Wyden bill aims to improve tourism economy, cut red tape

For the past six years, Zach Collier has been trying to get a permit that allows him to guide kayakers down Southern Oregon’s Illinois River.

The owner of Northwest Rafting Company has the boats, gear and expertise to help kayakers navigate the thundering rapids and remote landscape of this river in the heart of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness.

“It’s this incredible gem of a river,” said Collier, who is based in Hood River. “The water clarity, whitewater and wilderness character is like nowhere else in the world, and it’s right here in Oregon.”

What Collier lacks, however, is a permit. He was supposed to get it six years ago.

In 2009, he bought Sundance Kayaking School with the idea the purchase would bring a permit to operate on the Illinois. But because of an oversight in paperwork by the previous owners, the permit was revoked and hasn’t been reissued despite endless phone calls and meetings with the U.S. Forest Service.

“The problem is they don’t have the time or the manpower they need to go through all the steps — all the red tape — to reissue the permit,” said Coller, who runs trips on the Rogue, Middle Fork Salmon, Owyhee and Chetco rivers. “It’s incredibly frustrating because people call me every year asking about this trip, and I can’t do it.

“Honestly, it’s easier to expand my business in Southeast Asia — we just started running river trips in Bhutan — than it is to expand in Oregon.”

Collier’s story is a common one.

Outfitters seeking to operate on public land often face delay, frustration and inconsistency when dealing with federal agencies. The steps to getting a permit can be difficult to navigate, occasionally costly and subject to the whim of understaffed agency personnel.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden proposed a recreation bill in October aimed in part at streamlining the permitting process.

“It’s not that these agencies got together and decided, ‘Gee, let’s be rotten to these outfitters. Let’s make the process as difficult as possible,’” Wyden said in a phone interview. “The problem is they are stuck with these complex, bureaucratic rules that haven’t been updated with the times.”

Wyden said a major part of his proposal is getting agencies to streamline and modernize their permitting process. The goal is to get them to prioritize recreation and get clear standards and rules in place.

“We want outfitters doing what they do best — bringing people into our amazing outdoors,” said Wyden, who is taking comments now before submitting a final bill. “We don’t want them sitting in the office, wasting time on bureaucratic silliness.”

The issue at stake, said Collier, is the economics of federal land. The Illinois is protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. It's one of Oregon’s most stunning streams.  Yet few people ever see it.

“If you want to have a recreation economy — instead of an extraction economy that would prioritize mining — you have to get this done,” Collier said. “There are so many outfitters that want to bring people, money and jobs to Oregon, and right now, it’s just really difficult to do.”

Zach Urness has been an outdoors writer, photographer and videographer in Oregon for eight years. He is the author of the book “Hiking Southern Oregon” and can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Facebook at Zach’s Oregon Outdoors or @ZachsORoutdoors on Twitter.