Grants Pass Now

Julie Lockman, Executive Director of Clean Forest Project

Julie Lockman is a joyful woman with an impossibly bright smile and a schedule that would make most people tremble with fear. She’s the lead singer for River City RnB, a wife, a soccer mom, and now the executive director of the Clean Forest Project.

A name like Clean Forest Project is self explanatory. The groups goes out and cleans areas of the forest. Why? Because it’s filthy. David and Julie have four children who like to go camping with their father, but the family found themselves picking up trash almost everywhere they went. This continued happening, so they decided it was time to do something about it. They formed Clean Forest Project towards the end of 2007 and hope that news of this non profit organization will reach businesses and concerned citizens. Many don’t realize how widespread the problem is. This isn’t a few fast food cups or a bag of garbage here and there. What Julie’s family and their occasional volunteers find are mounds upon mounds of nasty trash, electronics, furniture, and even appliances and cars. One of their more recent finds is a dumped trailer.

What many of the people doing this don’t seem to realize is that there are places to get rid of unwanted goods or trash for free. Once a year during spring, yard waste such as branches, grass, leaves, and other vegetation is collected and recycled at no charge to city residents. There is a free drop off day yearly at Merlin Transfer for one cubic yard of household garbage, and a yearly free drop off day for latex paints. These are usually posted on http://www.GrantsPass.com, or call your local recycling center for more information. Regular household waste, such as newspapers, glass bottles, milk jugs, tin cans, and cardboard can be taken to the recycling center at 1381 Redwood Ave. for absolutely no charge. If you have a vehicle to junk, Peach Street Auto Recycling will come and get your vehicle, title or no title, for free. Simply call their tower (Bulldog Towing) at 541-955-9600. Some places, such as Cascade Metal Recycling at 700 Merlin Road, will even pay for items such as brass, copper, aluminum, and stainless steel.

Unfortunately, many people are either unaware that these options exist, or simply choose instead to litter forests with waste products. Clean Forest Project seeks to address the issue of illegal dumping in our forests. They believe that not only is the natural beauty of our area destroyed by such actions, it can also be dangerous to the land, wildlife, and residents because so many items are hazardous waste products, such as paint and household appliances. Items such as refrigerators, air conditioners, and dehumidifiers contain hazardous components, and not disposing of them properly can be detrimental to forest plants, wildlife, and can contaminate our water.

This massive problem turns into quite a bit of work for Mrs. Lockman and her family. She keeps a notebook of all reports that come into her website, and they come in weekly. They are determined to clean up every site reported, but they literally have hundreds of them reported. Currently, the Lockman’s pay for the clean-ups out of their own pockets. Because of budget cut-backs, Land Management agencies are looking to public organizations such as Clean Forest Project for help, and the family has joined the Bureau of Land Management for clean up projects and will continue to do so. However, this is more than a one family job. More volunteers are needed. Another need is financial help. While as much is recycled as possible, there are still costs involved with hauling materials and fees for taking items such as televisions, mattresses, and furniture to legal dump sites. The project hopes to receive grants to help with costs, they also need the people of the community to help out. Donation and membership information is available at their website. If enough funds are raised, Clean Forest Project will be able to expand their education program, going to different schools in order to present the next generation with environmental information, with the hopes of reducing the problem in the coming years.

It’s time for the community of Grants Pass to pitch in and help keep our area safe and clean. We live in a beautiful environment, and it deserves to be cared for and preserved. To team up with the Clean Forest Project by offering your physical or financial help or to report a dump site, please visit http://cleanforestproject.org/ - Gina Locke

Tim Gonzales from Bureau of Land Management

Who are those people you catch glimpses of as you drive along back roads or walk across the parking lot? They’re setting small fires from place to place, and blocking off the areas so we can’t even take advantage of the opportunity and roast marshmallows.

They’re from the Bureau of Land Management, and they’re just doing their job. Believe it or not, part of their job is to prevent forest fires. What is now an annual program carried out in spring began with the 2001 institution of the National Fire Plan. (NFP) This plan. Funding for federal and state agencies, along with local communities, was approved by Congress in order to carry out the NFP. The goal is to rehabilitate areas damaged by fire or by firefighting efforts, reduce the risk of hazardous fires and implement firefighting methods when fires do break out, along with providing help for communities at risk of or already affected by firestorms.

In Josephine County, the process is already under way for the year. The BLM typically reduces hazardous fuels in Josephine County in four phases. They begin by cutting dense, small diameter vegetation, pile the slash, burn the piles, and then burn the residual slash. The fourth phase, underburning, started in May. The purpose is to reduce the chance of catastrophic wildfires and their detrimental effects. Approximately 2000 acres per year are treated. The decision is made by defining the areas of highest priority.

These high priority areas are typically where the forest meets urban development. This is called the Wildland Urban Interface. (WUI) There are many areas where very dense brush and overcrowded trees abut private property. The last few years has seen urban sprawl place homes quite close to extremely dangerous wildfire areas. This ecosystem has been fire dependent for centuries, because frequent fires control the vegetation density, but the suppression of wildfires without re-introducing them has caused an unnatural fire regime, thus creating an extremely volatile fire potential.

The process returns the ecosystem to a more natural condition. After thinning, the remaining trees have less competition and are healthier because they get an abundance of water and nutrients. It also reduces the risk of crown fires. Crown fires are particularly voracious fires, named for their spread from treetop to treetop. This thinning also provides escape and evacuation routes for the public, along with safe access for firefighters. Dense brush fields which are located near homes are removed in order to prevent damage to residential areas.

The process can be a bit tricky. A detailed fire plan is of the utmost necessity. The plan must analyze fire patterns and take into consideration the needed equipment and ideal weather conditions. When this has been accomplished and weather conditions are perfect, fire managers begin to light fire across the top of the unit in strips. These units may be as small as ten acres or as large as one hundred. The fire strips cool down before the next one is lit, and this pattern continues until the area is lightly burned. With fire trucks, pumps, hose, chainsaws, and hand tools nearby, firefighters become fire prevention specialists.

This type of work requires both courage and education. This particular project is headed up by Allen Mitchell, lead Fuels Specialist, and under the watchful eye of Tim Gonzales, a fire mitigation and education specialist. Mr. Gonzales has 28 years of firefighting and prescribed fire experience. He served as a fire engine captain with the U.S. Forest Service from 1989 through 2002, attacking hundreds of wildfires, and then joined the Bureau of Land Management. His work consists of planning fuel reduction projects, educating the public on the benefits of hazardous fuels reduction, and assisting the community through the JoCo Integrated Fire Plan. In addition, Gonzales investigates the causes of wildfires. He acts as a Division Supervisor, Safety Officer, and Incident Commander Type 3 on larger fires.

For those who wish to know where these areas of burning are occuring this spring, Mr. Gonzales has detailed the locations, which occur across 357 acres of land and are as follows:

Berlin Mummer Unit 11-A, 25 acres. T35S, R6W, S11. This unit is 3 miles NE of Merlin and abuts Interstate 5. The unit is directly west of the freeway.

Berlin Mummer Unit 11-INT, 73 acres. T35S, R6W, S11. This unit is 3 miles NE of Merlin and abuts Interstate 5. The unit is directly east of the freeway.

Bowhill Unit 1, 40 acres. T35S, R6W, S14. This unit is 2 miles east of Merlin. There is a cell tower on Josephine County land just north of the unit.

These 3 units are accessed by Monument Drive and may impact visibility on Interstate 5 between mileposts 63-65. Oregon DOT will provide signs for the freeway.

Queen Shines Unit 29-5, 35 acres. T34S, R6W, S29. This unit is 5 miles north of Merlin.

Shiney Queen Unit 23-1, 75 acres. T34S, R7W, S23. This unit is 6 miles northwest of Merlin.

These 2 units are accessed by Quartz Creek Road which is off of Hugo Road.

North Murphy Unit 21-A, 109 acres. T37S, R4W, S21. This unit is 4 miles northeast of Provolt and is accessed via Foots Creek Road from Rogue River. -Gina Locke

Tony Kerwin, BLM Project Planner

Set to take place in an area running roughly from Applegate to Wonder, the Bureau of Land Management’s Cheney Slate Landscape Management Project is now being crafted.

So what’s it all about? For those unfamiliar with such projects, here is a brief overview of who these people are and why such projects exist:

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) became official in 1946, formed by the merging of the Grazing Service and General Land Office. Managed by the Department of the Interior, the BLM was created in order to manage publicly owned lands. However, a number of conflicting laws existed at the time, and finally Congress enacted the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA) which set the framework for how public lands are cared for. Today, the BLM’s mission, according to the Oregon section of their national website, is to “sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.”

In other words, the BLM is responsible for managing the lands it administers. This is a requirement of federal law. Preventing and fighting wildfires, maintaining recreational areas for fishing and other activities, and the conservation of habitat for native species is part of a wide range of provided services.

Enter the Cheney Slate Project. (CSP) The BLM’s Interdisciplinary Team believes that in the areas included in this project, there is a need to reduce the risk of fire, improve the conditions of recreational and economically beneficial areas, to improve various aspects of the habitat, and to harvest timber as part of forest management. As is common when it comes to such projects, they have come up with four different alternatives and proposed them to the public. After looking at the benefits, options, and negatives of all the proposed CSP plans, the final decision will be based on a number of factors. An intense environmental assessment of the area is under way, and will be available as early as June, but more likely later in the summer. They will use the results of land surveys concerning special status species, take public comments into consideration, and give marked attention to the opinions of environmental groups, whose responses are typically quite informational and considerably detailed.

The project encompasses a slightly over 25,000 acres around Wilderville, Murphy, and Wonder along with the Lower Applegate Watershed and the Applegate Adaptive Management Area.Wonder, and Wilderville. No privately owned land is included in this project. It is on BLM land only, and the most significant goal is fire protection. Managing these lands includes removing dense brush, thinning trees, and the building and maintenance of roads. This suppresses the potential for fire damage. These methods help protect private property because these roads provide better access to fire prone areas in the event of an emergency, and the reduction of brush and overcrowding reduces the risk of fire reaching private property from BLM managed lands.

Another component of the CSP consists of riparian area development. A riparian zone is the area around streams and rivers. It is desirable to have large trees in these areas as they provide shade and help cool the water, creating a healthy environment for fish. Allowing logs that fall into rivers to remain, or purposely placing logs and boulders in water, helps to form stream complexity, allowing pools to develop. In addition, this helps create a “meandering stream” instead of a straight course. This is beneficial to many fish, plants, animals, and the complete ecology of riparian areas. In part, these actions are being performed for restoration and to develop late-successional forest structure.

Some might wonder why forest management is needed. The answer is quite simple. In the past, naturally occuring disasters helped thin forests and causing open areas, which created quite a bit of diversity for different species to thrive in. Forest fires are now able to be contained in numerous instances, and combined with over logging in the past and new knowledge of the impact humans have had on the surroundings, it has become necessary to reverse the damage of the past, minimize the potential for future problems, and manage timber growth so that there can be harvests in the future.

However, it’s not all about damage control. For those interested in recreation, part of the proposal entails the construction of approximately four miles of horseback riding trails and/or mountain biking trails near Bolt Mountain Summit which will connect Fish Hatchery Park to Elk Lane.

The project will also provide a bit of much needed funding for Josephine County. The funds from the projected 3-6 million board feet will be available as soon as it is sold, while the stewardship (everything that’s not commercial timber sale, such as the collection of manzanita, mushrooms, and firewood) funds will be available when the material is harvested. Counties typically receive 50% of timber sales, depending on the amount of harvest that occurs within a particular county during such projects. Jobs will be created as commercial timber sale normally goes to a company such as Superior, while stewardship goes to contractors (usually in the Illinois Valley) who hire locally.

For those who missed the public meeting on this project, held on March 18th, it is not to late to comment. When the environmental assessment comes out, it will be followed by a 30 day comment period and the BLM will then take up to a month to include the new comments in their final decision. This means that the project is highly unlikely to begin until, at the earliest, this autumn. If you’d like to know if your area will be affected, the following shows which sections of land are included in the Cheney Slate project area:

Township 36 S Range 6 W Sections: 30, 31, 33
Township 36 S Range 7 W Sections: 25, 27, 35
Township 37 S Range 4 W Sections: 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 29, 30, 31
Township 37 S Range 5 W Sections: 3, 5, 7-11, 13-15, 17, 18, 20, 22-31, 33, 34
Township 37 S Range 6 W Sections: 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 21, 23-31, 33-35
Township 37 S Range 7 W Sections: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11-13, 15, 17, 19, 21-23, 25, 27
Township 38 S Range 5 W Sections: 3-8
Township 38 S Range 6 W Sections: 1, 3, 4, 9, 11-15, 22, 23

For more information on the project, please contact Tony Kerwin at 541-471-6564. For those with other questions or who wish to write, fax, or e-mail, you may do so using the following information:

Grants Pass Interagency Office
(Medford District)
2164 N.E. Spalding Ave
Grants Pass, OR 97526
Telephone: 541-471-6500
Fax: 541-471-6514
Email: Medford_Mail@blm.gov

It’s about the birds and the bees. It’s about organic. It’s about coffee, ripe peaches, and solutions, and it’s coming to the One Eleven Evelyn Theater for a three day film festival in just a few short days.

Produced by Barry Snitken and presented by the Siskiyou Project, the Siskiyou Film Fest will feature films that focus on key environmental issues such as fair trade and organic agriculture, while provoking thought on the important subjects of oil consumption and alternative fuels. One of the most mysterious problems seen in recent times will also be addressed - the reported disappearance of a vast majority of honeybees from the hives of beekeepers across the nation.

The festival’s opening night will begin with wine served by the internationally recognized Troon Vineyard, along with delicious foods prepared by Chef Marilyn. Illustrations by local artist Paula Fong (http://www.prfong.com) , done in watercolor with pen and ink, will be on display, and host Patsy Smullen of KOBI 5 will host the night’s film offerings, which will kick off with Ryan’s Well. This story outlines the efforts of a determined child who to help provide clean water to a poor area of Uganda, Africa. Ryan Hreljec’s efforts have blossomed into Ryan’s Well Foundation and the provision of over 319 clean water wells thus far, liquid proof that one person can make a world of difference.

After The Organic Opportunity and the Siskiyou Field institute presentation, the gala night will wind down with a short interview with Call to Renewal founder Rev. Jim Wallis and close with a film called “Kilowatt Hours”. In this last video, filmmaker Jeff Barrie will lead viewers through various parts of the country, showing how solutions to the energy crisis can be resolved without putting into action the massive electric plant expansion project recommended by Dick Cheney and his National Energy Policy Development Group.

A slight change of pace will occur on Friday evening as The Shift offers insight to the environmental movement and encourages individuals to become more aware of who they are inside, and what they can offer to the land. The evening ends with an exciting undersea adventure with Pacific reef sharks.

On Saturday morning, it’s all about the children! A series of short but delightful kids films will discuss everything from vegetables to turtles to wombat wisdom, culminating in an introduction to some new feathery friends, courtesy of Wildlife Images, who will be bringing in birds of prey to meet and greet guests.

Next is a special afternoon segment for teens, with offerings that range from purely strange to the dramatically imaginative. The festival will then return to its normal schedule. This final night will start off by introducing the story of 13 grandmothers from various parts of the globe, then move to another ocean trip to visit places off the Oregon coast. The festival will conclude with a buzz as the final film rolls - The Vanishing of the Honeybees”.

Tickets for the event may be purchased at the following locations:

1. The Creative Alternative

229 S W G St., Grants Pass

2. Online: http://siskiyoufilmfest.org/tickets/tickets.html

3. By credit card, directly from the Siskiyou Project, by calling 541-592-4459

For more information on the festival and a complete schedule of events and times, please visit the Siskiyou Project internet site at this location: http://www.siskiyoufilmfest.org/index.php

1. Old Dog Documentaries granted permission to use clip from “birdsong & coffee”, available at http://www.olddogdocumentaries.com/index.htm

2. The producer of “Vanishing of the Bees” granted permission to use the film’s trailer, available here: http://www.vanishingbees.com/

3. The producer of “Buyer Be Fair” granted permission to use this video clip: http://www.buyerbefair.org/film_summary.html

Despite what many Southern Oregonians believe, the end of summer is not the end of fire-season. Threat of wild fire always looms nearby. A state program, which has been at work taking preventative measures in the line of wild fires, the Oregon Forestland-Urban Interface Fire Protection Act has convened again to classify potential fire-vulnerable urban and suburban properties.

The Oregon Forestland-Urban Interface Fire Protection Act was established in 1997 and was created to enlist landowners in urban and suburban areas to rid their lands of vegetation that may fuel a fire around buildings and along driveways, and also make fuel-breaks when necessary for the prevention of wild fires to provide safety of citizens and firefighters alike.

Areas affected by the Act in Josephine County are currently under discussion by a five-member committee, and they have identified more that 19,000 lots that will be affected. There will be six public meetings for invited landowners, and maps of areas affected by the Act will be available. At these meetings there will be a presentation which will cover information such as the lands that will be affected by the Act and fuel-reduction actions that must be taken by landowners.

ODF has received $1 million in federal grants to assist landowners in reaching the fuel-reduction requirements of the Act. These grants are available in most parts of Josephine County and a table will be set up to provide information of the assistance program. In most cases, landowners will be reimbursed $400 for completing a fuel-break around a home or along a driveway.

Information will also be given on how to make a fuel break around a home, how to certify the work on a fuel break has been completed, and how to get on-site advice on fuel-reduction.

After these meetings take place and the committee members have answered all questions, a meeting will be held to demonstrate the committee’s conclusion and gather an official statement on the identification and classification of lands affected.

For a complete schedule of meetings, see the press release.

For more information on the Oregon Forestland-Urban Interface Fire Protection Act, please visit http://oregon.gov/ODF/FIRE/SB360/sb360.shtml.