Good News: FERC Upholds Denial of LNG & Pacific Crest Trail Association Protects Donomore Meadows!

The Rogue River and many other rivers and streams in southern Oregon are too precious to risk with contamination from LNG pipelines. FERC recently announced it would uphold its denial of the Jordan Cove LNG Pipeline proposed to cross over 400 rivers and streams. No LNG!

In the aftermath of the Trump election, those of us who care deeply about the environment need a little good news. Yesterday, we got a double dose of much-welcomed good news!

Good News!

FERC Upholds Denial of LNG Pipeline

Yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced they will uphold their denial of the Pacific Connector LNG Pipeline. In March, FERC denied permits for the Pacific Connector LNG pipeline and Jordon Cove export terminal; however, the company appealed the decision and the project was left with an uncertain fate. Yesterday's announcement from FERC is very encouraging and sets a strong precedent for future pipeline proposals.

The Pacific Connector LNG pipeline and Jordon Cove export terminal is proposed to begin in Malin, Oregon in the Klamath Basin, east of the Cascade Mountains, and travel 232 miles to Coos Bay, Oregon. The pipeline would require a ninety-five foot clearcut. The three foot wide natural gas pipeline would cross 157 miles of private land, requiring the use of eminent domain. It would cross 400 streams, including the Rogue, Klamath, Umpqua, Coquille and Coos Rivers, and transport 1.2 billion cubic feet of fracked gas per day. The pipeline would also require a new 420 megawatt power plant used solely to facilitate the export of fracked Canadian gas shipped by massive tankers from the tsunami zone off the Oregon Coast on the North Spit of Coos Bay. The proposal is potentially disastrous to nearly everything in its path and has been strongly opposed by the citizens of Oregon for many years.   

Despite this very good news, we must keep in mind that Jordon Cove and Pacific Connector Pipeline will likely take this decision to the court of appeals, the US Secretary of Commerce, or simply refile the project at a later date. It's not over yet and we may have to keep working to stop this pipeline for a long time ahead.

The good news for the No LNG campaign follows on the heels of the good news for water protectors fighting the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline (DAPL) in North Dakota. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, indigenous activists, water protectors at the camps, and allies from around the world are cautiously celebrating the news that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it will not approve an easement needed to permit the Dakota Access Pipeline to drill under Lake Oahe. The Army Corps said it would look for alternative routes for the $3.7 billion pipeline, possibly leading to a full environmental review through an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). 

Under the Trump administration we must stay vigilant for all environmental, social justice and climate change issues.

For now we celebrate these victories! 

More Good News!

The Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) Protects Donomore Meadows!

A small portion of the expansive Donomore Meadows system as seen from the PCT. The area is the headwaters of Donomore Creek, a tributary of Elliott Creek.  

   

On the Siskiyou Crest, on the border of Oregon and California, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) runs through a large, high elevation meadow system called Donomore Meadows. The location of Donomore Meadows on the PCT allows thousands of hikers a year to experience the beauty and high habitat value of these meadows; however, up until now there have always been private property signs marring the wilderness experience. The good news: The PCTA has just announced it has bought the 160-acre Donomore Meadows property through its land protection program!

The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest has money budgeted to buy this parcel from the PCTA in the next fiscal year through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The agency has long identified Donomore Meadows as a critical acquisition, but the landowner was not willing to wait for the lengthy federal acquisition process to proceed. 

As a non-profit partner, the PCTA stepped in and acquired the property as an interim measure. It is expected that the land will be transferred to federal ownership and added to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in the near future. 



Donomore Meadows provides critical habitat for many species that rely on high elevation meadows: from deer and elk, to black bear and cougar, to native bees and butterflies and other pollinators. The grassland and wildflowers of Donomore Meadows, the natural springs that feed Donomore Creek, as well as the surrounding forest, all add up to a wonderful place to walk through on the PCT, as well as a key place for land acquisition to add to the value of public land in the Klamath-Siskiyou. 

I am proud to say that in my region public land is expanding rather than being privatized and sold to the highest bidder as some propose. We need to keep working to acquire important parcels on the Siskiyou Crest for conservation interests, rewilding the incredible land bridge and expanding our public land base, one parcel at a time. 

Old-Growth Post Fire Logging Proposed on the Siskiyou Crest!

The Gap Fire near Condrey Mountain is being proposed for post-fire logging despite minimal fire severity. 

The Gap Fire began as a human ignition near Low Gap on the Klamath River above Seiad Valley and the community of Horse Creek on August 27, 2016. The fire spread quickly, pushed by intense downslope winds burning into the community of Horse Creek and destroyed nine homes. After burning through the community of Horse Creek the fire burned upslope toward the Siskiyou Crest in the Horse Creek, Middle Creek and Buckhorn Creek watersheds.

Although a tragedy in Horse Creek, where nine homes burned, the Gap Fire was far from catastrophic and provided great benefit to the habitats in which it burned. The fire burned at 67% low severity, 26% moderate severity and 7% high severity throughout the burn area. The fire burned within the range of variability for wildland fire in the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains. Burning at mixed severity, the fire had positive effects on fuel loading, landscape scale vegetation mosaics, stand structure, nutrient cycling, species composition, age class diversity and other important stand development and forest resiliency measures.

Low severity fire in upper Buckhorn Creek

Despite the positive effects of the Gap Fire, the KNF has proposed to implement old-growth post fire logging at the headwaters of Buckhorn Creek in a nationally significant habitat connectivity corridor. The KNF has proposed to clearcut 2,257 acres of fire-affected forest in Buckhorn, Middle and Horse Creeks. They are also proposing 103 miles of roadside hazard logging. The sale is proposed in many biologically important areas, including the Johnny O’Neill Late Successional Reserve and the Horse Creek Botanical Area, designated to protect complex old forest habitat. 

The fire also burned adjacent to the Condrey Mountain Blue Schist Geologic Area, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Condrey Mountain Roadless Area and KNF designated Back-Country Area.

Proposed logging units extend from lower Horse Creek near the Klamath River, into Buckhorn Creek and high on the Siskiyou Crest near Condrey Mountain and Dry Lake Mountain. The region is known and renowned for its intact wildland habitats, old-growth forests, mountain meadows, aspen glades, rare and diverse wildflower displays and important wildlife habitat. The area supports the Pacific fisher, large herds of elk, black bear, and was the location of the last reported wolverine siting on the Siskiyou Crest in 1997.

The PCT runs directly above some areas targeting for logging in the Gap Fire post-fire logging project. Given the international acclaim of the PCT, it would be unwise to log so close to the trail. Maintaining a healthy, intact ecosystem along the PCT corridor is consistent with the current and expected future recreational use of the area and and the economic vitality the PCT brings to the region.

The Siskiyou Crest represents one of the most important connectivity corridors and climate refuges in western North America. A transverse range, running east to west, the Siskiyou Crest connects the Oregon and California interior valleys to the Cascade Mountains, the Coast Ranges and the high deserts of the Great Basin. At the center of this connectivity corridor, and on the edge of the region's vast network of unprotected roadless areas and protected wilderness, is Condrey Mountain. Condrey Mountain represents a pinch point in connectivity where heavy industrial logging to the south has eliminated vast swaths of complex forest habitat, replacing it with dense tree plantations and barren clearcut swaths logged in the aftermath of the 2014 Beaver Fire on the Klamath River.

Post-fire logging on Fruit Growers Supply land in the Beaver Fire. This photo is taken directly adjacent to the photo below. 

Unlogged high severity fire in the Beaver Fire of 2014, taken directly adjacent to the photo above. Notice the difference in vegetative recovery.

In 2014, following the Beaver Fire, industrial logging interests such as the Fruit Growers Supply Company (FGS) devastated vast tracts of private timber land, logging fire scorched stands, live trees and patches of fire resilient forest. FGS leveled whole watersheds due east of the Gap Fire Area, creating massive clearcuts thousands of acres wide. The devastation left behind is unmistakable and the cumulative impact unacceptable.

The large denuded slope in this photograph was logged by Fruit Growers Supply Company following the 2014 Beaver Fire and lies directly adjacent to the area burned in the Gap Fire on the Siskiyou Crest.

To make matters worse, FGS is preparing to log off their holdings in the Gap Fire and the KNF is proposing to clearcut thousands of acres of fire-affected forest currently benefiting from natural fire revitalization. The proposed logging project will further exacerbate already significant cumulative impacts to old forest and endangered species habitat, endangered fisheries (coho salmon), soils and future fire hazards on the Klamath River due to recent post-fire logging in the Beaver Fire, Happy Camp Fire, and now, Gap Fire footprints.

The forests of the Condrey Mountain-Dry Lake Mountain area at the headwaters of Buckhorn Creek have been targeted by the KNF with many post-fire logging units, despite sustaining predominantly low severity fire effects. The forests proposed for logging are the last remaining ancient forest habitats in the Buckhorn Creek watershed. The KNF intentionally lit these forests ablaze between September 3 and September 8, 2016 in order to bolster fire containment. They now intend to log the natural fire mosaic, removing massive old trees and the building blocks of forest complexity (e.g. old snags, downed wood, old living trees, etc).

Small snag patches such as this one in upper Buckhorn Creek are being targeted for logging by the KNF. The damage to soils, forest regeneration, and habitat complexity will degrade some of the watershed's only remaining old-growth forest.

Live trees as well as dead trees will be logged. Some units will be treated with ground-based yarding which could severely damage the highly erodible schist soils of the Condrey Mountain area. New "temporary" road will be constructed. 

Many beautiful springs and meadows are located within or adjacent to the logging units, including Buckhorn Spring, a historic campsite and intact native habitat at the very headwaters of Buckhorn Creek.  

The meadows adjacent to Buckhorn Spring are currently surrounded by intact high elevation forest and are proposed for logging by the KNF.

In recent years the KNF has decimated thousands of acres in post-fire logging projects, often following characteristic and natural wildfire events. Although touted as "fire recovery" the projects serve only to produce large volumes of old-growth timber for the industry, while degrading forest habitats, inhibiting natural recovery, filling nearby streams with sediment, creating unnatural plantation stands and drastically increasing future fire hazards. 

Please help these fire-affected forests recover naturally. Provide public comment on the ironically named Horse Creek Community Protection and Forest Restoration Project. 

Talking Points: 

• Implement only fuel reduction adjacent to the community of Horse Creek, consider the use of prescribed fire and non-commercial fuel treatments.
• Cancel all post-fire logging units in the Siskiyou Crest connectivity corridor near Condrey Mountain and Dry Lake Mountain.
• Cancel all post-fire logging units in the Johnny O'Neill Late Successional Reserve.
• Analyze the cumulative impact of private land logging, public land logging, and discretionary fire suppression impacts such as dozerline and backburning in the Environmental Analysis.
• Do not implement post-fire logging treatments in forested habitats purposefully backburned by fire suppression crews. 
• Cancel all post-fire logging units due to extreme cumulative impacts and to compensate for the damage already done on adjacent private timber land. 

Please submit comments to the Klamath National Forest at the following website: 

Gap Fire/Horse Creek Post-Fire Logging Project 

East Applegate Ridge Trail EA Released!

A view south into Ruch from the East Applegate Ridge Trail.

The Applegate Trails Association (ATA) is a non-profit trail organization advocating for non-motorized trails in the Applegate Valley. ATA has been promoting the Applegate Ridge Trail (ART) since 2011. The ART will extend from Jacksonville to Grants Pass and will tie into the Jack-Ash Trail, proposed to connect Jacksonville to Ashland. In total the two trails will cover over 80 miles and will provide appropriate, non-motorized trail access to the beautiful foothills of the Applegate Valley.

The BLM just released the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the East Applegate Ridge Trail, a 5.6-mile portion of trail connecting Sterling Creek Road to Highway 238 near Forest Creek and the town of Ruch. It will be one of the most beautiful non-motorized trails in the Applegate Valley, with its spectacular views, picturesque oak woodland and grassy prairie slopes.

The EA also proposes to obliterate an unauthorized, user-created OHV trail impacting soil resources, botanical resources, wildlife and facilitating private land trespass.

Please support the East Applegate Ridge Trail and ATA. Send a public comment on the East ART EA and support non-motorized recreation in the Applegate Valley. 

Talking Points:

• Show support for the Applegate Ridge Trail and non-motorized recreation in the Applegate Valley.
• Ask the BLM to approve the East Applegate Ridge Trail and obliterate the existing unauthorized OHV trail as proposed in the EA.
• Ask the BLM to expedite the process to analyze and approve the remaining portions of the Applegate Ridge Trail from Highway 238 to Board Shanty Road. Recommend that subsequent EAs be prepared promptly to facilitate speedy development of this important non-motorized trail. This would include the Center ART from Highway 238 to Humbug Creek, the Flank of Old Blue from Humbug Creek to the Enchanted Forest Trail on Slagle Creek, and the West ART from Slagle Creek to Board Shanty Road.
• Reconsider the RMP designation to remove Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (LWC) in the Wellington Butte Area. Please protect the Wellington Butte LWC.
• Recommend that the BLM add the eastern China Gulch additions to the Wellington LWC as proposed by ATA and ANN.

Send Written Comments To:

BLM (Attention: Shana McCarty)

3025 Biddle Road

Medford, Oregon 97504

Send Email Comments To:

blm_or_md_mail@blm.gov

(be sure to include Shana McCarty in the subject line)

Bishop Creek Ridge on the East Applegate Ridge Trail.

Join the ATA for an evening in celebration of the Applegate Ridge Trail and the release of "Walking the Wild Applegate" a short documentary film about the first thru hike from Ashland to Grants Pass on the Jack-Ash and Applegate Ridge Trail.

Walking the Wild Applegate- Film Showing!

When: December 9, 2016 6:00 PM
Where: At the Ruch Fire Station Public Meeting Room
              1095 Upper Applegate Road