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Ashland sets up plan to defend watershed By DAMIAN MANN ASHLAND - A column of smoke blossomed above and behind Mount Ashland Monday, revealing just how close the Quartz Fire is to the source of this community's water. Fire officials have made it a priority to protect the 15,000-acre Ashland watershed and have developed three contingency plans to thwart any eastern advance of the flames. The city of Ashland, in turn, decided Monday to allow fire crews to use 100,000 gallons of water from its reservoir to combat the 4,200-acre blaze, despite drought conditions and voluntary rationing. Ashland residents have been nervously watching the sky fall for the past four days, as an almost continuous rain of ash descends from the fire some seven to eight miles away. More than 50 percent of calls to the Oregon Department of Forestry since the fire started have been from Ashland residents worried about the progress of the blaze. While fire officials doubt Ashland is in peril, they are worried about the watershed, whose western edge is just a few miles from advancing flames. "We have a few contingency plans to prevent it from getting in there," said Ed Reilly, resource planner for the U.S. Forest Service's Applegate Ranger District. The first draws a line in the sand at Little Applegate River. Crews will bulldoze along the river to create a fire break and will light backfires to deter advancing flames, said Reilly. If that fails, they will clear brush along Forest Road 22, which runs from Wagner Gap to Siskiyou Gap, as a secondary line. If that fails, the western edge of the watershed from roughly Wagner Butte to McDonald Peak will become the final stand. Fire crews also have been posted at various locations to keep an eye on the fire, while other forestry officials have been driving the area to get the lay of the land. "I wanted to see for myself where the fire is at," said Jim Delatorre of the Ashland Ranger District. Delatorre and other Forest Service officials drove to the top of Mount Ashland Monday to scope out the southern edge of the watershed. They are worried that an eastward shift in the direction of the fire -- now headed southeast - could send it toward the mountain. "I personally am not convinced that it could come this way," said Delatorre. "It's got a lot of land to cover, but if you have a lot of down drafts you don't know what to expect." Dan Heiken, Ashland water treatment plant operator, summed up the watershed's importance to the community: "It's vital to the Ashland water supply." Ashland use averages about 5.5 million gallons a day. Even during the drought, about 3 million gallons drain daily from the watershed into Reeder Reservoir, which now contains 230 million gallons. The city supplements supplies with about 1.5 million gallons daily from the Talent Irrigation District. Still, the reservoir is losing 1 to 2 million gallons a day, said Heiken. Even if water flowing into the reservoir were to stop, there is enough to last about 90 days, he said. "It's only about 10 feet down from normal levels," said Heiken. "But it's still 100 feet deep - there's still a substantial amount left." In the scheme of things, the 100,000 gallons taken to battle the fire, Heiken said, "is just a drop in the bucket." Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.