Additional ‘groundtruthing,’ water collection events to follow
By Lee Juillerat for Ashland.news
KS Wild will celebrate their annual dinner event Saturday, Sept. 27, at the historic Ashland Armory, 208 Oak St.
Organizers said a goal of the dinner is to “raise money and awareness around current federal lands work and threats.”
The catered dinner will feature locally-sourced food, with entertainment provided by Shine On and a program by KS Wild staff. There will also be a to-be-announced special guest speaker, and live and silent auctions. Offerings include week-long stays in beachfront condos in Mexico, coastal adventure tours, hot springs getaways, raft-supported multi-day hikes, and butterfly and bird watching tours.
Ticket sales closed earlier this week, but 10 additional tickets will be available at the door.
“So please come to the Ashland Armory as early as 5 p.m. to get a limited in-person ticket and join us for the event!” the KS Wild website reads.
Proceeds from the dinner, auctions and raffles will go directly to KS Wild.
Additional upcoming events
The group is also holding multiple events following the dinner.
A second “Groundtruthing the Last Chance timber sale” field trip is scheduled for October 8.
According to KS Wild, “the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) is barreling ahead with their plans to log the old-growth forest stands in its Last Chance project just east of the community of Sunny Valley.”
“We’ve talked a lot about the Last Chance timber sale over the past few months,” a KS Wild news release says. “It is the biggest threat to intact, functioning forest ecosystem in southern Oregon right now. The BLM recently issued a decision to process with a third old-growth timber sale, ominously titled, ‘Take a Chance.’ The units in this sale contain fire-resilient old-growth forest stands and high-quality nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for the northern spotted owl. These stands are surrounded by a checkerboard of private timber plantations that no longer provide suitable habitat, and this sale will further fragment and degrade what little intact habitat is left in the area.”
KS Wild also points to a BLM proposal of concern that would “remove riparian forest canopy that currently provides critical shade near Grave Creek.”
“These actions will impact resident and migratory wildlife, eradicate shade that is crucial to maintain cold water temperatures to support fish populations, and eliminate the erosion control these forests provide to keep stream banks stable and benefit the overall water quality,” the KS Wild website reads.
In encouraging people to participate in the groundtruthing, the group explains, “We are working to stop this destruction of old-growth habitat and cold water streams, and we want to invited you to join this fight.”
KS Wild officials also said 13 people volunteered to collect water samples at 15 locations for the 2025 Water Quality Monitoring program. Special thanks were given to Kathryn Connelly, who again served as the Rogue Riverkeeper Water Quality Program Technician. She performed analyses for more than 140 samples at recreation sites and other Rogue Basin locations this summer. KS Wild depends on donations to employ a technician and operate the lab.
For more information on KS Wild events, visit their website at www.kswild.org or call 541-488-5789. The group’s mission is “to protect and restore wild nature in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southwest Oregon and northwest California.”
Email freelance writer Lee Juillerat at 337lee337@charter.net.
