FIELD REPORT: Medford BLM botched forest management above the Wild & Scenic Rogue River
The Medford Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) clearcuts speak for themselves—and it's not a pretty story.
Following the Rum Creek fire just upslope of the Wild & Scenic Rogue River outside of Galice, OR, the BLM engaged in extensive post-fire roadside clearcutting along and above riparian areas for headwater tributaries to the Wild & Scenic Rogue. This is in addition to and distinct from their so-called "gap creation" or "regeneration harvesting” that primarily occurs in living, green forests elsewhere throughout the Medford District.
What you won't hear from the BLM leadership is an acknowledgement that the agency targets trees and snags on public lands for clearcutting, but our recent field report videos show exactly that. In addition to heartbreaking damage to riparian areas, the cumulative impacts of the fire, the logging, the yarding, the slash creation, and the disregard for forest soils and watershed values are shocking.
Riparian Area Mismanagement
The recently implemented post-fire roadside old-growth involved clearcutting in riparian reserves serving as headwater tributaries to the Wild and Scenic Rogue River. For the Rum Creek Salvage Logging Project, the Medford BLM developed this project without any public process through a Categorical Exclusion such that there was no public involvement or environmental analysis. Even the recommendations of the BLM’s own soil scientist, biologist and river managers were ignored during logging implementation.
Some of the riparian damage appears irreparable and permanent. These streams have borne the brunt of the BLM’s logging agenda. We are concerned that the Medford District BLM manages riparian reserves just as it does the rest of public lands that it is responsible for—for logging and logging alone.
The Impacts of clearcut logging on riparian reserves
On public lands managed by the BLM there are "land use allocations" designed to protect some aspects of a forest so it can be managed in a holistic manner. One of those land use allocations is called "riparian reserves."
BLM contends riparian reserves encompass "all streams and includes an inner zone on all streams in which commercial forest management is generally not permitted." The agency acknowledge the riparian reserves "are prized for their recreation, fish and wildlife, cultural, and historic values," yet the Rum Creek timber harmed these very values.
Because of the Categorical Exclusion (mentioned above), the agency proceeded without environmental analysis. Now we know how the BLM will manage riparian reserves when they are freed from the constraints of public involvement and environmental analysis while choosing to ignore their own scientists.
slope Failure
In our groundtruthing efforts, we found extensive slope failures following the logging below poorly placed mid-slope logging roads. Ironically the roadside clearcutting was allegedly to protect road infrastructure and the people who use those roads. However, the logging and yarding has undermined the logging roads such that the road is unsafe and what was once a healthy soil and riparian system will now likely be a debris slide for the rest of our lives.
In these videos, you will see logging along road 34-8-34 upslope of the Wild & Scenic Rogue River just outside of Galice, OR. While the road is eroding away on the downhill side, the BLM has filled the ditch line on the uphill side of the road with logging debris and sediment, and the culvert—designed to carry water through the ditch line and dispose of it road—is completely blocked as it’s filled with post-logging debris.
Spotlighting the BLM’s careless treatment of public lands
In addition to the impacts shown above, our groundtruthing efforts also brought us to a location within the Rum Creek project where the BLM had replaced old culvert pipes with new ones. What did they do with the old culverts? They threw them down the hillside into the forest below.
When members of the public dump their trash on public lands, it is called illegal dumping. When the BLM throws their old culverts into their new clearcuts, that's termed "forest management."
This is unacceptable on our public lands.
What about fire?
The Medford District BLM's Rum Creek project targeted the alleged "Late Successional Reserves" aka wildlife habitat designated for retention due to the habitat values they provide.
Rather than managing this forest for its designated purpose, the Medford BLM clearcut this post-fire forest for "hazard" purposes, leaving logging activity slash strewn downslope from the road and below the intact forest canopy.
Were another fire to come through this forest, the remnants of this logging activity would contribute to carrying and growing that fire.
This type of management is not supported by KS Wild, and it is likely not supported by you or a majority of Americans. As a watchdog organization, it is our job to monitor projects like these and bring them to your attention. Together, it’s our job to help us hold the agency accountable for their actions.
Please take action today!
There are a number of ways you can take action to help prevent projects like these in the future.
Send a letter to BLM officials demanding better public land management on your public lands to BLM_OR_MD_Mail@BLM.GOV and BLM-ORWA-Public-room@BLM.GOV
Send a letter to the Oregon Congressional Delegation here. This is only available to those within Senator Wyden or Senator Merkley’s districts.
Call or email the BLM State Director's office in Portland and let them know your position on the clearcutting going on in southwest Oregon. The State Director's office can be reached at (503) 808-6026 or adlowe@blm.gov
As always, civil and thoughtful comments are the most effective. We thank you for staying engaged on issues like these for the future of public lands across the treasured Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion.
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