ARW-L1BRARY
AN INVENTORY OF FILLED LANDS
IN THE
ROGUE RIVER
November 1972
ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE STATE LAND BOARD
Representative Anthony Meeker, Chairman
Senator Gordon W. McKay, Vice Chairman
Senator Betty Browne
Senator George Eivers
Representative Paul Hanneman
Representative Rod McKenzie
Representative Richard Magruder
Mr. Patrick Gilroy
Mr. Cecil L. Edwards, Executive Assistant
Prepared by the Advisory Committee's
Engineering Staff under the
direction of
Stanley F. Hamilton, P.E.
Staff Engineer
Oregon Division of State Lands
This report was funded by the Advisory Committee to
the State Land Board and a grant from the U.S.
Department of Labor's Emergency Employment Act of 1971
The Rogue River has the largest drainage basin
of any coastal river in Oregon with the sole exception
of the Columbia River. More than 2,500 streams combine
to drain an area of 5,160 square miles.1/
The Rogue Basin includes nearly all of Jackson and
Josephine Counties, a large part of Curry County, a
lesser part of Klamath and Douglas Counties and very
small portions of Coos, Siskiyou (California) and Del
Norte (California) Counties. The river then discharges
into the Pacific Ocean near the towns of Wedderburn and
Gold Beach, Oregon.
The total estuarine area of the Roque River is
830 acres?/ including 410 acres of tidelands2i and 420
acres of permanently submerged land. At the time of
this report, 409 acres of tideland has been deeded to
private owners by the State Land. Board.!/
The navigable length of the river is 33.0 milesV
and the tidewater limit has been designated at 4.5
miles above U.S. 101 bridge or the power line crossing
at the U.S. Plywood Plant.5/
Recreation, in particular the tourist industry,
ranks high in the economy of the Basin. Recreational
attractions are many and the Rogue is world-famous as
a fishing stream for salmon, steelhead, cutthroat trout
and trout.
Industry within the valley is varied, with the
timber industry being largest and most important.
Agriculture, mining and offshore commercial fishing
are also a great contributing factor to the economy of
the area. There are also vast amounts of sand and gravel
being removed from the alluvial deposits in the lower
reaches of the river.
The purpose of this study was to determine the
location, ownership history, owner of record and use
of filled land in the Rogue River Estuary. Filled lands
or "new lands" and related terms are defined by Oregon
Statute Law which in many cases paraphrases English Common
Law. A few of the more important definitions pertaining
to filled land are shown below.
274.905 Definitions for ORS 274.905 to 274.940.
As used in ORS 274.905 to 274.940, unless the
context requires otherwise:
(1) "New lands" means those lands, as distinguished
from bridges, wharves, quays and similar structures,
protruding above the line of ordinary high water, whether
or not connected with the adjoining or opposite upland
or riparian lands on the same side of the thread of the
stream, which have been created upon submersible or submerged lands by artificial fill or deposit.
(2) "Public body" means the State of Oregon or
any port organized under the laws of this state or any
dock commission of any city of this state.
ORS 274.005. (7) "Submerged lands," except as
provided in ORS 274.705, means lands lying below the line
of ordinary low water of all navigable waters within the
boundaries of this state as heretofore established, whether
such waters are tidal or nontidal.
(8) "Submersible lands," except as provided in
ORS 274.705, means lands lying between the line of
ordinary high water and the line of ordinary low water
of all navigable waters and all islands, shore lands
or other such lands held by or granted to this state
by virtue of her sovereignty, wherever applicable,
within the boundaries of this state as heretofore or
hereafter established, whether such waters or lands
are tidal or nontidal.
Selected terms pertaining to tidelands and tidal
boundaries are defined in Appendix A.
A brief summary of the procedure used to obtain
information about the landfills in Rogue River is shown
below:
1) Obtain copies of all U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(U.S.C.E.) permits for landfills or related projects in
study area. Compile and tabulate data.
2) Obtain aerial photographs covering entire study
area from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest
Service, Oregon State Highway Dept., and other agencies.
3) Prepare a comparison overlay showing earliest
and latest shorelines. Tentatively locate landfills on
overlay using permit data, aerial photographs, and large
changes in shoreline as shown by the overlay. The list
of charts used is shown at the end of this report.
4) Visit estuary to verify location of landfills.
Document size, location, and use of fills.
5) Visit County Courthouse to obtain ownership and
assessment data if available.
so
Information collected during this study which
pertains to landfill ownership has been summarized
in Table I. Detailed sketches of each landfill are
shown in Appendix B, and a plate showing the location
and relative size of each landfill is located at the
end of this text. (The shaded areas on the sketch
and plate denote landfills.)
Table I shows ownership and location data. Each
landfill has been designated by a two-part number -the first part being an arbitrary number assigned during
this study and the second part being the Curry County
Tax Lot Number. In addition to ownership and location,
this table lists the area of the fill and indicates
whether a Corps of Engineers Permit was issued.
The relative size and location of each fill discussed in Table I are shown on Plate I at the back of
this report. In addition, detailed drawings of each
landfill parcel and a brief summary of pertinent data
concerning the fill appears in Appendix B.
1/ Oregon State Water Resources Board
2/ Crisis in Oregon Estuaries
3/ Crisis in Oregon Estuaries (U.S.C. and G.S. charts)
(Area between M.L.L.W. and M.H.H.W.)
4/ Total acreage deeded to private owners by State
Land Board
5/ U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
S
SUMMARY
There are 26.99 acres of landfill on submerged
and submersible lands in the Rogue River estuary.
Approximately 13.97 acres of landfill are located on
state-owned submerged land with the remaining 13.02
acres being located on submersible lands.
The majority of these landfills were constructed
during the past 14 years with heavy emphasis on recreational use and bank revetment. There has been particular emphasis toward filling for heavy navigation
of marine-oriented business.
We wish to take this opportunity to thank all the
agencies which provided portions of the necessary information enabling the completion of this report. In
particular, we wish to extend our gratitude to the following agencies:
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District
Oregon State Water Resources Board
Oregon Division of State Lands
Curry County Assessor
Port of Gold Beach
•
111
Maps and Charts Used in this Study
Curry County Assessors Maps
Department of Revenue Forest Cover Maps
United States Department of the Interior Geological
Survey (Gold Beach Quadrangle)
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Aerial Photos
1939
1956
1962
Oregon State Highway Department Aerial Photos
1971
Oregon Division of State Lands Aerial Photos
1972
•
•
APPENDIX A
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS PERTAINING TO
TIDELANDS AND TIDAL BOUNDARIES
Definitions Used by
U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
from
Shore and Sea Boundaries
by
Aaron L. Shalowitz
Mean Higher High Tide. - Same as Mean Higher High Water.
Mean Higher-High-Tide line. - Same as Mean Higher-High-Water
line.
Mean Higher High Water. - The average height of the higher
high waters over a 19-year period. See Higher High
Water, Nineteen-year Tidal Cycle.
Mean Higher High Water Line. - The intersection of the tidal
plane of mean higher high water with the shore. See
Mean Higher High Water.
Mean High Tide. - Same as Mean High Water.
Mean High Water. - The average height of the high waters over
a 19-year period. All high waters are included in the
average where the tide is either semidiurnal or mixed.
Where the type of tide is predominantly diurnal, only
the higher high-water heights are included in the
average on those days when the tide is semidiurnal. See
mixed tides, semidiurnal tides, diurnal tides, Nineteenyear Tidal Cycle.
Mean High-Water Line. - The intersection of the tidal plane
of mean high water with the shore.
Mean High-Water Mark. - Same as Mean High-Water Line.
Mean Lower Low Water. - The average height of the lower low
waters over a 19-year period. The tidal plane used on
the Pacific Coast as a datum for soundings on the hydrographic surveys and nautical charts of the Coast and
Geodetic Survey.
Mean Low Water. - The average height of the low waters over
a 19-year period. All low water heights are included
in the average where the type of tide is either semidiurnal or mixed. Where the type of tide is
predominantly diurnal, only the lower low water heights
are included in the average on those days when the tide
becomes semidiurnal.
Mean Low-Water Line. - The intersection of the tidal Dlane
of mean low water with the shore.
Mean Sea Level. - The average height of the surface of the
sea for all stages of the tide over a 19-year period,
usually determined from hourly height readings. A
determination of mean sea level that has been adopted
as a standard for heights is called a sea level datum.
Mean Tide Level. - Same as Half-tide Level. A tidal datum
midway between Mean High Water and Mean Low Water.
Ordinary High Water. - A nontechnical term considered by the
Coast and Geodetic Survey to be the same as the tidal
plane of mean high water.
Ordinary Low Water. - A nontechnical term considered by the
Coast and Geodetic Survey to be the same as the tidal
plane of mean low water.
Diurnal Tide. - Tides having a period or cycle of approximately one tidal day. Such tides exhibit only one high
and one low water during a tidal day; the predominant
type of tide in the Gulf of Mexico.
Semidiurnal Tides. - Tides having a period of approximately
one-half a tidal day; the type of tide that is predominant throughout the world, with two high waters and
two low waters each tidal day. Tides along the Atlantic
Coast are of this type.
Mixed Tides. - Tides in which the presence of a diurnal wave is
conspicuous by a large inequality in either the high or
low-water heights, or in both, with two high waters and
two low waters occurring each tidal day. Tides along the
California (and Oregon) Coast are of the mixed type.
Tidelands. - The land that is covered and uncovered by the daily
rise and fall of the tide. More specifically, it is the
zone between the mean high-water line and the mean lowwater line along a coast, and is commonly known as the
"shore" or "beach." Referred to in legal decisions as
between ordinary high-water mark and ordinary low-water
mark. Tidelands presuppose a high-water line as the upper
boundary.
2
APPENDIX B
SKETCH PLATES OF LANDFILL PARCELS
•
Rogue River (T36S-R14 15W)
Total Area:
Tideland:
Tideland Sold:
Navigable Length:
Tidewater:
830 acres
410 acres
409 acres
33.0 miles
4.5 miles above U.S. 101 Bridge
Power Line crossing at U.S. Plywood
Plant
Tide Data
Wedderburn
Stage
M.H.W.
M.L.W.
M.L.L.W.
Port District:
M.L.L.W.
M.S.L.
+6.3
+1.2
0.0
+2.65
-2.45
-3.65
Port of Gold Beach
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