North Fork Smith Overview

Rising in Curry County, Oregon and flowing across the state line into Del Norte County, California, the North Fork Smith River and all of its tributaries are pristine and in reference water quality condition because they remain undammed, undeveloped, and flow from and through the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and the South Kalmiopsis Roadless Area. Recognizing the stream’s outstandingly remarkable water quality and world-class fishery, Congress added the North Fork Smith River in Oregon to the National Wild and Scenic River system in 1988.

However, this remarkable watershed is now threatened by a nickel strip mine planned by a foreign-owned company that currently has a mineral exploration proposal before the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest for analysis. The facts are strip mining is a form of hard rock mining which the EPA documents to be the largest source of toxic pollution in the USA. Accordingly, downstream water purveyors and agricultural interests in the watershed have determined that strip mining in the headwaters of North Fork Smith River watershed to be an unacceptable risk to their communities and economy.