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BLM clarifies: It will fight fire in monument By PAUL FATTIG If a wildfire ignited in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, it would be fought with everything state and federal firefighters could throw at it. That is the gist of a letter sent out last week by Bureau of Land Management officials in an effort to allay concerns by some that firefighting was not part of managing the 52,947-acre monument created a little over a year ago in the mountains immediately southeast of Ashland. Rich Drehobl, field manager of the Ashland Resource Area in the agency's Medford District, wrote in the letter that the policy for fire suppression remains unchanged. "The BLM fire suppression policy for the area that is now the CSNM remains one of immediate and full suppression of all fires," he said. Some 1,800 copies of the letter, along with a brochure summarizing fire suppression and related issues in the monument, were sent to residents who live adjacent to the monument as well as those on the district mailing list. Some people have erroneously claimed that monument status means there would be no protection from wildfires, explained Howard Hunter, the assistant monument manager. "We wanted to clarify the firefighting issue in the monument," Hunter said. "We would aggressively fight fires in there." The agency also sent out the information because the BLM's draft monument management plan has yet to be released, he said. Completed last spring, the plan is still being reviewed by Interior Secretary Gale Norton's staff in Washington, D.C. A plan eventually approved by the agency will guide management of the monument. There is no word yet when the draft management plan will be released, Hunter said. "But firefighting is such a hot issue right now - literally," he said. "Many people have a lot of fears. We felt we needed to get the information out. People are concerned about it." Although the BLM does have some firefighters, it contracts with the Oregon Department of Forestry for wildfire suppression. The ODF has been working closely with the federal agency, looking at local fire history as well as identifying roads that need to be available for fighting fires, said Jim Wolf, fire prevention planner for the ODF's regional office in Central Point. "Basically, our response to fire up there is the same as it was last year: We would do what we normally do," Wolf said. However, firefighters would tread more lightly in sensitive resource areas such as the Soda Mountain Wilderness Study Area, Wolf said. Firefighters would also treat private parcels adjacent or inside the monument boundaries the same as they have in the past, Wolf said. The boundary is adjacent some 30,000 acres of private land. In some cases, private property is enveloped by the monument boundary. The monument is located at the convergence of the relatively younger Cascade Range with the older Siskiyou Mountains a dozen miles southeast of Ashland. For additional information on firefighting in the monument, check out the following Web site: www.or.blm.gov/Medford/monument/Medmon_home.htm Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.