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34 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, December 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 Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley 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 2, 2004 Forest Service combines names of Siskiyou and Rogue River forests By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune The Rogue River and the Siskiyou national forests are history. Defunct. Kaput. Dead as a dodo. In name and administration, anyway. The two forests have been combined administratively as the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Although the action was officially taken late last year by the U.S. Forest Service, it began as an internal change that the agency now wants to make external. "The chief of the Forest Service approved the administrative combination about a year ago," explained Nancy Rose, acting forest supervisor, noting it was proposed in 1999. Advertisement "We have internally been reminding our own employees of the name change." To be consistent, the agency wants the public to adopt the hyphenated name, officials said. Only Congress has the authority to physically create one forest out of the two, but the agency chief has the authority to combine forest administrations, Rose said. "What this means is the staff officers who were responsible for two forests have been combined," she said. "It’s a lot more efficient for us, saves a lot of dollars in administration. "With this, you don’t have two fire staffs, two timber staffs, two engineering staffs," she added. "But we are trying to keep the same level of service on the ground." The longtime Rogue River forest headquarters office at 333 W. Eighth St., Medford, serves as the main office. In 1999, the agency placed the two forests under one forest supervisor whose mission included combining their headquarters staffs. Other steps included placing one ranger over two ranger districts in several regions. At that time, officials estimated the annual savings from combining the administrative staffs would be about $1 million. Combining national forest headquarters to streamline budgets and staff is not uncommon in the Pacific Northwest, where federal timber harvests have fallen along with forest budgets. Two decades ago there were nearly 1,000 full-time employees on both forests. The staffs have been cut by more than half since then. President Teddy Roosevelt created the Siskiyou Forest Reserve in 1905. Covering 1.1 million acres, it became the Siskiyou National Forest in 1907. Like the Siskiyou, what has been known as the Rogue River forest, which covers some 630,000 acres, was originally a forest reserve. It was called the Crater National Forest when it was created in 1908. The name was changed to the Rogue River forest in 1932. 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