Document text
3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Ashland publisher offers prize for environmental book Orthodox Church raising funds to build new home What does Uncle Foods weekly dinner mean to you? A place for food and fellowship Mother's Day brunch supports World Peace and Prayer Day Education Ashland Middle School students put their Spanish-speaking skills to the test Grizzlies claim speech championship Levy backers eye final push Neal Simon: This is a test Grade-school philanthropist Environment Ashland publisher offers prize for environmental book Ashland water bills could go up to fund watershed protection Stopping fire in its tracks Some trails, roads remain closed due to controlled burn Earth Day: Hope for our 'pale blue dot' Business Ashland Safeway closes Thursday, to reopen as Haggen on Sunday Cars We Remember: Car enthusiast wishes new model designs were ‘more different’ Ride & Drive: 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Silvio Calabi: Taxis and traffic in the olde worlde Airport Day returns May 16 Politics and elections Ashland water bills could go up to fund watershed protection BREAKING: Baltimore prosecutor charges officers in Gray's death Arthur I. Cyr: Cuba’s enduring challenge to American foreign policy – and American politics Kent Bush: Clinton 2.0 is neither new nor improved Arthur I. Cyr: Britain’s earthquake election State News Lack of snow nixes ski portion of popular Central Oregon race Bill under debate in Oregon would limit livestock antibiotics Oregon lawmakers begin minimum wage debate Runners to follow historic salmon migration path Nation - World There's a $10 million precious stone hidden in plain sight at Grand Central Obituaries R. Charles "Charlie" Snyder Death Notices Harry D. Detwiler Death Notices Death Notices Shareable Sports Latest Stories Ashland boys sweep doubles, beat GP Living on the edge SOU lands two on all-CCC softball team See you in August Wry & Ginger: A pitch to make national pastime better High school Ashland boys sweep doubles, beat GP Living on the edge SOU lands two on all-CCC softball team Ashland softball team rolls past Springfield Penn, Norvell, Baldrica pace Ashland track team at Crater Southern Oregon University SOU lands two on all-CCC softball team See you in August Same old Raiders Ashland softball team rolls past Springfield Who's got next? Voices Latest Stories Our View: Forest work is a bargain Letters to the Editor, May 8 Jeffrey Gillespie: Is there a right to offend? Dianne Williamson: Let’s end the marathon bomber saga Editor's Notes: This, that and the other Editorial Our View: Forest work is a bargain Our View: What price history? Our View: Waging peace after war Our View: Rail car roulette Our View: Reading the tea leaves Letters Letters to the Editor, May 8 Letters to the Editor, May 6 Letters to the Editor, May 5 Letters to the Editor, May1 Letters to the Editor, April 30 Guest opinions Guest Opinion: Restoring the Plaza's sense of place Guest Opinion: Making conservation a game Guest Opinion: A good day to act Guest Opinion: Allegations unfair to Dr. Tomashefsky Guest Opinion: Fremont cottonwood is not a hazard Columns Jeffrey Gillespie: Is there a right to offend? Editor's Notes: This, that and the other Mochas, Midrash and Mysteries: Balancing the gift and the task Chris Honoré: A wider context rarely discussed Guest Opinion: Restoring the Plaza's sense of place Chris Honore Council Corner Editor's Notes Jeffrey Gillespie Herb Rothschild Revels Latest Stories Peter Rowan, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys at Rootsfest Movie listings: May 8-14 Dancing People Company presents 'Salon Series' 5 picks for live entertainment Prepare for lots of dialogue in 'Clouds of Sils Maria' Theater Ticket availability Ticket Availability Ticket Availability 'Arsenic and Old Lace' has killer charm Some OSF crew members seek to unionize Music The Farr Side: Mumford & Sons’ latest is full-on rock Interview: Country singer Suzy Bogguss enjoying life on the road The Farr Side: CMAs do it right, in many ways Interview: Offspring plays hits new and old on tour The Farr Side: Slow disappearance of physical music Visual Art Movies Movie review: ‘Hot Pursuit’ is a hot mess George Miller returns to his ‘Mad Max’ roots Tom Hardy adapts to life as Mad Max Movie listings: May 8-14 Prepare for lots of dialogue in 'Clouds of Sils Maria' Food and Drink Taqueria Picaro takes over Tabu space Owner of Mix and Amuse to bring Flip burger joint to Ashland Cruelest Month: Poetry Blog Lifestyle Latest Stories Looking Up: Once in a while a star blows up Health Watch: Easy tips to drink more water throughout the day Orthodox Church raising funds to build new home Antionette Kerr: Mother’s Day founder challenged commercialism Breathe easier with whole-house air purification Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Mocha Musings Rogues: Tales from the Valley Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs Business Business Services NEWS NOW Our View: Forest work is a bargain ... Ashland publisher offers prize for environmental book ... Ashland Calendar, Friday, May 8 ... Our View: Forest work is a bargain ... Ashland publisher offers prize for environmental book ... Ashland Calendar, Friday, May 8 ... ENVIRONMENT Stopping fire in its tracks Thinning efforts expand on private, city and federal lands in Ashland watershed By Mark Freeman For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Mark Freeman For the Tidings Posted May. 4, 2015 @ 6:54 pm By Mark Freeman For the Tidings Posted May. 4, 2015 @ 6:54 pm » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2324,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> Anne Coyle will never forget that September day in 2009 when a 200-foot wall of flames blocked her view of Ashland from her house in the forest high above town. The Siskiyou fire came charging up the hillside toward her 20-acre homesite, dancing menacingly among the treetops and ready to devour everything in its path. "By the time it got to my land, it was in the canopy," Coyle says. "It got up here so fast it was scary." But just like that, the fire dropped from the treetops to the forest floor, robbed of the small trees, brush and low-lying limbs it needed for energy, thanks to forest thinning done on her property two years earlier. Flames ran out of gas at the corner of Coyle's vegetable garden 12 feet from her home. "It just stopped," she says. "My house is standing. It was a miracle." It was fighting fire with fire at its best, a snapshot of how cutting and burning brush and other fire fuels under controlled means can bring inevitable wildfires to their knees before they cut large swaths through the drainage that's home to residents such as Coyle as well as Ashland's municipal water source. Now wildlands managers want to expand Coyle's snapshot into a collage of similar projects aimed at reducing the potential intensity of future wildfires within the upper Ashland watershed and beyond. A partnership between local, state and federal agencies as well as private contractors is looking to expand the city's successful Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project (AFR) beyond federal lands within the Ashland watershed. New federal grants over the next three years will allow crews like those that helped prep Coyle's land to begin expanding into more public and private lands. That will help reduce more stands' exposure to wildfire but also help fortify work already done on public lands. The grants will help dig into 3,600 untreated acres from about 7,600 acres of largely Forest Service lands eyed for fuels reduction treatment as part of the AFR. It also will get crews onto about 1,000 acres of non-commercial private timberlands identified as highly strategic locales for helping curb the size and intensities of future wildfires. In all, the new Ashland Forest All-Lands Restoration project, or AFAR, will encompass a 52,000-acre footprint within city, private and federal lands to create a continuity of fuels-reduction treatments because flames don't respect property lines. "What's happening now is that we're moving into that all-lands approach," says Donna Mickley, a district ranger for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. "We're really elevating ourselves with this community partnership." That partnership, which has been on the ground in the Ashland watershed since 2010, has resonated enough for Capitol Hill to hear. The new AFAR project received almost $2.17 million from the Forest Service and the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service through their Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership. The Forest Service also received another $1.15 million toward more fuel-reduction work on AFR lands within the new footprint, which stretches from Talent to Wagner Butte to Emigrant Lake. The acreage tapped for treatment will be chosen from a pool of willing landowners, with projects favoring those on strategic ridge lines, near other treated lands, with high wildlife values and other criteria, says Erin Kurtz, NRCS's district conservationist. "We can sew them all together so it's really seamless," Kurtz says. "The treatments will be more effective across the landscapes." The plan is to do for them what they did for Coyle. Crews from the Lomakatsi Restoration Project, which is a major player in AFR and AFAR, cleared the steep-sloped lands below Coyle's house and close to 100 acres of other nearby properties in anticipation of stealing the thunder of a wildfire expected there. Studies funded in part by The Nature Conservancy, which also is a partner in these projects, show that stands in the Ashland watershed historically see fire move through them every 11 years on average. The brush-clearing and burning kept Coyle's house from becoming an addition to those statistics. "The treatment slowed down the intensity of the fires," says Marko Bey, Lomakatsi's executive director. "It saved her house." Coyle is sold on the value of the project, and now is eyeing some of her property above the house for similar thinning work. "I have trees up there begging to be put into a burn pile," Coyle says. As Coyle stands in testimony to what the expanding of the forest-resiliency project means in the Ashland watershed, the project stands as a recruiting poster for other communities in the early stages of fuel-reduction efforts "so others can rise to the occasion," says Darren Borges, The Nature Conservancy's program manager and ecologist. Coyle believes she already has. A San Diego-area native, she moved to her tract high above Ashland in 2003 to get away from wildlfires. She feared their intensity and penchant for destruction until that September day she stared down the Siskiyou fire. "When it came that close, I lost my fear of it," Coyle says. "I'm not afraid of you, fire. I know you're not all-powerful." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman. By Mark Freeman For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Mark Freeman For the Tidings Posted May. 4, 2015 @ 6:54 pm » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. DailyTidings.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501