Applegater Fall 2018
21
OPINIONS
Applegate’s community: Solving
problems through partnerships
BY JAMIE MCLEOD-SKINNER
I had the good fortune of attending
the Cantrall Buckley Park Golden
Jubilee on July 14. I was struck by
how Applegate Valley has changed
since I was a kid in Ashland in the
1980s. I was particularly impressed by
the examples of positive change that
came from members of the Applegate
community stepping up and taking
action when government was unable
or unwilling: a park, a bridge, a scenic
trail. These grassroots efforts created
win-win private-public partnerships—
critical for community and economic
development. Government should
provide a healthy foundation for our
communities and know when to help
and when to get out of the way.
The story of Cantrall Buckley Park
powerfully illustrates how citizens can
lead and how sometimes government
eventually follows. When Jackson
County contemplated closing Cantrall
Buckley Park in the late 1990s, private
citizens and the Greater Applegate
Community Development Corporation
(now known as A Greater Applegate)
stepped in to keep the beloved 88-acre
park open.
Similarly, a group of dedicated locals
kept historic McKee Bridge from being
demolished after rot was discovered
in 2011—raising tens of thousands
of dollars to fill in the shortfall after a
federal grant. McKee Bridge Historical
Society continues to preserve this
beautiful piece of Applegate history for
future generations. I’ve taken my kids
to McKee Bridge, and they’ve marveled
at the structure.
Ever consider how great it would
be to hike 50 miles across the ridge
above the Applegate Valley? That
dream is on its way to reality thanks
to the vision and work of Applegate
Trails Association, in partnership with
the Medford District Bureau of Land
Management. My dogs love hiking in
the Applegate, and I’m looking forward
to taking them on that trail.
I believe in our Oregon values—
that we all care about our families and
communities, that we have a concept of
building partnerships and of stepping
up when government falls short.
When government fails to provide
something more critical than a park—
like full Social Security and Medicare
Protecting the Siskiyou Crest
and its botanical diversity
BY LUKE RUEDIGER
The Siskiyou Mountains are known
for their incredible botanical and
geological diversity. The region is a
complex patchwork of geologic strata
supporting some of the most diverse
conifer forests in the world. The region
represents the climax of biodiversity
on the West Coast of North America,
and the Siskiyou Crest is the conduit
through which biodiversity flows. This
continuous high-elevation ridgeline
connects the Coast Range to the
Cascade Mountains near the Cascade-
Siskiyou National Monument. It is
important both locally and regionally
as a climate refuge and as a connectivity
corridor for dispersing wildlife and
shifting plant communities. This
function will become increasingly
important as the effects of climate
change become more pronounced.
The more intact our forests, meadows,
and plant communities are, the more
effective they will be at providing
climate refugia, dispersal corridors, and
habitat resilience.
The eastern portion of the Siskiyou
Crest includes the headwaters of
the Applegate River, many of the
range’s highest elevation habitats, and
a significant concentration of rare and
endemic plant species. In fact, both the
Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest
(RRSNF) and the adjacent Klamath
National Forest (KNF) have officially
designated Botanical Areas along the
Siskiyou Crest. In total, 12 Botanical
Areas have been designated in the
Applegate watershed on RRSNF land,
with an additional nine Botanical Areas
on the KNF side of the Siskiyou Crest.
According to the Land and Resource
Management Plan, which provides
land management direction to the
RRSNF, Botanical Areas are designated
to “protect and enhance exceptional
botanical values [and] encourage
compatible scientific, educational and
recreational use.” The agency is also
directed to resolve conflicts in the area
“in favor of the botanical resource.” The
KNF is directed to do largely the same
in their designated Botanical Areas.
The Siskiyou Crest is also traversed
by the region’s premiere nonmotorized
trail, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). For
over 55 miles, from near the Red Buttes
Wilderness to Mt. Ashland, the trail
crosses the rocky ridges, high mountain
meadows, and beautiful high-elevation
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benefits—citizens should take charge to
secure the result they need and deserve.
Studies commissioned by A Greater
Applegate forecast that Applegaters
age 65 and older—retirees counting on
Social Security and Medicare to make
ends meet—will swell from 23 percent
in 2010 to over 32 percent by 2022.
These programs that you’ve invested in
for years by paying taxes are under attack
by the current Congress. If successful,
“entitlement reform” campaigns will
leave one third of Applegaters with less
than they’ve earned, sending negative
ripple effects throughout the valley’s
economy and culture.
At the other end of the age spectrum,
we have our kids. The White House
and Congress propose to cut federal
programs that provide children with
health care, nutritious food, and stable
housing. Josephine and Jackson counties
are in the top 20 percent of counties
with households in the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program. Are you
okay with government turning its back
on our less fortunate kids?
Does our government have a
responsibility to study and address
changing weather patterns? Applegate
River offers some of the cleanest water
in Oregon, but temperature standards
to support fish are routinely violated,
especially with this year’s drought. A
hotter, drier climate is the undeniable
trend. We need to get serious about
doing our part to reduce the trend.
We’ve got some pretty smart folks
graduating from the Oregon Institute
of Technology who can help us develop
renewable energy systems that will
stimulate our economy and reduce
our consumption of fossil fuels. The
federal government can help by shifting
subsidies from the fossil fuel industry to
incentives for renewable energy.
Many high school graduates don’t
believe that additional education
or training is financially accessible.
Without that access, how can they
pursue their dreams and how do we
maintain a healthy economy? It seems
to me that an exchange of public service
for college education or trade school
would be a win-win solution.
Applegaters have a solid tradition
of stepping up and taking action when
government fails to deliver. I applaud
your efforts. But none of us can do it
all alone. We’re all at a disadvantage
when Washington, DC, works against
local interests.
We must build partnerships between
the people in our district and the federal
government. That way, the government
can provide the resources, and the
people on the ground can provide the
local wisdom.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner
info@mcleod-skinner.com
forests of the Siskiyou Crest. The
PCT attracts visitors from around the
region and around the world. The trail
highlights the region’s scenic beauty
and is well loved by local residents for
hiking, botanizing, birding, and other
outdoor recreational activities.
Unfortunately, many of these
Botanical Areas and the PCT are
being impacted by illegal off-road
vehicle use. Motorized enthusiasts are
driving into wet meadows, across arid
grasslands, and over flower-filled rock
gardens, killing rare plants, damaging
vegetation, compacting soils, disrupting
hydrology, and spreading noxious
weeds. Under current US Forest Service
(USFS) management protocol, the
unauthorized routes on the Siskiyou
Crest are illegal and, according to the
environmental analysis for the USFS
Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM),
should be closed to off-road vehicle
use. To date, USFS has only fulfilled
a portion of the MVUM. They have
allowed an expansion of official
motorized trails in the Applegate,
but have failed to implement any of
the closures, enforcement measures,
or protections envisioned in the
environmental analysis.
The impacts associated with
unauthorized off-road use are
unacceptable in our Botanical Areas
and other sensitive habitats on the
Siskiyou Crest. Motorized vehicles are
particularly damaging in Botanical
Areas where intact plant communities
and rare plant populations are common.
Unauthorized off-road use is also illegal
according to current land management
mandates; therefore, use of motorized
vehicles off designated routes should be
treated as the crime that it is.
Applegate Neighborhood Network
(ANN) has been documenting the
impacts of off-highway vehicle (OHV)
use on the Siskiyou Crest and in our
designated Botanical Areas. The impacts
are widespread, pervasive, and at times
exceptionally severe. We encourage
the USFS to close illegal OHV routes
immediately and enforce that closure to
protect the world-renowned botanical
resources in our region.
Botanical Areas were designated to
protect particularly important sites with
rare and unusual plant populations,
and they should be adequately
protected across the Siskiyou Crest
and throughout the Applegate Valley.
We ask that the USFS work with
ANN to ensure that current off-road
vehicle regulations are enforced. This
collaboration could start with off-road
vehicle closures that protect the PCT
and our botanical diversity on the
Siskiyou Crest.
Luke Ruediger
ANN Program Coordinator
luke@applegateneighborhood.
network