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POSTED: 21 March, 2000 Protect Mount Ashland By Jim Duncan High on the cold north slope of Mount Ashland along the course of the East Fork of Ashland Creek and its several branches grows a population of Englemann spruce trees. This is the only stand of Englemann spruce anywhere in the Siskiyou Mountains. The species mainly grows farther north, such as in the Cascade Range all the way to British Columbia. In glacial times, these spruce were more wide spread and grew at lower elevations. The Mount Ashland trees were part of a continuous forest. Today they are separated by many miles from their nearest spruce neighbors and grow in an isolated refuge along Ashland Creek. The Mount Ashland Englemann spruce is nestled closely to the creek channels, for they grow only in the wet ground watered by mountain streams. The trees begin at an elevation of about 4,300 feet and extend upward nearly 2,000 feet, fanning out along the stream branches. Most of this spruce population consists of narrow ribbons of trees flanking the streams, but in a few favorable spots, where the mountain slope becomes gentle and the water can spread farther from the stream course, the trees cluster in substantial groves. The finest of these groves occupies some 15 acres of gently sloping wetland along the main channel of Ashland Creek. This grove is the highest one on the mountain, reaching 6,200 feet at its top. Mainly, it occupies a relatively flat space where the creek spreads out into multiple interconnecting channels and creates a broad, lush wetland. This grove lies entirely within the boundary of the Mount Ashland Ski Area domain, and it is directly in the way of the proposed new development. This ski area grove is a special and distinctive portion of the Mount Ashland spruce stand. It has the greatest density of trees of any region in the whole stand. It also has the greatest diversity in age and size of spruce of any portion of the stand, and it includes nearly three-fourths of all the giant old trees - trees that are all several hundred years old. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Mount Ashland Ski Area Expansion produced by the United States Forest Service is fundamentally flawed, for it fails to offer an expansion plan that avoids the partial destruction of this unique Englemann spruce grove. Both proposed actions use the spruce grove and its associated wetland as a focal point of the whole development. All new ski runs converge to a point at one edge of the grove where the lower end of the new ski lift will be anchored. Half of the new ski runs must cross the grove, and the creek, to reach the lift. To achieve this result, the plans call for clear-cutting 1.77 acres of the spruce grove and building a bridge across the creek. The Forest Service would have us believe that, for the sake of the ski area expansion, there is no choice but to invade the spruce grove in this way. They would further have us believe their plan represents a very modest intrusion into a large population of spruce trees spread more or less evenly over some 112 acres on the north slope of Mount Ashland. In the DEIS, claims are made and numbers are offered to show how minimal the disturbance would be. These serve only to disguise the true extent of the damage that will result. The clear-cut would eliminate at least part of the densest region of the grove with the highest average density of the entire stand of Englemann spruce on Mount Ashland. Furthermore, the clear-cuts along the sides of the grove, and through it, will fragment the grove and create some 1,500 feet of new forest edge where remaining spruce will abruptly be exposed to harsh environmental conditions. The environmental consequences of this partial destruction of the ski area spruce grove are many and potentially far-reaching. The grove would lose about one-fourth of its middle-sized, middle-aged trees. This is the cohort of the stand that is at its peak of health and reproductive life. At least most of these mature, vigorous trees are already more than 100 years old. Five of the really large old trees of the grove would be removed by the clear-cut. These are the trees that have withstood this tough environment the longest. They have the best survival qualities - genetic qualities needed to seed new generations of trees. Then, there is the problem of edges. Large numbers of mature interior trees will suddenly be exposed along the cut edges to a variety of new environmental insults, such as blowdown from the fierce winds of winter storms or the hot, drying effects of summer sun. A real danger exists that the clear-cut would initiate an incremental breakdown that would spread from the exposed edges progressively and irreversibly into this ancient and irreplaceable grove. There is a great urge at the present time to develop on public land facilities for various forms of mechanized recreation. Such development can be an appropriate use of public land. It is also the obligation of stewards of our public land to protect its natural state and to preserve sites of rare or special ecological significance along with the living organisms that constitute them. This is not merely for our present selfish interests. It is in no small way crucial to the future of our world and its human civilization. Any proposal for development on public land must be weighed extremely carefully against the potential for doing irreversible damage to irreplaceable biological communities. Protection of distinctive components of our natural environment must take precedence over development on public land for recreation. The Englemann spruce grove in the Mount Ashland Ski Area is one such distinctive and irreplaceable biological community. It must remain completely protected from invasion for recreational development. If you share these views, I urge you to express them in writing, before the April 3 deadline, to Ashland District Ranger Linda Duffy of Rogue River National Forest, 645 Washington, Ashland. Tell her that you believe the spruce grove is sacred territory and that it must be preserved intact for future generations. And together, we will save Mount Ashland again. Jim Duncan of Ashland is a retired professor of biology, and president of the Siskiyou Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon. Visit our back issue library Email your... 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