Unit 35-11 in the Pickett West Timber Sale was withdrawn due to impacts to the red tree vole. The unit was identified by on-the-ground monitoring conducted by Klamath Forest Alliance, Applegate Neighborhood Network & the Deer Creek Association. The Grants Pass BLM has withdrawn portions of the Pickett West Timber Sale! A coalition of local environmental organizations, including Klamath Forest Alliance, Applegate Neighborhood Network and the Deer Creek Association joined forces this past year to conduct extensive on-the-ground field monitoring in units throughout the massive Pickett West Timber Sale. What we found in the Deer Creek watershed outside Selma, Oregon was troubling. We found many old-growth forests proposed for heavy industrial logging. Many of these forests provide important habitat for the Northern spotted owl and its prey source, the red tree vole.  The red tree vole lives high in the canopy of old-growth Douglas-fir trees. The species is a habitat...

A sunset from upper Dollar Meadows in the Wallow Fire on the Little North Fork of the Salmon River. I recently hiked into the western portion of the Wallow Fire to monitor the fire effects and document the post-fire mosaic. I hiked the Garden Gulch Trail to Chimney Rock and then out to English Peak and Hancock Lake at the northwest fire perimeter. The Wallow Fire started on August 11, 2017 with a flash of lightning near Bear Wallow Peak, deep in the Marble Mountain Wilderness. After burning for weeks in the North Fork of the Salmon River, the fire jumped the ridge and burned into the Little North Fork drainage on August 29, 2017. Over the course of one week, 46,668 acres burned in a large, wind-driven run up the Little North Fork and into the headwaters of adjacent drainages, including Steinacher Creek, Crapo Creek, and tributaries of Wooley Creek. This week-long period accounts for 70% of the acres burned in the Wallow Fire. Little North Fork of the Salmon River...

The Burnt Peak Fire backed down the slopes of the Collings-Kinney Roadless Area into the Upper Applegate Valley. I recently hiked the Burnt Peak Fire in the foothills of the Applegate Valley. The fire burned mostly within the Collings-Kinney Roadless Area in a rugged knot of mountains colonized by dense conifer forest, chaparral, live oak woodlands and deciduous oak habitats. The fire burned to the banks of Kinney and Palmer Creeks in the Upper Applegate Valley. The Burnt Peak Fire started on August 14, 2017 high on the slopes of Burnt Peak, a summit of scrub brush and forest dividing Carberry Creek from the Upper Applegate Valley. Despite burning in the heat of summer and through heavy fuel, the fire backed down the slopes of Kinney and Palmer Creek, at mixed severity. Heavy smoke inversions and moderate weather conditions kept the fire cool in most of the fire area. The majority of the fire burned in the understory of mixed conifer forest dominated by Douglas fir,...

A view into the headwaters of O’Brien Creek from Grayback Mountain. Both sides of O’Brien Creek Meadows and the forested ridge to the right underburned in the Creedence Fire, leaving a rich, green forest canopy. The Creedence Fire began with a strike of lightning on August 14, 2017 and burned in the back-country surrounding Grayback Mountain and the Kangaroo Roadless Area. Two fires were ignited, one on the lower slope of Bigelow Creek, and another high on the ridge near O’Brien Creek Meadows in the Grayback Mountain Botanical Area, at the headwaters of Carberry Creek. The two fires later merged to become the Creedence Fire, the westernmost fire in the Miller Complex. Grayback Mountain is one of the Applegate Valley’s most iconic and well-loved landscapes, rising to 7,048′ above Thompson Creek, Carberry Creek and the Williams Valley. The forests, meadows, and wilderness-quality landscapes surrounding Grayback Mountain are cherished by...

A view across the Wallow Fire in the North Fork of the Salmon River from the Pacific Crest Trail in the Marble Mountain Wilderness. Since 2012 the Klamath-Siskiyou Fire Reports have been documenting the effects of wildfires occurring throughout the Klamath-Siskiyou region. We ground-truth and document fire suppression actions and their environmental impacts. We are the only organization getting out on the ground and into the heart of the fires, writing detailed reports about how they burned and how fire suppression actions are impacting the wild places we love. Our 2017 field season is in full swing. This week we hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) from Etna Summit and down into the North Fork of the Salmon River into the Wallow Fire, part of the Salmon August Complex. The Wallow Fire burned primarily in the Marble Mountains Wilderness and its surrounding roadless areas. The video below demonstrates the fire effects as seen from the PCT in between Etna Summit and...