Scott River Tributary Gets a Helping Hand

While KS Wild continues to oppose projects that harm old-growth forests or clean water, we are excited to work collaboratively with federal agencies and diverse stakeholders to develop restoration projects on federal land. We need a new relationship with our resource base in the 21st century that accounts for all aspects of these complex systems, not just their potential for short term profit from mining, logging or development.

Of all the major tributaries to the Klamath River, the Scott River may be in the worst shape. Its meager flows are so over-allocated that the Scott can resemble a series of industrial agriculture settling pools more than a wild and scenic river. Clearcut logging, sloppy road construction and excessive riverside mining have left the Scott River a shell of its former self.

But all is not yet lost. Old-growth forests still provide habitat for at-risk critters and shade for the tributaries to the Scott River.  The word-class Marble Mountains Wilderness is but a stone’s throw away. Salmon and steelhead still fight their way upstream despite all odds.  And the Scott River is increasingly attracting the attention of those who want to repair the damage that has been done.

A Big Step in the Right Direction

A prime example of the changes taking place in the Scott River watershed is occurring on Tompkins Creek, a cold-water tributary that flows into the Scott from the Marble Mountains. KS Wild supporters may remember that in 2005 we prevailed in litigation challenging the illegal 1,026-acre Westpoint old-growth timber sale. Westpoint would have built roads and logged hundreds of acres of ancient forests along Tompkins Creek.

Stopping the Westpoint timber sale from further degrading the Scott River watershed was not the end of our work however. We then engaged with the Forest Service to develop a collaborative restoration project to replace the old timber sale. In 2007, we joined with the agency to promote the Point project which addressed fire hazard by carefully thinning some small diameter trees and re-introducing fire into this fire-evolved landscape through underburning 1,800 acres. And near the end of 2008 we came to an agreement with the Forest Service to implement the Deep timber sale near Tompkins Creek. Through our negotiations, the Forest Service “un-marked” old-growth trees slated for logging, dropped clearcutting units, added 1,136 acres of prescribed fire, and agreed to decommission 5.4 miles of logging roads that currently dump sediment into the Scott River watershed.

See For Yourself

Tompkins Creek and the Scott River are well worth a visit. They are perfect low-elevation watersheds for a frosty winter visit. The nearby historic Kelsey mule trail into the Marble Mountains is also a must-see. You can get a map and directions at the Forest Service office in Fort Jones, California.