Project aims to help firefighters combat wildfires in parts of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

By Alexi Lovechio

The Siskiyou Mountain Ranger District of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest is proposing a new project throughout the Siskiyou Crest. The Shaded Fuel Break project aims to reduce hazardous fuels along strategic roads, trails along ridgelines and key access routes. This project is intended to allow firefighters to safely engage with wildfires and provide a safer ingress and egress for the public.

KS Wild is generally supportive of this project because of its focus on community and firefighter safety and the use of prescribed fire. The proposed project doesn’t allow any trees over 9 inches in diameter to be cut and prioritizes the protection of large trees. We view this project as a way to make the land ready for wildfires, which can reduce the harm caused by aggressive firefighting suppression efforts. Though we are supportive of the project, we still have our concerns. These fuel breaks are located within areas of considerable ecological and recreational importance. They encompass sensitive habitats such as high-elevation ridge systems, roadless areas, areas designated for recreational use, distinctive plant communities and habitats containing rare plant species.

KS Wild has submitted substantive comments and visited the proposed fuel breaks with Forest Service

staff to have our concerns addressed. We also plan to follow up with the Forest Service as this project is implemented to monitor treatments. 

What is a shaded fuel break?

A shaded fuel break is a strip of land where fuel (living trees and brush, and dead branches, needles or downed logs) has been reduced to limit wildfire’s ability to spread rapidly. These are placed in strategic locations along a ridge, access road or hiking trail where fire control efforts are focused. The goal of a shaded fuel break is to reduce and manage fuels within designated areas in order to enhance mitigation efforts in the event of a wildland fire. 

There are a total of four proposed fuel breaks covering a little over 4,000 acres:

• Elliot Ridge (1,950 acres): along Elliott Ridge and Yellowjacket Ridge, includes the Stein Butte Trail.
• Grayback Trail (1,050 acres): the northern portion of the trail extends into the Upper Applegate River and Middle Applegate River watersheds.
• Sevenmile Ridge (940 acres): along the Sevenmile Ridge Trail and adjacent to Big Red Mountain.
• Wagner (350 acres): located in the McDonald Ridge and McDonald Peak Special Interest areas and in the McDonald Inventoried Roadless Area. This includes the McDonald Peak Trail and a portion of the Wagner Butte Trail.

KS Wild’s concerns

KS Wild’s climate program staff, the Applegate Siskiyou Alliance and community members joined the Forest Service on two field trips to the proposed Wagner Fuel Break and Elliot Ridge Fuel Break. The field trips allowed us to communicate our concerns with Forest Service staff who are leading the project. We requested that treatments in special interest areas, roadless areas and riparian reserves be carefully designed with added mitigations to ensure treatments do not have significant impacts to these sensitive and unique habitats. 

The agency released a scoping notice followed by a public comment period which closed on Oct. 9. KS Wild has submitted scoping comments to forest officials outlining our concerns, support and recommendations. 

We appreciate that the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest conducted field trips to the proposed fuel breaks. We believe that transparency, clear communication and collaboration make the agency stronger and build trust with the community. KS Wild plans to continue to participate by taking trips into the field to monitor implementation of the fuel breaks. The need for implementation monitoring is an important step for holding the Forest Service and contractors accountable.

KS Wild Side appears every month and features a staff member from KS Wild, a regional conservation organization based in Ashland. Alexi Lovechio works as the climate program manager for KS Wild. For more information go to kswild.org.