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3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Suspect in OSP meth stop will face federal charges Kyle Singler, Dutch Bros. team up for Kids Unlimited Earthquake badly damaged Nepal clinic built with local donations AT&T withdraws Ashland cell tower proposal Local health providers offer free skin cancer screening Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Suspect in OSP meth stop will face federal charges Emergency services Suspected Jackson County car thief arrested in Eugene on similar charges Forgery, identity theft charges brought against suspect who fought with police Ashland police hope to crack down on rowdies Politics and Elections Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline opponents rally in Medford BREAKING: Baltimore prosecutor charges officers in Freddie Gray's death Earthquakes hit regularly in Medford (Oklahoma, that is) Medford School Board, Position 6: Curt Ankerberg vs. Janet Lightheart Arthur I. 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Cyr: Britain’s important election – in royal political context Granlund cartoon: Texas conspiracy Landgren cartoon: Deflategate intensifies Editorials Our View: Could self-serve ban be on the way out? Our View: Cheers and jeers Our View: Set firm deadlines on blighted houses Our View: Oregon's full of givers, and can use more Our View: Our picks for Medford School Board Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor, May 8 Letters to the Editor, May 7 Letters to the Editor, May 6 Letters to the Editor, May 5 Letters to the Editor, May 4 Columns Arthur I. Cyr: Britain’s important election – in royal political context Guest Opinion: Child poverty and the Schneider Children’s Center George Will: A patrician blacksmith for president? 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Onorato: Baked potato soup is comfort in a bowl Home and Garden Breathe easier with whole-house air purification Dear Monty: Water rights of property owners Paul Rogers: ‘Living’ mulches a healthy alternative to bark Heirloom tomatoes bring ageless flavor Betty Montgomery: You can have a variety of ferns in your garden Health Community blog: Don't Fall for This Part 2 Health Watch: Easy tips to drink more water throughout the day New cardiac rehab center opens at Asante RRMC Community blog: You and Me at 83... Search on for new medical provider for Butte Falls, Prospect clinics Hiking Biking Faith Religion Briefs: Friday, May 8 Religion Briefs: Friday, May 1 Religion Briefs: Friday, April 24 Religion Briefs: Friday, April 17 Religion briefs: Friday, April 10 Milestones and Achievements Bukair-Hinkle Wedding: Stephanie Anne Obad and Mark Douglass Schmor Drones helping create unique wedding photos Pick your favorite wedding flowers The ring’s the thing Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories Flowers, art and music highlight Art in Bloom 5 picks for live entertainment Live Music in Local Clubs Peter Rowan, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys at Rootsfest Dancing People Company presents 'Salon Series' Theater REVIEW: Randall Theatre's 'Little Shop of Horrors' a rollicking good time REVIEW: Carson, Patton shine in 'Arsenic and Old Lace' Some Oregon Shakespeare Festival crew members seek to unionize Randall Theatre stages 'Little Shop of Horrors' 'Much Ado' at SOU Music Live Music in Local Clubs Peter Rowan, Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys at Rootsfest The Farr Side: Mumford & Sons’ latest is full-on rock Tina Malia at SOU Music Hall in Ashland Earthquake benefit for Nepal Community Events Hip-Hop Poetry Open Mic at OSF's Black Swan in Ashland Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhiits by regional artists Master Gardener Spring Fair at The Expo A Taste of Ashland pairs food and wine at galleries Rogue Valley Earth Day 2015 Movies Movie review: ‘Hot Pursuit’ is a hot mess George Miller returns to his ‘Mad Max’ roots Tom Hardy adapts to life as Mad Max Victor D. Infante: ‘Avengers’ begs the questions, ‘Why superheroes, and why now?’ Movie review: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ has a lot going on Dining Wood-fired pies at Peace of Pizza Trium is a classic example of a boutique winery Restaurant inspections, May 3, 2015 Taqueria Picaro offers casual Mexican cuisine Restaurant inspections: April 26, 2015 Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obits Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Special Sections Business Services NEWS NOW Suspect in OSP meth stop will face federal charges ... AT&T withdraws Ashland cell tower proposal ... Our View: Could self-serve ban be on the way out? ... Suspect in OSP meth stop will face federal charges ... AT&T withdraws Ashland cell tower proposal ... Our View: Could self-serve ban be on the way out? ... ENVIRONMENT Stopping fire in its tracks Thinning efforts expand on private, city and federal lands in Ashland watershed By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted May. 4, 2015 @ 11:47 am By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted May. 4, 2015 @ 11:47 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> ASHLAND — Anne Coyle will never forget that September day in 2009 when a 200-foot wall of flames blocked her view of Ashland from her house in the forest high above town. The Siskiyou fire came charging up the hillside toward her 20-acre homesite, dancing menacingly among the treetops and ready to devour everything in its path. "By the time it got to my land, it was in the canopy," Coyle says. "It got up here so fast it was scary." But just like that, the fire dropped from the treetops to the forest floor, robbed of the small trees, brush and low-lying limbs it needed for energy, thanks to forest thinning done on her property two years earlier. Flames ran out of gas at the corner of Coyle's vegetable garden 12 feet from her home. "It just stopped," she says. "My house is standing. It was a miracle." It was fighting fire with fire at its best, a snapshot of how cutting and burning brush and other fire fuels under controlled means can bring inevitable wildfires to their knees before they cut large swaths through the drainage that's home to residents such as Coyle as well as Ashland's municipal water source. Now wildlands managers want to expand Coyle's snapshot into a collage of similar projects aimed at reducing the potential intensity of future wildfires within the upper Ashland watershed and beyond. A partnership between local, state and federal agencies as well as private contractors is looking to expand the city's successful Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project (AFR) beyond federal lands within the Ashland watershed. New federal grants over the next three years will allow crews like those that helped prep Coyle's land to begin expanding into more public and private lands. That will help reduce more stands' exposure to wildfire but also help fortify work already done on public lands. The grants will help dig into 3,600 untreated acres from about 7,600 acres of largely Forest Service lands eyed for fuels reduction treatment as part of the AFR. It also will get crews onto about 1,000 acres of non-commercial private timberlands identified as highly strategic locales for helping curb the size and intensities of future wildfires. In all, the new Ashland Forest All-Lands Restoration project, or AFAR, will encompass a 52,000-acre footprint within city, private and federal lands to create a continuity of fuels-reduction treatments because flames don't respect property lines. "What's happening now is that we're moving into that all-lands approach," says Donna Mickley, a district ranger for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. "We're really elevating ourselves with this community partnership." That partnership, which has been on the ground in the Ashland watershed since 2010, has resonated enough for Capitol Hill to hear. The new AFAR project received almost $2.17 million from the Forest Service and the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service through their Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnership. The Forest Service also received another $1.15 million toward more fuel-reduction work on AFR lands within the new footprint, which stretches from Talent to Wagner Butte to Emigrant Lake. The acreage tapped for treatment will be chosen from a pool of willing landowners, with projects favoring those on strategic ridge lines, near other treated lands, with high wildlife values and other criteria, says Erin Kurtz, NRCS's district conservationist. "We can sew them all together so it's really seamless," Kurtz says. "The treatments will be more effective across the landscapes." The plan is to do for them what they did for Coyle. Crews from the Lomakatsi Restoration Project, which is a major player in AFR and AFAR, cleared the steep-sloped lands below Coyle's house and close to 100 acres of other nearby properties in anticipation of stealing the thunder of a wildfire expected there. Studies funded in part by The Nature Conservancy, which also is a partner in these projects, show that stands in the Ashland watershed historically see fire move through them every 11 years on average. The brush-clearing and burning kept Coyle's house from becoming an addition to those statistics. "The treatment slowed down the intensity of the fires," says Marko Bey, Lomakatsi's executive director. "It saved her house." Coyle is sold on the value of the project, and now is eyeing some of her property above the house for similar thinning work. "I have trees up there begging to be put into a burn pile," Coyle says. As Coyle stands in testimony to what the expanding of the forest-resiliency project means in the Ashland watershed, the project stands as a recruiting poster for other communities in the early stages of fuel-reduction efforts "so others can rise to the occasion," says Darren Borges, The Nature Conservancy's program manager and ecologist. Coyle believes she already has. A San Diego-area native, she moved to her tract high above Ashland in 2003 to get away from wildlfires. She feared their intensity and penchant for destruction until that September day she stared down the Siskiyou fire. "When it came that close, I lost my fear of it," Coyle says. "I'm not afraid of you, fire. I know you're not all-powerful." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman . By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted May. 4, 2015 @ 11:47 am » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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