Author: Luke Ruediger

The Boaz Mountain Roadless Area is the scenic backdrop for the farms, homesteads, vineyards, and residences in the Upper Applegate Valley. The red lines outline the units on the western face of Boaz Mountain. Unit 34-30 will be cut with a group selection prescription, and unit 33-30 with a structural retention regeneration harvest. Both will be cut to 40% canopy cover or lower. The scenic backdrop for the entire lower end of the Upper Applegate Valley, from Eastside Road and Star Ranger Station to McKee Bridge, is the Boaz Mountain Roadless Area. This area, although little visited or known, is cherished by local residents, recreationalists, and tourists visiting the area’s vineyards, hiking trails, picinic areas and campgrounds. Very few people know Boaz Mountain by name, but nearly all Applegate Valley visitors and residents enjoy its wild, beautiful character.  The Boaz Mountain Roadless Area rises from the Applegate River as a...

A “group selection” cut in unit 25-23. The trees marked white are proposed for removal. Group selection prescriptions call for clearing nearly all trees in a 1/4-acre area. No thinning will take place between each group selection cut; however, they can take place on 100′ centers throughout the unit, creating miniature clear-cuts in up to 20% of the stand. Since the spring of 2015, the Medford District BLM has been marking trees for removal in the Nedsbar Timber Sale, a controversial timber sale in the Applegate Valley. The Siskiyou Crest Blog and Klamath Forest Alliance have begun reviewing the tree removal mark in Nedsbar Timber Sale units. We have been focusing our energy on the controversial timber sale units in unroaded wildlands, old-growth or late-seral forest, northern spotted owl habitat, and in stands proposed for cancellation in the Nedsbar Community Alternative. Recently we hiked into units 25-23 and 25-21 in the vicinity of Owl Gulch and...

  2015 was a big year for The Siskiyou Crest Blog. Together with Klamath Forest Alliance, we worked tirelessly on many issues all over the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion, from the fire sculpted landscapes of the Klamath River to the wild rivers of the Kalmiopsis Wildands and the dry forests of the Applegate Valley. We want to take a moment to reflect on our accomplishments and look forward to the many environmental struggles that lie ahead in the New Year.  Timber Sale Monitoring: 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. Nedsbar Timber Sale/Nedsbar Community Alternative Coordinated the Nedsbar Community Monitoring Project, including unit monitoring, photographic monitoring, tree...

Unit 25-23 in the Trillium Mountain portion of the Dakubetede Roadless Area supports open groves of large, fire resistant Douglas fir. The unit is proposed for commerical logging in the Nedsbar Timber Sale, but it should be seen as a “reference condition,” providing a model for forest health and resilience. Treatments proposed in unit 25-23 would reduce canopy cover to 40%, impacting Northern spotted owl habitat and likely increasing fuel loads due to increased “shrub response” in the understory. The unit is now marked for logging and is in need of community monitoring and review. The unit should be canceled. Last winter the Siskiyou Crest Blog, Klamath Forest Alliance and the Applegate Neighborhood Network joined forces to oppose the Nedsbar Timber Sale, a large, landscape-scale logging project proposed in the Little and Upper Applegate Valleys of southwestern Oregon. The Nedsbar Timber Sale was developed by the Medford District BLM...

Now is the time to sow native plant seeds for habitat restoration, native pollinators or simply for your own enjoyment! Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds is a small, local business selling wildcrafted native seed for gardeners, nursery operations, habitat restoration practitioners, pollinator advocates and private landowners. Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds sells over 100 species of wildcrafted annual wildflowers, perennial wildflowers, woody shrubs and trees. Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds is owned and operated by Suzie Savoie and Luke Ruediger — who also operate the Siskiyou Crest Blog. Check out our website and consider supporting sustainable, ecological horticulture, habitat restoration and economic activity in the Siskiyou Mountains.  Check it out here: klamathsiskiyouseeds.com