Author: Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

“It was so enjoyable just being out in the woods” —Hike & Learn participant

As the days grow longer, sunrise also comes earlier each day in the Rogue Valley. Pink, orange, and lavender light illuminates Grizzly Peak from the Valley floor, a daily reminder that our Monument has been expanded and can now be seen from our local hamlets of Ashland and Talent. The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument now encompasses 50,000 additional acres of beautiful scenery and protected safe zones for wildlife. With additions such as Horseshoe Ranch, the Jenny Creek watershed, Grizzly Peak, Lost Lake, and the area surrounding Surveyor Mountain, it is undeniable that Monument supporters will be seeking out opportunities to explore and learn about the natural history of these places in the coming months.

Luckily, the Friends have begun gearing up for another exciting Hike and Learn season starting in May, events that are certain to highlight new additions as well as visit old favorites. The Hike and Learn series has been the Friends’ most prominent ongoing education program over the past five years, offering citizens in our region opportunities to learn about the Monument from local experts and experience its biodiversity first-hand.

The 2016 Hike and Learn season followed a similar structure to previous years’: two-day monthly educational events that focus on a natural history or art topic. Participants attend a Friday evening informational workshop which then leads seamlessly into an immersive Saturday hike in the Monument. Last year’s line-up featured geologist Jad D’Allura, botanist Doug Kendig, aquatic ecologist and expert bushwhacker Michael Parker, artist-writers Mary Silva and Katie Boehnlein, poet-ornithologist Pepper Trail, and photographer David Lorenz-Winston.

There was overwhelming support for these programs, with 96 individuals attending over six different weekends. A large majority of participants who filled out an evaluation said they had an “excellent” time and that the experience had been an incentive to learn more about biodiversity. This incentive is demonstrated by our participant numbers as well; 24 participants came back to more than one Hike and Learn program throughout the season.

Participants’ favorite aspect of the 2016 Hike and Learn programs was the expertise of the leaders to guide participants toward new learning, piquing interest in natural history topics or artistic endeavors. One commented that “the science was so delightfully explained” and that “the leader’s passion for the Monument is inspiring.” Others mentioned that the time in nature was invaluable. “It was wonderful to go to a place I had never been,” one participant said, as did others who were appreciative for the opportunity to get familiar with the Monument and spend time with a friendly, inquisitive group of fellow hikers. The need for educational events like ours is even more pertinent this year, given the Monument’s expansion and political opposition to President Obama’s recent proclamation. The Hike and Learn program gives people opportunities to see biodiversity first-hand and learn from experts about the importance of conservation.

Though snow still covers much of the Monument’s now 100,000+ acres, longer and warmer days are approaching. The Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument are excited to offer another full season of engaging and inspiring Hike and Learn programs in 2017. Stay tuned for an announcement on our full line-up in April.

Text and photos by Katie Boehnlein, Hike & Learn 2016 Coordinator
 

Today is a momentous day for our region. We are thrilled to announce that the Obama Administration moved forward with expanding Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. 

So many of you, our supporters, as well as other invested organizations including the Soda Mountain Wilderness Council and KS Wild have worked tirelessly to advocate for an expanded Monument. This expansion will ensure the region’s unparalleled biodiversity remains intact, especially with the threat of climate change. 

The expansion is an additional 48,000 acres, 5,000 of which are in the Siskiyou County of California. Both of Oregon’s US Senators, Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, as well as Oregon Governor Kate Brown, strongly supported the Monument expansion.

Take a moment to give them a heartfelt thanks for ensuring the continued protection of biodiversity in Southern Oregon.

Thank our elected officials including President Obama, Senators Merkley and Wyden, and Governor Kate Brown. 

     “This is an incredible community of folks that deeply care, and are inspired by living things.” 

— Amy Schlotterback, BioBlitz 2016 citizen scientist

Nearly 100 enthusiastic citizen-scientists, high school and college students, volunteers, and fungi experts, gathered at Pinehurst Elementary School in the morning of November 12 to participate in the 2016 BioBlitz hosted by the Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. 

After 5 hours in the field, eight teams, each with 12 members led by a fungi expert, scouted different areas of forest, meadows, and mountain tops of the monument. Their effort uncovered over 120 different species of fungi (nearly 3 times the number found in a previous survey!) including several truffles and the rarely encountered species Ramaria celevirescens, Clavulinopsis fusiformis, and Stropharia kaufmanii. 
     

Besides providing a hands-on opportunity for people to learn about the monument, the results from this survey, together with previous and other planned scientific studies, will help identify patterns of fungi diversity, abundance, and climate. In turn, that knowledge will assist biologists in developing the best strategies for protecting, preserving, and restoring the monument’s natural health.
     

With assistance from BLM as well as individual and community sponsors, the Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument hosts a BioBlitz for the purpose of exploring and expanding our knowledge of biodiversity within the monument. 
    

Steve Trudell, author of Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, was impressed by the “large turnout of enthusiastic Monument supporters eager to learn about the local fungi.” He said, “there are many diverse species left to be found there.”

     — Peter Schroeder, BioBlitz Coordinator

Note: Findings are in progress. Additional information will be updated.

More about BioBlitz 2016: Fungi

• Read the Press Release  by Katie Boehnlein.
• See Ashland Daily Tidings Photo Gallery BioBlitz.

Many thanks to our sponsors: This event was supported by the National Conservation Lands, Research Support Program, Bureau of Land Management; Pinehurst Elementary School, Northwest Nature Shop, Green Springs Inn and Cabins, REI Co-op, Indigo Creek Outfitters, Sign Dude, Conservation Lands Foundation; and contributors to Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.  

Gallery of Photos – Fungi BioBlitz 2016 

#GivingTuesday is a global day dedicated to giving support to the organizations you care about. 

We invite you to give local—Friends of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument is dedicated to expanding awareness about the monument’s biodiversity and significance to our region and as a part of the National Conservation Lands. 

Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is located at the crossroads of the Siskiyou, Klamath, and Cascade Mountain ranges in Southern Oregon. The convergence brings together the different rock strata, plant, and animal communities of each region creating an incredibly varied and diverse landscape.
     

#GivingTuesday starts our year-end giving campaign to reach our goal of $ 5,000!
Our thanks go to an anonymous donor for matching all donations that are over $30. With your support, every dollar can go twice as far in our mission to educate, research, and spread awareness about our Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. 
     

Your support of the Friends through contributions and event participation strengthens our shared voice and effort toward ensuring our Monument stays healthy and vibrant. 

Now more than ever we couldn’t do it without your support. 

Thank you!

Donate online or mail a check to Friends of Cascade Siskiyou National Monument, PO Box 3495, Ashland, OR. 

     “… the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is an ecological wonder, with biological diversity unmatched in the Cascade Range.”  From the Monument Proclamation 7318, June 9, 2000.

Many dozens of scientists agree that adequately expanding the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is essential to protect the Monument’s important biological connectivity, outstanding biodiversity, and make it more resilient to the effects of climate change. 
     

Recognizing the Monument’s contribution to the local economy and regional quality of life, the Chamber of Commerce boards, City Councils, and Mayors of Ashland and Talent – the two closest towns to the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument – unanimously support science-based expansion of the Monument. 
     

We have the opportunity to expand the national monument to provide comprehensive and cohesive protection of this biologically unique and valuable landscape.
     

We support science-based Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument expansion in order to fulfill the promise of the original monument proclamation.

Comment to Senator on the proposed expansion before November 20, 2016  

You still have an opportunity to provide public comment to Senator Jeff Merkley about the proposed expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument from now until November 20, 2016. Call and leave him a message at (503) 326-3386. Or comment to Senator Merkley online. 

Public Hearing on Proposed Expansion of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
      

Three public hearings have been conducted to collect comments about the proposed expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Senator Merkley hosted one in Ashland. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners convened a meeting in Medford; and Klamath County Commissioners held one in Klamath Falls.

On October 14th, 2016. US Senator Jeff Merkley and Mike Connor, Deputy Secretary of the Interior convened a public meeting about expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Expansion in Ashland, OR. Listen to the JPR story.
     

Ornithologist Pepper Trail, Ph.D., Ashland presented testimony about the scientific basis and urgent need to protect the biodiversity of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Read Pepper’s guest opinion at the Mail Tribune.
    

Sen. Merkley said, “”I wanted to make sure, absolutely sure, that the president’s team heard directly from the citizens with the full spectrum of thoughts.”  
     

See photo slide show of the expansion public hearing. Photos by Matt Witt © 2016. 

October 27. Jackson County Board of Commissioners conducted a public hearing about the proposed expansion. More than 400 people attended and there was a diverse range of opinions about the proposed expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

November 1. Klamath County Board of Commissioners conducted a public hearing about the proposed expansion. Though most of the proposed Monument expansion is in Jackson County, county lines are not ecological lines. According to Sen. Merkley’s office, the Klamath County portion of the proposed Monument expansion is 18,626 acres. Listen to the entire hearing (Herald and News) 2hrs. 38min. 
      

If you have not been able to go to any of the public hearings, listen to Amy Amrhein, southern Oregon field representative for Sen. Merkley’s office on the proposed expansion. It is the first 3 minutes of testimony at the Klamath County Board of Commissioners hearing in Klamath Falls.    

“Not water alone does flow, but land
All its coverings and its inhabitants
The deer walking from valley to ridge
The birds and the every living thing
Find here, in a world of change, their place.”

— from Ecotone by Pepper Trail

A dozen eager hikers and literary folk gather at the Hobart Bluff gravel parking lot, power lines crackling in the balmy, cheerful Saturday morning breeze. Our leader for the day, Pepper Trail, is an ornithologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service, but also an accomplished writer. His book, Cascade-Siskiyou poems was a finalist for the 2016 Oregon Book Award for poetry. Pepper has come prepared for our hike today with a backpack filled with poetry and binoculars around his neck, a perfect representation of his dual identity as a scientist and artist. 
     

Not a moment to be wasted of the beautiful day, we jump onto the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) South. Not 100 yards up the trail, we are taken by the sight of elderberry trees weighed down by dusty blue-gray berries. Cedar waxwings descend on the trees in delight, their high pitched, tinkly calls echoing in the still air. A Lewis’s woodpecker flaps overhead, as juncos dart about in the bushes. And thus our adventure begins, an education in both birds and writing.
     

At the first rocky outcrop, we stop for some poetry writing and view-watching, taking in the gentle whisper of the wind in the trees and the amazing feeling of our homes so far below. Pilot Rocks stands sentry across the valley, a reminder of this area’s fiery geologic past. We contemplate Pepper’s poem Ecotone, which speaks of the diversity of the Monument’s landscapes. Already, only a quarter mile into our hike, we have brushed shoulders with lush incense cedars and felt the expanse of a rocky landscape dotted with wind-swept juniper trees.  Many hikers “dip their toes in the ocean of poetry,” at Pepper’s suggestion, starting with the simplicity of haiku writing. We start to put words together, inspired by the view and the company.
     

We enjoy our sack lunches in an aspen grove, fluttering leaves showing the first golden blush of fall as migrating hawks float overhead. After lunch, we hike back to the trailhead, where some of our party departs for the afternoon. However, those who want more poems and more views and more birds to lighten our souls, decide to hike the PCT North to the top of Hobart Bluff. Perched above Hobart Lake and the Bear Creek Valley, we take in our fill of the beauty of where we live. We are surrounded by stooped juniper trees, “old and young, green and gray / [teaching] that life and time are one” (from Juniper Years by Pepper Trail). Sadly, the afternoon must come to an end as the sun lowers itself closer to the horizon. As we return to our cars, our minds and legs are tired after a day filled with the poetic beauty of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.  

Story and photos by
—Katie Boehnlein, Hike & Learn Coordinator

Haiku on Our Monument

Forms an ecotone
Cascade-Siskiyou Monument
Brimming with treasures.
           — Barbara Settles, H&L participant

The Ashland and Butte Falls Resource Areas of the Medford District, Bureau of Land Management, will be hosting a National Public Lands Day at the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument on September 24, 2016. 
     

Volunteers should meet at Mountain View Shelter at the Hyatt Lake Campground from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Volunteers will help with much needed maintenance and clean-up of the campground and facilities. Projects will include (but may not be limited to) painting picnic tables, replacing fire rings, picking up trash, and other tasks that will help to enhance and beautify the area. Register online with Friends of CSNM Lunch will be provided by Greenleaf Restaurant, Ashland, OR.

National Public Lands Day (NPLD) is the nation’s largest, single-day volunteer effort for public lands. NPLD keeps the promise of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the “tree army” that worked from 1933-1942, to preserve and protect America’s natural heritage.  NPLD began in 1994 with three sites and 700 volunteers. Since the first NPLD, the event has grown by leaps and bounds.
     

The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation.

The BLM’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.

“I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”

—    from “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver —
 

In the sweltering heat of mid-August, a small but stalwart group of hikers set out to explore the Pilot Rock and Lone Pilot trails. Bolstered with water, snacks, journals, colored pencils, and inquiring minds, they we ready to uncover the smallest details of their hike and capture time for creativity.
     The night before, ten participants gathered at the Ashland Library to make simple cardstock journals and practice sketching, inspired by books and resources gathered by the two leaders, Mary Silva and Katie Boehnlein. Mary has been creating beautiful watercolor and collage travel journals for years, and Katie is a passionate environmental educator and nature writer, so they brought great excitement and expertise to the table. They encouraged their participants to let go of inhibitions, highlighting instead the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, or the art of imperfection, as they readied themselves for the next day’s artistic endeavors.

Saturday morning was undoubtedly hot. Small shade at the Pilot Rock trailhead served as the perfect place to read a passage from Thoreau’s Walking, go over the day’s route, and set out on the trail! Though the morning was warm, a small breeze wafted along the winding trail, as the group admired Pilot Rock looming far above to their left. Small black and white butterflies followed in their stead, fluttering between shafts of light bending through tree limbs. A mile down the Pilot Rock trail, the group reached a crossroads. At this point, the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the trail heading closer to Pilot Rock, and the Lone Pilot Trail begins on a deviating spur. 
     The Siskiyou Mountain Club created the Lone Pilot Trail, a former logging road with fantastic views of Pilot Rock and Mt. Shasta. The road twists and turns throughout 17 miles of the Soda Mountain Wilderness, which is located within the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. On just the two miles of this trail that the group explored, they passed through diverse habitat: deep ponderosa pine forest as well as open oak savannah. 
     Our first stop was in a large clearing directly below Pilot Rock. We paused here for our first chance to sketch and write. Taking inspiration from a lone pine tree clinging to life at the top of Pilot Rock, we contemplated, “How do things end up where they do?” musing on the origins of small rocks, tiny wildflowers, and the immense of Pilot Rock, a volcanic plug that still juts high into the sky thousands of years after its molten creation. 
     We ate lunch beneath the cooling shade of ponderosa pine needles, sketching and talking as we ate. We dug our hands into layer upon layer of discarded ponderosa bark, a mire of puzzle pieces that serve as the tree’s best defense against fire. We then moved further out into the open to glimpse the imposing Mt. Shasta, hazy in the heat, while listening to the legend of Shasta and the Grizzlies, and inspiration of history and folklore. As the afternoon heat came to a head, we ventured up the hill once again and back towards the trailhead.
     Our final stop was in a lush, shady clearing alongside the trail. We read Charles Finn’s short essay called Chickadee, watching birds flit around us from branch to branch. They seemed tireless despite the heat. As we rose to return to our cars, filled to the brim with the Monument’s beauty and the day’s inspiration, a little voice called to us in farewell: “chickadee-dee-dee…chickadee…”

Text and photos by Katie Boehnlein, Hike and Learn Coordinator
     Exploring Place with Nature Journaling and Field Sketching
     

A hot summer day in the Bear Creek Valley inevitably means that the forests of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument become needed respite. This month, we had the pleasure of following SOU Biology Department chair, aquatic ecologist, and expert bushwhacker Michael Parker into the woods and off trail in search of clues about the ultimate “ecosystem engineer”: the American Beaver.
     Our adventure began at Tub Springs Wayside, where we consolidated cars and continued down Highway 66 to Jenny Creek Road. We wound our way past corporate timberlands piled high with harvested timber, eerily resembling the piles of wood that beavers themselves collect to make their homes. But just beyond timber lands lies the Monument boundary, an immediate return to the peace of an intact forest. Just after crossing Jenny Creek, we parked and walked west along Forest Service Road 39-4E-23.3 which borders Jenny Creek. From our high vantage point, we could see the willow, cattails, rushes, and Spirea that flock to wet channels, a line of darker green against midsummer grass. This marshy grassland that used to be home to cattle grazing is called Fredenburg Meadow, a unique wet meadow gets its wetness from Jenny Creek and Fredenburg Springs.

This was the site of our first beaver dam! Beavers haven’t occupied Fredenburg Meadow and Jenny Creek for a few years now, but their dam remains, hidden beneath willow roots and cattails. Participants picked their way through soggy ground and water-loving vegetation to stand on top of the now-empty beaver dam, an innocuous conglomeration of sticks and mud cut out of the land. One by one, participants disappeared into the wall of green that surrounded the dam, emerging victorious and awed to be standing on a former home built with mostly alder boughs. We could now see that the oasis of green that we had seen from above was actually an earthy sponge, formed from years of sediment accumulation from Jenny Creek and Fredenburg Springs, kept wet by spring runoff and held in place by plant roots. In less than 10 years, the meadow has been transformed from over-grazed grassland into a productive wetland, home to amphibians, insects, fish, seasonal elk, and sometimes…beavers.
     

After a filling lunch under the cooling gaze of old growth Douglas Fir boughs just up Jenny Creek Road from our cars, we headed to our second destination: The Parsnip Lakes. The group was delighted to visit the lakes, a favorite spot of Michael Parker’s. In 2003, Michael and some of his biology students discovered a population of the endangered Oregon Spotted Frog at these lakes, a species then believed to be extinct from Southern Oregon. We learned that this special population has beavers to thank for their wet home. A family of beavers formed this landscape years ago, now covered in standing water and yellow pond lilies, by damming one of the springs that feeds the lakes. Even though the beavers have now left, their dam remains as an overwintering spot for the frogs, who seek out areas that do not freeze to survive the cold months.
     There are stories inherent in any landscape. We just need the opportunity or guiding tutelage in order to find them. Michael Parker led our group of excited learners to discovering the American beaver as a subtle catalyst for landscape change. They move with the ever-changing mosaic of shifting water, which goes where it flows year after year. In the process of carving out homes for themselves out of alder sticks and mud, they nibble on willows and re-engineer the landscape. Often, this means wetter, more fertile ground for vegetation, amphibians, and other water-loving creatures to thrive!

by Katie Boehnlein, Hike and Learn 2016 Coordinator

View photos from the hike. To view caption text, hover over the photo. All photos by Katie Boehnlein, except where noted.