Background: The Applegate Ranger District has a rich and diverse legacy of human activities and impacts, beginning thousands of years ago and leading up to present day. Very little evidence of prehistoric presence remains, but a significant number of "historic" sites (including cabin sites, mines, ditches, etc.) are scattered across the district. In the 1950s through the early 70s, the Forest Service administered many projects that impacted a large number of these heritage sites. Because of past practices or decisions, the district has lost a number of important historic structures and features. From the late 1970s through the 90s, policy has been to avoid heritage sites that may have been within a project area. In recent years timber sales have been located in the vicinity of several of the remaining historical sites, and an effort is being made to allow their inclusion in some of the silvicultural and fuel treatments. The idea of including some of the more "permanent" sites directly within a sale area is a somewhat different and untested concept of heritage resource management. Through communication with planners and sale administrators, it is believed that protection (even enhancement!) of certain historic features can be achieved (this includes the concurrence of the State Historic Preservation Office-SHPO). The current principles of "landscape design", including density management and prescribed fire fuels reduction, allow the flexibility needed for preservation of historical features, while still reaching the objectives of the prescription.
Findings: A density management prescription, or "thin from below" treatment, was chosen for a tract of land above Glade Creek in the Little Applegate River drainage. A segment of the Glade Creek/ Sterling Ditch is located within the lower portion of this "unit". The goals of the prescription were- 1) reduce the density of trees allowing the remaining dominant and co-dominant trees to release, thereby improving the health and vigor of the stand, and, as a heritage resource enhancement measure, 2) to restore the natural appearance of the landscape to replicate the condition at the time of the ditch construction, which was more open and pine dominated, and to limit the possibility of further damage from blowdown. This treatment incorporated the ditch segment into the tree marking guidelines. Mining ditches are considered to be quite durable, however they are subject to occasional natural impacts; such as, when large trees growing within or adjacent to the feature are blown over and cause portions of the ditch to be impacted in the process. With this aspect in mind, "hazard" trees along the ditchline were considered for removal, additional trees in close proximity to the ditch were marked, bearing in mind the presence of some of the more fragile features associated with the ditch. Some of these features included stacked rock flume supports and pieces of wooden flume. The second concern for this prescription was the post logging fuel treatment. This was addressed by designating the unit for handpiling of slash and then burning the individual piles. Because of this method of slash disposal, the protection of ditchline features (with minimal risk) could be achieved by specific placement of the piles.
Applications: This segment of ditch is recognized as being eligible for the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and was formally noted in the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Little Applegate Timber Sale. Because of this designation, management activities were developed around its protection; however, the durability of the feature gave an opportunity to treat the ground within the ditch profile. Marking guides were developed bearing this in mind. A fuel treatment strategy was created, using input from the Forest Archaeologist, that met the goals for fuel reduction and also protected the ditch features. Working closely with the sale administrator was a very important aspect of attaining success. By explaining the goals to the administrator, he was able to communicate these desires to the contractors. This included the falling and yarding of timber, as well as placement of handpiles. Once the logging was complete, the fuels specialist played a major role in maintaining the site protection by closely monitoring the burning process.
Follow-up: The "thin from below" strategy and the post sale fuel treatment has been completed. The results are impressive. The ditch and associated features were left virtually "intact", and the surrounding stand of trees is more open; closely resembling how the landscape may have appeared at the time of the ditch construction, in the 1870s. Although this direct approach to logging within or near heritage sites may not always be a wise choice, this example shows that, with open communication and attention to detail, some of the more durable sites can co-exist with future "forest health" vegetation management plans.
Dave Knutson
Archaeology Technician
Applegate R.D., 2/24/99