Applegater Summer 2016
Applegate Neighborhood Network
is evolving
Applegate community makes
presentation to agencies
BY LUKE RUEDIGER
BY JACK DUGGAN
The Applegate Neighborhood
Network (ANN) is a coalition of local
residents, landowners, and conservation-,
community-, and recreation-based
nonprofit groups. Its members have been
working on public land management
issues in the Applegate Valley for over a
decade, advocating for community and
conservation values. Our mission is to
“sustain the integrity of the environment
and human communities in the Applegate
Valley through collaboration, community
activism, stewardship, and science.
We promote wildland conservation,
ecological restoration, a sustainable rural
economy, and community engagement
in land management planning.”
Over the years, ANN has evolved
from an informal community association
into a more organized, watershed-wide
organization. Our goal is the promotion
of conservation- and community-based
values in federal land management
within the Applegate Watershed. We
are creating a forum for the various
conservation and community-based
organizations in the Applegate Valley to
promote shared visions and goals. The
concept is to create a network of residents
and advocates for the Applegate Valley
that will share resources and support
grassroots community activism. We look
to support a sustainable rural economy
and to promote a long-term vision for
land management in our watershed.
For too long, local residents have
been compartmentalized and isolated
in mountain canyons. The ridges have
divided our communities into watersheds.
The watersheds are all connected, but
often the human communities have
been isolated by the mountains that
surround them or the distance between
them. ANN works to bridge that divide
by connecting and protecting watersheds
and providing local residents with a
network of support and solidarity within
the Applegate watershed as a whole.
For some time, ANN has worked
to address community concerns with
the Bureau of Land Management’s
(BLM) large Nedsbar Timber Sale in the
Little and Upper Applegate Valleys. We
have created the Nedsbar Community
Alternative, a conservation-, restoration-,
and fuel-reduction-based strategy steeped
in local knowledge and perspective. The
Community Alternative has been widely
supported by area residents and will
be analyzed alongside the BLM’s own
alternatives in the upcoming Nedsbar
Environmental Assessment (EA). ANN’s
proactive work on the Community
Alternative has empowered local residents
and provided a template for community
supported, environmentally responsible
land management in the Applegate.
Our work has not stopped there.
We have also conducted extensive
monitoring of Nedsbar Timber Sale
units and the BLM’s tree removal mark.
And we have paid special attention
to units in late seral or old-growth
stands, in roadless areas, and other
sensitive habitats. Our results have been
publicized on the Siskiyou Crest Blog
at www.thesiskiyoucrest.blogspot.com.
Using the knowledge gained
through these monitoring efforts, ANN
has advocated for the cancelation of
inappropriate timber sale units along
with more sustainable and ecologically
appropriate treatments in areas that
currently need restoration thinning.
ANN has many concerns with the BLM’s
proposed action (Alternative 4) for the
Nedsbar Timber Sale, and we hope to
see them addressed before release of the
EA. We also hope to organize rigorous
and substantive public comment when
the EA is released. The EA is scheduled
for release in May 2016.
On US Forest Service (USFS)
land, ANN has also begun working
collaboratively on the Upper Applegate
Road Project, a commercial timber sale
in the Upper Applegate Valley, and on
projects within the Applegate Adaptive
Management Area. We are also engaging
in the Williams IVM Project, a timber
sale and fuel-reduction project on BLM
lands in the mountains above Williams.
ANN is also preparing to begin
conducting off-road vehicle monitoring
in the mountains surrounding Ruch
and Little Applegate on BLM lands, as
well as botanical areas, roadless areas,
Research Natural Areas, and backcountry
non-motorized areas on USFS land.
Our goal is to document and address
environmental impacts associated with
off-road vehicle use.
ANN intends to continue
monitoring, advocacy, and collaboration
on future federal land management
projects. We also intend to address other
issues of concern to the community,
including fire safety, pollinator
conservation, inappropriate target
shooting on public land that is threatening
the safety of local communities, off-road
vehicle damage, and non-motorized trail
construction and maintenance.
As issues arise that create
conservation and community concerns,
ANN will be addressing them and
offering solutions. Join us on the first
Wednesday of every month at 7 pm,
usually at Applegate Library, 18485 N
Applegate Road. Visit our website at
www.applegateneighborhood.net.
Luke Ruediger
Applegate Neighborhood Network
siskiyoucrest@gmail.com
Burn reminder
Before burning outdoors any time of year,
check with your fire district to make sure
that day is an official burn day and not a NO burn day.
No illegal burning!
Jackson County • 541-776-7007
Josephine County • 541-476-9663 (Press 3)
Opposite Day is January 24, but
a reversal of sorts took place in the
Applegate on March 30 of this year.
The Applegate community is
familiar with meetings presented by the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM), US
Forest Service (USFS), or both. But on
March 30 the community, in the form
of the Applegate Neighborhood Network
(ANN), held a meeting at the Applegate
Fire District’s new community building,
inviting the USFS and the BLM to listen
to Applegate residents present their
experience and perspectives on public
land management.
Community presenters
included Luke Ruediger, who outlined
ANN’s vision, scope and mission. He also
presented on behalf of Klamath Forest
Alliance, showing an incredible series
of slides portraying both good and bad
forestry practices. Luke has been walking
the ground throughout the Applegate
Valley for many years.
For the next hour, agency folks
heard from David Calahan, Applegate
Trails Association; Hope Robertson,
Siskiyou Upland Trails Association;
Chant Thomas, Threatened and
Endangered Little Applegate; Cheryl
Bruner, Williams Community Forest
Project; Jack Duggan, Forest Creek;
Lydia Doleman, Speak for the Trees; Amy
Schlotterback, Klamath-Siskiyou Wild;
Suzie Savoie, Klamath-Siskiyou Native
Seeds; James Kramer, Silver Springs
Nursery; and Tom Powell, representing
small farms and the Siskiyou Co-op. That
hour covered more than 200 years of
boots-on-the-ground knowledge of the
Applegate Valley.
After a short break, Chris Bratt
presented an extensive history of forest
19
management, agency agreements, and
planning documents in the Applegate.
Chris was followed by Hope Robertson
with a well-documented presentation on
the recreation economy in the Applegate.
(Spoiler alert: quiet recreation wins!)
Fo l l ow i n g t h i s we a l t h o f
information, Chant Thomas provided
some perspectives on the Applegate
Adaptive Management Area (AMA),
C h r i s Br a t t h a v i n g p rov i d e d a
comprehensive background in his history
presentation.
Chant then summarized the
meeting. He asked the folks from BLM
and USFS to look around the room
at the community members who had
given their day to help illustrate the
history, status, and needs of public lands
where they live. He pointed out that
these people are well-educated, a few
doctorates among them, that they have
decades of on-the-ground experience,
and that they want the public land
managers to utilize that community
knowledge in developing their plans.
Government employees were
then given an opportunity to
comment and ask questions. At first there
was little response, then a series of brief
comments along the “food-for-thought”
line. Dayne Barron, BLM Medford
District manager, offered an impromptu
speech about how important it was to
BLM to collaborate with the community
and how much he appreciated the
opportunity to hear from the Applegate.
Hopefully this will not be the last
time the Applegate community comes
together to invite our largest absentee
landowner neighbors to come—not to
speak to us, but to listen.
Jack Duggan • shanachie@hughes.net
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Applegater,
I have lived in Grants Pass/Josephine County most of my life. Last summer we
attended a wedding out in the Applegate Valley. I had not been out that way for a
long time. It was shocking to see so many wind machines ruining the lives of such
a peaceful area. How very sad.
As you talk of “Grow with respect” in your recent issue, we are dumbfounded
at what many consider normal. Wow! From wind machines rattling every acre to
growing pot, the once remarkable valley is turning into a place I would be wary of.
Unfortunately, wind machines have invaded our area of Helms Road in the
Jerome Prairie area. What was once a peaceful dairy, then bulb farm, has become a
chemical polluter with the noise of five hovering helicopters at night ruining land
values.
Reap what you sow, dear Applegate Valley. Profits are not always the bottom line.
Terri Zeutzius, Grants Pass, OR
Voices of the Applegate
Voices of the Applegate, our community choir directed by Blake Weller,
ended the spring session with two concerts: the first one on April 1 at the Old
Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, and the second at the Applegate River Lodge
on April 3. These concerts were well received by the audiences, and the choir
was full of enthusiasm in presenting the programs. The music selections were:
four madrigals from the 15th and 16th centuries; two contemporary spirituals,
“Festival Sanctus” and “Oseh Shalom”; and two Beatles songs, “Blackbird” and
“Here Comes the Sun.”
Voices of the Applegate will begin another session in the fall with the first
rehearsal on Wednesday, September 7, at Ruch Library. We welcome new members.
Sessions are 12 weeks long, including the concerts, and the cost is $55 per session,
which pays for the director, the cost of the venues, and scholarships when available.
For more information, call Joan Peterson at 541-846-6988.
