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← Mission 16 · 54 North fuels and huckleberry
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Mission 16 · Umatilla National Forest, OR

54 North fuels and huckleberry

Umatilla National Forest

The agency files it as “54 North Fuels Reduction and Huckleberry Restoration Project”

Timing

The agency stopped taking comments on September 25. What you find still counts: it backs the formal objections from people who did comment, it goes to the lawyers on the fight, and it is the story.

What to go and check

In the dry pine and fir stands on the North Fork John Day district, photograph a spot with big old trees still standing: the downed wood and needles on the ground, the small crowded trees underneath, and any huckleberry.

The decision

The U.S. Forest Service is proposing the 54 North Fuels Reduction and Huckleberry Restoration Project on the North Fork John Day Ranger District of the Umatilla National Forest. The project aims to restore resilience in dry upland forests by protecting old trees, reducing surface fuels, reducing overall forest density, and shifting forest composition toward fire-tolerant species.

Read the whole thing, and write to the agency about it

How to record it so it counts

  1. 01Stand in the unit. Photograph the stand at eye level in four directions.
  2. 02Photograph the ground fuels: needles, brush, downed wood, with a pole for scale.
  3. 03Photograph whether a fire on the ground could climb: low branches and small trees making a continuous run of fuel from the forest floor up into the treetops.
  4. 04Estimate the share of standing trees that are dead in a circle around you, and write it down with the photos that show it.
  5. 05Photograph any evidence of past fire or past treatment.
What would count
  • Live and dead in the same frame. "Mostly green" with the photos to prove it.
  • The fuel on the ground and the way it connects upward, with something in the frame for scale.
All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide
Are you going?

Say yes or no. It tells the next person whether anyone has this ground covered, and it is the only way we know a request was answered rather than just read. You can change your mind any time, and nobody follows up.

Join, then say you’re going

Nobody has answered yet

Before you go
  1. Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
  2. Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
  3. Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
  4. Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
  5. If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.