Portland, OR — The Rogue River cabin where western author Zane Grey fished and wrote will be permanently preserved, The Trust for Public Land, a national conservation organization, and the Bureau of Land Management announced today.

The one-room cabin sits on 32 acres of land at Winkle Bar on the Rogue and is a regular stopping point for rafters and fisherman. It is surrounded by BLM land and now will be protected.

"This place meant a lot to Zane Grey and it is part of the lore of the West, and we're happy to help save it," said Nelson Mathews, who managed the project for TPL, which bought the site from a private owner and sold it to the BLM.

Eric Grey, the author's great-grandson, said, "Zane Grey was very concerned about the vanishing wilderness in America, particularly about the destructive force of road building. He wrote that 'lovers of the forest hate automobile roads, and know they are one great cause, probably the greatest, of our vanishing America.' "

"On one of his trips to the Rogue with his family, Grey noted he was glad his son could 'still see something of wild America' but he feared that his grandson never will. Three generations later, I am glad to say that the Rogue is still a beautiful wilderness. Thanks to the work of The Trust for Public Land, Zane Grey's cabin at Winkle Bar will be preserved for future generations of Americans," said Eric Grey.

Grey was born in 1872 and later moved west and became a writer. He bought the Winkle Bar property in 1926 and set up camp to write and fish for salmon and steelhead trout. His book, "Rogue River Feud," focused on the river.

Todd Newport, president of the Zane Grey's West Society, a private organization devoted to promoting Grey's writing and protecting the sites of those works, praised the TPL action.

"We strongly support preserving the places important to Zane Grey and this is one of the big ones for us," said Newport. "Grey loved going to Oregon in his later life and spending time each year fishing and running the Rogue and North Umpqua."

The property was acquired using federal funds from the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act and the Land and Water Conservation Fund. U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore. strongly supported it, as did Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.

More information at:
http://www.tpl.org/tier3_cd.cfm?content_item_id=22260&folder_id=263

Contact Info: Tim Ahern,
415-710-9095

Website : The Trust for Public Land