Long Range Plan For The Klamath River Basin ... - KrisWeb

sustained yield potential. This "untouched" condition was attributed to the rugged terrain,inaccessible timber, and lack of transportation (CSWRB 1954).Areas of public lands in the Klamath Basin were first harvested at different times.The earliest logging was concentrated on the gentler terrain with easiest access, leavingthe steeper areas for later development. In the Scott River Basin, U.S. Forest Service(USFS) records indicate that logging on public lands did not begin until about 1959. Theremote Salmon River region initially opened up to road building and logging in the mid-1960s. The Hog Fire of 1977 burned 56,000 acres in that subbasin, with an estimated450 million board feet being salvage logged over the ensuing five years (J. West, USFS,personal communication).Land OwnershipPublic OwnershipThe U.S. Forest Service manages the majority of the forestlands in the basin.The Klamath National Forest was established in 1905 and covers 1.7 million acres,almost all of which is in the Klamath River Basin. The Six Rivers National Forest wascreated in 1947 from parts of the Klamath, Trinity, and Siskiyou national forests (USDI1980). Public ownership of forestland in the basin was centered in the more remoteareas, "especially on the upper watersheds of the many full-flowing streams." Originally,the U.S. Forest Service's activities were "largely devoted to the conservation of the watersupply that means so much to the farmers in the valleys." By 1915, "large tracts" inSiskiyou County were being opened up for lumbering operations. (French 1915).Some forest and range lands are also managed by the Bureau of LandManagement (BLM), primarily in scattered blocks in the eastern portion of the basin. Theagency's records show that most of its forestlands have been logged during the past fewdecades.Private OwnershipPrivate timberlands originally developed on the more accessible tracts, whichwere nearest the two ends of the Klamath Basin with access to interstate highways orrailroads. Timber owners would usually buy up new land from their profits to expand theirholdings. Within Siskiyou County, about 600,000 acres are private timberland (SiskiyouCounty Assessor). The trend in the last decade has been consolidation of timberlandownerships. Presently, three large timber companies control the majority of these lands,while one company controls much of the lands tributary to the lower Klamath.Tribal OwnershipEach of the three tribes has some forestland within its jurisdiction, ranging from76,000 acres for the Hoopa Valley Tribe, to 3,840 acres on the Yurok Reservation, toabout 100 acres for the Karuk Tribe. Most of these sites were logged in recent decades.