16 Spring 2021 Applegater
THE SISKIYOU MOUNTAIN ADVOCATE
Protections needed for watershed wildlands
BY LUKE RUEDIGER
For those of us who care for our
environment, love the land, and work for
wildlife, water, or wildlands, the last four
years have been dark and uncertain times.
From the national monuments stripped
of protection and regulations gutted for
the benefit of industry to the xenophobic,
environmentally destructive border wall,
widespread anti-science policy and climate
denial, we have had little to nothing to
applaud about the Trump Administration
and its frenzy of shortsighted, profit-driven
resource extraction.
Now with a new administration calling
the shots, and in a flurry of executive
orders, the Biden administration has
begun dismantling the destructive legacy
of Trump-era anti-environment policies.
These executive orders have set forth a new
policy agenda focused on environmental
justice, climate change, and land and
water protection. They commit federal
land managers and regulatory agencies to
science-based management, climate-smart
policy, and the protection of 30 percent of
the American land base by 2030.
The lofty goals and words of these
executive orders sound hopeful, but will
only become meaningful when they
are fully enacted and backed up with
permanent wildland protections, long-
needed endangered-species protections,
and transformative changes to our
economy, our food-production system,
our transportation system, and our way of
life. These changes will require innovative
thinking and consistent political pressure.
No matter how lofty and progressive
their words might be, our elected officials
must be encouraged by citizens like
you and me to turn those words into
meaningful action.
A view from the Siskiyou Crest across the vast, carbon-rich, old-growth forests at the
headwaters of the Applegate River. Photo: Luke Ruediger.
All too often people view the climate
and extinction crisis as something affecting
far-off lands, with solutions in the carbon-
rich forests of the Amazon in South
America and the Tongass National Forest
in Alaska. However, both the impacts
and the solutions can also be found right
here in the Applegate. We have seen the
impact of highly variable and erratic
weather patterns, warming temperatures,
reduced snow loads, extended droughts,
and low stream-flows. What we don’t often
appreciate is how the public lands of the
Applegate watershed can also be part of
the solution.
World-class diversity
The Siskiyou Mountains are known for
their world-class biodiversity, incredible
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habitat connectivity, towering ancient
forests, and wild, clear-flowing streams.
Protecting these mountains is an important
part of fighting climate change on the local
level, but with global implications. The
forests of the Siskiyou Mountains, and
in particular the ancient, fire-adapted,
old-growth forests, sequester significant
amounts of carbon. In fact, recent research
shows that forests and other vegetation can
absorb up to 40 percent of the emissions
generated in the lower 48 states. Ironically,
the timber industry is instead the largest
single source of emissions in Oregon, but if
managed properly for carbon sequestration
and biodiversity, rather than industrial
timber production, our forests could be
a significant part of the climate solution.
Protecting the Siskiyou Crest and the
surrounding wildlands in the Applegate
watershed as part of Biden’s initiative to
protect 30 percent of America’s ecosystem
by 2030 would not just protect these
carbon-rich forests. It would also protect
some of the most botanically diverse
wildland habitats in the West. The Siskiyou
Crest contains widely varying plant
communities, endemic plant species found
nowhere else in the world, and strongholds
for endangered wildlife like the Northern
Spotted Owl and Pacific Fisher.
A broad, protected area straddling
the Siskiyou Crest, expanding the Red
Buttes Wilderness Area, designating
new wilderness areas, and encompassing
the many wildlands of the Applegate
would protect the region’s important
biodiversity, maintain connectivity in
a changing climate, facilitate species
dispersal, promote carbon storage in old-
forest habitats, and protect important
regional climate refugia.
Local Applegate residents are also
strongly supportive of new Wild and
Scenic River designation proposals on
tributaries of the Applegate River and
hope to see these included in exciting new
legislation soon to be proposed by Senators
Wyden and Merkley, expanding Oregon’s
Wild and Scenic River system.
Alter our lives and economy
If we are to weather the coming storms,
high dry winds, atmospheric rivers, and
extended droughts of climate change,
while maintaining the planet’s spectacular
biodiversity and sustaining a livable future,
we must alter many aspects of our daily
lives and economy. We must also preserve
what remains of our wild, old forests and
woodlands, our rivers and high mountain
peaks. Finally, we must build movements
that ensure the lofty words of the Biden
Administration translate into real action
on climate change and biodiversity.
Luke Ruediger • siskiyoucrest@gmail.com