The Copper Forest of Southern Oregon is an alarming collection of recent photographs taken by Rachel Lee Hall, founder of Forest Under Stress (FUS). Accompanying her work are comments from varied forestry professionals and colleagues showcasing the forthcoming wildfire potential in and around Southern Oregon forests. Should wildfires prevail, the consequences are substantial, leaving the forest landscape unrecognizable to humans of the current surrounding biota.
How we got here is defined pragmatically in the Copper Forest of Southern Oregon. It clearly defines the transition of landscape change that without treatment is formidable for nature and man to exist. This foreseeable event will be unheralded for all organisms above and below ground and is forthcoming shortly as The Copper Forest of Southern Oregon reveals.
Click here to download The Copper Forest of Southern Oregon
From Rachel Lee Hall:
My message is concise: Secure the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) and save what can be saved of the forest while waiting for Active Forest Management to be deployed for treatment of thinning, logging and followed by prescribed fire.
I am compelled to share via photography disturbing evidence of the looming dangers that the forest is presenting from past Passive Forest Management. All evidence of a massive and possibly un-defendable wildfire landscape once ignited, will result in losing our National Forest and destroying the WUI.
There is one exception to this scenario stated by my colleague M.T. Rains: Put out the Fire immediately, no exceptions and I add, until the forest is treated.
In May of 2023, after touring the forest in Southern Jackson County and the WUI, which I do often each year and have over the past 44 years, I observed the accelerated deteriorating health of our forest. My concerns are addressed succinctly in: What Happened to Southern Oregon Forests in Spring 2020
Also, during the month of May 2023, I observed the increased buckshot pattern of standing dead trees scattered among the living green trees. In addition, a stressed forest from the Rogue Valley floor had gained momentum and reached beyond the 3,200-foot elevation, which in turn endangers the entire landscape. There is no question that the whole landscape, even at higher elevation, habitat, Ecco systems and human lives is currently at risk as presented in: The Copper Forest of Southern Oregon.
Included in this unfortunate analysis is the fact that the fulcrum tipped suddenly in loss of resiliency with massive die-off of conifers as addressed in the five-minute biography of my cumulative observations last summer featured on, We the Forest – Forest Under Stress.
This will affect the entire Rogue Valley.
Within this presentation of photographs are current interviews and comments, including what the Forest Under Stress is experiencing and why.
Click here to download The Copper Forest of Southern Oregon
My sincere thanks to:
· Jim Peterson of Evergreen Foundations interview with Honorable Randy Moore Chief, U.S.D.A. Forest Service May 2023: What Do You Want From Your Forest May 6, 2023.
· Tim Dedrick, for his wildfire evaluation potential of my observations in the field, which he also observed. Tim is a resident Civil Engineer whose secondary occupation each fires season is a Hand Crew Boss and Engine Boss, leading both 20-person fire hand crews and engine modules with over 32 seasons as a qualified NWCG firefighter.
· M.T. Rains was employed by the United States Forest Service for almost 50 years, starting out as a wildlands firefighter in California and rising to Deputy Chief. As a Senior Executive in the agency for over 30 years, Michael was often called upon to lead special projects and represent the Forest Service and Department of Agriculture in matters outside his normal duties. His leadership helped advance land management and science processes across America, improving the lives of people and their communities in both rural and urban areas. (M.T. Rains message is presented in The Copper Forest of Southern Oregon)
Rachel Lee Hall – Forest Under Stress (FUS)
