Alex Hole: Protecting a Gem

Alex Hole is a high elevation wet meadow, and every year cattle from the adjacent Klamath National Forest “drift” over the Crest and trample it, destroying fragile plants and whole ecosystems. Each year, KS Wild volunteers sets up a fence to protect from the cattle.

Stewardship, Public Lands, VolunteerGuest UserAugust 27, 2019stewardship, top story, volunteer, alex hole, cattle, grazing, fence, Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest, grazing monitor

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.

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.

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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

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.

Wilderness in the Klamath-Siskiyou

The Klamath-Siskiyou region is home to the largest expanse of wildlands on the West Coast. Some of these pristine wild areas are protected under the Wilderness Act as Wilderness Areas, but many other wilderness-quality lands are unprotected and face a variety of threats including logging, road-building, over-grazing, and irresponsible off-road vehicle use.

Wilderness, WildlandsKlamath SiskiyouSeptember 1, 2014conservation, environment, ecosystem, ks wild, klamath-siskiyou, biodiversity, wildlands, wilderness, west coast, wilderness act, wilderness area, forests, logging, salvage, forestfire, wildfire, grazing, cattle, road-building, off-road vehicle, habitat, wildlife, community, southern oregon, northern california, old-growth forest, wild rivers, mountians, geology, glaciers, climate, wild rogue river, cascade mountians, headwaters, rogue river, umpqua river, klamath river, grassy knob, rogue-umpqua divide, sky lakes, copper salmon, siskiyou wild rivers, salmon, salmonidae, oncorhynchus, elk river, sixes river, illinois river, wild rogue wilderness, water, mining, rivers, kalmiopsis, chetco river, north fork smith river, wild and scenic rivers, kalmiopsis wilderness area, soda mountian, great basin, wildflowers, coniferae, conifer, coniferophyta, red buttes, siskiyou, alpine, lakes, siskiyou mountains, russian wilderness, marble mountian, castle crags, marble rim, trinity alps, chanchelulla, yolly bolly, klamath mountians, southern klamath range, klamath range, granite, backpacking, rafting, explore, hiking

A Wilderness Celebration

But what is more important is that wilderness offers something more than just its value to humanity. In wilderness is the essence of all life; it is where complex biological systems continue to function in ways that humans are only beginning to understand. Saving the remaining pieces of wild nature is part of our duty to ourselves, our children, and for all life on the planet.

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