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About North Douglas herald. (Drain Or) 2023-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2023)
Page10 Rural Report October 2023 The entire watershed of the Umpqua River lies in Douglas County. The heavily timbered county contains nearly 1.8 million acres of com- mercial forest lands and one of the oldest stands of old growth timber in the world. The forest products industry continues to play a significant economic role in the county. NASA Imagery Maps Loss of Forest in Coastal Watershed Communities FEMA Grants $2.2 Million Aerial mapping from 1997 to 2022 shows 31% loss of Forest, impacting water quality t o 4 Fire Departments for Recruit ment - Including 2 in Douglas County Story by Scooter Brown Oregon’s coastal communities rely on drinking water from forested rivers and creeks, which have lost substantial tree cover during the last 20 years. Over 30% of the forested land in 80 of Oregon’s coastal watersheds, nearly 600 square miles, has been logged during the last 20 years. That logging impacts many communities who rely on streams and creeks for their water supply. Forests not only improve the quality, but also the quantity of surface waters. They prevent erosion, and filter, direct and store rain and snow that passes into streams. More than 80% of Oregonians, including most who live on the coasts, get some or all of their drinking water from surface water sources such as streams, rivers and creeks, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Young trees planted to replace logged mature trees also end up sucking up more water, further depleting surface water supply. Planting new tree stands requires spraying herbicides and pesticides, often from the air and that can harm water sources. There’s really literally hundreds of protections that are put in place when anything is harvested in the state of Oregon. Stream buffers and harvest practices that are very specific and nuanced with reforestation requirements and steep slopes protections.” Using data and satellite imagery from NASA collected between 1997 and 2023, four researchers from the agency’s Oregon Coast Range Ecological Conservation Team were able to look at logging impacts in forests within 80 Oregon Coast watersheds identified by Oregon Wild. Its safe to say that logging in the Coast Range wasnt done carefully and the aerial photos mapped by NASA clearly shows that. Logging operations across the Oregon Coast Range and conventional logging practices pose a risk of contamination to surface water quality. According to NASA DEVELOP and Oregon Coast Ecological Conservation team, who partnered with nonprofit Oregon Wild to map the extent of clearcutting and commercial thinning in 80 Coast Range drinking watersheds between 2000 and 2022. This project used all available Landsat data from 1997 through June 2023 in Google Earth Engine. Sensors used include Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper, Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager, and Landsat 9 Operational Land Imager-2. The Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm was used with Landsat observations to identify clearcutting patches. Percent change in summer median Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) images were used to identify areas of forest disturbance including commercial thinning. The team concluded that logging, including both clearcutting and commercial thinning, impacted 31% of forested area in drinking watersheds and the intensity of logging remained consistent from year to year. Clearcutting occurred primarily on private land while commercial thinning occurred primarily on state and federal lands. The bulk of logging in watershed forests during this time was on land owned by industrial logging companies, followed by state and federal agencies, tribes and local municipalities. Those companies, including Weyerhaeuser, Stimson Lumber and Roseburg Forest Products, use a method called clearcutting, defined by the NASA researchers as the removal of all trees in an area exceeding 2 acres. Hopefully, the NASA analysis can spur efforts by some Oregon cities to buy and manage the forestland around their drinking watersheds. The state recently passed legislation to create a Community Drinking Water Enhancement and Protection Fund with $5 million available for communities hoping to own or improve land around their source drinking water. Salem, September 6, 2023 Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced that four rural Oregon Fire Departments, including two in Douglas County, will receive a combined nearly $2.2 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for firefighter recruitment and retention. Wyden said, “Firefighters have been working hard this past summer and year-round to protect lives and livelihoods throughout Oregon and they deserve quality pay and time-off”. Wyden said the federal investment in Oregon is especially timely given firefighter’s heroic work this summer battling blazes. Merkley said, “As fires and emergencies can break out at any time, its essential that we have enough firefighters available to meet the moment”. Merkley said the funding will help protect Oregon communities by ensuring rural districts have the staffing and resources needed when disaster strikes. A release said the grants come from FEMA’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Program, which awards grants to assist local fire departments with staffing and deployment capabilities to respond to emergencies. The following funds will be allocated: Over $492,000 for North Douglas County Fire and EMS in Drain Over $611,000 to Tenmile Rural Fire District, northwest of Winston Over $309,000 to Siletz Rural Fire Protection District Nearly $770,000 to Stayton Fire District
