Pileated Woodpecker

 This guy making much noise this morning.

Why all these fires???

 As the Fall rains bring an end to most of the fires that have burned a record amount of land, destroyed small towns and many homes the same old question comes to surface:   Why do we have these catastrophic fires year after year?    Frustration and anger is what follows after the smoke begins to settle, especially from those that have lost everything.   There is the sad story of a ranching family that had a grazing allotment on the Plumas National Forest in California and are out looking for their cattle.  They have found many dead, some needing to be euthanized and a few roaming along forest roads in search of water and feed.  They, along with many others are angry with mismanagement of the National Forests over the last decades.    They don't blame the local Forest Service employees, but those in Washington DC that have no understanding of how the forest should be managed at the local level.   Fires have always been part of the ecosystem.  Over the last 100+ years we have suppressed fires letting the forest floor build up with an understory of brush and small trees.   Years of uneven-aged management on both federal forests and private timber lands creating second growth plantations susceptible to fire under extreme fire conditions.   Then there is climate change as the summers become longer and warmer with less rainfall and snowpack in the winters.   Over the last 10 years more and more conifers at the lower elevation are dying from drought and insect infestations increasing the fire risk. 

What is the answer--more controlled fires, more thinning of forests, more defensible space around communities and homes in the forests?  Some of this is happening, but not to the scale and intensive it should be.   No doubt funding is insufficient, but think of all the money going to suppression.   How is the OSU School of Forestry addressing this in their curriculum?   

When will there be more action?

A Bad Dream

 The other day while taking a nap in my favorite chair my cell phone rang waking me up from a deep sleep.   My first mistake was not turning it off before going to sleep.   I usually take a nap and put a hat over my eyes to keep the light out.   It was like a dream when the phone rang as I thought it was night time and the first question to come to mind was, why a phone call at this time of night?   Then as reality set in I thought it must be an alert call from the County Sheriff to evacuate because of a raging wildfire.   With the phone still ringing I slowly came out of my stupor to see daylight and realize it was not night time.   Is this a symptom of post traumatic stress and will life ever be the same again?   

I need more coffee

A Little Rain

 We received .03 of an inch this evening, along with thunder and lightning.  Hopefully more rain tonight and tomorrow

Sad News--we had to send Toby over the Rainbow Bridge this afternoon at Sutherlin Vet.   He had been with us for 19+ years after Celia rescued him from a cat box in front of the Cottage Grove BiMart.   He was Top Cat and will be missed.

Update?

 Not sure if smoke is bad or very bad or just getting used to it.   Do know it is bad down in Sutherlin whenever I go to town for groceries, etc.   Not a drop of rain yet, maybe Thursday to Friday, will believe it when I see it.   So far we are 10 inches behind on rainfall for this water year, unless we get some between now and the end of the month.   With a La Nina winter predicted we are in the middle of a wet north and a dry south.  

Just maintaining the status quo with indoor chores and outside projects, such as watering plants, trying to get firewood in sheds before winter and the list goes on.   

Trying to keep one step ahead of the Grim Reaper

What will be the New Norm(?)

 Another smoky day, no rain, maybe some showers by Thursday night.  See on the morning CoCoRaHS rainfall map a little rain north of Portland and along the coast.   Picture is of a stressful looking oak tree on our place.   Wonder what the long term effects will be on the weather, acid rain possibilities, and vegetation due to all the smoke and ash?   Sure glad we planted 25% other than Douglas fir, 10% Incense Cedar, 10% Ponderosa Pine and 5% maple/ash.  

More questions than answers

Archie Creek Fire Update

 This is the latest from the Archie Fire, about 16 miles to our east.   This morning at 7 am it was 51 degrees with RH of 77%.   As of noon it is 62 degrees with RH of 73% and NO WIND at our place.   30% chance of rain Monday and increases to 60% Tuesday through Wednesday.   

Can we make it 5 more days?

 For our location there is a 50% chance of rain Monday night and a 70% chance on Tuesday.  Between now and then the usual with variable winds up to 10 mph, mostly from the northwest.  Looking at the forecast to the north and the south of us there is more of a chance of showers than rain as shown for our location.   These 5 days will be like 5 years and this forecast could change for the better or worse.

Standby

Current Conditions

 This picture was taken at 4:45 pm looking south from the deck, much better than yesterday at this time when it was dark.   Very little wind.   Nearest fire is east of Sutherlin.

Looking South

 Took this picture from above our place at 3 pm looking south.   So far no wind and hope the weatherman is wrong with his forecast for northeast winds.  Now almost 3:30 and almost dark outside.  

Smoke & Ash

 That little dot is the sun over our house as it gets darker and the ash keeps falling.   French Creek fire up near Glide and another up by Rock Creek that has closed Highway 138 going east.

Have mercy if the east wind starts to blow.

The Silver Fire

 This fire started 33 years ago.  The recovery project to salvage log afterwards was more intense than trying to suppress all the fires around the Silver Fire, including the Galice, Longwood and others I don't remember the names of.

Not sure how many of you retired FS people were on these fires.

                                                   THE SILVER FIRE

 

In the late summer of 1987 a dry lightning storm moved across northwestern California and southwest Oregon.   It had been a dry hot summer and fires were reported all across the Klamath National Forest in California and the Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon.   Fire crews were dispatched to many of the communities in the Illinois Valley to protect life and property from what was called the Longwood Fire.   With many other fires burning across the west there was a lack of resources to cover all the fires.   There was no major initial attack on fires burning in the back country.  This included much of the roadless area east of the Illinois River in the Indigo and Silver Creek drainages.   The only initial attack on what was called the Silver Fire was smoke jumpers being dropped into the fire area.   They no sooner landed then they had to hike out because of safety concerns as the fire exploded out of the Silver Creek drainage into the Indigo Creek watershed.  The use of aircraft was limited due to all the smoke. 

Many of us non-fire District personnel and Zone 2 engineering people from Gold Beach were sent to the Longwood fire camp near Cave Junction to provide support in the transportation section.   We spent two weeks driving trucks, delivering supplies, fire tools, lunches and water to crews on the fire lines.    Due to a lack of vehicles the Forest Service even rented U-Haul trucks.   We used many of these trucks to move equipment and supplies to a spike camp being set up at Bear Camp.   The National Guard was also helping out, but their Humvees were so wide it was hard to get by them on some of the narrow forest roads.  

During our entire stay there we never saw the sun because of the dense smoke.   All we could see was an orange ball during the day.   Some residents near the community of Takilma were desperate for fire suppression help to save their crop of marijuana.   At times we could get a smell of it burning along some of the roads through that area.   In short many of these fires burned until the Fall rains arrived and extinguished them.  

Then came the recovery project.    Before the smoke even settled Congress was putting pressure on the Forest Service to estimate the amount of timber that might be available for sale.   In many ways, mostly through lobbyists, it was the timber industry wanting to gain access to the timber in the roadless area since the environmental community had been fighting to keep it roadless for years.   Foresters and engineers were detailed in from other Regions to help out with the planning and layout of these salvage sales.     I ended up working with a forester from Montana surveying the burned timber in the Indigo Creek drainage.   This involved hiking from the end of an existing road coming in from the north off the Burnt Ridge Road.   We spent days hiking through large stands of old growth forest that had been completely burned.  These were some of the biggest Douglas-fir trees I have ever seen.   In places we estimated 80 to 100 thousand board feet per acre.   That would be equivalent to 10 to 15 truck loads per acre of mostly three log loads.    Crossing Indigo Creek involved using a bosun’s chair rigged on a cable crossing the stream.   As winter storms started arriving it was common to hear the falling of burned trees off in the distance.   A camp consisting of some wall tents, cots, sleeping bags, cooking stoves and utensils was set up on a flat between Indigo Creek and the Silver Peak ridge for timber and engineering crews to stay at while working long periods of time locating unit boundaries and proposed road locations.    During a period of time when the camp was not used bears invaded the camp helping themselves to some food and dragging the sleeping bags from the tents and using them for beds.  They did very little damage.

Engineers surveyed different proposed road locations and a possible sites for constructing a bridge crossing of Indigo Creek.   They concluded it would very expensive, involving full bench construction due to the steep side slopes.    Over time environmental groups, such as Earth First, became aware of what was happening on the ground and when Forest Service personnel were not in the vicinity they would remove flagging used to locate unit boundaries and road locations.   Some logging equipment on a nearby Forest Service timber sale was sabotaged by this group doing much damage to their yarder by putting gravel in the transmission.   The logger was allowed to put up a gate with a combination Forest Service lock and his lock.   He also wanted to put killer dogs on the sale area which was not agreeable with the Forest Service.

In the end, no roads were constructed across Indigo Creek.  Roads were extended from the existing roads on the north side of the creek and the timber south of the creek was removed by helicopters to landings to the north.   When this was implemented I had transferred to the Cottage Grove District on the Umpqua National Forest in the spring of 1988 to be closer to family living in Eugene.  In the summer of 2002 most this area burned again in the Biscuit Fire, the largest fire in the history of Oregon.    

Indian Tales

 

                                                     INDIAN TALES

 

These are stories told second hand to me while working for the Forest Service on the Orleans District in the 1970’s.   There are two tribes of Indians along the Klamath River, the Karok or upriver Indians and the Yurok or downriver Indians.  The only reservation at that time was the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation which did not look favorably on the Yurok people.   I can remember signs posted just south of Wietchpec on the north entrance into the Hoopa Reservation that said, “Yurok dog stay out.”

The Yurok tribe mostly occupied lands in the Lower Klamath River from where the Trinity River meets the Klamath River, at the small community of Weitchpec on Highway 96.  There was a store there when I lived in Orleans, not sure what’s there today.    Alcohol and drugs were the biggest enemy of the Indians.   Most of these people were hard working as many worked in the woods on logging crews.   After work when the beer and wine started flowing you did not want to be near some of them.  The more they drank the more they wanted to fight.   There is highway 169 that goes down the Klamath River after crossing the bridge at Weitchpec.  This highway ended at a place called Johnsons.  At that time there was not much there, except a few dirt roads leading off to God knows where, some small house or camp trailers scattered in the woods, some vehicles not in operating condition and a fair share of debris piled here and there.  

The Forest Service operated a fire guard station at Bluff Creek during the summers that was about five miles up the Klamath River from Weitchpec on Highway 96.   Most of the funding for this fire crew came from the state of California to protect private lands along the Lower Klamath River since the state did not have their own fire crews in the vicinity.    The foreman of the fire crew at Bluff Creek was named Don and he enjoyed spending much of his off time fishing the Lower Klamath River.   On one occasion while he was fishing a stranger approached him, introduced himself as Mr. Smith (don’t remember the name Don told me, so will go with Mr. Smith) and asked what he was doing here and if Don knew any of the people living along the river.   Don said no, and Mr. Smith said the further down this road you go the meaner the people get.   Don asked Mr. Smith where he lived and he replied at the end of the road.   Don called it a day and left immediately as Mr. Smith said don’t come back.   

Most of the fires set along the Lower Klamath River were started by the Indians in the fall to regenerate the bear grass that was used in making their baskets.   They had been doing this way before the arrival of the white settlers.    These fires were report to the Forest Service by people traveling along the highways and Don and his crew would respond with their fire truck.     Rumors were that the Indians would report some of the fires just to have the Forest Service extinguish them after the fires had accomplished what they intended for them to do.   One night Don and his crew were dispatched to a fire across the Martin’s Ferry Bridge leading to the Bald Hills Road off from Highway 169.   While the crew did a hose lay to the fire uphill from the fire truck, Don remained with the truck to operate the pumper engine.    Don was in the cab of the truck to listen to the two-way radio when he noticed head lights coming across the bridge.    The vehicle stopped in front of the fire truck and out came a few of the local natives that were a little intoxicated according to Don.   After asking what Don was doing there they threaten to throw him off the bridge.   Don had a hand gun in his fire pack knowing someday he might need it from some of his past experiences.   He tried to get them to change the subject, but they insisted they were intent on throwing him off the bridge.   Don put his hand on the gun just as the crew was returning to the truck causing the locals to leave as they were outnumbered.   

Another story is about two Forest Service people trying to find their way to some isolated parcels of the National Forest located outside the main boundary of the Six Rivers National Forest.   They ended up on a dirt road that came to a dead end at a rundown house with a few broken down vehicles around it and some dead chickens that had been shot in the front of the place.    They said it looked like a scene from the movie Deliverance.  They started turning their truck around as a man came out the front door with a rifle, who looked like he was having a bad day.  They did not look back as they hastily departed. 

Today the Yurok Indians have their own reservation along the Lower Klamath River and have been noted for their restoration of the fishery resources and other improvements to their culture.   Hopefully it is a little more civilized.  

Going to Church

 

                                                    St. Monica’s Church

                                                      Willows, California

                                             1950’s through into the 60’s

 

We would arrive about five minutes before the start of Sunday Mass at 10 am.   Our family would parade to the front of the church, since most of the back pews were filled to capacity.   There were eight of us in the family and we almost filled the entire pew from the center aisle.   I wished we could sit in the back pews, since those people were blessed with a quick exit at the end of the service.    It was always the same people that occupied the back pews.  They must have arrived an hour early to lay claim to those pews or maybe they had some kind of reservation on them.   Leaving church was the slowest process I can remember as a youngster.  It seemed like everybody would stop as they got to the doors and talked to the priest as he was there to greet everybody as they departed.   There was not even enough space to squeeze between people.  It was like trying to get through a defensive football line.   Maybe it was my punishment for not paying attention during the service and for just thinking on how fast I could make my exit. 

The service was scheduled for an hour, but then there was the sermon that sometimes lasted an hour itself.  It seemed like days.   The sermons covered many topics, some that I was too young to understand at the time.  There were discussions on church facilities, church functions, money, and people in need and of course the need to avoid sin.  There was a sermon on the subject of fornication which I had no idea what the priest was talking about due to my ignorance of that word at a young age.   Later at home I asked my mother what that meant and she said, “never mind”.   Years later I found the definition in the dictionary.    There were other sermons about how the young girls were leading young boys into sin by the way they dressed.  

After communion some of those people in the back pews started leaving early.   A good friend of mine with his two sisters and their dad would leave early as we could all hear the dad starting up their old 1949 Chevy truck parked in the back parking lot.   We could see an expression on the priest’s face that he was not impressed with those leaving early.

By the time we finally got out of the church many of the men would light up a cigarette, including my dad, who would get into a conversation with an older farmer by the name of George.    They would talk about how their crops were doing as George would roll his own cigarette as he got tobacco from a blue tin placing it on the paper and sealing it up by licking it.   I always found this fascinating.   My younger sisters would stare at the growth of hair shooting out from his ears and make comments later at home about it.   Finally at home mom and dad would make a big breakfast as we were all in the edge of starvation since eating before communion was not allowed in those days.    Then the thought would reoccur that in seven days we would have to go through all this again.