A poem for the emerging spring:
A poem for the emerging spring:

While the darkest day of the year is past, and nefarious forces in the White House continue threatening  public lands, we think its a good time to step back and appreciate some of the bigger, natural forces at work in the bioregion. Big thanks to KS Wild volunteer Barbara Comnes for sharing this poem.

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Klamath Siskiyou
Merkley Meetings 1/15/18 in Curry and Josephine Counties
Merkley Meetings 1/15/18 in Curry and Josephine Counties


Make your voice heard: Join your local community in Curry and Josephine County to speak out to Senator Merkley!  Now is a critical time for southern Oregon to engage and support issues that matter to our forests, environmental laws, and communities. 
 

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Klamath Siskiyoupublic lands, jordan cove, trump adminstration, cascade-siskiyou national monument, wildfire, post fire pillaging, salvage logging, smoke in the valley, BLM, forest service
Did the Forest Service learn from the Biscuit fire (2002)?
Did the Forest Service learn from the Biscuit fire (2002)?

What have we learned since the 2002 Biscuit fire aftermath, and how will it affect land management decisions in the post-Chetco Bar burn area of southwest Oregon?

...with the passage of time it is now possible to look back more objectively at Biscuit fire and the political firestorm that followed in its wake.

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Backyard Forests, Forests, WildlandsKlamath Siskiyouchetco bar fire, kalmiopsis wilderness, biscuit fire, forest service
The damage of post-fire logging, the Hoax of 'salvage'
The damage of post-fire logging, the Hoax of 'salvage'

A forest after fire is not a tragedy; it’s simply a stage in the life of the forest. Post-fire logging is  often framed as focused on fire prevention. In reality, important biological characteristics are removed from post-fire forests. Because of this, salvage logging acts as an unnatural human disturbance to the sensitive post fire landscape.

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Forests, Backyard Forests, Public Lands, Wilderness, Wildlands, WildlifeKlamath Siskiyousalvage logging, national forest
Groundbreaking KS Wild Climate Change Report
Groundbreaking KS Wild Climate Change Report

Fighting fossil fuel projects like the proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas export project is only half of the climate change battle in our region. Climate change is getting worse fast so we also have to act to prepare the Klamath-Siskiyou for a warming world. KS Wild has just assembled the best available science in a comprehensive report to help show the path forward to help public lands adapt to climate change.

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Climate, Water, WildlifeGuest User
Art for Conservation: Butterfly Diversity Painting, Up for Auction!
Art for Conservation: Butterfly Diversity Painting, Up for Auction!

While hiking the mountains of Southern Oregon field biologist John Villella shared his dream with artist Deb VanPoolen, and less than a year later a masterpiece was born!  Highlighting the extreme biodiversity and dazzling local audiences, "Butterfly Diversity of the Cascade-Siskiyou" was released just prior to Trump Administration's threats to remove protections for the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Now, the painting's influence will live on - let's find the right home for it!

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Cascade-SiskiyouKlamath SiskiyouDeb VanPoolen Artconservation, cascade-siskiyou national monument, pollinator, butterfly, biodiversity
Timber Industry Uses Fire to Push Logging
Timber Industry Uses Fire to Push Logging

The science is clear that logging big, fire-resilient trees in old-growth forests increases fire hazards. At the same time, thinning dense forests, especially near communities, can reduce fire hazards, save homes, and give firefighters a leg up. 

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Guest User
Healthy Watersheds, Resilient Forests
Healthy Watersheds, Resilient Forests

Following decades of fire suppression and logging that created dense young forests, a return to ecosystem resiliency requires thinning second-growth plantations, retaining large trees and forest canopy, and returning the role of fire to these fire-dependent forests.

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Water, Forests, ClimateKlamath Siskiyouconservation, environment, ks wild, klamath-siskiyou, ecosystem, biodiversity, water, forests, mining, logging, salvage, forestfire, climate, watershed, fire, wildfire, fire dependant, forest service, resilience, fire suppression, salmon, salmonidae, oncorhynchus, fish, wildlife, klamath river, smith river, rogue river, grazing, cattle, off-road vehicle, public lands, refuge, fire resilient, old-growth forest, strip-mining, steelhead, Oncorhynchus mykiss, rainbow trout, trout, riparian, BLM, clearcutting
Logging in the Klamath-Siskiyou
Logging in the Klamath-Siskiyou

Increasingly timber interests, conservationists including KS Wild, scientists and federal land management agencies are coming together to focus logging activities on thinning previously logged plantations and in fire-evolved forest stands in which fire suppression has resulted in encroachment by less resilient off-site conifers.

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ForestsKlamath Siskiyouconservation, environment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, biodiversity, forests, logging, salvage, forestfire, fire suppression, fire resilient, timber, BLM, forest service, wildlife, fire dependant, old-growth forest, public lands, wildfire, watershed, oregon, northwest california, california, water quality
Land of Wild Rivers
Land of Wild Rivers

Few experiences are more evocative of the Pacific Northwest than the sight of a salmon leaping a waterfall. People gather to watch as they make their way to ancestral spawning grounds each year at Rainie Falls on the Rogue River or the mouth of Wooley Creek on the Salmon River. Some rivers of the Klamath-Siskiyou are strongholds for wild salmon, including the federally listed Northern California/Southern Oregon Coho Salmon

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Water, Wild Rivers, Rogue Riverkeeper, WildlandsKlamath Siskiyouenvironment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, biodiversity, water, wild rivers, rogue riverkeeper, rogue river, watershed, klamath river, illinois river, trinity river, upper sacramento river, smith river, chetco river, coho salmon, chinook salmon, steelhead, rainbow trout, green sturgeon, pacific lamprey, cutthroat trout, imperiled species, oncorhynchus, Acipenser medirostris, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Oncorhynchus kisutch, Oncorhynchus clarkii, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, western siskiyou mountains, siskiyou mountains, southern oregon, oregon, wild and scenic rivers, national forest, rough and ready creek, baldface creek, dams, mining, toxic runoff, gold, pollution, riparian, urban development, logging, road-building, clean water, west coast, pacific northwest, rainie falls, wooley creek, salmon river, northern california/southern oregon coho salmon, wildlands, clean water act, kalmiopsis, nickel strip mining, strip-mining, 1872 mining law, bull trout, Salvelinus confluentus, federal energy regulatory commission, pacific connector pipline, rogue climate, climate, conservation, Lampetra tridentata, Entosphenus tridentatus
Where will wolves go from here?
Where will wolves go from here?

At KS Wild, we have a deep admiration for this creature that so deeply epitomizes the wilderness. Unfortunately, the story of the wolf is one of systematic persecution and deep-rooted mythologies that inspire fear in people. Some say the removal of the wolf is a bitter reflection of our society’s tendency to suppress all things wild; others, want nothing more than to allow wolves to fade into extinction.

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Wildlife, WolvesKlamath Siskiyouconservation, environment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, biodiversity, wolves, wolf, gray wolf, gray wolves, timber wolf, western wolf, Canis lupis, american wolf, endangered species, endangered species list, oregon endangered species list, oregon, OR-4, northeastern oregon, livestock, climate, extinction, west, wildlife
The Big, Wild 5
The Big, Wild 5

Unlike most of North America, we are extremely fortunate to live in a region in which five major wildland complexes have thusfar survived the pressures from logging, mining and road construction. It is our job and responsibility to protect these special places for the those who come after us and for their intrinsic value.

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Wilderness, WildlandsKlamath Siskiyouconservation, environment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, biodiversity, big 5, big five, major wilderness complexes, forests, logging, mining, road-building, kalmiopsis, west coast, kalmiopsis wildlands, kalmiopsis mountains, serpentine, soil, serpentine soil, geology, plate tectonics, forest service, clearcutting, nickel strip mining, strip-mining, smith river, biscuit fire, wildfire, forestfire, roadless areas, illinois river, chetco river, north fork smith river, high siskiyous, east fork illinois, siskiyou fork smith, clear creek, dillon creek, blue creek, klamath river, high siskiyou wildlands, watershed, water, wild rivers, refuge, transition zones, climate, salmon, salmonidae, oncorhynchus, steelhead, rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, red buttes, siskiyou crest, mountians, corridor, klamath mountians, oregon coast range, cascade mountians, land bridge, wildlife, cattle, grazing, marble mountains, old-growth forest, alpine meadows, limestone, marble, tribes, tribal governments, native americans, fire dependant, fire resilient, fire suppression, clean water, wooley creek, shackleford creek, salmon river, scott river, trinity alps, water quality, wildflowers, fire management
New BLM Resource Management Plan
New BLM Resource Management Plan

On August 5, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) signed a management plan for western Oregon, largely ignoring a formal protest from 22 conservation and fishing groups. The BLM plan eliminates protections for streamside forests, increases clearcutting in wet forests, and removes 2.6 million acres of federally managed public forests from the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan

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ForestsKlamath Siskiyouconservation, environment, ecosystem, biodiversity, ks wild, klamath-siskiyou, BLM, oregon, water, forests, logging, salvage, forestfire, wildfire, fishing, clearcutting, 1994 northwest forest plan, backyard forests, clean water, watershed, public lands, western oregon, carbon emissions, climate, resilience, timber, salmon, oncorhynchus, pacific coast federation of fishermen's association, PCFFA, water quality, northwest forest plan, rogue river, umpqua river, mckenzie river, salmonidae
Legal History of O&C Land
Legal History of O&C Land

The 1937 O&C Act overhauled the timber management and revenue distribution scheme. It allowed the federal government to pay fifty percent of gross timber revenues directly to the O&C counties, plus twenty five percent (for unpaid Railroad property taxes) to O&C lands. In 1953 Congress directed 25% of the revenue to road building and other capital improvements on the O&C lands, leaving only 50% paid to counties. These payment schemes tied timber harvests to county revenues and made county government a champion of increased logging.

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ForestsKlamath Siskiyouconservation, environment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, biodiversity, forests, logging, salvage, forestfire, wildfire, oregon, california, oregon railroad, california railroad, railroad, coos bay, oregon and california railroad and coos bay wagon road grant lands act of 1937, O&C act, timber, watershed, BLM, northwest forest plan, federal lands policy management act, FLPMA, department of interior, national forest management act for forest service lands, headwaters, wilcox peak, wilcox, wilcox peak timber sale, old-growth forest, wildlife, local economy, congress, portland audubon society, national environmental policy act, NEPA, court cases, portland audubon society v. lujan, ESA, late successional reserves, LSR, riparian reserves, RR, endangered species act, chamberlain-ferris act, O&C railroad, O&C counties, douglas county, stanfield act, secure rural schools and community self-determination act of 2000, extinction, O&C Lands, History
Kalmiopsis and Wild Rivers Coast Protected from Mining!
Kalmiopsis and Wild Rivers Coast Protected from Mining!

We are celebrating the recent victory to protect some of our most prized rivers from proposed industrial strip mining for a period of 20 years. We are hopeful that this victory will stand, even in the Trump administration.

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Wild Rivers, Water, WildernessKlamath Siskiyouconservation, environment, ecosystem, klamath-siskiyou, ks wild, water, wild rivers, mining, wilderness, southern oregon, northern california, strip-mining, kalmiopsis wild rivers, southwest oregon, josephine county, curry county, kalmiopsis wildlands, kalmiopsis, kalmiopsis wilderness area, smith river, illinois river, hunter creek, watershed, wild rivers coast, clean water, water quality, pacific ocean, serpentine, 1872 mining law, air pollution, smelters, toxic runoff, fishing, gold beach, cave junction, crescent city, salmonidae, salmon, oncorhynchus, native americans, friends of the kalmiopsis, kalmiopsis audubon, native fish society, american rivers, american whitewater, wild and scenic rivers, smith river alliance, off-road vehicle, steelhead, rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, smith national recreation area, ORV, forest service