Beavers are an important ally in fight against climate change

We need beavers. Beavers could be a powerful ally to address many of the problems we face due to a warming climate.

Their activities increase wildlife habitat and enhance biological diversity. By slowing water they reduce flood risk for low land communities. Beaver dams will increase the amount of water moving into aquifers.

These attributes make a strong case for the reintroduction of Beavers into as much of the natural landscape as possible. The environment needs them and so do we.

Gary Clarida / Rogue River

County license fee increase for dog owners should be reversed

As a veteran, senior, and owner of a wonderful dog, I protest the 40-75% increase in dog license fees imposed by the Jackson County Board of Commissioners.

Last year, a three-year license for a senior or veteran cost $40; this year it is $70. If you can’t claim the discount, the county demands $80 for you to have a dog. This is in addition to the cost of the vaccination.

If I lived in Douglas County, the three-year license for my neutered dog would be only $16, in Klamath County $23. What else is different about those adjoining counties? They have spacious state-of-the-art shelters, true animal shelters that help cats, rabbits, all sorts of domesticated critters.

Jackson County has reduced its facility to a dog-detention compound. Moreover, the commissioners have penalized our animal rescue groups that too must get a county permit. The fee went up 142% in under eight months, from $130 to $315.

Why are the commissioners penalizing law-abiding dog owners and the rescue entities working so hard to help our community’s animals? This just begs for dogs and cats to go unvaccinated and unlicensed due to the escalating costs.

Call or write to Commissioners Dotterrer, Dyer and Roberts, and insist they reverse these harmful fee increases.

Daniel Sathre / Applegate Valley

Misleading depiction of jet boat opponents has been used before

I found your recent article about jet boat dangers on the Upper Rogue to be misleading and biased. County Administrator Danny Jordan presented the concerned citizens of our beautiful valley as “wealthy riverfront property owners,” which is the company line of Rogue Jet Adventures.

Mr. Grimes has used these same tactics in the past to badmouth “elitist” fly fisherman, or drift boat owners who oppose his dangerous driving. You imply a selfish NIMBY motive for community activism, which is factually incorrect.

Upper Rogue Guardians is made up of a variety of concerned local citizens who all volunteer their time to help protect the crown jewel of Southern Oregon, the Rogue River. While some are riverfront owners, most are just locals who have seen the negative impacts of allowing a private business to install loading docks in a public park like Touvelle, where kids used to swim.

Imagine if any business could conduct transactions below the water line as long as no cash changes hands, we would have total chaos. The special treatment that this private business receives costs us all in damages to the river, habitat and salmon loss, dangers to boaters, swimmers and fishers, and a slippery slope of privatization of public parks.

We can all share the river like we have for generations by protecting it from profit-driven destruction. My kids have gotten capsized, my parents’ picnic washed away, and my family no longer floats this section during “jet boat” season. Help us protect the Upper Rogue.

David Tourzan / White City

Jet boat story didn’t give full picture of size of opposition

Shaun Hall’s recent news story might make readers think that Rogue Jet Boat Adventures is being unfairly maligned by “wealthy riverfront property owners,” as he quoted County Administrator Danny Jordan saying.

He could have reported — but didn’t — on why over 1,900 people have signed petitions opposing this commercial enterprise, no more than 100 of whom might be characterized as living on the river.

He could have pointed out — but didn’t — that the over 1,600 responses to a 2022 Oregon State Parks survey were overwhelmingly opposed to a proposed jet boat concession.

Hall quoted Commissioner Roberts asking whether the public wants “multi-use on the river.” Good question. The Rogue River and Touvelle Park have been multi-use for many decades.

For four generations, our family has enjoyed the way it’s been open to everyone to share, whether on the river (swimming, wading, rafting, kayaking, float-tubing, fishing, drift-boating) or in the park (hiking, picnicking, dog-walking, bird-watching or simply enjoying a quiet afternoon on the river banks). Unfortunately these popular historical uses are no longer enjoyable, let alone safe, when the commercial jet boat business is roaring up and down the river multiple times a day in the summer.

The four state agencies Hall mentions have responsibilities to protect this special place for the benefit of all of us, not just for the benefit of a wealthy tour-boat operator.

Gretchen Ousterhout / Eagle Point

County, state officials failed the public on jet boat operations

County officials and several state agencies have enabled expansion of jet boat use on the Upper Rogue, often while implying that the problem with this situation is that those complaining about it are self-interested and/or misinformed.

This storyline has been echoed by our local newspapers (the Mail Tribune and now the RV Times), whose reporters have written articles filled with unexamined quotes from these same enablers.

What ever happened to investigative journalism on behalf of the public interest?!

Please quit misinforming your readers by implying that a commercial tour boat operator is being unfairly challenged (by elitists?) and that jet boats belong on the Rogue River above the bridge at Touvelle State Park.

The truth is nearly the opposite: Government power or ineptitude is serving the special interests of a tour boat company and of small but growing numbers of jet boat operators intruding on areas that were historically avoided out of respect for other river users, navigational challenges, boating safety rules, and a more sensitive environment than is found downriver.

County and agency officials have failed both the public and the tour boat company’s owner, Mr. Grimes. He is an aggressive entrepreneur who pushes limits. Those in authority failed to enforce limits. The consequence is a big mess.

Mr. Grimes is now financially invested in operations that are a poor fit, while those ultimately responsible are hoping a process led by Oregon Kitchen Table can help them extricate themselves without dwelling on how we got here.

Chuck Huntington / Shady Cove