Month: April 2015

Seaid Valley and the Klamath River viewed from the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) on Devils Ridge in the Kangaroo Roadless Area. The fire-effected slopes across the river are targeted for extensive salvage logging in the wild, salmon stronghold of Grider Creek.   This photo depicts a few of the 229 units proposed for logging in the Westside Fire Recovery Project. The proposed salvage units, outlined in red, would devastate this wild and scenic region with large, clear-cut swaths, disrupting natural recovery and impacting innumerable ecological and societal values. The area includes the PCT; steep and unstable soils subject to erosion; Late Successional Reserve (LSR) forest important for spotted owls; a Bald Eagle Management Area, and very important connectivity habitat between the Marble Mountains Wilderness Area and the Red Buttes Wilderness Area. This ecologically important region—and scenic national treasure—should not be logged and converted into highly...

Mixed Severity Fire in the Happy Camp Fire on the slopes of the Scott River Canyon. The summer of 2014 brought smoke, ash and fire to the Klamath Mountains, including three large wildfires on the Klamath National Forest. Combined, the fires burned over 218,000 acres, leaving their mark on the forests and woodlands of the Klamath, Salmon, and Scott River watersheds. Due to the drought and extreme fire conditions the fires were suppressed with aggressive firefighting tactics that created lasting environmental impacts. The Klamath National Forest has declared these fires catastrophic and the fire effected forests are now being targeted for extreme salvage logging proposals. The agency has offered rhetoric and spin to justify their proposal, claiming that the fires burned in a manner outside the characteristic mosaic of mixed severity fire in the Klamath Mountains. The industry is pushing hard to log large swaths of the fire area, converting natural fire effected stands into...

Westside Fire Recovery Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) Public Comment Period Low-severity fire from the Happy Camp Fire Complex in the Marble Mountain Wilderness at the headwaters of Wooley Creek, one of northern California’s wildest old-growth habitats. This past summer three large fires — the Happy Camp, Whites and Beaver Fires — burned over 218,600 acres in the Klamath River watershed. The Happy Camp and Whites Fires burned in a natural mosaic, including over 70% low to very low severity fire. These fires burned in roadless wildlands, Late Successional Reserves (LSR), botanical areas, logged-over matrix lands, and both the Russian and Marble Mountain Wilderness Areas. The Beaver Fire, on the other hand, burned in forests largely converted to tree plantations, large portions of which are private timber land. Consequently, the fire severity was highest in the Beaver Fire, with 40% of the fire area effected by high severity fire; nearly...