First meeting online Wednesday evening; followup meetings in Medford, at Pinehurst School and in Klamath Falls

By Shaun Hall, Rogue Valley Times

U.S. Bureau of Land Management personnel are scheduled to provide an overview on Wednesday of the agency’s 618-page draft plan to manage the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, with wildfire risk and environmental issues among the issues expected to be discussed.

The online event will be followed the following week by three in-person open house events in Medford, Klamath Falls and Pinehurst that will allow the public to speak with agency specialists.

The agency suggests that people attend the Wednesday presentation or view a recording of it before attending the in-person sessions. The Wednesday meeting is set for 6-7:30 p.m. Register at bit.ly/CSNMdraft.

The plan, which is expected to guide decisions for 20 years, replaces one done in 2008. Besides wildfire risk and environmental protection, the plan addresses issues related to recreation, grazing, off-road vehicle use and monument administration, among others.

Regarding wildfire, the BLM proposes to reduce forest fuels within a quarter-mile of at-risk communities by thinning tree stands and burning undergrowth, although the agency’s preferred alternative would treat half the acreage proposed under two other alternatives.

The agency’s preferred alternative, Alternative C, actually proposes to treat fewer acres, 12,310, than Alternatives A and B, each at about 27,000 acres, but more than Alternative D, at 6,182 acres.

“Alternatives A and B would contribute the greatest amount toward wildfire risk reduction, followed by Alternative C,” according to the plan.

The plan provides a sobering assessment and outlook regarding wildfire risk:

• Anticipated climate change impacts include increasing temperatures, increasing drought and reduced snowpack that will affect future wildfire risk, according to the assessment. The number of fires escaping initial attack is likely to increase, along with the number of very large fires. Climate change trends already are taking hold, including an increase in conifer mortality.

• Before the fire suppression activities of the last century, the monument area experienced high frequency, but low- and mixed-severity fires that would have reduced fuel loads and maintained a mosaic of open and closed stand conditions different from what is seen today.

• The altered landscape and resulting fuel buildup, combined with drought, expansion of development into wildland areas and checkerboard ownership patterns increases the complexities of managing wildfires and wildfire hazards.

Regarding an environmental matter, the plan suggests the creation of two new areas of critical environmental concern: the 115-acre Cottonwood Glades area located northwest of Hyatt Lake and the 239-acre Mariposa Lily area located west of Interstate 5 near the California border, in order to protect wildlife and habitat.

Dave Willis, chairman of the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council environmental organization, expressed concerns and some hope for the new plan.

“BLM’s draft plan is all over the map,” Willis wrote in response to a request for comment. “No single option is all good or all bad.

“BLM’s final plan could respect the monument’s remaining wildlands and protect natural ecosystem dynamics as required by the monument’s two proclamations,” he said. “Or the final plan could just turn out to be a Trojan-horse smokescreen attempt to justify BLM business-as-usual ecological degradation — even if possibly slightly kinder-and-gentler degradation.

“We fear the worst and hope for the best. Time will tell,” Willis said.

The release of the draft plan follows a March 22 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand the 2017 expansion of the monument, which President Bill Clinton created in 2000 under authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906 and President Barack Obama expanded under the act. The original monument was about 52,000 acres, while the expansion included about 48,000 more acres, all federal land. Another 13,131 acres were acquired from willing sellers.

The upcoming town hall meetings are set for 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, May 14, at the Medford Armory, 1701 S. Pacific Highway in Medford; 5-7 p.m. Thursday, May 16, at Klamath Community College, Building 4, Commons, 7390 S. Sixth St. in Klamath Falls; and 1-3 p.m. Saturday, May 18, at Pinehurst School, 15337 Highway 66, east of Ashland.

The public may formally comment on the draft plan through July 5. A final plan could be issued by the end of the year.

For more information, contact BLM planners at 458-246-8861 or visit BLM National NEPA Register. To comment via mail, send correspondence to the BLM Medford District Office, ATTN: Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Planning, 3040 Biddle Road, Medford, OR 97504.

Reach Rogue Valley Times outdoors and environmental reporter Shaun Hall at 458-225-7179 or [email protected]. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.