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67 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, September 16, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 8, 2003 Erosion effects on Biscuit fire site should diminish By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune The half-million acres burned by the 2002 Biscuit fire are facing a second round of fall storms followed by winter winds and downpours sweeping in from the coast. But Chris Park, hydrologist for the Siskiyou National Forest, which bore the brunt of the nation’s largest fire last year, figures the burned area already has survived the worst damage posed by storm-related erosion. "The first winter after a fire is always the worst," he explained. "The next biggest in terms of erosion damage is the second year. Each year after continues to get better." The forest started to recover naturally right after the fire, he said, noting that process is continuing. Advertisement However, the Forest Service stepped in last fall to give Mother Nature a hand with an emergency rehabilitation project led by the Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation team, which included everyone from biologists to soil scientists. By the end of October 2002, the team’s anti-erosion work in the burned area included aerial application of straw mulch on 5,450 acres, aerial seeding with annual barley on 2,940 acres and broadcasting native seed on 200 acres. And nearly all of the more than 400 miles of fire lines were rehabilitated by covering them with brush and debris that were pushed aside to create the lines. "We’ve gone through one winter — we got one good storm during the last week of December, the first week of January — and it is looking pretty good," he said. Researchers used erosion pins to measure the amount of erosion on the ground and monitored water turbidity in the streams, he said. "We put the erosion pins out again to gather more data this winter," he said. "Our forest has such a variety of conditions that we need to keep sampling different areas. It’s been a fascinating place to do research." Meanwhile, a draft environmental impact statement containing seven alternatives for salvaging fire-killed timber in the Biscuit Fire is expected to be released next month, according to Judy McHugh, spokeswoman for the Biscuit Fire Recovery Project. Following the release of the draft environmental impact statement, there will be a 45-day public comment period, she said. The agency’s draft plan had included five alternatives for salvaging timber that ranged from zero to 450 million board feet. A report from Oregon State University released last summer, however, suggested up to 2.5 billion board feet could be salvaged. As a result, officials decided to include portions of that report as another alternative along with one which would allow limited logging in roadless areas. The OSU report, with forest engineering professor John Sessions as the lead researcher, was commissioned by Douglas County officials. The timber industry and others have urged that as much of the fire-killed trees as possible be salvaged, while environmental activists have countered that too much salvage will harm the burned area. Any salvage logging in the burned area, other than hazard tree removal, is not expected to begin before next year. "We fully recognize that some of the wood, especially the smaller trees less than 18 (inches) in diameter, is deteriorating," McHugh said of trees killed by the fire. "We’re moving forward as quickly as possible." A roadside salvage sale to remove hazard trees along roads in the burned area has resulted in 6.2 million board feet of trees under contract, she said. Although the fire covered an area that included a half-million acres, it burned in a mosaic pattern with much of the area barely singed. Satellite mapping of the fire by the agency showed that about 96,000 acres — some 19 percent of the land within the fire perimeter — were unburned. Another 205,000 acres — roughly 41 percent — burned at a low intensity, leaving large green trees virtually untouched while clearing out brush and small trees. About 113,000 acres — about 23 percent of the area — burned at a moderate intensity. In this case, most trees were killed, but the needles initially remained intact. The remaining 78,600 acres — about 18 percent of the area burned — were consumed by a high-intensity fire. In that area, even large trees were charred by the flames. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities