What's the Deal With the Douglas-fir die-off, the BLM's Logging Agenda, & KS Wild?
Written by George Sexton, December 2025
Douglas-firs across southern Oregon are experiencing widespread mortality due to climate change-induced drought, hotter temperatures, and pest infestation.
The climate-induced drought, flat headed wood borers, and heat domes that have massively impacted Douglas-fir mortality in SW Oregon are no joke and have our full attention. It may be that some low-elevation locations in our region can no longer support conifer stands into the future as we move into longer, hotter summers. There is a lot of good work going on by organizations like Lomakatsi and Klamath Bird Observatory attempting to encourage hardwood and oak woodlands that may be more adapted to the climate and to the fire regime that existed before the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and others excluded fire.
The Medford BLM unfortunately seems inclined to try to clearcut their way out of the fir-mortality problem. The clearcut down to bare soil at the "Boaz" salvage timber sale can be seen in the Applegate from miles around, and the BLM can't hide the irreparable damage they have done to soils and wildlife habitat…it is plain for all to see. They have wiped out the village to save the village. The Boaz timber sale documents can be viewed here:
BLM’s salvage logging plans across the Applegate
BLM’s new proposal to expand salvage logging throughout the District
Image from the BLM’s Thom Bone Strategic Operation for Safety (SOS) project in question. Credit: KS Wild
The unfortunate truth is that we have a front row seat to the effects of climate change on the ability of low-elevation Douglas-fir to persist over time and it’s not pretty. The silver lining is that we have an opportunity to address a century of fire exclusion and encourage resilient hardwood forest stands. As an example, check out the photo to the right from the BLM’s Thom Bone salvage project in the Applegate. You can see a healthy oak woodland forest in the foreground and the conifer forest in the background mixed with dead and dying Douglas-fir trees. Compounding the tragedy is that the BLM simply does not care what its neighbors think. Your requests for reasonable mitigation measures and conservation sideboards will be ignored as the agency exploits conifer mortality to meet artificial timber targets.
In an attempt to get the BLM to do better, KS Wild is the only organization that has appealed any of the Strategic Operation for Safety (SOS) clearcutting proposals. While we can't make everyone happy, we care deeply about the forests, ecological health, and fire resiliency of the Appelgate, and we are seeking to support the communities as best we can.
You can check out our appeal of the Thom Bone salvage timber sale here.
We are living with the effects of climate change, fire exclusion, and past BLM management decisions. Even if we don't agree on everything, let's pull together to try to give future generations better options than those we are currently struggling with. Oak woodland restoration offers us a sustainable path forward.
Want to dig in deeper?
Read our scientific literature attachments sent to the BLM in response to their Doug-fir logging project proposal.
Read our filed organizational comments regarding the Environmental Assessment for the BLM’s Doug-fir logging project.
