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--> --> Crew member sprinkles seed last fall at fire site. Tidings file photo Ranger District wants public input on plan to rehabilitate Quartz site By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings The Applegate Ranger District is asking for public input on a plan to rehabilitate the site of the Quartz Fire, which burned about 6,160 acres eight miles southwest of Ashland in August. The initial public input phase, called scoping, gives residents an early opportunity to raise issues and help shape development of rehabilitation proposals. In late February or March, the ranger district will release an environmental assessment on proposed rehabilitation efforts, followed by a 30-day comment period. The district then will issue a response to those comments and a decision about the plan. The environmental assessment will cover the 3,466 acres of Forest Service land burned during the fire. The fire also affected nearly 1,000 acres of Medford District Bureau of Land Management land, as well as private property. Rehabilitation efforts could include a salvage timber sale and removal of trees for firewood, according to Ed Reilly, planning supervisor for the ranger district and team leader for the recovery project. "There is a lot of unburned dead wood that can start to fall and become a fire hazard to the newly emerging young forest," Reilly said. However, he said the Forest Service recognizes the importance of trees for slope stability, to replenish soil which has lost organic matter due to wildfire and to provide snags for wildlife habitat. "What is excess can be considered for harvest," Reilly said. Other rehabilitation efforts likely will include felling burned trees across slopes to stabilize soils, placing burned logs in streams to restore stream habitat, planting trees and native vegetation and repairing trails, according to Forest Service staff. The rehabilitation, set to take place over two to three years, will supplement emergency rehabilitation efforts that began even before the wildfire was out. Once the fire was contained, a Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation survey team assessed the damage and recommended emergency projects. Crews seeded burned areas with native grasses, felled trees across slopes and installed erosion control devices. Expecting increased water run-off from the denuded slopes, crews also set rocks below culvert outlets to dissipate the force of falling water, Reilly said. Meanwhile, the BLM is wrapping up its own scoping process - begun in October - as it starts an environmental assessment of a potential salvage timber sale on BLM lands burned in the fire. The environmental assessment could be released in January or February. Residents can mail comments about Forest Service restoration efforts to Edward Reilly, Applegate Ranger District, 6941 Upper Applegate Rd., Jacksonville, OR 97530; e-mail comments to [email protected]; or call 541-899-3800. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing