Applegater Fall 2024
21
Fall update from
Siskiyou Mountains Ranger
District-Star Ranger Station
Happy Fall, Applegate Community
and Partners!
In late spring, the fire and fuels shop
treated 321 acres with prescribed fire in
the Ashland Watershed and along Palmer
Creek in the Applegate. As time allows,
crews continue to prepare burn units
for this fall and spring by constructing
handlines, removing heavy fuel along
perimeters, and falling hazard trees to
increase firefighter safety (see photo 1).
As of July 24, we have had six wildfires on
the ranger district, four lightning-caused
and two human-caused. We also assisted
Oregon Department of Forestry on the
Upper Applegate fire with engine and
crew support. Excitingly, the Dutchman
Lookout has been staffed seven days a
week and several fires were reported by
our new lookout employee! In addition
to fire personnel, the forest has been
humming with recreationists and seasonal
technicians out collecting data. Forest
Service (FS) Road 20 got a bit bumpy, but
fortunately we were able to grade it in July.
Here are some updates and reminders
on where to find more information.
Upper Applegate Watershed
Restoration Project (UAWRP)
Environmental Analysis
The Decision Notice for this 52,000-
acre project was signed in 2020 and
was a unique collaborative approach
between stakeholders and federal agencies
aiming to restore ecological conditions
resilient to disturbances and climate
change. For information, including
maps, please visit fs.usda.gov/detail/
ro g u e - s i s k i yo u / l a n d m a n a g e m e n t /
projects/?cid=fseprd662282.
Progress to date. Surface and ladder
fuel reduction will recommence this fall.
Felling and yarding work via helicopter is
tentatively scheduled to resume in January
2025. Treatments from this project helped
firefighters with suppression efforts during
the Sulphur Fire.
Grayback Shaded Fuel
Break Categorical Exclusion
This project aims to reduce hazardous
fuels along FS Road 1010 to Grayback
Trail. This shaded fuel break will allow
firefighters to safely engage with wildfires
and provide a safer ingress and egress for
the public. For more information, visit
fs.usda.gov/project/?project=63141.
Progress to date. Specialists continue
to survey and assess the project area to
develop treatment areas. To protect our
rare and at-risk plant and animal species,
some resource areas require two years of
surveys. We hope to have those completed
by fall 2025 with a signed decision
shortly after.
Yellowjacket Project Area
This proposed footprint bridges the
landscape between the UAWRP (see above)
and Ashland Forest Resiliency project
footprints. The primary focus is to address
the unprecedented Douglas-fir mortality
through fuel-reduction treatments along
main roads (FS Roads 20 and 22, as
well as any four-digit roads), around
infrastructure and communication sites,
and adjacent to private and state property.
Progress to date. We plan to engage
interested members of the public in spring
2025. Prior to that, contact Jen Sanborn at
jennifer.sanborn@usda.gov to arrange one-
on-one opportunities to discuss proposed
treatments in the field.
Tamarack Meadow
Restoration Project
This meadow system on the Siskiyou
Crest is home to a variety of sensitive and
unique plant species. In summer 2023, US
Photo 1. A USFS employee bucks a downed
tree to minimize surface and ladder fuels
for future prescribed burn units.
Photo: US Forest Service.
There are large numbers of dead and dying Douglas fir on Woodrat Mountain.
Photo: BLM.
Conifer mortality crisis
in southwest Oregon
BY ELIZABETH BURGHARD
Photo 2. USFS employees remove an
unauthorized outhouse and trench built
adjacent to Tamarack Meadow.
Photo: US Forest Service.
Forest Service (USFS) employees noticed
an RV pad site created in the meadow,
along with an outhouse and 10-foot-long
trench to catch human waste.
Progress to date. In July, USFS employees
removed the unauthorized outhouse and
filled the trench using a small excavator
(see photo 2). This fall we plan to restore
the area of the RV pad site and transplant
grass and sedge plugs to stabilize the soil.
Where can you find information?
GovDelivery. This is a primary method
of communication. GovDelivery is a
web-based email subscription system that
allows anyone to subscribe to information
on specific topics and projects that interest
them. Whenever information on that
project is made available by USFS or
the ranger district, you will receive an
email. You may customize and manage
your subscription profile in order to
receive exactly the types of information
you desire, and you may cancel your
subscriptions at any time. To subscribe,
visit public.govdelivery.com/accounts/
USDAFS/subscriber/new. If you need help
signing up for GovDelivery, please contact
Amanda Merz at amanda.merz@usda.gov.
Constant Contact. Another primary
form of communication, Constant
Contact is a web-based email subscription
that allows a member of the public to
subscribe to our news release mailing list.
To subscribe, visit our forest web page at
fs.usda.gov/rogue-siskiyou.
RRSNF web page. To view current and
recent projects across the Rogue River-
Siskiyou National Forest (RRSNF), please
visit fs.usda.gov/projects/rogue-siskiyou/
landmanagement/projects.
RRSNF Facebook page. Information
shared here is of a general nature that
highlights forest projects, events,
announcements, and employees. Go to
facebook.com/R6RRSNF.
For more information, contact Jen
Sanborn at jennifer.sanborn@usda.gov.
There’s a forest health crisis in
southwestern Oregon. The conifer
mortality sweeping through the area
is of concern for the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM).
The current conifer mortality crisis
is an indicator that our forests are not
healthy. In overly dense forests, like we
have in southwest Oregon, trees face
immense competition for water, sunlight,
and nutrients. Add periods of prolonged
drought, and trees become stressed and
weakened. This opens the door for pests,
like the flatheaded fir borer beetle to move
in. The result is a mosaic of dead and
dying trees.
Aerial surveys show that 350,000
acres in southwest Oregon have been
impacted by the Douglas-fir die-off, and
the Applegate Valley is the epicenter.
Conifer mortality can lead to potential
changes in fire behavior and direct safety
concerns for wildland firefighters. Recently,
dead conifers, while still covered in red
needles, have been a potent fuel for fires,
leading to increased rate of spread, crown
fire potential, and ember production. As
the needles fall off, there’s an overall loss
of canopy. Standing dead trees pose great
risk to wildland firefighters. As dead trees
fall, surface fuels increase.
As weaker trees lose out in competition
for resources and are more intensely
targeted by pests, our forests become a
mixture of dead and living trees. This
combination of stages is particularly
problematic. It played out in the 2020
Creek Fire in California. Areas with the
highest amounts of dead biomass and live
tree densities burned at high severity.
All of these factors make the BLM’s
work to manage forests and reduce fuels
projects more dangerous for firefighters
and the community, and more expensive
for the American taxpayer.
Residents and visitors should be
concerned too. The scale of conifer
mortality may change the way firefighters
engage wildfires. Standing dead trees
can fall across roads and trails, blocking
evacuation routes and access for first
responders. This mortality will likely
increase the size of fires, the cost to
put them out, and the amount of
smoke generated.
The BLM has been engaging in
ecological forestry for more than a decade.
The BLM forest and fuels management
program, which relies on commercial
timber sales, are designed to improve
forest health and buffer against this type
of die-off. Some of our earliest ecological
Dead and dying trees within the
recent Upper Applegate Fire. Photo: BLM.
forestry pilot projects have been successful
in reducing mortality so far.
However, protests, appeals, and
litigation by groups using misinformation
have delayed numerous fuels reduction
projects and timber sales, stopping
critical work while potentially risking
more severe fires. Many of the protested
project areas have faced significant die-off,
including Neds Bar and Bear Grub in the
Applegate Valley and Lost Antelope north
of Medford.
An interdisciplinary team of BLM
experts is currently working on the Strategic
Operations for Safety Environmental
Assessment to take a targeted effort to
make a difference in places where it matters
the most: near homes and roads, and
in areas where firefighters have the best
chance to catch fires when they are small.
Earlier this year, BLM officials sought
feedback on the proposal, including
locations where residents are concerned
about tree mortality. They received 170
comments and used that input to refine
the project. Everyone is encouraged to
learn more about the project and engage
in the planning process at bit.ly/BLMSOS.
BLM employees are committed to
improving forest health. Thinning forests
gives trees that are more resilient a fighting
chance. The idea that forest managers
can just walk away and leave them to
themselves is irresponsible and dangerous.
Forests are dynamic, have been managed
and changed throughout history, and
need continuous management. The
continuation of this management is true
forest stewardship.
Elizabeth Burghard
Medford District Manager
Bureau of Land Management
eburghard@blm.gov