The Rogue: A Stunning River that Deserves More

Ashland is nestled on the north slopes of the Siskiyou Crest in the Rogue watershed. Many would argue that Lithia Park and Ashland Creek are the crown jewels of our town. For an Ashland resident or visitor, perhaps there is nothing so lovely as a spring stroll through town, up the creek and into the forests that bring water to our taps. If one follows a raindrop down from Mt. Ashland and into Ashland Creek, they will arrive at Bear Creek, eventually reaching the greater Rogue River watershed and then the mighty Pacific ocean.

Southwest Oregon’s Rogue River flows through one of the most spectacular and biologically unique wildlands in the United States. Right now, only part of the lower Rogue’s watershed is protected, leaving a large adjacent roadless area open to commercial logging, mining, and road-building. With each timber sale and new road built, the roadless area shrinks in size, the valuable wildlife habitat is degraded, and recreational opportunities are lost. Now is the time to protect these roadless areas and free-flowing streams for this and future generations by expanding the incredible Wild Rogue Wilderness Area.

A Recreational Haven

The lower Rogue River is internationally renowned for fishing and boating. Hiking and nature viewing are also extremely popular. The Rogue River National Scenic Trail begins here and the Rainie Falls Trail on the south side of the river affords easy access to witness salmon jump Rainie Falls. Because of the demand, BLM placed limits on boating downriver from Graves Creek and set up lottery system to award permits. Tourism on the Rogue generates $13 million annually.

A Refuge for Wildlife

The Wild Rogue area is extremely important for wildlife. Habitat exists for rare species like the northern spotted owl and bald eagle. Mergansers, osprey, river otter, elk, black bear, and many other species use the river and surrounding environments. There are two distinct elk herds on the southern portion of the Zane Grey. BLM describes this area “source” habitat for the surrounding degraded landscape.

A Plant Museum

The Wild Rogue has exceptional botanical diversity, including rare plants, mosses and fungi. The white flowered ginger (Asarum caudatum var. novum) occurs near creeks in old-growth forest habitat. This species has yet to be described as “new” (to science). This species and the Rogue River Stonecrop (see Focus on the Family page 11) have only been found on BLM lands in the Wild Rogue.

Rich in History

For thousands of years Native Americans lived along the Rogue. Early French trappers fought local tribes and named them “les Coquins” (the Rogues). The river became known as “La Riviere aux Coquins” (the Rogue River). Gold was discovered in 1859 and white settlers moved into the area. The last battle of the “Rogue Indian Wars” was fought here on the lower Rogue, before surviving Native Americans were marched to the Siletz and Grande Rohde reservations in the north. The famous author Zane Grey purchased an old mining claim at Winkle Bar, where he went on to write several books. His cabin still stands today and is a popular destination for river and wilderness visitors.

The Future of the Rogue

Approximately 100 miles of streams that feed the Rogue River are eligible for protection under the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act and nearly 60,000 acres of roadless wildlands should be protected as Wilderness. Now is our chance. Please contact Rep. Peter DeFazio and ask him to “Save the Wild Rogue.”

Representative Peter DeFazio
405 East 8th Ave. #2030, Eugene, OR 97401; (541) 465-6732

Visit our coalition’s new website to learn more: www.savethewildrogue.org

A 3-day participatory workshop, including practical applications of Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Restoration Forestry, Ecological Woodlot Stewardship, Permaculture, Small Diameter Utilization & Natural Building Friday, May 4 through Sunday, May 6, 2007 White Oak Farm in Williams, Oregon.

Discover the interface among Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), restoration forestry practices, permaculture principles, byproduct utilization and natural building. Leading indigenous cultural practitioners, restoration ecologists, scientists and permaculture designers will share valuable information about traditional ecological practices, local ecology and current restoration forestry principles. Explore Native American ecological techniques for cultivating viable plant communities for use as food, basketry and weaving materials. Stewarding the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion today can incorporate lessons from indigenous peoples’ use of fire, and the role that fire played in maintaining wildlife habitat. Practical hands-on experiences in the forest, woodlands and fields will help restore and enhance forest and woodland resiliency, species diversity, and site productivity. Join us to share ideas and skills that can be applied to tending your own land in this fire-adapted ecosystem.

For more info, visit Lomakatsi

Restoration Forestry means working with nature to restore the world’s forests to their former grandeur and function. The forests are the world’s humidifiers, lungs, oxygen producers, soil producers, biomass producers and carbon cyclers. Forests are the basis for much of life on earth. Restoration forestry assists nature to heal degraded forests and bring them back to a state of biological productivity, biodiversity, ecological stability and resilience.

One way Restoration Forestry encourages forest health and resiliency is by protecting the trees most suited to local conditions. Scattered along the wildland urban interface (WUI) of Ashland, there are large, strong, old-growth Ponderosa Pine, White and Black Oak, Mountain Mahogany, Douglas-fir, Madrone, and even Manzanita. These legacy trees pre-date European settlement, and not only hold the hillsides and ravines together, but also maintain the historic memory of understory fires lit by native peoples to sustain their resources, such as acorns gathered by the Takelma and Shasta bands who lived near Ashland Creek. Encroachment by small Douglas-fir and dense brush has significantly diminished the Oak Woodlands and Pine/Oak ecosystems that cover much of the interface. Thinning of these more opportunistic species restores the biologically-rich components of the diverse landscapes that surround us.

Restoration Forestry also reduces fuel loads and crown fire risks around homes and neighborhoods. Large trees are always retained, and many of the smaller trees and shrubs that are 2 to 8 inches in diameter are thinned. This technique fosters the survival of fire resilient dominant trees, by reducing competition for moisture, nutrients, and sunlight, and by decreasing adjacent, ladder fuels that bring fire from the ground, through brush, small trees, and into the canopies of taller trees. A diversity of plant species and age classes is also retained, along with chaparral patches that are used by wildlife.

Lomakatsi’s Full Circle Schools Restoration Ecology Program provides teachers and their students direct hands-on experiences linked with local environmental restoration projects. This innovative program includes in-class presentations, field trips to restoration sites, study and care of native plants grown in local shadehouse nurseries and Adopt-A-Site field trips where students are actively involved in all steps of the restoration process.

Lomakatsi Restoration Project is a non profit organization, which develops and implements pro-active community based ecological restoration projects throughout the Cascade-Klamath-Siskiyou eco-region of southwestern Oregon and northwestern California.

The wildlands of northern California and southern Oregon flood the mind with gorgeous images: cathedral forests of the Cascade Mountains; wet, foggy redwoods towering over the Pacific Ocean; mighty rivers shepherding salmon upstream to spawn.

Residents and travelers to the hamlet of Ashland sense that there is something special about this town, which sits at the confluence of the Cascade and Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains. Whether it is the artistic community, the university, or progressive politics, many people recognize that the gorgeous natural surroundings contribute to, if not wholly create, the enchanted aura of this town.

While much of this natural beauty is widely appreciated, relatively few know the extent of hidden treasure waiting in Ashland’s backyard.

Crossroads of Diversity

The Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains straddle the Oregon/California border and is a complex and diverse ecoregion, which is an area over which the climate, ecology and plant and animal communities are distinct.

The Klamath-Siskiyou is nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Crest, and stretches from the wine country in the south, to the Umpqua River in the north. The rivers run through extremely rugged mountains that were on the bottom of the ocean hundreds of millions of years ago. As chance would have it, the Klamath-Siskiyou was spared from glaciation in recent ice ages, and therefore served as a refuge for hundreds of species whose habitat was otherwise frozen. As a result of complex geology, climate and time, the region boasts some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in North America, and one of the richest temperate forests on the planet.

The photo above was taken in the Condrey Mountain Roadless Area, one of the various Roadless Areas along the Siskiyou Crest. The photo shows a sample of the ancient incense cedar found in the area, as well as big leaf maple. Photo courtesy of KS Wild.

The Klamath-Siskiyou region is truly a crossroads. A combination of influences from the eastern desert, Central Valley, and the Cascade, Sierra and Coast ranges create unique and diverse plant and animal communities. The region’s temperate forests are home to more than 30 different species of conifer trees. These trees include the elegant and endemic (found nowhere else on earth) Port-Orford cedar in the rainy, western portion of the region. The eastern, drier part of the region hosts ancient, gnarled junipers more common in the Great Basin.

A Wild Landscape Flowing to the Sea

Two major watersheds, the Rogue River in the north and the Klamath River in the south, define the region. These epic rivers are divided by the Siskiyou Crest, which runs east-west from the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument east of Ashland, to the Illinois Valley in the west and down into the Siskiyou Wilderness in California. The Siskiyou Crest is a unique mountain range that serves as a biological corridor for plants and animals to travel and disperse throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The region also features the largest concentration of Wild and Scenic rivers in the country, providing excellent freshwater habitat for several species of salmon, lamprey and other aquatic life. For those seeking quietude and solace, an extensive complex of Wilderness and roadless areas make the Klamath-Siskiyou the wildest place on the West Coast. Many of these places are within an hour drive of Ashland.

Turning Landscapes into Community Strength

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” - Rachel Carson

The threats to the ecosystems in the Klamath-Siskiyou are the same threats that plague forests, watersheds and wildlands worldwide. Conversion of primary forests to logging plantations, widespread cattle overgrazing, rampant off-road vehicle use, excessive road construction and non-native species are all significant problems in the Klamath-Siskiyou. Certainly, there are solutions to the problems we face, it is only a matter of will.

One of the central tenets of a democracy is access to information and the subsequent action taken with that knowledge. While the world is full of horrors, the world is also full of vast beauty and simple awe. As a community in southern Oregon we are blessed with waterways and wildlands that are increasingly rare in the 21st century. As a community, we have a treasure worth protecting.

An upwelling of community education and action can hold government agencies accountable for their actions, while creating more legal and social leverage for community-based solutions for the problems we face.

Many believe that critters and plants and rivers and forests deserve protection in their own right. Additionally, many recognize that a healthy human community is interrelated and interdependent to the health of its surrounding landscape. Regardless, it seems hard to find a better way to contribute to the future of the planet than by cultivating community and protecting an extraordinary surrounding landscape.

By Lesley Adams
Lesley is the Outreach Coordinator for the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild). KS Wild monitors activity on public lands throughout the Rogue and Klamath watersheds of northwest California and southwest Oregon. KS Wild advocates for roadless lands, ancient forests, at-risk species of plants and animals and the cool clear waterways of the wild Klamath-Siskiyou region. For more information, visit www.kswild.org