The total acreage for the proposed Veva Stansell Botanical Area is approximately 4,094 acres. The area lies between Hunter Creek and the Rogue River and adjoins the existing North Fork Hunter Creek Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), designated by the BLM, along with the Hunter Creek Bog ACEC, for its botanical values in 1995. The Veva Stansell Botanical Area would complement the botanical values of the North Fork Hunter Creek ACEC by protecting lands upslope and by representing distinctive and diverse serpentine vegetative communities influenced by the coastal climate.
The proposed Veva Stansell Botanical Area is already designated as a Late Successional Reserve (LSR) by the Northwest Forest Plan, which means that the area is already off limits to logging. The trees that grow in the area are a mix of broad leaved evergreens and pines —most are slow-growing and small owing to nutrient poor serpentine soils and are generally not suitable for timber harvest.
The proposed Veva Stansell Botanical Area and nearby Hunter Creek Bog ACEC and North Fork Hunter Creek ACEC and Red Flat Botanical Area (outlined in green in the map above) are currently withdrawn from new mining claims, owing to a 20-year "mineral withdrawal" approved in 2017. Existing claims must be proven valid before any mining can proceed.
To help support designation of the Veva Stansell Botanical Area, please click here to add your name to our petition.
