Diversity Follows Fire

Fire is so important to the world-renown forest diversity of the Klamath-Siskiyou that it is recognized as the keystone ecological process. Here in the KS, forests with fire are healthy forests!

Forests, Public Lands, Wilderness, WildlandsKlamath SiskiyouOctober 12, 2017forestfire, fire resilient, wilderness area, wildlands, kalmiopsis wildlands, biodiversity, trees, fire, wildfire

Healthy Watersheds, Resilient Forests

Following decades of fire suppression and logging that created dense young forests, a return to ecosystem resiliency requires thinning second-growth plantations, retaining large trees and forest canopy, and returning the role of fire to these fire-dependent forests.

Logging in the Klamath-Siskiyou

Increasingly timber interests, conservationists including KS Wild, scientists and federal land management agencies are coming together to focus logging activities on thinning previously logged plantations and in fire-evolved forest stands in which fire suppression has resulted in encroachment by less resilient off-site conifers.

The Big, Wild 5

Unlike most of North America, we are extremely fortunate to live in a region in which five major wildland complexes have thusfar survived the pressures from logging, mining and road construction. It is our job and responsibility to protect these special places for the those who come after us and for their intrinsic value.

Wilderness, WildlandsKlamath SiskiyouMarch 28, 2017conservation, environment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, biodiversity, big 5, big five, major wilderness complexes, forests, logging, mining, road-building, kalmiopsis, west coast, kalmiopsis wildlands, kalmiopsis mountains, serpentine, soil, serpentine soil, geology, plate tectonics, forest service, clearcutting, nickel strip mining, strip-mining, smith river, biscuit fire, wildfire, forestfire, roadless areas, illinois river, chetco river, north fork smith river, high siskiyous, east fork illinois, siskiyou fork smith, clear creek, dillon creek, blue creek, klamath river, high siskiyou wildlands, watershed, water, wild rivers, refuge, transition zones, climate, salmon, salmonidae, oncorhynchus, steelhead, rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, red buttes, siskiyou crest, mountians, corridor, klamath mountians, oregon coast range, cascade mountians, land bridge, wildlife, cattle, grazing, marble mountains, old-growth forest, alpine meadows, limestone, marble, tribes, tribal governments, native americans, fire dependant, fire resilient, fire suppression, clean water, wooley creek, shackleford creek, salmon river, scott river, trinity alps, water quality, wildflowers, fire management

New BLM Resource Management Plan

On August 5, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) signed a management plan for western Oregon, largely ignoring a formal protest from 22 conservation and fishing groups. The BLM plan eliminates protections for streamside forests, increases clearcutting in wet forests, and removes 2.6 million acres of federally managed public forests from the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan

Legal History of O&C Land

The 1937 O&C Act overhauled the timber management and revenue distribution scheme. It allowed the federal government to pay fifty percent of gross timber revenues directly to the O&C counties, plus twenty five percent (for unpaid Railroad property taxes) to O&C lands. In 1953 Congress directed 25% of the revenue to road building and other capital improvements on the O&C lands, leaving only 50% paid to counties. These payment schemes tied timber harvests to county revenues and made county government a champion of increased logging.

ForestsKlamath SiskiyouMarch 24, 2017conservation, environment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, biodiversity, forests, logging, salvage, forestfire, wildfire, oregon, california, oregon railroad, california railroad, railroad, coos bay, oregon and california railroad and coos bay wagon road grant lands act of 1937, O&C act, timber, watershed, BLM, northwest forest plan, federal lands policy management act, FLPMA, department of interior, national forest management act for forest service lands, headwaters, wilcox peak, wilcox, wilcox peak timber sale, old-growth forest, wildlife, local economy, congress, portland audubon society, national environmental policy act, NEPA, court cases, portland audubon society v. lujan, ESA, late successional reserves, LSR, riparian reserves, RR, endangered species act, chamberlain-ferris act, O&C railroad, O&C counties, douglas county, stanfield act, secure rural schools and community self-determination act of 2000, extinction, O&C Lands, History

Cascade-Siskiyou Monument Expanded

After four local public hearings and thousands of letters to elected officials, support for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument has been heard! On Thursday, January 12, 2017, President Obama used his authority under the Antiquities Act to expand the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in southern Oregon.

Cascade-Siskiyou, WildlandsKlamath SiskiyouJanuary 12, 2017conservation, environment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, biodiversity, cascade-siskiyou, cascade-siskiyou monument, monument, cascade-siskiyou national monument, antiquities act, southern oregon, wildlands, logging, salvage, forests, forestfire, wildfire, watershed, public lands, oregon-california border, north america, wildlife, great basin, sierra nevada, siskiyou mountains, cascade mountians, corridor, climate, pilot rock, horseshoe rance, lower jenny creek, california, oregon, northern california, rogue valley foothills, casacade mountain range, little hyatt lake, moon prairie, hoxie creek, upper jenny creek, grizzly peak, surveyor mountain, tunnel creek wetlands, wetlands, tunnel creek, public land, department of interior, ashland, talent, clean water, old-growth forest, soda mountain wilderness council, rogue valley audubon society, wilderness society, conservation lands foundation, friends of the cascade-siskiyou national monument

Wildlife Advocacy

Part of our work at KS Wild is to track management decisions by the US Fish and Wildlife service to list at-risk species as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In continuing a 22-year battle to protect their declining populations, we filed lawsuit with three of our conservation allies to list the Pacific fisher. Other species we continue to fight for include the Siskiyou Mountain Salamander, the Wolverine and four species of Lamprey.

Oregon Spotted Frog, WildlifeKlamath SiskiyouJanuary 1, 2017conservation, environment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, biodiversity, wildlife, oregon spotted frog, spotted frog, Rana pretiosa, northern spotted owls, birds, amphibians, Strix occidentalis caurina, pacific fisher, mammals, madrones, Arbutus unedo, oak, quercus, trees, botanticals, salmonidae, salmon, forests, salvage, forestfire, wildfire, endemic, appalachia, southern appalachia, migration, mexico, central mexico, southern oregon, northern california, oregon, california, protection, at-risk species, us fish and wildlife, threatened species, endangered species, endangered species act, siskiyou mountain salamander, Plethodon stormi, wolverine, Gulo gulo, lamprey, petromyzantiformes, fish, wildlands, gray wolves, gray wolf, wolves, wolf, western wolf, timber wolf, american wolf, Canis lupis, animals, source habitat, hotspots, kalmiopsis, siskiyou crest, marble mountains, trinity alps, cascade range, road-building, northern goshawk, Accipiter gentilis, marbled murrelet, Brachyramphus marmoratus, red tree vole, Arborimus longicaudus, western pond turtle, Actinemys marmorata, Emys marmorata, green sturgeon, Acipenser medirostris, coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, game management, wildlife conservation, hunting, fishing, department of fish and wildlife, oregon department of fish and wildlife, funding, climate, jack creek, fremont-winema national forest, cattle, grazing, drought, forest service, wetlands, jack creek wetlands, riparian, groundwater, logging, Martes pennanti

History of Oregon BLM Lands

The history of the 2.5 million acres of land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in western Oregon dates back to how the west was settled. One of the biggest obstacles to westward expansion was transportation. Moving goods from one place to the next and encouraging people to move thousands of miles across a rugged, wild landscape was a challenge without the infrastructure and modes of transport we enjoy today.

Brewer Spruce: A Climate Sensitive Wonder

Among the many unusual endemic species found nowhere else in the world, there is a tree, carving out its existence on high ridgelines within these remote mountains. I was surprised the first time I laid eyes on the Brewer spruce, having never seen anything like it on my mountain walks. With its long weeping branching, it’s quite a forest char- acter and hard to miss. Not only does it stand out in a sea of Douglas fir, true firs, and pines, but its physical structure hints at origins from long ago. Brewer spruce remains one of the rarest among American spruce species.

Fire on the Land: A Keystone Ecological Process

A suite of species depend on fire for their life cycles. Healthy stands of white and purple Ceanothus burst forth after fire and provide for a suite of pollinators. Knobcone pines love the heat that enables their cones to release seeds. Black- backed woodpeckers thrive by foraging amongst blackened snags. Fire is as necessary as water is to the local forest ecosystem.

Applegate Neighborhood Network: Uniting to impact public lands policies

Today, the backyard forests of the Applegate are primarily managed by the BLM. The guiding document for the future of these public lands is the Resource Management Plan (RMP), which includes all aspects of land management ranging from restoration objectives, to fire prevention measures and logging plans.

BLM Releases Management Plan for 2.6 Million Acres in Oregon

The Bureau of Land Management administers the public forests that surround communities in Western Oregon. These are our backyard forests! Places like the Wild Rogue River, the Applegate Valley foothills and rare plant hotspots in the Illinois Valley deserve our best conservation efforts.

State Fails Rogue Streams

he Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) has failed to protect the clear, cold streams and fish in our region by excluding them in their decision to expand stream buffers for Western Oregon’s forests. ODF granted limited protections for streams to the north but left out almost the entirety of the Siskiyou region (essentially the Rogue Basin) in their policy decision.

This Land is Your Land Stewardship and Our Public Lands

Environmental stewards can operate in a variety of ways: as practitioners, donors, and doers. Our staff works hard each day as practitioners, working directly with government agencies and stakeholders to promote best practices in the management of our public lands. Foundations and community members serve as vital donors, providing financial support for our work. The doers are all of you—KS Wild members, volunteers, interns, and partners—who take part in our work, voice your support for public lands, or even just get out on a hike.

Public Lands for All

While most Americans cherish the idea that public lands belong to and benefit all of us, corporate timber, mining and grazing interests have long sought to privatize public lands in order to maximize profits to their respective industries. While subsidized logging, mining and grazing occur on the vast majority of public lands, these extremists bristle at the idea of there being any rules regarding their exploitation of our forests and rivers.

Protecting Our BLM Backyard Forests

Western Oregon’s BLM lands support salmon, steelhead, and wildlife while delivering clean water and recreational values to the public. These forests are source-drinking watersheds for hun-dreds of thousands of Oregonians, they sequester large amounts of carbon, and they provide crucial ecological functions. The natural amenities found on these public lands are highly valued and sought after, from local residents to tourists from around the world.

Homecoming

After decades of trapping and poisoning, the last wolf in California was shot in 1924. Since then, roads and highways were built and huge tracts of forest have been converted to industrial tree farms. Today, the wolf re-enters a landscape filled with strip-malls, subdivisions, climatic shifts and severe drought. It will take work with residents in areas where wolves migrate to ensure co-existence.

Streams Need Trees

Retaining trees in streamside areas is incredibly important to keeping streams cool and water clean. A healthy riparian buffer where logging is limited adjacent to streams serves a number of important functions. The shade from trees prevents the water from getting warmer, something that will be more and more important in the face of climate change.

Gas Pipeline A Bad Deal

Rogue Riverkeeper and our allies have been fighting the proposal for a gas pipeline, power plant, and export terminal through southern Oregon for years. This dangerous and unnecessary project threatens private property owners with eminent domain, will impact dozens of threatened and endangered species, will clear-cut a 95 foot swath for 235 miles, will raise our gas rates here at home, and accelerate climate change.

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