The Cascade Head UNESCO Biosphere on the Oregon Coast has grown tenfold since 2017, despite losing federal funding.
Duncan Berry clambers on board a small boat on the Salmon River, along with a couple dozen tourists. He’s the co-director of the UNESCO Cascade Head Biosphere Region and he’s here to tell people why the place is so special.
“This is a salmon treaty river,” Berry says. “So the salmon that come into this river are studied by nations and help to set policy… around the Canadian and American salmon harvest.”
This area — Oregon’s only UNESCO biosphere reserve — celebrated its 50th anniversary on July 18. The milestone came as more than a dozen other biospheres in the country have folded, following cuts by the Trump administration.
“There’s no financial support. No political support,” said Jerry Franklin, who’s been called the father of American forestry, and who originally chose Cascade Head as a biosphere in 1976.
“Most of the [U.S.] biosphere reserves essentially have disappeared into history,” he said. “But this one and one in the Southern Appalachians for some reason have had an energy and persistence. And have become what the concept was.”
This biosphere is not just about salmon. It’s about creating sustainable livelihoods in harmony with nature.
“We’re trying to find a better way to live, work and play for all species,” Berry said.
What are UNESCO biospheres?
UNESCO biosphere reserves are internationally recognized areas where communities and ecosystems work together. They are living laboratories to test and demonstrate ideas that balance the relationship between people and the environment.
In 1976, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization designated 9,000 acres at the estuary of the Salmon River as one of its nearly 800 biosphere reserves. It’s only grown since then.
But Berry says most Oregonians still don’t know what a biosphere is or what’s been going on at this reserve.
“It’s the greatest housekeeping seal for the environment on the planet,” he smiled.
For the last 50 years, he says Cascade Head has been conducting a series of ecological experiments.
For example, the local community has been removing dikes and tide gates, so the banks of the Salmon River can revert back to a natural estuary.
Other scientists have been studying the U.S. Forest Service’s experimental forest for decades to learn why trees grow so fast there and how harvests can be managed to mimic old growth.
But Jon Allan, the chair of the U.S. Biosphere Network, stresses that the aim of biospheres isn’t to block human activity; it’s to have a sustainable working landscape.
“These are people ranching. These are people farming. These are people of the sea, extracting a living,” Allan said. “These aren’t just preservation programs.”
Biospheres are not to be confused with biodomes, which literally insulate an area by keeping it inside some kind of structure. Allan said biospheres show how it’s possible to have a healthy economy and a healthy environment.
“It’s about finding the capacity of nature to supply,” he said. “But not doing it in a way that degrades.”
Continuing without funding
Originally, the U.S. had 45 UNESCO biosphere regions. But in 2017, President Donald Trump withdrew from UNESCO, accusing the U.N. of promoting “woke” social causes and an anti-Israel bias.
Since then, 17 of the original U.S. biospheres have dissolved. But Cascade Head continues without a “carrot,” in the form of money, or a “stick,” in the form of UNESCO dictates.
“Isn’t that a beautiful thing?” Allan said. “It’s not regulatory. It’s not compulsory. Nobody’s mandating that they either are or are not a biosphere. So it’s a community of the willing.”
The willingness of the Cascade Head community is evident. Over the last decade, the biosphere has grown tenfold, to over 100,000 acres, by adding most of Lincoln City, the entire Salmon River watershed and an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife marine reserve.
Katie Darr helps oversee the marine reserve with ODF&W. She said the agency partners with Cascade Head in many ways.
For example, biosphere volunteers recently created short explanatory videos on the rockfish, sea stars and crabs in the area. In exchange, the state contracts with local fishing boats to bring in volunteers that help with fishing surveys.
“I think people have a lot of fun on those surveys,” Darr said. “It’s a great day on the water.”
Anyone can volunteer for a fishing survey at the “Get Involved” page on the Oregon Marine Reserves website. The fishing is free, but after the fish are measured, identified and logged, they have to be released.
Celebrating the past and looking to the future
During the 50th anniversary celebrations, hundreds of people gathered at Cascade Head to kayak, to listen to speeches and music and to watch fish swim up the tiny streams,
Jerry Franklin said he initially picked the area because it had been involved in a lot of research and experimentation.
On private lands, he said, companies can grow and cut trees to generate the best return on their capital. But on public lands, the aim should be a diverse forest that’s resilient to pests, that can provide fresh water to residents and some lumber.
“Some of the biosphere reserves around the globe have become classic examples of learning how to integrate humans and nature,” Franklin said. “And this is one of its successes. Even though we don’t have anything to do with UNESCO.”
The lack of money means Oregon’s only UNESCO biosphere reserve struggles to get noticed. The mayor of Lincoln City, Susan Wahlke, estimates that only about 10% of locals know about the site.
But, she said, they are generally supportive of environmental stewardship, and it actually helps that UNESCO isn’t imposing any rules or fees on the area.
“I think the majority of people understand that it’s a voluntary thing and are proud to be part of an international organization,” Wahlke said.
