SWFC's Sarah Altemus-Pope and OSU research scientist James Johnston will present an overview of the Rigdon landscape and the fire history study at tonight's Many Rivers Group Sierra Club meeting. See the Sierra Club flyer below for details about the meeting time and location.

Rigdon Collaborative Landscape Planning - Sarah Altemus-Pope

The Rigdon Landscape Analysis will inform future projects and environmental action plans in order to restore ecological functions of the 104,000 acre landscape. Projects will be implemented over the next 5-10-years. The first NEPA project, Youngs Rock Rigdon, will guide management actions within 26,000 acres north of the Middle Fork Willamette River.

The Forest Service Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) and the Rigdon Collaboration Committee (RCC) have worked collaboratively to develop the Rigdon Landscape Analysis in order to benefit the ecological health and function of the landscape. The RCC developed zones of agreement on landscape restoration goals: human uses, vegetation, wildlife, and aquatics in the Rigdon project area.

Fire History Study - James Johnston

Managers and stakeholder groups need information about variation in fire disturbance over long time periods in order to craft restoration strategies that create resilient forests and provide for essential ecosystem services. Oregon State University College of Forestry is using tree ring evidence to reconstruct detailed fire histories of different forest types in the Rigdon landscape, ranging from pine savannah to moist old-growth Douglas-fir/western hemlock. Research results will inform the efforts of the Southern Willamette Forest Collaborative (SWFC) and the Forest Service to develop strategies to restore diverse forests stands that are resilient to future change.