steens Mountain is in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Oregon, and is a large fault-block mountain. Located in Harney County, it stretches some 50 miles (80 km) north to south, and rises from the west side the Alvord Desert at elevation of about 4,200 feet (1,300 m) to a summit elevation of 9,738 feet (2,968 m). Steens Mountain is not part of a mountain range but is properly a single mountain, the largest of Oregon's fault-block mountains.
Forest Park is a public municipal park in the Tualatin Mountains west of downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Stretching for more than 8 miles (13 km) on hillsides overlooking the Willamette River, it is one of the country's largest urban forest reserves. The park, a major component of a regional system of parks and trails, covers more than 5,100 acres (2,064 ha) of mostly second-growth forest with a few patches of old growth. About 70 miles (110 km) of recreational trails, including the Wildwood Trail segment of the city's 40-Mile Loop system, crisscross the park.
The Willamette National Forest is a National Forest located in the central portion of the Cascade Range of the U.S. state of Oregon. It comprises 1,678,031 acres (6,790.75 km2). Over 380,000 acres are designated wilderness which include seven major mountain peaks. There are also several National Wild and Scenic Rivers within the forest. The forest is named for the Willamette River, which has its headwaters in the forest. The forest headquarters are located in the city of Springfield. There are local ranger district offices in McKenzie Bridge, Detroit, Sweet Home, and Westfir.
The Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument is a United States national monument that protects 114,000 acres (46,134 ha) of forest and grasslands at the junction of the Cascade Range and the Siskiyou Mountains in Southwestern Oregon and Northwestern California, United States. The monument is managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the National Landscape Conservation System. It was established in a presidential proclamation by President Bill Clinton on June 9, 2000 and expanded by President Barack Obama on January 12, 2017.
Klamath National Forest is a 1,737,774-acre national forest, in the Klamath Mountains and Cascade Range, located in Siskiyou County in northern California, but with a tiny extension into southern Jackson County in Oregon. The forest contains continuous stands of ponderosa pine, Jeffrey pine, Douglas fir, red fir, white fir, lodgepole pine, Baker Cypress, and incense cedar. Old growth forest is estimated to cover some 168,000 acres (680 km2) of the forest land. Forest headquarters are located in Yreka, California. There are local ranger district offices located in Fort Jones, Happy Camp, and Macdoel, all in California. The Klamath was established on May 6, 1905. This forest includes the Kangaroo Lake and the Sawyers Bar Catholic Church is located within the boundaries of the Forest. The Forest is managed jointly with the Butte Valley National Grassland.
The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is a large wilderness area spanning the Central Cascades of Washington state in the United States. The wilderness is located in parts of Wenatchee National Forest and Snoqualmie National Forest, and is approximately bounded by Interstate 90 and Snoqualmie Pass to the south and U.S. Route 2 and Stevens Pass to the north. The Alpine Lakes is the largest wilderness area near the population centers of Puget Sound, counted at 414,161 acres (167,605 ha) following the 2014 expansion.
Walter Leslie AuCoin is an American politician. In 1974 he became the first person from the Democratic Party to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon's 1st congressional district, since it was formed in 1892. The seat has been held by Democrats ever since.
The northern spotted owl is one of three spotted owl subspecies. A western North American bird in the family Strigidae, genus Strix, it is a medium-sized dark brown owl native to the Pacific Northwest. An important indicator species, the northern spotted owl remains threatened due to continued population decline from human-caused habitat destruction and competition with invasive species, its main competitor being the barred owl.
The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, in the U.S. state of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. This north-south running range extends over 200 miles (320 km) from the Columbia River in the north on the border of Oregon and Washington, south to the middle fork of the Coquille River. It is 30 to 60 miles wide and averages around 1,500 feet (460 m) in elevation above sea level. The coast range has three main sections, a Northern, Central, and Southern.
Gilchrist State Forest is the sixth and newest state forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. The forest is located in northern Klamath County near the community of Gilchrist and was officially dedicated on June 11, 2010. The forest sits along U.S. Route 97 and is 70,000 acres (28,000 ha) in size.
The French Pete Trail is a 9.9-mile (15.9 km) hiking trail in the valley of French Pete Creek in the Three Sisters Wilderness of western Oregon. The trail passes through low-elevation old-growth forest that was a nationwide political issue in the 1960s and 1970s because of conflicting plans for logging and for wilderness designation, respectively. In 1978, the U.S. Congress passed a bill adding the French Pete area to the Three Sisters Wilderness.
Lake of the Woods is a natural lake near the crest of the Cascade Range in the Fremont–Winema National Forest in southern Oregon in the United States. The lake covers 1,146 acres (4.64 km2). It was named by Oliver C. Applegate in 1870. Today, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife manages the lake's fishery. The small unincorporated community of Lake of the Woods is located on the east shore of the lake. Lake of the Woods is one of southern Oregon's most popular outdoor recreation sites.
Oregon Wild, formerly the Oregon Natural Resources Council, is an American conservation organization based in Portland, Oregon, with offices in Eugene and Bend. The group is notable for having had a case, Marsh v. Oregon Natural Resources Council 490 U.S. 360 (1989), tried before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Wendell Wood was an American environmental activist and educator who co-founded Oregon Wild, a conservation organization headquartered in Portland.
Sitka Sedge State Natural Area is an estuary and beach on the north coast of the U.S. state of Oregon in Tillamook County. Sitka Sedge consists of 357 acres (144 ha) of tidal marsh, mudflats, dunes, forested wetlands, and uplands at the south end of the Sand Lake estuary, north of Tierra Del Mar.