I sincerely applaud the opposition voice by Jarold and Dorothy Ramsey and many others against commercial bungee jumping at Peter Skene Ogden Park, on historical and aesthetic grounds. But I would like to add my astonishment and disgust at the fact that this is being allowed by Oregon State Parks without any consultation with wildlife authorities.

I have been conducting raptor research in the entire Deschutes Basin since 1992, when I inventoried all raptor breeding sites in the adjacent lands of the Crooked River National Grasslands for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and then the rest of the Lower Deschutes for the department and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Since then I have done the same in nearly all of Eastern Oregon, mostly under the direction of the Oregon Eagle Foundation.

I followed the steps of such legendary “eagle men” as Jim Anderson (golden eagles) and Frank Isaacs (bald eagles) of the Oregon Eagle Foundation. Also I have learned from Don Ratliff (PGE) and Dr. Joel Pagel, the peregrine falcon expert.

In that time I worked with state parks managers Paul Patton and Jeanette Bondsteel to protect the wildlife in and around the parks. But this new “anything goes” modus operandi will destroy the very rewarding cooperation with not just me but all of the amateur and professional conservation-minded Oregonians who know of it.

That stretch of the Crooked River Gorge between Smith Rock and Crooked River Ranch is one of the most eagle-rich ecosystems in the world because of the sheer cliffs and the prey-rich environment they support, relatively undisturbed. Until now!

The many adult breeding pairs of both eagle species and their current fledglings need to travel and hunt waterfowl and other avian prey as well as the many species of small mammals and rodents that dwell in this part of the gorge. There is a bald eagle nest tree just 1,400 feet upstream from the intended bungee-jumping site. This unneeded disturbance should be stopped even before it gets started.

But perhaps the groundswell of opposition to this activity has not yet been realized by the cooler heads in the upper stratum of Oregon State Department of Parks and Recreation administrators. Maybe they are unaware of the editorials of The Bulletin and Madras Pioneer that reflect the public concern for the safety of traffic on the Highway 97 bridge in full view of the jump site. Maybe they do not yet know that the poll by the Pioneer yielded a 3-to-1 result in opposition. Maybe they are oblivious to the increasing dangerous trend of fatal accidents so explicitly presented on the front page of the Aug. 6 edition of The Bulletin. This danger will increase with the traffic and new higher speeds to come. Hopefully we won’t have to wait for deaths by distraction on that bridge before stopping the activity.

But back to my concern for the rich canyon ecosystem that Jarold Ramsey and I have explored for a lifetime in this very area. Ramsey is a local historian and nationally famous writer. I am a full-time wildlife professional specializing in the location of raptor habitats and analysis of the prey species habitats they depend on.

This is why I fully understand the importance of those avian predators to pass undisturbed to and fro past that intended jump site. And at this time it is critical the numerous fledglings of bald and golden eagles, hawks of several species, peregrine and prairie falcons produced upstream and downstream have utter freedom to pursue the abundant prey there.

— Gary Clowers is owner of Raven Research West. He lives in Madras.