SUMMER 2026

A missive from the Applegate Partnership & Watershed Council

Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to this summer.

Event Spotlight

We are thrilled to present See Our Salmon and Friends! This free celebration, hosted in collaboration with the Provolt Volunteer Team and the Bureau of Land Management, will offer opportunities for fun and learning with the whole family!

Aquatic Restoration Insight: Dry Creeks In A Historic Drought

We are seeing historically low flows across the Applegate this summer. As tributaries shrink and disconnect, fish and other aquatic species can become stranded in isolated pools. Some pools may stay cooler and remain connected by subsurface flow, even when the channel appears dry at the surface. 

The photos below show Williams Creek at the Provolt Recreation Site on July 7 and July 28. In just three weeks, the channel went from holding water to completely dry.

If you see fish stranded in a shrinking pool, contact Luke - our Aquatic Restoration Program Director - or the Central Point ODFW Regional office, rather than trying to move them yourself.

Nurturing Summer Learning In Nature

The second season of Applegate Outdoor Summer Camp, which ran for six weeks at Cantrall Buckley Park, hosted an average of 17 campers and one Counselor In Training per week. In line with our goal to combine learning with summer fun, each day was packed with science explorations, games, art projects, and water play!

As a result of donations from A Greater Applegate, Rooted In Hope, and community members, one in three campers were supported by scholarships. AOSC was also supported by grants from the Pacific Power Foundation and Jackson Soil & Water Conservation District, and snacks were provided by The Teresa McCormick Center.

Introducing Connor Snary, APWC Intern

Connor recently graduated from the University of Warwick with a degree in civil engineering and is spending the summer supporting APWC’s Aquatic Restoration Program. He is helping with project mapping, design review, field visits, and other restoration planning work. 

Supporting Community Wildfire Resiliency

Our Wildfire Resiliency Program continues to strengthen community resilience across the landscape through fuels reduction and wildfire preparedness projects.

As part of the Upper Applegate All-Lands Wildfire Resiliency Project, contractor BurnBot has completed more than 300 acres of fuels reduction treatments. We have also contracted Timberland Logging to carry out Douglas-fir mortality mitigation work in the Lois Lane community.

At the planning level, the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) is entering its final stages. Website development, StoryMap creation, and graphic design are now underway.

Noxious Weed Removal & Monitoring

Surveys for invasive Scotch thistle along Hamilton Road revealed a significantly reduced population in one site, while the other site remained weed free for the second year in a row!

Blackberry removal in the main area of the Provolt Recreation Site is now complete for the summer. Additional blackberry removal treatments will begin at Cantrall Buckley Park later this month. 

We recently received an Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board Restoration Grant to conduct additional blackberry removal on Dunlap Road, located downstream of Cantrall Buckley Park. Over the four-year trajectory of this project, we will treat 15 acres of blackberry along 4,000 ft of the Applegate River and replant the sites with native riparian plants. 

We wish everyone a happy and safe rest of the summer, and we look forward to continuing our projects in cooler weather. See you in the fall!