Bolan Lake from the Bolan Peak Lookout-1934 The historic Osborne photos highlighted on this post are just a few of the many lookout photos taken in the 1930s from Forest Service lookouts all across the Northwest. William Bushnell Osborne, a Forest Service employee and inventor, developed the Osborne Firefinder in 1911 for use at fire lookouts, and in 1932 developed the Osborne Swing Lens Camera. With his Swing Lens Camera he traveled the Northwest photographing the landscape from fire lookouts on National Forest and Park Service lands.  The photos are an excellent representation of historic forest conditions and patterns in the early part of the 20th century. The photos can be used to not only document and analyze historic conditions, but can also be used to contrast historic conditions from those that exist today. The photos document the influence of fire on the landscape in an era when fire suppression in the Siskiyou Mountains was still fairly...

The Salmon River at the mouth of Wooley Creek, a cold water tributary flowing from the Marble Mountains Wilderness. The Salmon River is one of the most remote and magical portions of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion. The region’s wild beauty is unparalleled. Located between the Marble Mountains, Trinity Alps, and Russian Wilderness Areas, the watershed is the axis of connectivity and diversity in the central Klamath Mountains. The region’s wild watersheds, spectacular high country and intact forests create one of the most important wilderness habitats in the west, including over 1 million acres of wilderness and roadless terrain spilling into the Salmon River from all sides. The Salmon River has been designated a “key” watershed for the endangered salmon in the Klamath River. The Salmon River, a major tributary of the Klamath River, provides a number of intact cold water tributaries that are very important to the region’s salmon and steelhead...

Butte Fork of the Applegate Trail USGS topo map The Klamath-Siskiyou Trailfinder is a fantastic resource for maps within the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, including most trails featured in my book, The Siskiyou Crest: Hikes, History & Ecology. The website has links to maps in both the Oregon and California portions of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, a trail blog, trail updates, and other trail resources for the area. Check it out at: http://www.kstrails.org Read the exciting news about the Coast to Crest Trail on the Klamath-Siskiyou Trailfinder website: “A new National Recreation Tail called the Coast to Crest Trail (CCT) is being cleared from Crescent City over the Little Bald Hills Trail to the South Fork Smith River, then upriver along newly constructed trail segments to the upper South Kelsey Trailhead. From here the scenic trail climbs up to Baldy Peak in the Siskiyou Wilderness, and then heads down the West Fork Clear Creek to the Clear...

Red Buttes Siskiyou Chapter, Native Plant Society of Oregon Program: Red Buttes Wilderness Natural & Cultural History Thursday, November 21, 7 pm Science Building, Southern Oregon University Luke Ruediger, author of the recently released  The Siskiyou Crest: Hikes, History & Ecology, will discuss the natural and cultural history of the exquisite Red Buttes Wilderness, a small but special Wilderness south of Applegate Lake in Northern California.  Southern Oregon University, Science Building, RM 171.  Refreshments at 6:45 pm, meeting and program at 7:00 pm.  Free.  Contact Kristi: 541.941.3744.    Getting to SOU: From Siskiyou Blvd, travel south (uphill) on Mountain Ave. to Ashland Street.  Turn left on Ashland St. and the Science Building will be on your right after Elkader.  Walk up the steps or to avoid the steps, drive around the Science Bldg. and park in the back.  RM 171 is on the...