APPLEGATE VALLEY, Ore. – A controversial Applegate Valley forest management project has recently been approved.
According to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Late Mungers project is designed to make the landscape more resilient to wildfire.
The plan involves 830 acres of commercial lodging and about 7,500 acres of prescribed fire and smaller tree thinning.
But not everyone is happy with the project.
George Sexton from KS Wild said there are many good things in it, but there are certain aspects that he said wouldn’t help with wildfire risk.
“There are things that are proposed in Late Mungers in addition to the old growth logging that are pretty good,” Sexton said. “The non-commercial thinning, the plantation thinning, the prescribed fire, it’s just a shame that the BLM has to use that language as a trojan horse to also include some old growth logging.”
Sexton said that the larger the tree is in diameter, the harder it is to catch fire.
He says the BLM plans on logging these thicker trees when they do not have to.
KS Wild along with the Applegate Siskiyou Alliance plan on appealing the project.
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