| Audio segments from Trees Radio Hour! |
By Lesley Adams and Joseph Vaile
The wildlands of California flood the mind with gorgeous images: saguaro cacti and kit foxes in the Sonoran desert; the high alpine of the majestic Sierra Nevada; the moist cathedral redwood forest. California is widely recognized for its bountiful natural treasures and incredible recreational opportunities. While Joshua Tree, Mt. Shasta and the California redwoods are familiar destinations for scores of people, the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains are a hidden treasure.
The Klamath-Siskiyou (KS) is a complex and diverse ecoregion. An ecoregion is an area over which the climate, ecology and plant and animal communities are distinct. The KS and California's North Coast ecoregion are inseparable. Scientists have linked these two regions together due to their overlapping ecology and because the watersheds that flow to the Pacific Ocean must flow through hundreds of square miles of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands.
The KS straddles the California-Oregon border. It 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 KS 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 Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild) is the primary organization monitoring the five million acres of public land in the KS. Founded in 1997 as a grassroots public lands watchdog group, KS Wild quickly found itself at the center of defending the world-class biodiversity of the region. We partnered up with some of the great groups in and around the region, including the Environmental Protection Information Center (EPIC), the World Wildlife Fund's Klamath-Siskiyou program and the Klamath Forest Alliance.
The KS 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.
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.
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 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 KS. While over 25% of the primary forests in the region are still standing, only 10% are protected.
KS Wild works to protect these remaining forests and wild areas, and restore the damage that has been done. Oftentimes, we find ourselves challenging timber sales, grazing or road building plans that would continue to erode the ecological integrity of the region. Using science, education and a potent legal strategy, KS Wild has stopped more than two dozen timbers sales, saving thousands of acres of native forest. Most recently in California we stopped the Beaver timber sale, which proposed to cut old growth in the Beaver Creek watershed, a tributary to the ailing Klamath River. We protect threatened species by petitioning the government to list them under the Endangered Species Act. We also maintain numerous outreach and educational activities, including hikes, film screenings and a door canvass.
KS Wild maintains a staff of six, aided by seasonal law clerks, interns and volunteers. While the office is based in southern Oregon (10 miles from the state-line), the philosophy of bioregionalism guides our conservation work, rather than political boundaries. Just as the salmon, bears and pacific fisher are unaware of what state they might be in at any given time, we attempt to blur the boundaries of Oregon and California favoring an ecological definition.
We have taken a particular interest in the Salmon River Ranger District of the Klamath National Forest (KNF) due to their outrageous old-growth logging proposals. The Salmon River itself is a wealth of biological treasures. As one of the only un-dammed and un-diverted tributaries to the Klamath River, the Salmon River is a refuge for clear, cool waters that numerous species depend on, including the iconic Chinook and coho salmon. The Salmon River is also well known for its raging whitewater and scenic beauty as thousands of rafters float down this river every year.
The Glassups timber sale, cut in 2003, was the first of three old-growth timber sales that the KNF proposed in the Salmon River watershed. The 578-acre Knob and 744-acre Meteor timber sales would quickly follow if not for the efforts of KS Wild. KS Wild and our partners recently appealed to the 9th Circuit on Knob, and filed a lawsuit in February 2005 on the Meteor sale. We will exhaust every legal means available to ensure that the remaining ancient forests of the Salmon River continue standing for future generations to enjoy.
In contrast, we have identified legitimate projects proposed by the KNF that we support. For example, the Scott Bar Mountain Vegetation Management Project thinned small trees (less than 8 inches wide) and brush near the community. We try to highlight and encourage these types of projects on federal lands instead of logging more old forest.
KS Wild is looking forward to building stronger alliances with groups around the Klamath-Siskiyou and North Coast to get the message out about this important place we call home. The outstanding work of EPIC, the Northcoast Environmental Center and others is an inspiration. We hope to add to that strength and protect these treasures for the future of all life.
For more information, visit www.kswild.org.
Klamath National Forest Cancels Post-fire Timber Sales
September 2, 2008
Following the 2007 summer fires, at the behest of the timber industry, the Forest Service immediately started planning "salvage" old-growth timber sales on steep slopes located above salmon-bearing streams in northern California. Klamath-Siskyou WIldlands Center (KS Wild) spent many hours in the field reading reports and communicating scientific proof to the Forest Service that post-fire logging is more harmful than helpful. We are happy to report that the Klamath and Shasta-Trinity National Forests announced in early July that they are canceling three post-fire timber sales, two near Happy Camp and one near McCloud, respectively. We hope that this decision is an indication of the growing awareness of the ecological role that fire, and big trees, play in forest ecosystems. (read more)
Klamath National Forest Salvage Logging Scam
December 10, 2007
The Happy Camp Ranger District of the Klamath National Forest boasts some of the most spectacular backcountry recreation on Earth. Located along the Klamath River in between the renowned and the lesser-known but equally impressive High Siskiyou Wilderness, Happy Camp more than lives up to its name. (read more)
A Whisper of Hope from the Wildlands
November 15, 2006
The beginning of the 21st century ushered in many riveting and exhausting events for America: a seemingly endless war, dysfunctional health care and social security systems, corrupt leaders obsessed with polls rather than people, and the looming unknown of climate change, just to name a few. (read more)
Klamath-Siskyou Wildlands Center
April 5, 2006
Some of the Most Valuable Wildlife Habitat in the Lower 48 (read more)
Klamath-Siskyou Wildlands Center
December 1, 2005
The Klamath National Forest is developing a plan to log the south side of the Mt. Ashland Old-Growth Reserve near the Long John and Grouse Creek portions of the Beaver Creek Watershed. Much of the forest targeted for logging was previously logged at the turn of the century by the Fruit Growers Supply Company of Hilt, California. Where there were once old-growth pine forests, now there are dense second-growth true fir stands. (read more)
Klamath-Siskyou Wildlands Center
September 20, 2005
In late June, a federal court in San Francisco granted a request to stop the Sims Fire Salvage Sale on the Six Rivers National Forest in northern California. Sims would have cut thousands of huge dead trees (called snags) from a burn area that includes critical habitat for the northern spotted owl and is part of an old-growth forest reserve. The U.S. Forest Service used a Bush Administration rule change, part of its so-called Healthy Forests Initiative, to shield the logging from public challenge. (read more)
Welcome New Partner Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center: KS Wild: Protecting the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion
April 4, 2005
The wildlands of California flood the mind with gorgeous images: saguaro cacti and kit foxes in the Sonoran desert; the high alpine of the majestic Sierra Nevada; the moist cathedral redwood forest. California is widely recognized for its bountiful natural treasures and incredible recreational opportunities. While Joshua Tree, Mt. Shasta, and the California redwoods are familiar destinations for scores of people, the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains are a hidden treasure. (read more)
Contact Information
Web Site: www.kswild.org
Phone: (541) 846-9273
POB 102 Ashland, OR 97520
