Author: Luke Ruediger

KFA field monitoring on the Shasta Agness Timber Sale above the Wild & Scenic Rogue River discovered a previously unknown Northern spotted owl within commercial units in the Shasta Agness Timber Sale. The discovery of this owl is forcing the Forest Service to remove significant acreage from the timber sale’s Decision Record. Klamath Forest Alliance has been busy in 2020 fighting for the wildlands of the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains and building a movement to protect, defend and restore the natural world. Despite the hardships of 2020, we remain focused on the needs of the land and our commitment to protect the wild watersheds that surround us, and the forests that are critical for carbon sequestration and climate defense. During these difficult times, more than ever, wildlands provide us solace. They provide a sense of humility and awe, a place of quiet reflection, and a place of inspiration. They are an escape from the increasingly stressful and unhealthy modern...

The Wild and Scenic Rogue River flows through BLM lands west of Grants Pass, Oregon. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages more public land than any other federal land management agency, including nearly 248 million acres, representing an incredible 10.5% of all land in the United States. These public lands contain important wildlife habitat, highly scenic landscapes and many spectacular wildlands.  In the Siskiyou Mountains, BLM lands include the Medford District BLM, which manages the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, the foothills of the Applegate Valley, diverse forests in the Illinois River watershed, and portions the spectacular Wild and Scenic Rogue River. Unfortunately, during the Trump Administration, the BLM has declared an all-out assault on both public involvement and environmental regulations, implementing an undemocratic, unscientific and industrial approach to public land management. This has facilitated an increase in damaging projects...

A view across the Crawford Timber Sale area to the Marble Mountains Wilderness. Photo credit: Kimberly Baker In April, Klamath Forest Alliance and our conservation allies, EPIC and KS Wild, filed suit against the Klamath National Forest over the Crawford Timber Sale in the Eastern District Court of California. With legal representation by the Crag Law Center, the suit alleged that the timber sale violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Forest Management Act. Instead of taking its chances with this illegal project in court, last week the Klamath National Forest “withdrew” the Crawford Timber Sale, giving the old forests and cold water tributaries of the Klamath River a reprieve.   The Crawford Timber Sale would have logged off late successional forests and Northern spotted owl habitat in the Mid-Klamath River watershed downstream of Happy Camp, California. This included logging units in Crawford Creek, Coon Creek and...

The upper slopes of Bald Mountain support a diverse mosaic of habitats, including grassland, shrubland, oak woodland and dry mixed conifer forest. Bald Mountain is little known, heavily threatened and spectacularly diverse. Rising from the rugged Little Applegate River Canyon to its broad 5,500′ summit, the mountain also creates the headwaters of Wagner Creek above the small town of Talent in the Rogue Valley. Like a patchwork quilt, the area is transitional and supports a rich mosaic of plant communities spread across the face of the mountain. A stronghold for regional biodiversity, the area contains plant communities from across the West, each in its own unique microclimate or habitat.  Like much of the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains the diverse soils, steep environmental gradients and complex topography of Bald Mountain create beautifully contrasting ecosystems. The mountain’s harsh south and west facing slopes support a diverse mixture of high desert...

  Beautiful fire resistant forest is proposed for group selection logging in the Bear Grub Timber Sale. These units are located at the headwaters of China Gulch and in the Wellington Wildlands. The trees marked with white paint are proposed for removal and are nearly all over 30″ in diameter.  Since the fall of 2019, Klamath Forest Alliance has been working with Applegate Neighborhood Network and residents throughout the Applegate Valley to oppose the Medford District BLM’s Bear Grub Timber Sale and to protect the Wellington Wildlands. Fire resistant forest on China Gulch marked for removal. The Bear Grub Timber Sale proposes “group selection” logging, a form of staggered clearcut logging that removes whole groves of mature, fire resistant forest in patches up to 4 acres in size and across up to 30% of a timber sale unit.  By removing large overstory trees and whole groves of fire resistant forest, these habitats will be...