FOREST FLASH

October 2023

In Pacific Forest Trust’s e-newsletter, Forest Flash, we send you the most recent PFT news and updates on forests, clean water, climate, and wildlife. Subscribe here.

Safe passage on the Siskiyou Crest

More progress for wildlife corridors in southern Oregon

The Siskiyou Crest along Oregon’s southernmost border is globally important habitat for myriad native and endemic plants, insects, and wildlife, but that wildlife has been severely harmed by Interstate 5 (I-5) which cuts across it. Just last month, we received the terrific news that progress on a new planning grant has been made for the proposed I-5 wildlife overpass crossing along the Siskiyou Crest. This builds on the earlier funding awarded to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) for the creation of a proposed wildlife crossing design, which they recently unveiled.

This uniquely biodiverse area offers a rich supply of food, water, and sanctuary for hundreds of species. In fact, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is the only National Monument established for the main objective of protecting biodiversity. And the Siskiyou Crest is a vital east-west corridor for many species, increasingly important as the interior of Oregon, California, and the Great Basin continue to warm with climate change.  A persistent problem wildlife encounters is the challenge of having to cross Interstate 5, the prominent north-south freeway, which is one of the most heavily traveled roads in the nation. The roadway bisects this essential corridor and has thus become a major “kill zone.” PFT has long been in the fight to advocate for this and other overpasses, and is a proud member of the Southern Oregon Wildlife Crossing Coalition (SOWCC).

The crossing will help minimize vehicle-animal collisions and re-establish additional habitat connectivity. Wildlife deaths have fallen by nearly 86% in other parts of the state where wildlife corridors have been built.

Progress on the planning of this wildlife corridor is monumental, and PFT sees it as a key step for the region, which would benefit from additional and complementary corridors on the Northern California side.  Additional crossings on I-5 in the Mt. Shasta region, for example, would substantially foster further habitat connectivity. Elk, deer, mountain lion, and many other species large and small, would greatly benefit from increased linkage of these critical habitats and build on the conservation of large swathes of well-managed forests PFT has accomplished.

Conserving the Trinity Headwaters

A recent PFT-led tour of the project area marks headway on acquisition of the property

It’s not often you can conserve almost 10% of a critical headwater for California’s water system, but the Trinity Headwaters project does just that. The upper Trinity River is diverted into the Sacramento River just below Shasta Lake, the core reservoir supplying water to the Central Valley Project. PFT is entering the final stages of completing this pioneering 11,000-acre project. On a recent tour of the project, PFT’s staff, led by Conservation and Stewardship Director Brian Lawson, hosted representatives from the Trinity County Public Utilities District, the US Forest Service, and the Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation to discuss the project’s goals.

Long before this land was settled by Euro-Americans, it was part of the homeland for the Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation. “One major highlight of the tour,” noted Brian Lawson, “was the tribal prayer that the Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation’s Cultural Resources Officer led at Slide Lake to commemorate our time together.” Ensuring this land is conserved and stewarded for generations to come is a key reason the Nor Rel Muk Nation supports the project. Largely protected and untouched by logging of previous owners, the lake is a pristine alpine lake surrounded by old-growth trees. Replete with rare habitats for a number of vulnerable and listed species, this area will be fully and permanently protected from development as well as logging.

With two significant grants obtained in 2022 and 2023, significant progress is being made on obtaining the full funding needed and completing the acquisition of the property in 2024!  We will then transfer the property, conserved under a Working Forest Conservation Easement held by PFT, to the Hayfork-based Watershed Research and Training Center for their long-term management.  This project not only serves as a linchpin for PFT’s strategy of establishing an extensive, interconnected network of conserved forests in the Sacramento River Headwaters Region, it also provides a bold vision for uniting diverse stakeholders—rural and urban, loggers and environmentalists—to tackle the environmental challenges that are shaping the state’s future.

Please consider a donation to the Pacific Forest Trust. Your help—in all capacities—makes our work possible. Thanks for supporting us as we support forests!

Earlier this month, the entire PFT staff, usually dispersed across our Oregon and California offices, got together for our annual planning retreat. This year, thanks to our wonderful Board member the Reverend Sally Bingham, we gathered near Petaluma, California, for two days of goal-setting, reflecting, and just plain fun. Though we all have vast and varied workloads—some of us spend most of our time in the halls of the legislature; others of us out managing and monitoring forests; and still others of us tending to smooth company operations—it’s important to reunite, and to spend time connecting not just as coworkers, but as friends.

We are really proud and in awe of all that the PFT team has accomplished in the past year, and are excited about all the ambitious goals we have set for ourselves for the coming one!

• PFT co-founder, Connie Best, recently wrote about conserving the Alsea River Bend property for Northwest Woodlands Magazine.

• PFT President, Laurie Wayburn, was recently quoted in a Bloomberg article on timber as a low-carbon building material. “Selective thinning,” she says, “is a needed tool but would be better paired with small fires that more closely mimic the forest’s natural cycles.”