Rogue Advocates Appeals Box R Ranch Conditional Use Permit

Rogue Advocates has filed an appeal of Jackson County’s approval of the Box R Ranch Conditional Use Permit to authorize an aggregate mine on a 42-acre parcel zoned forest resource. The site is about 1 1/2 miles south of Hwy 66 near Lincoln school in the Greensprings. Access has been granted by BLM over their road system to Hwy 66. The property is fully surrounded by Siskiyou Monument lands and pristine Keene Creek flows through the site. The Rowlett family owns the parcel and for decades have used the shale deposit for their own use without permits (allowed). The use became blatantly commercial in the past three years.

Issues:

• Increased turbidity on Keene Creek in excess of turbidity when comparing the virgen waters samples above the site to samples below the bridge showing turbidity in excess of allowable state and federal standards (even in the dry season). There has been no replanting and scant erosion control at this time. In contrast, Staff states impacts to Keene Creek have been mitigated and substantially reduced. Violations within the 50’ riparian setback are quite evident.
• After citizen complaints to the County, the state agency reps from DOGAMI, County and BLM toured the site and requested specific best management practices to be installed by Box R this summer. A recent December water sample showed virtually the same increased turbidity differences as the same time last year in violation of state and federal standards. Rogue Advocates has appealed Jackson County’s approval as we believe the applicant has failed to satisfy various County land use requirements for a mine site. The efforts by the applicant are documented to be ineffective.
• There are no permits in place for this mine that has been operating under the radar for years. The code complaints have led to both the County and DOGAMI to require this mine application.

Public hearing on January 4th, 2021! Download hearing notice here.