Wildfire Risk in the Applegate: An Origin Story
This article was published in the Spring 2025 Edition of the Applegater.
View the original article here.
By Nathan Gehres
Looking with dismay at all of the dead and dying conifer trees in the hills of the Applegate Valley, residents may be asking themselves, “How did we get here?” The current state of our forests is the consequence of over a century of fire exclusion, questionable management practices, and changing growing conditions. As the woodlands depart from their historical makeup, the quality of the habitat they provide degrades, and the risk of an uncharacteristically severe wildfire increases.
First, we need to recognize the factors that led to the situation that our forests, and communities, are now in. Wildfire shaped SW Oregon. The plant and animal species that call this area home evolved with fire, and in some cases, are dependent on it. Naturally occurring fires and indigenous burning utilized by the first residents of the Applegate created a mosaic landscape that was comprised of open meadows, oak savannahs, and mixed age conifer stands. These landscapes provided a wide variety of habitats that supported healthy plant and animal communities. The onset of fire exclusion, introduced by Euro-American settlers, disrupted this delicately balanced regime. In the absence of regular, low-intensity wildfires, the forest composition changed. Douglas fir trees encroached into lower elevations and drier areas, and shrubby species grew rapidly, all of which added to the fuels that feed increasingly intense wildfires.
As timber harvesting progressed in the 20th century, monoculture-Douglas-Fir stands replaced the original native forest that was comprised of many species and age classes. Replanting efforts after timber harvest or wildfire have focused on Douglas fir because it’s prized for lumber. The unforeseen consequences of those actions are now evident throughout the Applegate. Large swaths of these plantations are dying due to a combination of stresses such as drought, insect attacks, and disease. Max Bennett, a retired OSU Extension forester, documented in his 2023 publication “Trees on the Edge” that SW Oregon has the highest Douglas fir mortality in the nation. Moreover, more trees died in the four years between 2015-2019 than died in the four previous decades. Those same four decades, from 1979 to 2021, represent a big change in growing conditions in the Applegate Valley: average annual precipitation decreased by 1.6”, while summer temperatures increased by 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s a big change in the drought stress experienced by local trees that were already on the hot and dry end of their range. Drought and heat decrease their ability to fight off pests, such as the flatheaded fir borer. These beetles are native to our valley and historically would only attack dead and dying trees, but now that the majority of the forest is under stress, the beetles are feeding on what appear to be otherwise healthy Douglas Firs, leading to mortality on a scale not seen before.
The altered state of our forests poses a wide variety of hazards, not the least of which is the threat faced by firefighters who are tasked with keeping us safe. Decades of fire exclusion have allowed fuels to accumulate on the landscape, setting the stage for escalating wildfire intensity. In 2022, two wildland firefighters were killed by falling trees in SW Oregon. Consequently, the way wildland fires are fought in the Applegate may need to rely more on aerial attacks and backfires rather than more dangerous direct attacks. These changes will likely result in increased costs related to fire suppression as well as many more acres burned. This was demonstrated by the Upper Applegate fire in June 2024. According to the OR Department of Forestry, the total cost to fight that 1,040-acre fire was $10.5 million. Such a big expense for such a relatively small fire is not sustainable, and we were lucky to have the resources needed to fight it in SW Oregon. In my opinion, the only long-term ecologically and economically viable method to reduce wildfire risk is through controlled burning, and mechanical fuels reduction is the first step required to set the stage for application of prescribed fire. My next article will delve into how local organizations and state and federal agencies are working to get our forests to that point, and what residents can do to help in that effort.
