Restoration Update Winter 2025
WHEN IS IT OK TO KILL A TREE?
by Ken Carloni
I chose the title for this article after I posed this deliberately provocative question to spur discussion with a group of forest scientists and activists a while back. Forests the world over have been systematically managed for millennia, and fire was the only real [...]
Restoration Update Fall 2025
Back in Dec. 2023, I wrote a guest column for the Roseburg News-Review entitled Public Forests Are Not the Problem and later published it in our Spring 2024 newsletter and Restoration Blog. In that article, I cite numerous peer-reviewed research papers that refute the erroneous but oft-repeated timber industry mantra that unmanaged primary forests [...]
ADVANCES IN BIOCHAR RESEARCH: CARBON SEQUESTRATION, HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS, AND URINE DIVERSION
By Ken Carloni
Readers of this newsletter will recall a number of articles I’ve written over the last several years on the subject of biochar. I’d like to update you here on the progress of ongoing testing and experimentation in the production and use of this fascinating substance.
For those unfamiliar with biochar, [...]
NEPA is under attack!
Please comment by March 27, 2025
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/02/25/2025-03014/removal-of-national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations
Unfortunately, the CEQ itself cannot rescind an executive order issued by the President. Since Executive Order 14154 directs the removal of NEPA’s implementing regulations, CEQ is required to follow the President’s directive. However, there are still possible ways to challenge or reverse this action, including:
A Future Executive [...]
Lawsuit Aims to Protect Spring-Run Chinook Salmon in Pacific Northwest
News release:
https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-aims-to-protect-spring-run-chinook-salmon-in-pacific-northwest-2025-02-18/
For Immediate Release, February 18, 2025
Contact:
Jeremiah Scanlan, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6400, jscanlan@biologicaldiversity.org
Mark Sherwood, Native Fish Society, (503) 344-4218, mark@nativefishsociety.org
Stanley Petrowski, Umpqua Watersheds, (541) 825-3070, stanley@umpquawatersheds.org
Michael Morrison, Pacific Rivers, (707) 845-2585, info@pacificrivers.org
Lawsuit Aims to Protect Spring-Run Chinook Salmon in Pacific Northwest
[...]Preserving Oregon’s Public Lands
by Rob Taylor….
As a lifelong Oregonian, taking our public lands for granted can sometimes be easy. Oregon’s public beaches, Crater Lake National Park, the Pacific Crest Trail- all these wonders were established long before my birth- but they didn’t appear out of thin air. Our lands are constantly being fought over by various private [...]
Restoration Committee Update Winter 2024
by Ken Carloni….
Winchester Dam and Rock Creek Hatchery on the Ropes
The North Umpqua River is considered a “Salmon Stronghold” on the West Coast because it still has all of the salmon and steelhead runs historically found here. Its sister river, the South Umpqua, has not fared so well. Over a century of logging, [...]
ODFW issues letter of Non-compliance to Winchester Water Control District
Notice of Non-compliance gives the owners of Winchester Dam until Nov 17 to request a hearing.
cover-letter-winchester-proposed-order
winchester-notice-of-non-compliance-proposed-order-and-opportunity-for-con-1
Restoration Chair and Vice President of UW interview
https://kqennewsradio.com/2024/07/05/morning-conversation-7-5-24-2/
Restoration Update.
..by Ken Carloni
As another summer begins to bloom and our thoughts turn to the great outdoors, we’d like to share the projects and progress that the Restoration Committee has been busy with over the last several months. In particular, we will update you on the legal state of play concerning the Winchester Dam [...]
Restoration Update
PUBLIC FORESTS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM…by Ken Carloni
PROLOGUE
In late December, I wrote a guest column below for the Roseburg News-Review (see below) in response to the ever-increasing drumbeat of articles and opinion page letters claiming that federal forests had been “mismanaged” before the 2020 Labor Day, blaming their “lack of management” for the [...]
PUBLIC FORESTS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM
By Ken Carloni, PhD. Forest Ecology
Ken Carloni has studied wildfire for over 30 years and earned his doctorate researching historic fire patterns in SW Oregon. He currently consults on ecosystem management and biochar production. A fully referenced version of this article can be found at https://umpquawatersheds.org/public-forests-are-not-the-problem/. He will soon be offering columns with solutions [...]
Restoration Update- WINCHESTER DAM UPDATE
By Ken Carloni
Faithful readers of this newsletter will recall that for the past several years, UW has been actively involved with our North Umpqua Coalition (NUC) partners to hold the Winchester Dam owners (the Winchester Water Control District or WWCD) accountable for the ecological harm their dam has caused since they took ownership [...]
THE WINCHESTER DAM A Slow-Motion Ecological Disaster
by Ken Carloni
The Winchester Dam has degraded the fish runs and aquatic habitats of the North Umpqua River for over a century. It is currently undergoing repairs that will not improve access to the upper North Umpqua River by salmon and steelhead. The state and federal agencies that regulate dams, fisheries, water rights, and [...]
Winchester Dam Repairs Begin Despite Permitting Irregularities, Collapsing Summer Steelhead Run, and Fears of Another Fish Kill
MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Jim McCarthy, WaterWatch of Oregon, 541-941-9450, jim@waterwatch.org
Kirk Blaine, Native Fish Society, 307-299-7834, kirk@nativefishsociety.org
Winchester Dam Repairs Begin Despite Permitting Irregularities, Collapsing Summer Steelhead Run, and Fears of Another Fish Kill
2023 Repair at Dam First Since Botched 2018 Attempt Caused Fish Kill and Polluted Drinking [...] by Ken Carloni By Ken Carloni This month’s issue of 100 Valleys introduces a new occasional column on the spectacular natural history of the Baja Peninsula: Changes in Latitude. It is written by botanist/ecologist Ken Carloni who has made numerous trips to this unique and enigmatic strip of our planet over the last 25 years. Ken and his [...] A Deeper Look by Dominick DellaSala For Immediate Release, January 11, 2023 Meg Townsend, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6409, mtownsend@biologicaldiversity.org Oregon, Northern California Coastal Chinook Salmon Move Closer to Endangered Species Protection Spring-Runs Suffer Chronically Low [...]
CHANGES IN LATITUDE Super Bloomin’: Baja’s Central Desert Puts on a Rare Show
As a botanist and ecologist, experiencing a desert super bloom has been high on my bucket list, but has proved to be an elusive prize. Exacting weather conditions must be met in the preceding year, and timing must be precise to produce a profusion of synchronous wildflower blooms. Unfortunately, with [...]
CHANGES IN LATITUDE: Evolution, Diversity and Ecology of the Baja Peninsula
New Study Shows Hatchery Fish are detrimental to the Native Fish Populations
MORE ON FOREST THINNING FOR WILDFIRE RESISTANCE (OR NOT)
My wife Jenny and I are currently in Cabo Pulmo on the southern Baja Peninsula exploring the only coral reef system in the Gulf of California. As the climate crisis worsens with no resolution in sight, we wanted to take the opportunity to see it before its [...]
Oregon, Northern California Coastal Chinook Salmon Move Closer to Endangered Species Protection
Stanley Petrowski, Umpqua Watersheds, (541) 825-3070, stanley@surcp.org
Liz Perkin, Native Fish Society, (503) 344-4218, liz@nativefishsociety.org