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.
Read MoreFew experiences are more evocative of the Pacific Northwest than the sight of a salmon leaping a waterfall. People gather to watch as they make their way to ancestral spawning grounds each year at Rainie Falls on the Rogue River or the mouth of Wooley Creek on the Salmon River. Some rivers of the Klamath-Siskiyou are strongholds for wild salmon, including the federally listed Northern California/Southern Oregon Coho Salmon
Read MorePart 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.
Read MoreAmong 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.
Read Morehe 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.
Read MoreRetaining 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.
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