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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 2021)
Applegater Fall 2021 Rogue Forest Partners active in the community and in the forest BY TERRY FAIRBANKS restoration, and the availability of local resources. It was a pleasure to meet community members, and we look forward to doing so again! Engaging our local workforce This spring, our lead implementation partner, Lomakatsi Restoration Project, completed cutting and piling on 100 acres for ecological fuels reduction in our Upper Applegate Watershed (UAW) project area. At times, LRP crews received piling assistance from a local forestry contractor and from students at various high schools as part of Lomakatsi’s ninth annual Ashland Watershed Youth Training and Employment Program. This work followed months of planning, prescription writing, pre-work assessments, and treatment marking by LRP’s restoration forestry team. With fire season restricting chainsaw operation in the woods and LRP’s crew assisting on the Bootleg Fire, The Applegate Valley Wildfire Education Fair in June provided an work will resume on opportunity for community members to ask questions and get the remaining 175 involved in wildfire fuels reduction and risk mitigation. acres in the Applegate Photo: Rogue Forest Partners. this fall. Later this year, LRP and partners will request proposals for commercial thinning work at UAW. The small-diameter timber removed as the by-product of restoration will be sold to local mills. The revenue generated will then be reinvested back into our project areas for more restoration. The additional funds are particularly Members of the Rogue Forest Partners (RFP) attended a community wildfire education fair hosted by A Greater Applegate and the Applegate Valley Fire District on June 26. Representatives from the Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon State University, Bureau of Land Management, Rogue Valley Prescribed Burn Association, Klamath- Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild), and Prescription for Safety also joined the event. What was initially planned as an outdoor event was driven indoors by record-setting high temperatures, but, thankfully, the heat did not deter Applegate residents, and RFP had an opportunity to discuss ecological forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction efforts with local landowners. Topics included planned fuels reduction treatments across public and private lands, defensible space around homes, the need for ecological forest 11 critical in high- priority areas, such as the wildland-urban interface, that do not have commercially viable timber and traditionally lack adequate funding. We strive to source all contractors locally and encourage those in the Applegate and Rogue valleys to stay tuned and consider submitting proposals. Implementation Review Team visits Earlier this year, Lomakatsi Restoration Project crews Williams Project worked on 100 acres of ecological fuels reduction Our Williams in the Applegate Watershed project area. project area spans Photo: Lomakatsi Restoration Project. 6,625 acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management to trees less than eight-inch diameter. (BLM) and several private landowners in The review team concluded these stands the Williams community. On June 24, the would have benefited from the removal RFP implementation review team (IRT) of strategically selected trees of commercial toured two units in the project to assess value, those greater than eight-inch management plans, accomplishments, diameter. Broadcast underburning, used challenges, and next steps. Implementation in conjunction with selective thinning members included recreation, tribal, and pile burning, was also strongly industry, and conservation representatives. recommended for the project. The units’ treatments primarily focus Ecological thinning and underburning on (1) reducing wildfire hazards to help improve the health of retained trees and limit the spread of fire towards adjacent restore more open forest conditions for homes and (2) providing safe and effective understory vegetation, which, in turn, fire suppression opportunities. restores ecological function to these Landowner objectives vary based on forests. With continued implementation, opportunity and landscape position, but these treatments are expected to generally, they include: significantly reduce wildfire hazards • Promotion of a healthy forest that is and increase fire management options resilient to fire by enhancing the growing and safety. space of retained trees and proportion of Terry Fairbanks hardwoods while encouraging tree and Executive Director shrub diversity Southern Oregon • Reduction of hazardous surface and Restoration Collaborative ladder fuels Coordinator, Rogue Forest Partners • Clearing along roads and driveways to tfairbanks@sofrc.org aid egress in the event of a potential wildfire Rogue Forest Partners (RFP) is a group of • Enhanced quality of wildlife and four nonprofits and six public agencies aquatic habitat working as one for the communities • Understory thinning using similar and forests of the Rogue Basin to reduce ecological practices for hazardous wildfire risks, enhance wildlife habitat, fuels reduction and create equitable, sustainable jobs. Within the units reviewed, non- F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n , v i s i t commercial tree removal was limited rogueforestpartners.org.