History of the Rogue River National Forest Volume 2 — 1933-1969

1968

PERSONNEL

District Rangers

TIMBER MANAGEMENT

Business was good in 1968. We sold 197.08 million board feet of timber valued at $8,675,778.84 in 231 separate sales. We cut 219.67 million board feet with an additional 218.83 million still under contract.

In spite of early snows there were 5,395 Christmas trees sold this year.

This timber business in 1968 resulted in cash receipts from sale of timber and forest products of $5,259,091.00. Total cash receipts, a new record, amounted to $5,298.340.00. This also resulted in a new annual high for Forest receipts returned to the counties. The total allocation shared by four Oregon and one California counties was $1,228,427.00

Trees were planted on 3,542 acres, and 446 acres were seeded. The first seedlings from our new transplant bed were field planted last spring.

Small, dense stands on 819 acres were thinned to increase growth and improve the health of the remaining trees.

Helicopters sprayed 370 acres of brushfields to release young seedlings that were being crowded for growing room.

Pathology

The Forest Pathologist spent much of his time in disease detection, identification, and evaluation. He also assisted in instructing several disease identification training sessions on the Fremont, Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests. A new and damaging foliage disease was identified on ponderosa pine plantations on Federal land adjacent to the Rogue River National Forest. Region 6 and the Pacific Northwest Experiment Station plan a joint investigation of this disease. Work continues on the testing of chemicals for blister rust control.

WILDLIFE

A major accomplishment this past year was the writing of the High Lakes Survey Report for the Applegate District and the Seven Lakes and Blue Canyon Lakes of the Butte Falls District. A Wildlife Habitat Management Plan was written for the Applegate District.

Wildlife habitat improvement consisted of seeding bitterbrush on 10 acres of key deer winter range and stream barrier removal on 2 miles of kokanee salmon spawning streams.

Stream surveys completed are: 63 miles of resident trout streams in Union Creek District and 100 miles in the Applegate District, 36 miles of which contain anadromous fish.

We are currently assisting the Oregon State Game Commission fisheries biologist in locating tagged steelhead used for their summer run steelhead studies.

RANGE

Fifty-eight permittees grazed 3,797 head of cattle for 11,532 animal unit months of grazing on the Forest and private lands within the Forest boundary.

Structural range improvements completed by last June amounted to 11.2 miles of fence, four cattleguards, one spring development, and .4 mile of livestock driveway trail.

Range forage improvements completed by June 1968 amounted to 347 acres of vegetation seeding and 215 acres of plant control of alders and false hellebore.

WATERSHED

Watershed funding was reduced this year in line with other Federal spending. A plan was prepared to start a water quality monitoring program for waters emerging from National Forest lands. This program is intended to identify possible water quality management problems.

The Forest continued to stress coordination of all land management activities in relation to the impact on water quality. Several proposed roads were relocated to take advantage of more stable soil materials.

Two stream gauge stations were instrumented on the forks of Ashland Creek. Snow surveys were made as usual in cooperation with the Soil Conservation Service.

RECREATION

The impact of the nation-wide boom in snowmobile sales was felt by the Forest in two areas. Snowmobile trail systems were marked at Huckleberry Mountain (Union Creek District) and Fish Lake (Ashland District).

Recreationists visited the Forest a total of 529,300 times in 1968. These recreationists spent 1,899,400 visitor-days in the Forest. (A visitor day is defined as one person using an area for a period of 12 hours, or any aggregate thereof.) Mt. Ashland ski area had 103,500 visits and 28,400 visitor-days were spent there.

FIRE CONTROL

The 1968 fire season began as one of the driest seasons on record in Southwest Oregon. Rainfall at Medford from January 1 through June 30 was only 7.20 inches. The months of March, April, May and June were all much drier than normal. July and the first half of August were also very dry, but rains began on August 13. When the storm ended on August 20, 1.33 inches had fallen at Medford and up to 5 inches on parts of the Forest.

The first fire of the season started on March 12; the last on November 5.

Sixteen lightning storms started 18 fires during the season. The first lightning fire occurred on May 3. Man-caused fires were up slightly over the average with a total of 21. The 39 fires burned a total of 15 acres. The use of smokejumpers and aerial retardant aided ground crews in holding the fires to a very small size.

Cooperative aerial detection between the Rogue River and Winema National Forests, Southwest Oregon District (State) and Crater Lake National Park was used to good advantage again this year. The planes were credited with 21 first discoveries. The detection plane also led ground crews to fires and gave a good description of fire intensity and fuel types.

The Medford based aerial tankers dropped 148,000 gallons of retardant on 32 fires on our Forest. They also flew 53,000 gallons of retardant from other tanker bases in Regions 5 and 6.

MINING

Prospectors were active in several areas of the Applegate District, but very little, if any, ore was removed. Complications due to mining activity on this District kept several of our people busy much of the year.

ENGINEERING

The Engineering program on the Rogue River National Forest has been diversified.

We have met our goals this year in providing additional and improved access in the National Forest. Our preconstruction activities this year have not increased considerably but the quality of work has been increased due to establishing higher standards and providing more assistance in the area of transportation planning. The following preconstruction activities were completed this year:

Our Road construction activities consisted of the following:

Also, contracts have been let for five bridges on the Applegate Ranger District, one of which is under construction.

The Forest had an active road and trail maintenance program this year. The timber sale operators maintained 337 miles of existing road and cooperated with financing 69 miles of road maintenance by separate contract. The Forest maintenance crews graded, brushed and repaired drainages on approximately 952 miles of road not being used for timber hauling. They have maintained an additional 58 miles of Forest roads in which the Forest Service has a joint responsibility with the timber operator. The trail maintenance crews performed repairs and upkeep on 460 miles of Forest trails.

Two improvement projects were completed by formal contract this year. An intake structure and water treatment plant was constructed at the Star Ranger Station to improve the water supply system. A water system was added to the Whiskey Springs Campground on the Butte Falls Ranger District. A ram pump is used to lift water up to a storage tank which supplies water to 11 hydrants in the campground.

PERSONNEL

In February Harvey M. Seeley came to the Forest as the new Forest Supervisor. Vernon D. Pritchard, Prospect District Ranger, transferred to the Deschutes National Forest in May. Irving E. Smith came from the Umatilla National Forest to replace him in late summer. C. Ward Blaine served as Acting District Ranger for the interim period. Jurgen Hess filled the Landscape Architect position in the Supervisor's Office which had been vacant for several months.

Five Forest employees were presented with cash awards for unusually good performance in 1968. They were Clinton W. Blaine, Basil Craig, Eugene Fontenot, Phillip Hicks and Orin Palmer.

FOREST ADVISORY COUNCIL

Martin Craine and Edwin C. "Jack" Frost became new members of the Forest Advisory Council. The Council met in June on the Union Creek Ranger District.

1969

PERSONNEL

District Rangers

The year 1969 marked the beginning of new, Nation-wide interest and concern for quality environment. This was reflected in many Forest activities of which the following are examples:

1. Oregon National Forests and the Oregon State Department of Forestry implemented a smoke management program. This first, trial season proved quite successful and gave indication that smoke from timber sale slash burning can be managed to reduce air pollution in sensitive areas.

2. Region Six National Forests adopted a new slash disposal policy. Its objectives are to reduce fire hazard and insure a more attractive outdoor environment.

3. Several Forest employees joined members of Southern Oregon College faculty and students and other interested citizens in forming the Rogue Ecology Council. Its purpose is to protect and improve our outdoor environment.

Effective July 1, 1969, the Union Creek and Prospect Ranger Districts were combined. Ranger "Irv" Smith now manages all lands formerly in the two Districts. The new Prospect District seems to be working effectively. It results in the Forest having four Ranger Districts, all which have been upgraded to the GS-12 level.

Following a February meeting in the Supervisor's Office, the Forest Advisory Council submitted a request to the Oregon Congressional Delegation for increased funds and personnel to accelerate the Forest's timber harvest. As a result of this and other factors, the Forest was able to sell about 20 million board feet of extra, salvage timber in 1969, which heretofore had not been possible.

In June the Advisory Council made an on-the-ground review of the Prospect District's proposed Homestead timber sale. This sale area is on the north side of the Middle Fork of the Rogue River, just to the west of the Sky Lakes Study Zone. Its objectives are (1) to harvest over-mature insect and disease-infested timber from a highly sensitive scenic area, and (2) to leave the area in an aesthetically pleasing and silviculturally productive condition. Much careful work went into preparation and planning for this sale. The Advisory Council endorsed the layout and design plans. We agreed to revisit the area when harvest has been completed and evaluated the success in meeting sale objectives.

In September the Forest Service conducted a 3-day horseback/hiking trip for the Council along the Pacific Crest Trail. We received helpful advice and suggestions from Council members, which will aid us in setting future management policies.

Fluctuations in lumber and plywood markets were reflected in demands and stumpage rates paid for National Forest timber. Receipts from sale of Rogue River National Forest timber, and returns to counties, were the highest ever.

The fire season was a long one, from the first fire on March 27 to the last one on November 24. Intermittent rains reduced the severity of the season. A total of 49 fires, 29 lightning-caused and 20 man-caused, burned 18 acres.

We continued to make effective use of smokejumpers and air-dropped retardent on our forest fires. A new P2V "Neptune" tanker plane was developed and successfully tested this year. It carries a 3,000-gallon load and gives promise of being a very effective fire-fighting tool.

A new Forest recreation map was compiled in 1969, to be available for distribution in late 1970. Recreation Area Construction funds continued to be very limited. However, good progress was made in construction of Whiskey Springs and Fish Lake camp and picnic areas. Mt. Ashland had a reasonably good year in 1969 with 89,600 visitors of which 57,400 were actual skiers.

The accelerated timber sale program of 1969 was accompanied by accelerated road construction. A multi-discipline transportation planning team was organized to provide a long needed intensive transportation plan for the Forest. This crew completed preliminary planning for about 22,000 acres.

By the end of the year, stream survey had been completed on 277 miles of streams on or near the Forest. Wildlife habitat management plans were implemented for all Ranger Districts this year.

We were fortunate this year in getting the part-time services of John Millet, a soil scientist assigned to the Southwest Oregon National Forests and stationed on the Siskiyou National Forest.

In summary, 1969 was a year of many changes and many challenges.