Profiting from wilderness means protecting natural treasures

Oregon Wild board member Susan Applegate explores the value in protecting Oregon's wildlands.

We live in a changing, dynamic world, where in Douglas County lumber production is no longer the largest employer for our workers. With increasing job diversity, local employment includes many who work on computers from home. My grandparents would be shocked to see people instantly accessing one another, as well as global information, in mere seconds. Equally shocking would be the replacement of many family farms with housing developments. While farms and resource-extraction industries, like mining and logging, are expected to continue to decline in overall employment, hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, photography and other wildlife-related recreation is expected to continue to grow, adding substantially to the county's income. In 2006, Oregon took in $1.9 billion in wildlife related recreation, and that number continues to rise.

With greater employment diversity comes an associated diverse response and appreciation of our environment. Our greatest regional attraction is our beautiful Umpqua River. Her higher Cascade back-country reaches attract visitors from all over the world, many to witness the wonder of Crater Lake and others to hike the undeveloped wilder areas like Bulldog Rock, Twin Lakes or the South Umpqua's Last Creek roadless area. Each visitor brings dollars into our communities.

Placing some of these uniquely special roadless areas into wilderness will guarantee their protection from human encroachment and preserve them as living legacies of the Oregon our ancestors knew, as we race headlong into an uncertain future. Wilderness can be thought of as a wellspring of original forest DNA, where the compatibility of relationships is less likely to be lost to extinction. Wilderness designation promises an authentic wilderness experience, which is what more and more people are searching for in their freedom from the daily grind.

When I read The News Review letters, I am struck by the success of corporate America's paid voices who tout anti-science, anti-global climate change rhetoric in order to delay responses to the very real threats of such massive changes taking place. Most of the industrialized world recognizes global warming as currently happening. Already, there is developing a global market for carbon sequestration offsets.

A recent study published by the Wilderness Society has ranked the Umpqua National Forest third in carbon sequestration within the entire United States. What that means is that the old growth forests in our roadless areas are some of the best in storing carbon. Here are some facts that have been substantiated by best science: old forests store far more carbon than young forests; mature forests cannot be converted into young forests without losing most of the carbon to the atmosphere; the Pacific Northwest temperate rain forests can attain the greatest biomass/acre of any ecosystem on earth; carbon is stored more securely in long-lived forests than in short-lived wood products; carbon release from logging is far greater than release through natural fires.

Carbon sequestration is like money in the bank, and could translate into a lucrative asset for our county's budget. With a growing global carbon trading market and the will of Congress, Douglas County could, in the future, receive significant dividends from carbon sequestration by securing our best and oldest forest areas as wilderness.

When we see the longer growing seasons and the milder winters and hotter summers, we realize we are experiencing some effects of global climate change. Our water resources are being challenged. Douglas County was included in the areas declared in a drought condition by the state of Oregon in March. Wilderness protection offers the best reserve for increased water levels and water quality. Hydrologists have long acknowledged that ancient forests trap moisture from mist, rain, snow and dew in the mossy duff, roots, and downed logs. Acting like a sponge, the downed debris slowly releases water into streams, creeks and rivers throughout the dry summer and autumn months. With stress placed upon our forest ecosystems from global climate change and demands from population growth, slow release of water is essential for stemming drought.

Fishermen come from all over the world to fish the famous North Umpqua River. The numbers of dollars spent on this prized fishery is not to be discounted. The Native Fish Society of Douglas County estimates that each angler who visits the Umpqua spends from $400 to $500 per fish caught.

Loss of fish habitat directly impacts the economy of Douglas County.

Investing in our future means we need to make certain that we conserve our water resources, while protecting and enhancing our wildlife habitat. Green industries of the future will select areas successful in protecting the best and restoring the rest of their local natural environment. Douglas County is situated to provide just that for our short- and long-term economic future, for our wildlife, our grandchildren, and our faucets.

Susan Applegate is an artist and educator living on her family farm near Yoncalla. She is currently a board member of Oregon Wild and a member of the “Wild On Wilderness” committee of the Umpqua Watersheds conservation organization, which is based in Roseburg. She can be reached at susapple@centurytel.net.