The other day I received a request for help. Common Waters of Oregon is a grassroots organization and really is a way for many people to work together to research and protect river rights. Many of us care about it statewide, but honestly, we often feel the issue more intensely on certain rivers that feel like “home” to us. On those waters, many folks utilize Common Waters as a way to help collect important information to protect river rights on that river. This blog will work great for everyone looking to adopt a river and collect information. It can be searched by river, and by whatever little “tags” we want in order to search through the information.
So here is the request I received regarding the Applegate River, it’s an important tributary of the Rogue.
“I am looking for fisherman who have experienced a problem with landowners
while fishing on the Applegate River. I hope the fishermen would be willing to document their
experiences. Some landowners claim the river is not navigable” ….
The Applegate River is being privatized by misinformation. That’s right; an untrue thing is being circulated to scare people off of rivers. Just because a river has not yet been tested as “navigable” does NOT make it not navigable. Read that again, it’s a bit confusing….. A river that isn’t listed as “navigable” has not been ruled non-navigable, it is untested. That does not mean it’s private. Read it again. That is a really really important tricky little thing to understand.
If you have information on Applegate, please join in and help document what’s happening. If you wish to remain anonymous on our website, please get in touch via our e-mail link. Remember it’s critical to create documented incidence, but, we don’t need to subject your name to everyone on the internet, we can create a catalog and keep your name off our website, but use it when needed to discuss issues with the Department of State Lands, or the legislature. Just know, that somewhere, somehow, we need folks that are willing to document what’s happened to them. There are many landowners with stacks of police reports, documenting their side. It’s time that you document yours.
Please get in touch with us on the Applegate River or any other river. Getting a river tested as navigable by the Department of State Lands, requires that we must have documentation of the problems.
– Heather McNeill
