The primary threats to the area are the same that threaten native forests and watersheds throughout the West. They include logging, mining, un- regulated Off Road Vehicles, livestock grazing in sensitive areas such as streams and wet meadows, road building and a lack of coordinated management leading to damaging activities such as misguided and conflicting fire management policies.
MINING
Rapid diminishment of finite mineral resources, and the rising mineral values associated with this growing scarcity, has brought a resurgence of mining interests throughout the Klamath-Siskiyou. Currently, a proposed chromium mine near Cook and Green Pass threatens rare montane botanical areas near the Red Buttes Wilderness, and placer mine claims are wreaking havoc with tributary streams in the Illinois Valley. Abandoned mines from an earlier era continue to leach toxic metals into the area’s soil and waters.
The antiquated Mining Law of 1872 allows mining interests to take valuable hardrock minerals from public lands without royalty payments to the taxpayer. The law also allows mining interests to buy valuable mineral bearing public lands at 1872 prices, which translates to no more than $5 per acre, and does not sufficiently insure restoration of degraded resources after the mining operation ends. The interpretation by some miners of the 1866 and 1872 Mining Laws, and the lack of agency coordination in permitting and monitoring of mining claims, are fueling a growing culture of lawlessness.
The arrest and conviction of a miner in the summer of 2009 for illegally logging old growth trees and digging destructive pits on Sucker Creek, on the boundary of the Siskiyou Crest area, underscores the need for better mining oversight and enforcement, as well as mining law reform.
Suction dredge mining within salmon-bearing tributaries to the Klamath and Rogue Rivers is also a growing problem in the area. Other minerals of value in the region include nickel, copper, and lithium.
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GRAZING
The impacts of livestock grazing are often underestimated. However, when public lands grazing becomes systemic, the problems magnify and become more apparent. E. coli and other fecal coliforms are introduced to water- ways, where they not only flow downstream but are also passed on to more mobile wild species and spread elsewhere. Rare plant communities are trampled and eaten. Forage for wild ungulates is reduced. Streambanks are compromised, causing erosion and widening of stream channels, which increases water temperature and degrades salmon habitat. Recreation experiences are diminished by these ecological impacts and the visual disturbance of fecal waste and trampling concentrated around aquatic resources and meadows.
The National Public Lands Grazing Campaign estimates that the federal public lands grazing program costs the American taxpayers about $466 million annually. One quarter of this is comprised of the direct costs of administering the program, and the rest is indirect costs – primarily in the form of damage to ecosystem services. In contrast, the Forest Ser- vice gathers less than $2 million annually from grazing fees and the BLM gathers less than $5 million for its more extensive western grazing program.
Currently, more than half of the Crest is designated as open to livestock grazing. Three of the twelve allotments are vacant, but the Forest Service has resisted retiring them. Another is currently undergoing a Congressional process to enable a voluntary buyout of the permittee and permanent allotment retirement. Due to the rugged terrain, there is virtually no enforcement of allotment boundaries. The records for these allotments are rife with agency reports of trespass and over-utilization, and subsequent inaction. Most of the remaining allotments are ecologically inappropriate. It is proposed that the vacant allotments be retired and that options for a voluntary buyout of existing allotments be fully explored.
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LOGGING AND ROAD BUILDING
Logging has taken a heavy toll on the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Thousands of miles of logging roads traverse federal lands, often increasing sediment loading in salmon bearing streams. The remaining intact public lands are a natural legacy critical for wildlife, clean water and recreation. The Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion is recognized as one of the most diverse temperate forests in the world, and its forests are more intact than other western zones. With nearly one-quarter of its forests in mature and old growth condition, it contains much of the remaining interior ancient forests in the Pacific Northwest.
However, portions of the Crest have been heavily logged, particularly on the Klamath side. Many of these lands have been converted to tree farms, where monoculture and fire suppression have created conditions that increase the risk of unnaturally severe wildfire and disease outbreaks. There is increasing agreement over the need to actively manage these forests to restore them to a more natural and resilient condition. On the Siskiyou Crest, there is ample opportunity for thinning existing tree plantations and restoring fire-
suppressed forests while simultaneously working to protect old-growth forests, reduce logging road densities, remove noxious weeds, restore wildlife habitat and protect the natural values of public land. Some areas, such as Indian Creek and portions of the current Applegate Adaptive Management Area, are in serious need of active management and could provide for a large volume of small-diameter saw timber as a by-product
of restoration and fuels reduction activities.
Currently, the Forest Service and BLM are not adequately funded to maintain their existing road systems. On the Crest, hundreds of miles of user-created routes and old logging roads direct sediment into salmon streams, damage rare botanical areas, introduce invasive species, and spread the devastating Port-Orford cedar root rot disease. Much of the extensive road network on the Crest is currently under evaluation as part
of the Klamath and Rogue River/Siskiyou National Forests’ Travel Management Planning process. This process involves identifying and closing user-created routes and other roads deemed to be ecologically destructive in order to create a manageable road system. Once this process is complete, decommissioning will need to occur on many of the closed roads, and mitigation activities, such as culvert replacement, water bars, and recontouring, will be required for others. The BLM will be undergoing a similar process starting in 2010. Road decommissioning and restoration is labor-intensive work. On the adjacent Orleans District of the Six Rivers National Forest, a road removal contract is providing much-needed jobs for the local community.
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OFF-ROAD VEHICLES
Unregulated ORV use along the Siskiyou Crest is seriously degrading the unique ecological, hydrological and recreational values of the high country. Meadows, wetlands, botanical hotspots, and riparian reserves are particularly at-risk.
While the National Forests that manage public lands on the Crest are conducting an ongoing travel management planning process that will address off-road use, enforcement of current laws and regulations is virtually non-existent. Current standards and guidelines that prohibit off-road recreation in designated botanical areas are not enforced. Motorized trails in the “Non-Motorized Backcountry” land use allocation are common. ORVs and motorcycles routinely enter the Red Buttes Wilderness Area.
Initial indications are that through the Travel Management Planning process, Forest service decision makers intend to encourage continuing off-road use in Botanical Areas, Research Natural Areas and Backcountry Non-motorized Areas. There exists a pressing need for reform that would protect such areas from further ORV damage.
BLM lands in the Siskiyou Crest are a currently subject to a motorized “free for all” in which trails are cut, gates are destroyed or circumnavigated, and riparian reserves are trashed across the landscape. Such abuse of the public lands managed by the BLM is both widespread and common.
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FIRE SUPPRESSION
Current fire and fuels management of the Siskiyou Crest by four Districts across two National Forests (Rogue-Siskiyou and Klamath National Forests) and by the Medford District BLM lacks a cohesive strategy. There is virtually no coordination between federal land managers regarding the transportation (road system) requests for fire suppression or the introduction of prescribed fire. Fuel reduction projects administered by the different managers and agencies are planned in isolation from one another and without an overreaching management plan for either fire or wildlife values.
Creation of the Siskiyou Crest National Monument would allow for a unified management strategy regarding fire and fuels management. Mechanical fuel reduction efforts and the use of prescribed fire to ameliorate fir encroachment and stand density concerns could be applied in a coordinated landscape fashion. Policies regarding the impacts of recreation, grazing, timber harvest, and fire suppression on fire hazard and fire risk could be harmonized into a unified management plan.
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CLIMATE CHANGE
 The Rogue Basin climate study is one of the first in the nation to boil global warming down to the local level, and many of its findings are sobering. While forecasting the specifics of climate change is notoriously difficult, the study makes many detailed predictions- the highlights are summarized here:
# Expected increases in year-round temperatures of up to 3 degrees Fahrenheit by 2040 and up to 8 degrees by 2080. Summertime high temperatures are likely to rise by up to 15 degrees by 2080.
# A dramatic decrease in snow accumulation with earlier mountain snowmelt, transition from snow to rain, and higher and flashier winter and spring runoff events. Less snow in the mountains means extended low stream flows in the summer.
# An increase in the amount of biomass burned by wildfires by 2040, according to two models in the report. However, the number of wildfires is expected to decrease toward the end of the century because of changing vegetation.
# A gradual shift from conifers to hardwoods such as oaks and madrone. The changing vegetation is expected to decrease biodiversity.
# Increased and extended summer temperatures along with extended periods of lower summer stream flows. This likely will result in decreased dissolved oxygen and increased incidence of bacteria and disease, producing fish kills.
# Increased incidence of fire as well as longer fire seasons, larger fires and higher-elevation fires that would likely affect vegetation and wildlife and could lead to sudden shifts in ecological communities.
# Increased invasive species and pest issues.
# Increase of chaparral, grasslands and scrublands because of hotter and drier climate. Drought-tolerant species that may benefit include oak, madrone and mountain mahogany.
# Decrease in high-elevation wildlife such as Clark's nutcracker. High-elevation vegetation, including hemlock and wildflowers, may also be at risk.
# Decline in amphibians because of lack of mobility, affinity for unique microsites and susceptibility to drought, heat and habitat change.
--Doppelt, Hamilton, Williams, and Koopman, “Preparing for Climate
Change in the Rogue River Basin of southwest Oregon: Stressors, Risks,
and Recommendations for Increasing Resilience and Resistance in Human, Built, Economic and Natural Systems,” 2009.
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