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Oregon Field Guide: Biscuit Fire 10 Years Later
The most recent episode of Oregon Field Guide, produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting, takes a look at southwestern Oregon’s Biscuit Fire 10 years after the 2002 wildfire. You can watch the ten minute program here and then offer your thoughts in the comments section.
Bernard Bormann, with the Pacific Northwest Research station, had been studying the forests’ of the Siskiyou mountains for years. When the 500,000 acre Biscuit fire burned through his research plots, he first thought all was lost. But in the 10 years since the fire, he’s been able to compare life before and after fire to reveal an amazing amount of new information about how life returns to the forest after fire.
With 500,000 acres burned, You’re bound to find a piece of land that didn’t suffer so much. On the other hand, you’re also bound to find precious nest trees, dead and horizontal. How many former habitats remain unoccupied, after 10 years now? How many roads have slumped or slid? How many salmon spawning areas are now unusable? How much old growth was killed?
How much of this is the Silver Complex, which blew up 25 years ago and is now being passed as simply “the Biscuit Fire?” There’s a big difference between the two landscapes, and both areas need to address the questions Larry is asking — but the USFS consistently refuses to do so, Donato. I think the Supervisor that was there stonewalling everything and letting it burn and rot is retiring, so that’s good. Maybe put someone in with some restoration experience and get local people back to work? Nah. It would be litigated.