On Friday April 9, our class of two dozen students from ENVS 330, Situating Environmental Problems and Solutions, set off early in the morning for a field trip in Douglas County in the southern part of Oregon, focusing on current forestry opportunities and challenges. Here we're at a rest area en route.
Upon arriving in Roseburg we proceeded to the Douglas County Courthouse, where we met with Commissioner Joe Laurance. Joe talked with us about his proposed ecological restoration initiative on Douglas County's federal forests.
After Joe concluded, Gary Groth and Ken Hendrick of the Douglas County Land Department talked further about the collaborative process underway to make decisions on management of Forest Service and BLM lands in the county.
Old-timers and new old-timers.
A big tree outside the courthouse.
Now we're at the Douglas County Museum in Roseburg, with tour guide Matt Crouch showing us around. Making good forestry decisions today means understanding the natural and cultural history of the area.
The wine exhibit…going all the way back.
The ever-popular reptiles.
Douglas County has more than snakes, of course: in this exhibit is the infamous northern spotted owl and its cousins.
Additional exhibits of wildlife and naturalists.
Matt took us into the basement where their preserved animals are stored.
Douglas County's land use history includes farming, ranching, and forestry, with a variety of appropriate machinery.
Railroads have played a key role as well.
After touring the museum, we headed down to Canyonville for lunch.
Now we're on the Alder Creek Children's Forest site and setting up our tents.
On a hike on the ACCF site.
In the evening we headed out for Mexican food…
…and later had a campfire.
In the morning we headed off for a hike up Canyon Mountain, about 9 miles rountrip, with Umpqua Community College biology professor Ken Carloni and forester David Parker.
Here we're on a site that was clearcut around 1994.
As we proceeded up the forest we saw a number of changes in vegetation and management over the 2500 feet of elevation gain to the summit.
We've arrived at the clearing near Tellurium Peak, the highest point on the Alder-Jordan watershed.
A view from the overlook.
Not a bad place to enjoy the view, and catch up on a bit of sleep.
Some of those who scrambled up to Tellurium Peak.
The view from Tellurium Peak is great!
Now we're heading back down…
…though a few interesting vegetation findings stop us along the way.
Once we arrived back at the ACCF site we went out for lunch to discuss our observations over the last two days, then packed and headed home.
