2023 Wildfire Season Wrap-Up

With the fire season in the rearview mirror, we offer this recap of the 2023 wildfires in the Klamath-Siskiyou region. Read more about each fire and gain access to resources for your own wildfire safety.

Fire, Forests, Public Lands, ClimateKlamath SiskiyouOctober 20, 2023forest and fire toolkit, forest fire, firefighters, fire, fire season, wildfire

A Long Time Coming: Forest Service Begins Update of the Northwest Forest Plan

The Northwest Forest Plan is the largest, truly science-based forest and ecosystem management plan in the country, affecting 19 million acres of public lands across western Washington, Oregon, and northern California, and it’s getting an update. Learn more here.

Community Resources: 2023 Fire Relief and Response

As numerous fires continue to sweep through northern California, resources are being compiled to issue aid to aid our community members, provide up-to-date information on evacuations and road closures, and supply smoke and fire updates.

FireHaleigh MartinAugust 23, 2023forest fire, firefighters, wildfire, wildfire risk, wildfire severity, community, emergency, california, mckinney fire, siskiyou county, air quality, evacuation, smoke, living with smoke, top story

Finding Relief From Wildfire Smoke

Wildfires are producing intense smoke this summer that can pose serious health risks. Please protect yourself and those you care for from excessive smoke, especially those that have sensitive respiratory systems. Read our blog post if you want to learn more about smoke resources.

Backyard Forests, Climate, Fire, Public Lands, WildlandsKlamath SiskiyouAugust 22, 2023forest fire, wildfire severity, wildfire risk, wildfire, fire pollution, fire, smoke, living with smoke, Climate Change, climate program

Oregon’s Untapped Climate Solution

We need to protect Oregon lands from climate extremes and harness their potential as a climate solution. The Senate Committee on Natural Resources has scheduled a hearing on SB 530, common-sense legislation that will help increase carbon sequestration on our forests, agricultural lands, and wetlands and improve the resilience of our water, wildlife, and communities. Learn more about SB 530 and action you can take for natural climate solutions in this blog.

Wildfire in the Oregon Legislative Session

The Oregon legislature kicked off its 2023 legislative session in early January and wildfire is definitely on policy makers' minds. Revising the controversial statewide wildfire risk map released last year is a top priority. KS Wild is tracking several other wildfire bills in the session and is advocating for policy that protects both our communities and our forests.

Backyard Forests, Campaign, Climate, FireKlamath SiskiyouJanuary 31, 2023legislation, oregon legislature, wildfire severity, wildfire risk, wildfire, wildfire policy, Climate, climate program, defensible space, odf, senate

‘Tis the Season for Prescribed Fire

Living in a fire prone area can be scary. We have witnessed destructive wildfires that have left our communities changed forever. The good news is there are actions we can take to prepare our communities for it. Read our blog to learn about the ways prescribed fire can help prevent detrimental wildfire.

2022 Fire Season in Review

We have recapped the 2022 wildfire’s in the Klamath-Siskiyou region. Please see the bottom of this blog for ways in which you can contribute to the relief efforts for those people and communities most impacted.

Community Resources: Fire Relief and Response

As the McKinney Fire continues to sweep through northern California, resources are being compiled to issue aid to aid our community members, provide up-to-date information on evacuations and road closures, and supply smoke and fire updates.

FireHaleigh MartinAugust 3, 2022forest fire, firefighters, wildfire, wildfire risk, wildfire severity, community, emergency, california, mckinney fire, siskiyou county, air quality, evacuation, smoke, living with smoke, top story

Forest Service 10-year Wildfire Strategy

The US Forest Service recently announced a 10-year, multibillion-dollar plan to reduce wildfire risk on up to 50 million acres that border vulnerable communities throughout the country. Read KS Wild’s summary of the plan and how it will impact our work and our region.

Backyard Forests, Climate, Fire, Forests, Public LandsKlamath SiskiyouMarch 2, 2022US Forest Service, wildfire, wildfire policy, wildfire severity, wildfire risk, prescribed fire, fire suppression, forest fire, forest management

Fire Season & the Politics of Adaptation

In order to adapt to climate change and increased wildfire severity, we need new policies based on climate adaptation for both our communities and our landscapes. While much more needs to be done, as a result of engaged and vocal residents, some of our elected officials are taking action. Here is a rundown of the actions being considered and taken by political leaders at the local, state and federal levels that could help us adapt to the increased risk of wildfire.

Climate, FireGuest UserSeptember 29, 2021wildfire, fire season, climate change, climate policy, wildfire policy, living with smoke, smoke, wildfire severity

New Perspectives on Wildfire Management in Mixed Ownership Landscapes

For the second talk in KS Wild’s Summer Speaker Series on Fire Management, Dr. Christopher J. Dunn focused on five key things we need to remember in our fire-prone landscape, and a new method derived from his research that may alter how we fight fires in the future.

Forests, Fire, Climate, Fire & Climate SummitGuest UserJuly 31, 2019fire management, forest fire, BLM, O&C Lands, wildfire, forests, forestry, climate change, fire

Understanding Wildfire in the Klamath-Siskiyou

Some research shows the region’s forested landscapes were generally more open due to fire prior to the 20th century than they are today and today’s landscape is characterized by denser forests, less structural diversity, more fire-sensitive species, fewer coarse-grained vegetation mosaics, and a greater likelihood of high-severity fire (particularly in previously open ponderosa pine forests).

Fire, Fire & Climate Summit, ClimateKlamath SiskiyouJuly 30, 2018wildfire

Merkley Meetings 1/15/18 in Curry and Josephine Counties

Make your voice heard: Join your local community in Curry and Josephine County to speak out to Senator Merkley! Now is a critical time for southern Oregon to engage and support issues that matter to our forests, environmental laws, and communities.

Klamath SiskiyouJanuary 11, 2018public lands, jordan cove, trump adminstration, cascade-siskiyou national monument, wildfire, post fire pillaging, salvage logging, smoke in the valley, BLM, forest service

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

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