North Umpqua Ranger District

Spring Umpqua Recap

I recently returned from another busy trip down to the Umpqua region in Southern Oregon. Between last fall’s trip and now, I’ve been quite busy behind the scenes building my Umpqua LSOG Project website but there is still a lot of work to do heading out to visit the many sales scattered across the watershed. During my six days down south, I managed to visit near two dozen different timber sale units and virtually all of them were first time visits. I must confess that traditional photography has taken a little bit of a backseat during these field visits. I’m really pushing to expand my use of my Garmin Virb 360 degree camera and trying to ensure I have at least one video and one 360 degree photo from each sale unit that I visit. On this trip I also added yet another technology tool into my toolset- a drone.

I confess I have a love/hate relationship with drones. I hate the sound they make and the drone user community has lots of examples of drone pilots who disregard the rules of flying drones. In spite of the negativity, I can admit that they can be a very useful tool for capturing visuals that are otherwise impossible or very difficult to otherwise achieve. Cost and fear of turning a $1,000 drone into a paperweight kept me away for years but I finally decided the time was right. I chose the DJI Mavic Air because of its size, crash avoidance technology, higher data bit rate, and its more protected camera gimbal. A smaller drone does mean a smaller battery and, consequently, a shorter flight time. The drone community has also complained that the Mavic Air has a shorter flight range compared with the Mavic Pro but I can’t say that I felt hindered by its range during my time with it.

So my initial trip with the drone option was a success. It does open up a different realm of photo opportunities mostly because you are photographing looking down rather than up into the sky. Even a gray day will force you to bracket exposures or compromise exposure with a single photo. This was the situation with one of the photos I’ve shared below of a Pacific Madrone in Woodchuck Unit 1. The tree has a beautiful arching shape but, from the ground, a large expanse of sky is included in any composition. The top down perspective of this tree is not only unique but more easily captured in camera.

The drone’s elevated perspective also helps with simplifying the chaos of the ground. In many Pacific Northwest forests, you will have an understory canopy of Vine Maple. From the ground, the branches of Vine Maple run horizontally in all sorts of directions. It can create a busy scene and such was the case with Layng Creek Unit 5. From above, however, the leaves of the Vine Maple flatten out and create a beautiful carpet of leaves, completely obscuring what’s going on underneath. I do think that drone photographs can diminish the size of features, especially if there’s not something else in the photo like a person which help our minds with determine scale.

I wasn’t able to accomplish my biggest priority which was to visit a new logging road built through 400 year old stand of old-growth. The most direct access has been eliminated due to locked gates and no trespassing signs but there is a backroad route to visit the site via a 16 mile series of inner connected roads. I made it about 12 miles before the road became less traveled and I questioned my chances of continuing. I’ll try again this fall.

The Last Stands – 9 Saved Places

In the past, I would participate in a year-end tradition among photographers where favorite photographs over the previous year are selected and then featured in a blog post. Rather than do that, I decided to do something different. In 2016, I focused solely on visiting remnant old growth stands in the Umpqua River watershed in Southern Oregon so I have decided to highlight nine old growth forests that I visited which were threatened with logging during the last 20 years but were saved due to the efforts of Umpqua Watersheds, a local conservation group based in Roseburg, Oregon. I felt that highlighting these public lands is important for a number of reasons but, first and foremost, I do believe that they will come under threat of logging once again in the near future.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has already issued a revised resource management plan and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is just beginning the process of updating the Northwest Forest Plan. The timber industry is looking to increase timber volumes from public lands under both plans (the BLM is already being sued by BOTH sides about their just release management plan) and it’s important to remind people about why these places deserved (and continue to deserve) protection. So, in no particular order..

1.East Fork Coquille (Umpqua Watersheds link)

This sale was issued by the BLM in 2003 and proposed clearcutting 600 acres of mature and old growth forests west of Roseburg in the Coastal Mountain Range. The oldest stands within the proposed units were more than 400 years old. The sale was finally stopped in 2006 due to a failure to protect Red Tree Voles (a food source for Spotted Owls).

East Fork Coquille Timber Sale, Unit 105
East Fork Coquille Timber Sale, Unit 108

2. Ragu (Umpqua Watersheds link)

Proposed in 1999, this BLM sale is also west of Roseburg near Camas Valley and sought to extract 5 million board feet of lumber from 177 acres. This sale was given a deferred analysis status in 2005 and then permanently scrapped in 2006.

Ragu Timber Sale, Unit I
Ragu Timber Sale, Unit E

3. Dickerson Heights (Umpqua Watersheds link)

A BLM sale proposed in 2006 located southwest of Winston near Ollala. These forests of Dickerson Rocks are home to the threatened Marbled Murrelet and also contain a diverse variety of trees including Madrone, Douglas Fir, Ponderosa Pine, Canyon Live Oak, and Incense Cedar.

Dickerson Heights Timber Sale, Unit A

4. Cow Catcher (Umpqua Watersheds link)

This BLM sale located within the town of Riddle’s water supply was initially proposed in 1999 but finally stopped in 2006. The BLM wanted to cut this old growth because “..aging stands that are declining in annual growth would be replaced with young, vigorous stands, which would more efficiently produce a sustainable supply of timber and other forest commodities.” (Cow Catcher Environmental Assessment, pg 21).

Cow Catcher Timber Sale, Unit C

5. Spam (Umpqua Watersheds link)

A Forest Service sale in the Tiller Ranger District, this 1999 sale proposed logging on 312 including at least one unit that had never been logged before. This sale was stopped due to legal challenges related to the Survey and Manage component of the Northwest Forest Plan.

Spam Timber Sale, Unit C
Spam Timber Sale, Unit B

6. Felix (Umpqua Watersheds link)

A 1998 timber sale in the North Umpqua Ranger District of the Umpqua National Forest that proposed logging 330 acres of old growth forest, sometimes right up to the edge of a roadless area. This sale also was stopped due to the Survey and Manage lawsuit.

Felix Timber Sale, Unit 5
Felix Timber Sale, Unit 8

7. Nita (Umpqua Watersheds link)

This Forest Service sale dates back to a type of sale called a Section 318 Sale (more info here). The sale was re-opened thanks to the Rider Act of 1995 and was physically part of a Late Successional Reserve. Thanks to legal challenges, the Court ruled that this sale did not qualify under the Rider Act and was once again spared.

Nita Timber Sale, Unit 1
Nita Timber Sale, Unit 2

8. Can Can (Umpqua Watersheds link)

This BLM sale from 2006 proposed logging 520 acres of mature & old growth forests near Canyonville. It contains a diverse mix of trees and is critical habitat and home range for seven Spotted Owls. This sale was also prevented thanks to the Survey and Manage lawsuit.

Can Can Timber Sale, Unit M

9. Zinc (Umpqua Watersheds link)

This 1999 sale in the Umpqua National Forest’s Tiller Ranger District proposed logging 465 acres including large old growth (notably in Unit H). This sale was also halted due to the Survey and Manage lawsuit.

Zinc Timber Sale, Unit H
Zinc Timber Sale, Unit H

For 2017, I plan on heading back down to the Umpqua and continuing my project of visiting and photographing these old growth stands. I’ve recently processed some data which should help direct me towards the biggest tree stands, even in the large sale units so I’m hopeful that I’ll be even more productive. In the meantime, I welcome you to learn more and perhaps get involved in the fight:

My Interactive Map of Umpqua River Basin Old Growth Timber Sales
Umpqua Watersheds
Umpqua Watersheds 20th Anniversary Documentary
Cascadia Wildlands
Oregon Wild
North Coast State Forest Coalition

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