KLAMATH COUNTRY EXPEDITION
JULY 16-24, 2004

OVERVIEW

From the headwaters of the Klamath River to the Pacific Coast, this learning expedition examined many economic, social and environmental issues linked to the allocation of water.

The Klamath Basin provided an informative example of conditions and problems that affect much of the American West.

This program examined issues of drought, wildfire, irrigated farms, public and private forest lands, commercial and sport fisheries, endangered species, treaty rights and rural-community stability.

Fellows explored sections of the Klamath, Rogue, and Illinois River watersheds by foot and by boat, and stayed as the overnight guests of rural-community residents shaping a partnership approach to natural resource management.

They visited with tribal leaders, crop and livestock farmers, tour forest thinning and salvage sites, and examined issues in the region's struggling commercial fishing industry.

FIELD REPORT

Wildfire, Drought and Rural Conflict
2004 Klamath Fellows Found Collaboration, Skepticism in Southern Oregon

National Public Radio's Jeff Brady examines one specimen collected during the Fellows' search for amphibians and fish in a wooded wetland. IJNR Photo by Andrew Weegar.

IJNR always asks the Fellows to pack rain gear, flashlights, toothbrushes and, among other items, "flexibility, a good attitude and a sense of humor." These last three on the list were abundant during the 2004 Klamath Country Institute-and all proved essential as the mercury climbed in mid-July.

The expedition was IJNR's second in the drought-burdened landscapes of southwest Oregon, where rural communities struggle with contentious natural-resource issues. (The 2002 Southern Cascadia Institute explored similar themes while covering a slightly different geographic footprint.)

Andrew Weegar organized and led the trip. He designed an itinerary that helped the 14 journalists steadily accumulate perspectives-historical, economic, scientific and cultural-that are indispensable to understanding the Klamath River Basin and its stories.

Fellows paddled canoes through a seven-mile stretch of the Upper Klamath Wildlife Refuge. The wetlands in the Klamath Basin have been called "the Everglades of the West." This vast, rich web of freshwater marshes and shallow lakes once provided feeding, nesting and brood-rearing habitat for millions of waterfowl.

The journalists met with tribal leaders, who explained that three species of fish-coho salmon, shortnose suckers and Lost River suckers-have special importance to the Klamath tribes. The Fellows also spent time at several local farms, watched an alfalfa harvest, sampled crops of mint and horse radish, and shared supper under a canopy of shade trees with about 20 farm families.

A number of private and public initiatives aim to restore some of the fish and wildlife habitat lost to agricultural development in the Klamath basin. The journalists visited restoration projects at the Nature Conservancy's Williamson River Wetlands complex and at the BLM's Wood River Wetlands. Both of these efforts are part of the Eastern Cascades Bioregion Wetlands Joint Venture, which seeks to restore 29,500 acres in the Upper Klamath watershed.

Fellows hiked along Sheepy Ridge and talked with Ron Cole, manager of the Klamath National Wildlife Refuges complex. IJNR photo by Frank Allen.

The Fellows also visited intensely burned sections of the Siskiyou National Forest. Shade was scarce and water bottles emptied fast as they perched on a steep mountainside with experts to discuss proposals for salvage logging on the 500,000 acres burned in the Biscuit Fire of 2002.

While touring active logging and milling sites on Boise corporate properties, the journalists learned why most large companies no longer rely on federal lands as the chief source for saw logs or fiber. Private woodlands are now managed more intensely to shorten stand rotations and boost yields.

In the early 1990s, extensive clear-cutting in southern Oregon's Applegate Valley inspired local conservationists, loggers and federal managers to develop a cooperative approach to forest harvesting. During a community dinner at the farm of Jack and Susan Shipley, valley neighbors (who just a few years ago wouldn't speak to one another) shared their stories with the journalists. Afterward, the journalists stayed overnight as guests of several local families.

Toward the end of the week, the group traded the inland heat for the coolness of the coast, examining current conditions of marine fisheries. The journalists visited a fish-processing plant in Bandon, Oregon, where they also spoke with small-scale commercial fishermen and discussed emerging ocean conservation trends with a diverse panel of speakers.

Wildlife biologist Lowell Diller bands one leg of an adult male spotted owl. IJNR photo by Andrew Weegar.

The unexpected highlight of the entire journey unfolded while the group was visiting research sites on land owned by Green Diamond Management Company (formerly the timberlands unit of Simpson Timber). The land hosts five endangered species: Northern spotted owls, marbled murrelets, torrent salamanders, Pacific tailed frogs and Pacific fishers.

Lowell Diller, one of Green Diamond's senior scientists, took the journalists on a trek through a thickly wooded stand, ostensibly in search of dusty footed wood rats, which spotted owls like for breakfast, lunch and dinner. About 50 yards into the thicket, environment reporter David Sneed from The Tribune (San Luis Obispo) happened to look up. What he saw on a high branch caused him to interrupt Lowell's ambulatory lecture.

"Excuse me, Lowell, but isn't that a spotted owl up there?" said David as he pointed. Then the other journalists looked up and around, and soon three more owls had been spotted. All four birds were related-a mom and a dad and their two plump offspring, which looked as if they had just been fluffed with a blow dryer.

The journalists helped Lowell catch the adult male owl. While they watched from about six feet away, Lowell calmly held the owl close to his chest, with one hand wrapped around both of its legs. The bird looked out at the reporters and editors. Lowell spoke softly and massaged its eyebrows. To the delight of the group, the owl swooned, looking up affectionately at its captor while a metal band was being placed around one leg.

After the banded owl was released (he flew back up into the same tree), the journalists took turns offering live white mice on the end of a long stick to the curious mother owl. She bobbed and weaved from her high perch, reckoning the distance to her prey, and then swooped down to grab the mouse on the fly. Once she had landed on a nearby branch, the juveniles quickly joined her and began to beg for the mouse. About six mice later (Lowell always carries quite a supply), Frank Allen showed off by holding up a live mouse in his leather-gloved hand. "The tug I felt was powerful," Frank said later. "And now my glove has three puncture holes."