Applegater Winter 2012 3
Community Calendar
Firing away at media distraction
by tOM AtZet
AA Meeting There is an open meeting of
Alcoholics Anonymous every Wednesday at
7 am at the Williams Community Church
Fellowship Hall on East Fork Road in
Williams. This meeting is open to those who
have a drinking problem and have a desire to
stop drinking, and also to anyone interested
in the Alcoholics Anonymous program of
recovery from drinking.
American Association of University Women
(AAUW) Grants Pass Branch meets monthly
from September through June. Days, times,
and locations vary. All those who hold
an associate of arts, a baccalaureate or
higher degree from an accredited college
or university are welcome to join. Contact
Connie Johnson at budcon@charter.net or
541-476-2567, or Angie Bifano-Sokol at
angiebifano@hotmail.com or 541-862-8228.
Visit our website at http://aauwgrantspass.
org, and see us on Facebook.
Applegate Christian Fellowship. For service
times, call 541-899-8732, 24 hours/day.
Applegate Fire District Board of Directors meets
on the third Wednesday of each month at
Station 1, 18489 N. Applegate Rd. at 7:30
pm. Except for the months of March, April
and May, which are held at Headquarters,
1095 Upper Applegate Road. For more
information, call 541-899-1050.
Grants Pass Nordic Ski Club meets on the first
Thursday of the month, November through
April, at the Newman Methodist Church at
7th and B Streets in Grants Pass at 7 pm. Ski
outings are on Saturdays. Listings are on the
snow phone at 541-592-4977.
Greater Applegate Community Development
Corporation meets the second Wednesday
of January, April, July and October at 6
pm at Applegate Fire District Station 1,
18489 North Applegate Road. For more
information, go to www.gacdc.org.
Josephine County Soil and Water Conservation
District (SWCD) meets Thursdays at 6 pm.
For meeting information, call 541-474-6840.
Ruch Library Hours
Sunday.........................................................closed
Monday.......................................................closed
Tuesday............................................11 am - 5 pm
Wednesday..................................................closed
Thursday...........................................1 pm - 7 pm
Friday ...........................................................closed
Saturday..........................................12 pm - 4 pm
(Storytime will be held Tuesdays at 11 am.)
Sanctuary One is open to the public for farm
tours every Wednesday and Saturday at 10
am. Recommended donation is $5. Please
check out our website for details: www.
SanctuaryOne.org and call to reserve a spot.
541-899-8627.
Applegate 4-H Swine Club meets on Tuesday
following the third Wednesday of every
month at 7 pm. For more information
contact Charles Elmore at 541-846-6528 or
Barbara Niedermeyer at 541-846-7635.
Southern Oregon Beekeepers Association meets
the first Monday of each month, 7:30 pm, at
the OSU extension. For more information,
please contact sobeekeepers@gmail.com.
Applegate Friends of Fire District #9 meets on
the third Tuesday of each month at the Fire
Station—1095 Upper Applegate Road—at
6 pm. New members are welcome. For more
information, call Bob Fischer 541-846-6218.
T.O.P.S. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) meets every
Monday morning at Applegate Church,
18960 North Applegate Road (at the corner
of Hwy. 238 and N. Applegate Road).
Weigh-in starts at 8:30 am; the meeting starts
at 9:00 am. Come join us!
Applegate Library Hours
Sunday..........................................................closed
Monday........................................................closed
Tuesday..............................................2 pm - 6 pm
Wednesday...................................................closed
Thursday.......................................................closed
Friday .................................................2 pm - 6 pm
Saturday...........................................10 am - 2 pm
(Storytime will be held Tuesdays at 2:30 pm.)
Applegate Neighborhood Network (ANN)
meets on the last Wednesday of every
month at the Ruch Library. All interested
persons are welcome to attend. ANN is
a community organization dedicated to
protecting, preserving, and restoring the
Applegate watershed. For more information
about ANN, call Duane Bowman, 541-899-
7264.
Applegate Partnership and Watershed Council
meets the 4th Thursday of the month at the
Applegate Library. For more information call
541-899-9982.
Applegate Valley Garden Club meets at 1:30
pm on the third Wednesday of the month
from September through May. For meeting
locations and programs, call Sandra King at
541-899-9027 or Betty Lou Smith at 541-
846-6817.
Williams Creek Watershed Council Meetings:
fourth Wednesday of the month at 7 pm at
the Williams Creek Fire Station. The Public
is welcome. For more information, call 541-
846-9175.
Williams Grange Pancake Breakfast, second
Sunday of each month, 8:30 to 11 am,
followed by the Bluegrass Jam, 11 am to 1
pm. Closed July and August. 20100 Williams
Hwy. near Tetherow Rd. Information 541-
846-6844.
Williams Grange #399 Business Meeting,
second Tuesday of each month, 7 pm.
20100 Williams Hwy. near Tetherow Rd.
Information 541-846-6844.
Williams Library Hours
Sunday.........................................................closed
Monday.......................................................closed
Tuesday........................................1:30 pm - 4 pm
Wednesday..................................1:30 pm - 4 pm
Thursday......................................................closed
Friday...........................................................closed
Saturday..........................................12 pm - 4 pm
Williams Rural Fire Protection District
Meetings: fourth Wednesday of the month
at 7 pm at the Williams Fire Department.
Food & Friends Senior Nutrition Program
invites local 60+ seniors to enjoy a nutritious,
hot meal served at 11:30 am Monday through
Friday at the Jacksonville IOOF Hall located
at the corner of Main and Oregon Streets.
A donation is suggested and appreciated.
Volunteers help serve meals or deliver meals
to homebound seniors. For information
about volunteering (it takes 40 volunteers
to keep the Jacksonville program going )
or receiving meals, call Food & Friends at
541-664-6674, x246 or x208.
Women Helping Other Women (WHOW)
meets the second Tuesday of the month at
10036 Hwy 238 (Gyda Lane) at 6:30 pm
for a potluck meeting to plan work parties
at each other’s homes. New members are
welcome. For more information, call Thalia
Truesdell at 541-899-8741 or Sioux Rogers
at 541-846-7736.
Friends of Ruch Library Board of Directors
meets on the first Thursday of each month at
6:30 pm at Ruch Library. All are welcome.
541-899-7438.
Send your calendar information to gater@
applegater.org. Be sure to keep the Gater
updated with any changes to these Community
Calendar listings.
Wonder Neighborhood Watch Meetings: second
Tuesday of each month, 6:30 pm, Wonder
Bible Chapel.
BORED?
Check out our online calendar
jam-packed with events all over southwest Oregon.
www.applegater.org
There were loads of media coverage of and biological stresses. We assume that the
the tenth anniversary of the Biscuit Fire. best adapted survive, but there are always
My comments emphasize fire’s behavior as individuals that are just flat-out lucky.
ecosystem process and a tad about how the Regardless, all add to species diversity.
Fire produces a range of severity
anniversary was covered.
Let me start with an anecdote. It effects across the landscape, which varies
happened over 20 years ago. As I vaguely by elevation aspect, slope, live and dead
recall, the climax of this science and values fuel loads, weather and random chance,
seminar at the Southern Oregon University to name a few. Until the Biscuit Fire,
Union bottom floor was billed as a shoot- southwestern Oregon national forest
out between the timber industry and records indicate that high severity fire,
environmentalists, represented by Greg sometimes called “stand replacement fire,”
Miller and Jack Shipley, respectively. Like typically occurred on less than 20% of the
circling vultures, reporters and cameras area burned. Low severity fire, where a
lined up at the back of the room to scattering of vegetation is lightly burned
cover the impending contentious debate. skipping about half of the area, usually
Unbeknown to everyone, Greg and Jack occurred on over half the burned area.
had been talking and listening to one In other words, fires create a mosaic of
another, backstage, about their visions for landscape effects and diversity that tend to
our valley. They walked out together and increase ecosystem resilience. One of our
jointly announced that their commonalities communities’ main goals is to eliminate
greatly outweighed their disparities, and “house replacement” fire.
In the last few decades, local burns
they would emphasize collaboration.
have included an
That caused a bit of
increasing proportion of
commotion in the back
high severity fire (Quartz
of the room as many
about 40% and Biscuit
of the reporters and all
It’s just a
about 50%). Speculation
of the camera crews
feeling
that
about this increase
immediately packed up
includes global warming,
and left.
controversy and
intense fire suppression,
I can’t say that this
the
sensational
management practices,
anecdote characterizes
salvage, backfires and
the behavior of the
get more
lack of management.
media—after all it’s only
attention than
Causal relationships
one observation and
in ecology typically
I have not objectively
unbiased, solid
comprise a nonlinear
studied coverage as an
information.
combination of all of the
issue. It’s just a feeling
above. Complexities are
that controversy and
often lost on those who
the sensational get more
prefer straightforward
attention than unbiased,
single-factor
explanations.
While it may
solid information. I have, however, studied
and analyzed ecosystems and the role of be exciting and controversial to speculate
fire (including the Biscuit) in southwestern and assign blame, the focus should be
Oregon since the late 1960s. and I think recognizing valid behavior and trends.
Have you ever noticed that when
our community could have been better
served by a focus on basic fire concepts greeting a friend the intensity of the
rather than dredging up old controversies. greeting is related to the amount of time
Closure in science is frowned upon. you’ve been apart; the greater the length of
Since “we can’t learn what we think we the absence, the more intense the greeting.
know” (don’t know who first said this, Similarly, the intensity of a fire is inversely
maybe Yogi, but I am willing to learn), related to the frequency of occurrence. The
it’s imperative to keep an open mind. greater the amount of time between fires,
However, we are surer of some concepts the more severe the effects. I’m not sure
than others. For example, we are almost what builds up during absences between
certain that each of us will die, sometime. friends, but in the ecosystem, live and dead
But the proposition that everyone will be fuels accumulate faster on more productive
taxed is less certain. Similarly, in ecology, sites.
Most, if not all, of how the Biscuit
some concepts carry more power than
Fire behaved was expected, except maybe
others.
Let’s review some of what we think for the size and the proportion of high-
we know. Ecosystem fire is temporally severity fire. But that also seems to be in
and spatially universal. Records document keeping with the current national trends—
that fires have occurred throughout the larger and more severe fires.
Most of us understand the principles
Applegate Valley for at least the last 12,000
years (Native American information), and for sustaining our own health. Fire is a bit
probably as long as lightning has been like exercising the human body—it both
around. Although the second half of breaks down and builds up structure (and
the previous sentence is supposition, it is there are many beneficial ancillary effects).
Both exercise and fire may sometimes be
widely regarded as virtually certain.
Fire is essential for maintaining unpleasant and cause pain, but nonetheless
ecosystem functionality across the contribute to long-term health and
landscape. Fire assures some level of sustainability. We do understand how
mortality, stimulates reproduction, and fire serves the basic long-term needs
helps to redistribute resources (carbon is a of ecosystem health; dredging up old
biggie) for growth and survival. Severe fire controversies is an unneeded distraction.
often produces open space, allowing new
Tom Atzet
combinations of genes (reproduction) to
jatzet@budget.net
be tested under changing environmental
Happy Holidays!
