15th Anniversary & Willis - Warrior Award

Dave Willis (2nd right) welcomes Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Board Members Peter Schroeder, Marty Peterson and Terry Dickey at the 15th Anniversary gathering. Friends of CSNM 2015 Photo. 

Dave Willis with Pepper Trail. Dave Willis was Awarded the Tim Lillebo Wildlands Warrior Award by Oregon Wild. TPD Photo.

The Soda Mountain Wilderness Council hosted a gathering at Buckhorn Springs to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Rainy & the Rattlesnakes performed bluegrass music as community members dined outdoors on a barbecue meal. 
     The evening program featured a case for an expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, presented by speakers Pepper Trail, USFWS Ornithologist & Poet Laureate of CSNM; Michael Parker, SOU Professor & Biologist; and Dave Willis, chair of Soda Mountain Wilderness Council.
     Dave championed the establishment of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and Soda Mountain Wilderness and continues to protect the biodiversity of Southwest Oregon. In May 2015 Oregon Wild presented Dave Willis with the first annual Tim Lillebo Wildlands Warrior Award. Read at Oregon Wild about the Award to Dave. Read at American Profile (2001) about Dave's work in creating the monument. For those of us new to the region, we learn and respect the ongoing work that needs all of us. Congratulations - Dave!

Falls at Jenny Creek with Michael Parker. Matt Witt 2015 Photo

Soda Mountain Wilderness Council is offering a series of hikes to show why the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was established for its biodiversity. Read about the hike details at the Daily Tidings. 
     All the hikes require advance contact with the person leading the hike to reserve a place on the hike and to find out where the group will meet before setting out. 
     June 13, Sunday: The National Center for Conservation Science and Policy's aquatic ecologist, Brian Barr (541-621-7226; brian@nccsp.org), will lead a short, round-trip hike-and-scramble from the Jenny Creek Canyon rim in Oregon (elev. 3,300 feet) down to Jenny Creek Falls (elev. 2,700 feet) in California. Moderately difficult; three-plus miles, some steep scrambling. Meet at 9 a.m.
     June 19, Saturday: Veteran Sierra Club hike leader Cathy Edwards (541-210-0204; ziglerugn@aol.com) and National Park Service botanist Sean Smith will explore where Rogue Valley oak savannah meets Cascadian conifer forest in the Greensprings Mountain (elev. 5,225 feet) unit of the South Cascades Wilderness proposal northwest of the Greensprings Summit. Some off-trail hiking. Moderate, about four miles. Meet at 3 p.m. and bring your sack supper to enjoy the evening of the almost-longest day of the year. 
     June 26, Saturday: Join Southern Oregon University aquatic ecologist Michael Parker (541-552-6796; parker@sou.edu), on a cross-country ramble through Fredenburg Meadow (elev. 3,600 feet) and down into the forested Jenny Creek Canyon in the northeastern corner of the Cascade-Siskiyou Monument. All off-trail hiking. Moderate; three miles or less. Meet at 9 a.m.

15 Years Ago - June 9, 2000 Monument Proclamation

Pilot Rock. A hidden Gem in America’s Pacific Northwest is the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon. Click Image to see Bob Wick's 3 photos at America's Great OUtDoors.

President William J Clinton Signed Proclamation 7318 - Establishment of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.
     "With towering fir forests, sunlit oak groves, wildflower-strewn meadows, and steep canyons, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is an ecological wonder, with biological diversity unmatched in the Cascade Range. This rich enclave of natural resources is a biological crossroads--the interface of the Cascade, Klamath, and Siskiyou ecoregions, in an area of unique geology, biology, climate, and topography.
     The monument is home to a spectacular variety of rare and beautiful species of plants and animals, whose survival in this region depends upon its continued ecological integrity. Plant communities present a rich mosaic of grass and shrublands, Garry and California black oak woodlands, juniper scablands, mixed conifer and white fir forests, and wet meadows. Stream bottoms support broad-leaf deciduous riparian trees and shrubs..." The monument was established for its biodiversity. Read the Proclamation text. and learn about the Monument's significance.
     Read at Daily Tidings May 20, 2015 how the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument remains a quiet wonder:
Wild Side: The seven wonders of southwest Oregon By Joseph Valle
“Siskiyou Crest (including the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument) — The crest of the Siskiyou Mountains is a spectacular ridgeline right on southern Oregon’s border. Defined in the east by the Cascade Siskiyou Monument, the mountain peaks offer panoramic views with Mount Shasta in view. The Pacific Crest Trail follows much of the crest, so it is a wonder that is easy to explore on foot.”
     
     Tell us your personal story of what our Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument means to you. Share a scientific or cultural, historical information or photo. You can post your photos and memories to our Facebook page. Or email your story and/or image to: media.cascadesiskiyou@gmail.com. 
     Today, fifteen years after the proclamation, we rededicate to our national treasure--the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, one to take care for now and future generations, for all to learn and experience.   
     

2015 BioBlitz - Citizens & Scientists Team Up

friends of CSNM Board Member Peter Schroeder (left) is the 2015 bioblitz coordinator. Citizen scientists* will work will help scientists and naturalists gather data on butterfly diversity and abundance at the Monument on june 6, 2015.

  Dr. Peter Schroeder, Associate Professor of Biology at Southern Oregon University and a Board Member of the Friends of Cascade Siskiyou National Monument tells about our June 6, 2015 BioBlitz:
     "The Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is home to one of the richest communities of butterflies in North America. Our 2015 Butterfly BioBlitz will give our citizens an opportunity to learn about butterflies in the Monument while helping scientists and naturalists gather data on butterfly diversity and abundance. We are fortunate to welcome leaders from Eugene, Klamath Falls and southern Oregon, who were at the Crater Lake 2014 BioBlitz.
     Currently, the number and diversity of many organisms, including some butterflies such as the Monarch, are declining worldwide. Stable ecosystems rely on a healthy, sustainable biodiversity. 
     Efforts to understand why organisms are declining, including the role humans play in this decline, are urgently important in finding ways to stabilize and manage ecosystems. The data collected from the Butterfly BioBlitz, along with past data on butterfly abundance and diversity, will help scientists follow changes in organism biodiversity within the Monument and possibly relate them with those in climate and/or management efforts. These data will assist BLM in developing the best strategies for managing the Monument.
     The mission of Friends of Cascade Siskiyou National Monument is to engage in projects that protect, preserve, and restore our Monument for all to enjoy. One way of achieving this mission is to assist the general public in learning about the unique biological, geological, anthropological, and sociological values of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument and how they can participate in these efforts."

Listen at JPR (7:34 min.)
Peter Schroeder, BioBlitz Coordinator talks about the 2015 BioBlitz of Butterflies at the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument.

Listen at JRP Radio (24:51 min.)
Peter Schroeder, Friends of CSNM Board member and Scott Hoffman Black, Xerces Society Executive Director talk about pollinators, the need for habitat, biodiversity and federal strategy. 

*Citizen scientists and crowd-sourced science are contemporary terms for centuries-old efforts and practice of independent naturalists and scientists. 

Earth Day 2015: Pinehurst Students Reseed Trees

Pinehurst students plant seed after 2014 Oregon gulch fire in cascade-siskiyou national monument. Image courtesy of Jim Impara. Pinehurst school is located within the cascade-siskiyou national monument.

This Earth Day 2015 we note that our Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was established in 2000 for its biodiversity. 
     Our guest commentators, Pinehurst School students tell about their work with the BLM in forest recovery efforts. Their efforts grow our next generation to be caregivers and champions for biodiversity in our environment. 

Pinehurst Students Lend a Helping Hand to BLM
By Sam Skillen and Rowan Amann, Pinehurst School
   After the devastating Oregon Gulch fire [2014]  destroyed over 36,000 acres of land, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and thirteen children struggled to bring the forest back to life. Pinehurst students ventured down a long, bumpy road to the Box O Ranch to meet with the BLM’s interpretive specialist, Justin Glasgow.  
    Glasgow explained a technique called back burn used to take fuel out of the fire's path. The back burn wiped out the vegetation in a large area. The students were put in a line and each was given a bag of native grass seed to be spread where the fire had burned all the vegetation. 
    “It made me happy that I was helping the BLM and regrowing the forest,” said Hannah Marmorstein, an eighth grader at Pinehurst School.
    As the students finished planting the seed, they were given bales of straw to spread on the dirt track to Jenny Creek
     “[Pinehurst can be] an extension of the BLM to help us accomplish our mission. These projects need to get done,” Glasgow said. 
    The students are always looking for ways to help in the community and they do all the jobs given to them well.

Many thanks to Pinehurst teacher Jim Impara for sharing this submission and photo, which was published in their school newspaper.

Happy New Year & Many Thanks!

Thank you for your generous support in our year-end #Giving Tuesday campaign. You helped us meet our challenge grant from the Conservation Lands Foundation! We will be awarded an additional $3,000 to match the funds you contributed! 
     A BLM grant for Education, Volunteerism, and Public Involvement in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument that we received in November 2014 will help support these two new initiatives:

• The 2015 BioBlitz in June will bring research scientists to work with citizen scientists in their effort to survey butterfly populations in the Monument. Mark your calendars and SAVE THE DATE for Saturday, June 6, 2015.

• The Friends Research Fund will provide university students small grants for research within the Monument.

These funds will help our efforts to educate and conserve our Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument!

Giving Tuesday - Dec. 2, 2014

Board Member Alexandra Harding is an SOU student leading our Giving Tuesday campaign.

Christine Smith made the first donation to the Friends Student Research Fund.

We are most grateful to our young leaders who have blazed trails on behalf of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument! This year Board member Alexander Harding proposed that we partner with Giving Tuesday, a national effort to promote charitable giving; and she is leading the way through our Facebook page.
      “Clean Air and Clean Water” are simple reasons for having conservation lands as explained by Andy Kerr, at the Wilderness 50 celebration talk on the Southern Oregon University campus. On Giving Tuesday, we invite you to give online to the Friends of Cascade Siskiyou; and tell your circle of friends and family.
     Share why the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is a special place for you. Post onto Facebook a photo; or email your story. Maybe you study frogs or dragonflies, write or draw, or you just enjoy the endless vistas of valleys, forests, and near-by volcanoes of the Cascade Range. 
     You will be creating a legacy in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument for generations. We couldn’t do this important work without you.  Your generous donation will be matched dollar for dollar from the Conservation Lands Foundation (CLF), a nationwide foundation dedicated to safeguarding the National Conservation Lands. When we raise $3,000 in new donations this year, CLF will match this 1:1 effort by awarding us a $3,000 no-strings attached grant. 
     Please use our secure online website, to make your donation. If you prefer to mail your donation-check, print and fill out the attached form and mail to:
Friends of Cascade Siskiyou National Monument
PO Box 3495
Ashland, OR 97520

Wilderness 50: Back to the Future

Gabe Howe, Executive Director Siskiyou Mountain Club watches two crosscut saw contestants during the Wilderness 50 Celebration held at SOU campus. WWChin 2014 photo

Andy Kerr (L) talks with Howard Hunter (R) former assistant monument manager of Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. WWChin 2014 Photo

Gorgeous poetic images of Oregon’s wild landscapes revealed vulnerable treasures. Andy Kerr, featured speaker for Wilderness 50 Celebration held at Southern Oregon University, told about lessons learned in championing conservation since the 1964 Wilderness Act. He counsels to always be ready—there’s a vast portfolio such as Valley of the Giants, Oregon Dunes to the Owhyee Canyons, and Oregon’s wild scenic rivers. It’s hard to think why he was once considered the “most hated man in Oregon” when he reasons about the long-term economic benefits of clean drinking water, air, and wildlife habitat, resulting from protected wilderness. Oregon’s wilderness lands are a finite resource, and Andy presses for the connectivity of these large expanses that springs forth the biodiversity of life. Andy Kerr, a 5th generation Oregonian, knows that conservation also demands a diversity of participants and ways to work together.
     Our next generation of conservation leaders was working the booths at Wilderness 50. Representatives from over a dozen public lands agencies, nature and outdoor recreation groups introduced the SOU community and public to what our local area offers. The film Wild By Law documented the hard-fought struggle towards the signing of the 1964 Wilderness Act. Looking back is our future in the hands of young people moving onward. Andy wrote this dedication in his book, Oregon Wild: Endangered Forest Wilderness: “To all who have ever raised a voice, a hand or some hell to save Oregon’s remaining wilderness. And to all those who will.”

Listen to Andy Kerr In the Wilderness - JPR Interview (16:22min) with Geoffrey Riley

Many thanks to Wilderness 50 Celebration 2014 participants at SOU campus.
     Read The Siskiyou SOU Celebrates 50 Years of the Wilderness 
SOU Bird Club; SOU Ecology Center of the Siskiyous; SOU Environmental Education Program; BLM, Medford District, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument; Applegate Trails Association; Coyote Trails; KS Wild; National Park Service, Klamath Lava Beds; Pacific Crest Trail Association; Siskiyou Field Institute; Siskiyou Mountain Trail Club; US Forest Service, Medford District, and to event coordinators Jill Smedstad, Environmental and Community Engagement Coordinator, ECOS; Katherine McCredie, ECOS student co-director, ECOS; Gabe Howe, Executive Director, Siskiyou Mountain Trail Club and Justin Glasgow, BLM Medford District, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument along with Terry Dickey, Chair, Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

National Public Lands Day 2014: New Trail & Vistas

Hiking up to Pilot Rock is no longer the mad scramble up!  Thanks to the work of Siskiyou Mountain Club and a Bureau of Land Management Grant to redesign and make an authorized new trail.
    Upon seeing Pilot Rock, Mackenzie Banta shouted out, “Happy National Public Lands Day! Mackenzie, from the Conservation Lands Foundation, was here in Ashland to provide consultation to the board members of Friends of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. As we near our 15th year anniversary, she advised us how we can garner community participation to care for our public lands.
    Up and down the trail we met enthusiastic hikers from first time local visitors, international travelers, parents hurrying after their energetic youngsters, to seasoned residents leading their friends.
   This trail begins a new vista for each of us--visitors, volunteers, policymakers or donors to our national public lands. Take time to bring someone to experience this place. Reflect for a moment to see and appreciate the hard work of this newly handcrafted path; and then follow through to support and strengthen the care and conservation of our National Public Lands throughout the year.

Read more about Pilot Trail at Mail Tribune.

Mackenzie Banta, Sr. Development Assiociate with Conservation Lands Foundation and Terry Dickey, Chair of Friends of Cascade Siskiyou National Monument, hike a re-designed trail to Pilot Rock on National Public Lands Day 2014.  W Chin photo.

BLM Recreation Planner Zach Million (far left) leads effort to reconstruct rail fence in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument for National Public Lands Day. 

INFO: Wildfire Status

Oregon Gulch Fire. Maps are uploaded at
Inci website.

Information about wildfire locations in Oregon can be accessed at these sites.

Twitter - www.twitter.com/swofire/
Southwest Oregon District Blog - www.swofire.com/
Smoke Information - oregonsmoke.blogspot.com/  
DEQ - www.deq.state.or.us/AQ/burning/wildfires/index.htm  
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office - www.facebook.com/JacksonCountySheriff
Inciweb - inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4034/
NWCC - www.nwccweb.us/information/firemap.aspx
CAL FIRE Ready, Set, Go - www.readyforwildfire.org/
CAL FIRE – www.fire.ca.gov
Siskiyou County Pollution Control District - tinyurl.com/ljzak8a

Protection: Thanks to Oregon Gulch Fire Personnel

At the front lines of protecting our Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument during the Oregon Gulch Fire were more than 1500 men and women from state and federal cooperating agencies. Two hundred acres of Monument land were part of the 35,129 acres (as of August 11, 2014) that burned in this fire, which straddled Oregon and Northern California. Lightning strikes and a long drought caused this fire, and these conditions continue to be a serious problem for Southern Oregon.
     We give thanks to our firefighters who risked their lives. Even during their time off, they showed kindness and compassion to all our community members, especially to those who lost their homes and possessions.
     A wildfire makes us vividly aware of the fragility of our homes, community, and natural resources. When they are lost, either through carelessness or by lighting strikes, it takes a long time for the homes and forests ecosystems to rebuild.
     A wildfire urgently reminds us to learn, communicate, and work together as community to protect and conserve our lands—the loss of biological diversity and ecological integrity is real. As a result of this fire, we’ve learned how vital and vast our social network needs to be in an emergency. Timely and well-defined communications helped to coordinate well-trained personnel and equipment across local, states and federal agencies. It also gave up-to- minute data through digital media, including Facebook and Twitter, which was widely accessible.
     As the final mop-up proceeds on the Oregon Gulch Fire, take time to appreciate what our Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument offers---learn why this place is worthy of protection through our Hike and Learn series that continues through September 2014 (see Calendar of Events). Then when you see firefighters, tell them thanks for protecting our lands. 

--Terry Dickey, Chairman
Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

Oregon Gulch Fire photo by Lee Winslow, ODF

Morning Fire Update at Incident Command Post Photo by Jen Warren, ODF IMT 2 PIO

Thanks to agencies in the Oregon Gulch Fire: 
Greensprings Rural Fire Protection District; Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office, CALFIRE, Oregon Air National Guard, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Klamath County Sheriff’s Office, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County Emergency Services, Klamath County Emergency Management, Siskiyou Office of Emergency Management, Oregon Department of Transportation, Keno Rural Fire District, Jackson and Josephine County Fire Defense Boards, Bureau of Land Management, Pacific Power and Light, and private landowners.

Mother’s Day: Gift of Nature

Myrtle Smith, 2009 photo

Our donors know the importance of our Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and what knowledge and joy these wide-open spaces can bring. Recently our friend Christine Smith wrote:  

“It was such a pleasure to be able to make a donation to the Friends of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument in my mother’s name. Myrtle Young Smith loved the outdoors and welcomed every opportunity to explore the beautiful areas in and around Ashland.
     Myrtle was born in a remote area of interior Alaska in 1917 and lived most of her life in Fairbanks before moving to Ashland in 2005. Those years in Alaska were lived close to the natural world. She camped, fished, trapped, and gardened in her younger days. And well into her seventies, we combed the bogs and hills of the Tanana Valley picking cranberries and blueberries. She had her special places to pick, allowing only family members to know.
     My parents both loved to go for long drives and look at the scenery. I continued to take Myrtle for those drives and we explored parts of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument that were accessible with a walking stick until just a couple of years ago. Even at age 96, Mom loved being able to walk outdoors winter months.
     Myrtle loved the wilderness and the woods, the lakes and creeks. Most Mother’s Days were celebrated with a picnic near a creek or river, in Fairbanks and in Ashland. Her love of nature is a wonderful legacy passed on to her four children, their children and grandchildren.”

Your gifts to the Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument help to advocate, protect and conserve our national monument, ensuring that many generations will continue to learn, support and enjoy our National Conservation Lands.   

Earth Day: Oregon’s “Ecological Wonder” Gains 930 Acres

We take a moment to give thanks to our private-public partnerships that continue to help protect and conserve the biodiversity of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.
     The Conservation Fund has transferred 930 acres of former Hancock Timber Resource Group Lands to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for protection as part of the Monument, including a stretch of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.
     With the leadership of U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, the U.S. Congress approved funding in Fiscal Year 2012 for the purchase through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a federal land protection program that receives funds from the development of federally-owned offshore oil and gas resources. No taxpayer dollars are used to support the LWCF, which has been protecting forests, natural resources, state and local parks and recreation areas since 1965.
     "We are very pleased with the progress being made to place these important conservation lands at Cascade-Siskiyou into public ownership," said David Kimbrough, Manager, Hancock Timber Resource Group.  "With our Sensitive Lands program and through our strong partnership with The Conservation Fund and the Bureau of Land Management, we are more than halfway there, and look forward to continuing to work together to ensure that the rest of the sensitive lands in this biologically-rich landscape are conserved forever."
     These everyday efforts over the longterm, with our partners can result to enhance habitat connectivity for wildlife and expanding public recreational access. We are grateful for what more we can learn from this area that is considered Oregon’s “ecological wonder.”  Learn more about the transfer.

What Scientific Discovery Tells About Life in the Monument

Biologist Michael Parker, SOU Professor of Biology tells about the Jenny Cree sucker.

Mandy Noel (R), SOU Environmental Education graduate student tells about Fall-in-the-Field.

Volunteer “citizen scientists” and their extra eyes and hands help botanist Darlene Southworth with scientific research. In 2010, Southworth found a rare species of truffles under mountain mahogany trees in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. She was among a panel of scientists to tell about their work during a February 2014 presentation at Mountain Park Nature Center, Ashland.
     Doug Kendig, botanist at the BLM Medford District and coordinator of research in the Monument gave introductions. He explained, “The Monument provides an opportunity to discover and acquire scientific understanding of a relatively undisturbed landscape with unique natural resources and landscape processes in southwest Oregon. We can integrate that knowledge into the larger context of our planet for the benefit and enjoyment of the American public.”
Darlene Southworth, botanist and SOU Professor Emerita reported collecting nearly 700 specimens of mycorrhizal fungi (truffles) associated with oak and mixed conifer-hardwood habitats in the Monument. Her ongoing research will complete species identification to verify rare species and to determine truffle biodiversity in other areas. Volunteers are needed for her 2014 survey team. Learn more and apply.
John Alexander, ornithologist and Executive Director of Klamath Bird Observatory discussed using bird monitoring data to develop bird distribution models and to provide a baseline understanding of the status of birds in the Monument. Results will determine the relative contribution of the Monument towards meeting national and regional bird conservation objectives.
Michael Parker, biologist and SOU Professor of Biology summarized his research on the Jenny Creek sucker, endemic to the Monument and northern California. This sucker is imperiled and at high risk of extinction. This fish exhibits a migratory life history, but little is known about this behavior, which makes it a high conservation priority.
Marcus Lorusso, botanist, discussed Seeds of Success (SOS), a national effort to collect, conserve and develop native plant materials for stabilizing, rehabilitating and restoring lands in the United States. Lorusso collected seed from Monument plants and sent them to the Millennium Seed Bank. SOS teams share a common protocol and coordinate seed collecting and species targeting efforts. SOS is a vital part of the Native Plant Materials Development Program.
Mandy Noel, SOU Environmental Education graduate student, summarized Fall in the Field a daylong field trip for K-12 students in Medford and Ashland public schools.
     What a quiet treasure the Monument offers as we explore, at any age, and share the wilderness of knowledge. 

--Terry Dickey, Chair, Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
 

Thank You for Year End Green Gifts!

Snow on Pilot Rock. Jed Holdorph Photo

Happy Holidays! Thank you so much for participating in support of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument this year. You joined our Hike & Learn programs and discovered the diversity of plants and insects along the trails. You celebrated with us at the Rogue Valley Earth Day and the Greensprings Mountain Festivals.

With your support we were able to: 

• Educate 840 elementary and middle school students about the beauty and biodiversity of the Monument, inspiring them to become the future stewards of our public lands through our partnership with Southern Oregon University Environmental Education.
• Protect fragile habitat for the Mardon Skipper and other butterflies in a reroute of the Pacific Crest Trailhead to Hobart Bluff as a National Public Lands Day project. 
• Win a grant award from the Conservation Lands Foundation to assist us in leadership training, expand community awareness, and better manage the resources and values of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. 

We invite you to join our Friends! With a gift $10, $50, $100 or another generous amount you can help us continue to protect, restore and conserve this special place for generations to come. As one of the Bureau of Land Management’s National Conservation Lands, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is our national treasure. 

Please mail your check to:
Friends of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
PO Box 3495
Ashland, OR 97520

We look forward to welcoming you as a donor / member for the coming year!

--Terry Dickey, Chair
Friends of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

Leave Rocks As You Find Them: Care for Public Lands

Hobart Bluff and view of Pilot Rock. KReynolds photo

Recently, the leaders of a Boy Scout troop vandalized a park by toppling a rock formation in Utah’s Goblin State Park. It appears from their actions that they lacked an understanding of the stewardship ethics of our public lands. Americans value national and state parks and access to our extensive system of public lands. It is clear that these scout leaders were unaware of how to act as land stewards.

There are rules and regulations that govern conduct in our National Parks and Monuments, but a good set of general principles can be found in the “Leave No Trace” principles:

1. Plan Ahead and Prepare
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
3. Dispose of Waste Properly
4. Leave What You Find
5. Minimize Campfire Impacts
6. Respect Wildlife
7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors

These seven principles are expanded at the Leave No Trace website, http://www.lnt.org. Under “Leave What You Find” is an important bullet point:

•    Leave rocks, plants and other natural objects as you find them.

The Boy Scout organization has adopted the “Leave No Trace” teaching as well. This recent incident in Utah is a reminder that all visitors to public lands, whether state parks or national monuments, should review these principles to help protect and conserve these lands for the future.

---Joel Brumm, BLM Assistant Monument Manager, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

New Website Launch: Friends of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument

Welcome to the website (cascadesiskiyou.org) of the Friends of Cascade Siskiyou National Monument! This monument is part of the National Conservation Lands system.

Web Page Home 2013: Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

We are collaborating with the BLM’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument staff to link to their digital resources about the Monument. While at the BLM website, you will also learn how they manage, preserve and protect the Monument and the Soda Mountain Wilderness area that lies within its boundaries. We appreciate our partners and affiliate organizations in this important work. Learn about their organizations and how we work together via those web links.
 
Look through the website and see what we offer and then share this link with others. We’ll be updating the information on a regular basis. Please contact us to support and/or volunteer. Best of all, you’ll meet other volunteer conservationists like yourself.

--Terry Dickey, Chair, Friends of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument

2013 National Public Lands Day: A Trail To Promote Meadow for Butterflies

Volunteers at the 2013 National Public Lands Day. 

Meadow restoration - 2013 National Public Lands Day. Joel Brumm photos

When you’re hiking at the the Hobart Bluff Trailhead, give a shout out of thanks to the volunteers and the Friends of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument. They shoveled and moved a lot of dirt on our 2013 National Public Lands Day! BLM Recreation Planner Dennis Byrd inspired us with the day’s project: to construct a new section of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) to replace part of the trail that traversed a meadow and home to the rare Mardon Skipper butterfly. Volunteers restored the PCT at the Hobart Bluffs trailhead by breaking up the compacted old trail, adding new soil, seeding native grasses and planting shrubbery, and then spreading hay to protect the soil from erosion. New signage alerts hikers to the follow the detour so the old trail can revert to being part of the meadow habitat. We’ll celebrate the joys of our labor when the meadow is filled with butterflies!
     Working with great community volunteers not only made this job memorable, it also improved and protected an important butterfly habitat. Thanks to: Joel Brumm, Asa Cates, Wanda Chin, Marian Crumme, Terry  Dickey, John Galego, Justin Glasgow, Jed Holdorph, Duan Mallams, David McClarnon, Barb Morris, Jim Reiland, Kristi Reynolds, Peter Schroeder, and Ian Tally.
     Mark your calendar for next September when we’ll meet up for 2014 National Public Lands Day. For those of you who like get physical, it’s a great chance to meet new friends to work on a fun project at the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument.

--Terry Dickey, Chair, Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument