In the meadows surrounding Crater Lake, there lives a small, graceful creature with orange-red fur, a lush tail, and a long snout. Its scientific name is undeniably catchy: Vulpes vulpes. This creature, more commonly known as the red fox, is often seen by visitors throughout the park. And, undeniably, Crater Lake’s visitors are more often seen through the eyes of the foxes.
Late May. The wind-churned forests of the central Cascades. Douglas-firs, western hemlocks; the first blossoming of ocean-spray, of tight little shoots of fireweed. Vanilla-leaf and anemones blanketing the earth, bending upward into pockets of sunlight.
This piece originally appeared in the newsletter for the Eugene Natural History Society, Nature Trails, March 2015. More about ENHS.
Oregon’s federal forests are slowly recovering. The clearcutting epidemic of the 1970s and 1980s left our state with severely degraded water quality, decimated wildlife habitat, and what little old growth that remained in jeopardy. However, for the last 20 years, an agreement called the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) has attempted to strike a new balance between logging and providing habitat for wildlife dependent on old growth forests.
The Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion of SW Oregon and northern-most California contains some of the most diverse wildflower and serpentine plant habitats found anywhere on earth. See below for plant list. At the heart of the region is the Kalmiopsis Wilderness area.
By Pam Hardy, Central Oregon Field Coordinator
The Forest Service has come up with a new idea on how to do NEPA. It’s got me worried. At its best it would mean streamlining environmental review, and getting projects we like on the ground faster. At worst, it cuts out public involvement, makes adaptation to new science almost impossible, and sends proceeds that could be used for restoration and jobs out of the area.
Medford high school student Sam Becker was bother by the presence of styrofoam litter in his community. So he did something about it!
by Stephanie Taylor, Wildlife Intern
Oregon's Wolf Management Plan is entering Phase II. What does this mean for the return of these native hunters?
One of Oregon's greatest contributions to fighting climate change could be our carbon-storing forests.
By Stephanie Taylor, Wildlife Intern
“Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of the wolf.”
- Aldo Leopold
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