If you’ve recently spent time enjoying the gorgeous springtime weather around Ashland, you’ve likely heard the overhead whirring of helicopters as they have begun removing some of the dead and dying Douglas fir trees in the Ashland watershed above Lithia Park. This comes after years of climate change-induced drought and heat domes that have severely impacted forested watersheds throughout much of Southern Oregon.

The effects of climate change on our forests are dramatic and concerning. Here in the Klamath-Siskiyous, from the Ashland watershed to the forested hillsides in the Applegate Valley, we are seeing an unprecedented tree mortality of low-elevation Douglas fir stands due to the lethal combination of drought, heat domes and insect infestation. 

Read more about this topic in our blog post here.

Take action!

The Douglas fir die-off is not natural.

Rather it is the result of decades of fire exclusion that allowed conifers to overtake hardwood ecosystems combined with the climate change-induced heat domes and drought. All of which result in young fir stands being especially vulnerable to mortality.

Now the BLM wants to log their way out of the problem. Let's make sure they get it right.