21 September 2000
Clackamas County Board of County Commissioners
Mr. Bill Kennemer, Chair
Mr. Larry Sowa, Commissioner
Mr. Michael Jordan
906 Main Street
Oregon City, Oregon 97045-1882
Dear Board of County Commissioners (BCC):
I wanted to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to attend last week’s (12 September) BCC study session where Mr. Cam Gilmour presented findings detailing the high cost of quarrying the Madrone Wall (a.k.a., Hardscrabble Quarry). I also appreciated being allowed to comment on the future of preserving the Madrone Wall even though I was not an active participant in this study session.
For decades this amazing and beautiful natural civic treasure, residing on a Clackamas County-owned forty-four acre plot of land, has been a revered recreational area for rock climbers, hikers, and equestrians because of natural and unique basalt cliff faces, pristine Pacific madrone and Douglas-fir forests and thriving wetlands, close proximity to Portland, and unrivaled scenic views of the lower Clackamas River basin. When the County, in the fall of 1997, closed the Madrone Wall to public access as it pursued a quarrying permitting process, the recreational and preservation community reacted quickly and incorporated as the Madrone Wall Preservation Committee (MWPC), an Oregon public benefit corporation. This Committee, with assistance from local and national organizations such as the Mazamas, Ptarmigans, American Alpine Club, and The Access Fund, have banded together with the Clackamas River Basin Conservation Alliance, a group of local concerned citizens, to protect the Madrone Wall from an irreversible demise.
While the MWPC opposes quarrying, we have from the onset of this controversy constructively worked with County officials and its citizen’s to pursue a fair-minded and farsighted use for this amazing part of Oregon’s heritage. This has included actively encouraging the rock climbing community to respect the County’s "No Trespassing" posting until this issue is resolved. Although I was not appointed to the Aggregate Resources Task Force (July 1999 – February 2000) as a representative of the thousands-strong local recreational community, I did attend nearly all the Task Force meetings as an interested observer and provided balanced comments when appropriate.
The MWPC is encouraged by the BCC’s conclusion that quarrying the Madrone Wall is uneconomical and that other more promising aggregate resource options exist. We offer our enthusiastic support and request that we be included in the next crucial step to preserve the Madrone Wall. We see the next step as an exploration of a sale or transfer of the land which would ultimately permanently preserve this civic treasure within an ever-expanding metro area. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Sincerely,
Keith K. Daellenbach
Director, Madrone Wall Preservation Committee
Steering Committee Member, Clackamas River Basin Conservation Alliance
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