The Year in Review at the Siskiyou Crest Blog

Leading a public hike through unit 28-22 in the Nedsbar Timber Sale. The unit has been canceled due to public outrage over logging this fire adapted old-growth stand. Many more units must be canceled to make the sale acceptable to local residents and environmentalists in the Applegate Valley.

 OHV Monitoring:

The Hinkle Lake Botanical Area is a major focus of OHV monitoring on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

 

• Successfully
  funded the Applegate Valley OHV Monitoring Project through a Kickstarter
  Campaign supported by 39 local residents. Thanks to everyone who
  contributed!
• Published
  and submitted detailed OHV Monitoring Reports to both the Rogue
  River-Siskiyou National Forest and the Medford District BLM for lands in
  the Applegate Valley.
• Submitted
  public petitions signed by hundreds of local residents supporting OHV
  closure in sensitive areas in the Applegate Valley. Thanks to all of
  you who signed on!
• Attended
  meetings with the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest regarding OHV
  impacts and proposed OHV closures.  
• Published
  6 blog posts on the Applegate Valley OHV Monitoring Project. 
• UPDATE:
  It appears that some OHV closures will develop from this ongoing
  monitoring effort. Stay tuned for future updates! Please support our
  continued engagement in these issues.

• Years
  of public comment and engagement on this issue culminated in a 32-page
  Objection Letter submitted to the Forest Service opposing OHV use in
  Roadless Areas, Botanical Areas, Back-Country Non-Motorized Areas, and
  other important areas in the Siskiyou Mountains. 
• Attended
  the Objection meeting in December, advocating for conservation measures
  and appropriate OHV closures. 
• Published
  a large blog post exploring wild areas proposed for OHV use on the Rogue
  River-Siskiyou National Forest.
• UPDATE:
  A final decision on this project is scheduled for early 2016. The issue is
  ongoing and the Siskiyou Crest Blog will be organizing to influence the
  updated annual Motor Vehicle Use Map in the years to come. 

Fire Monitoring & Suppression Reform:

 

The Happy Camp Fire in the Marble Mountains Wilderness Area.

• Published
  the Beaver and Happy Camp Fire Reports through the Klamath Forest
  Alliance, documenting fire effects and fire suppression impacts sustained
  on the Klamath National Forest in 2014. The Beaver and Happy Camp Fire
  Reports were published together with the Whites Fire Report, written by
  Kimberly Baker of Klamath Forest Alliance. 
• Held
  meetings with the Klamath National Forest regarding fire suppression
  impacts. 

• Successfully
  funded a Kickstarter campaign to support the Buckskin Fire Report, an
  in-depth, on-the-ground monitoring report for the Buckskin Fire of 2015.  The Buckskin
  Fire burned in the South Kalmiopsis Roadless Area in the Siskiyou National
  Forest. Thanks to everyone who helped fund this project!
• UPDATE:
  I had limited time for on-the-ground monitoring before winter weather set
  in, however, I was able to squeeze in enough time to capture some good
  photos of the fire and get a feel for the suppression impacts. Field
  monitoring will continue as soon as the snow melts. The project is ongoing
  with the publication of the Fire Report scheduled for spring-summer 2016.

• Participated
  in the Klamath River TREX Prescribed Fire Exchange, implementing
  prescribed fire treatments adjacent to homes on the Klamath and Salmon
  Rivers in Northern California.
• Utilized
  blog posts to promote prescribed fire and wildland fire use. 

Public Land Grazing Reform

Annual monitoring efforts are focused on the high mountain meadows of the eastern Siskiyou Crest.

• Participated
  in a five-day backpacking trip across the Siskiyou Crest, monitoring
  cattle grazing allotments on both the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest
  and Klamath National Forest. Monitoring consists of documenting the overutilization
  of range resources, impacts to riparian areas, water quality and wildlife
  habitat.
• Work
  was coordinated by the Campaign to Reform Public Lands Grazing in Northern
  California. 
• Submitted
  Grazing Monitoring Reports to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and
  Klamath National Forest. 
• UPDATE:
  The project is ongoing. Please support our continued efforts. 

 

Public Land Mining Reform

Rough and Ready Creek is a stronghold for fisheries in the Illinois River basin, a botanical wonderland, a unique and spectacular wildland, one of the clearest streams you will ever see and the site of a proposed nickel strip mine. Long threatened with large scale strip mining, the area is now proposed for a “mineral withdrawal” which would put a moratorium on the development of new mining claims. The “mineral withdrawal” proposal is strongly supported by many local residents.

• Provided public
  comment to the BLM and US Forest Service regarding Mineral Withdrawal in the
  North Fork of the Smith River, Baldface Creek, the West Fork of the Illinois
  River, Rough and Ready Creek, Upper Pistol River, and Hunter Creek watersheds.
  An official mineral withdrawal would make these lands exempt from new mine
  claim development, protecting wildlands, wild fisheries, and water quality.

• Attended
  public meetings and provided public testimony in support of mineral
  withdrawal.

• UPDATE: The project is ongoing. Please support
  our continued efforts.

Collaborative Projects

A public hike with Applegate Neighborhood Network through roadless oak woodland proposed for new road construction in the Nedsbar Timber Sale.

• Participated
  in the formation of a local, conservation-based collaborative advocating
  for environmental and ecological concerns in local collaborative forest
  management projects in the Applegate Valley. ANN will organize local
  conservation-based non-profits and residents to influence public land
  management planning and projects within the Applegate River
  watershed.   
• UPDATE:
  This project is ongoing. Please support the work of ANN. 

• Highlighted
  the need for strong environmental oversight of the newly developing
  cannabis industry in southwestern Oregon.
• Currently
  The Siskiyou Crest Blog is the only environmental voice publicly pushing
  for the protection of the southwestern Oregon’s fragile biodiversity as
  this budding industry grows.

• Advocating
  for pollinator habitat restoration and protections. Increasing awareness
  of pollinator issues in the local area, including monarch butterfly
  advocacy and habitat restoration.

• Address
  current and newly developing threats to the Klamath-Siskiyou
  Ecoregion. 

• Continue
  monitoring public land management planning and projects in the
  Klamath-Siskiyou.

• Explore
  ways to provide permanent protection for the region’s outstanding biodiversity,
  roadless wildlands, wild rivers, and scenic mountain habitats. 

• Continue
  hiking, exploring, backpacking and intimately connecting with the place
  I’ve called home my entire life.  

Please
consider donating to this mostly volunteer work. The Siskiyou Crest Blog, our
investigative reporting and public lands activism, is entirely a community-supported
effort. Keep it wild in 2016!