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The Siskiyou Crest could provide a refuge for plants and wildlife as the climate warms, but logging and climate change threaten that role, according to a conservation assessment of southwestern Oregon and Northern California.
The study examines the Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion, with a focus on the high-elevation Siskiyou Crest. Lead author Dominick DellaSala said protecting intact forests could help preserve habitat as species face hotter, drier conditions.
DellaSala, a senior conservation science associate at the Conservation Biology Institute, described the crest as a land bridge connecting mountain habitats.
“That area is so unique,” DellaSala said. “It's so important as a climate refuge to our region's biodiversity that it needs to be withdrawn from logging proposals.”
The assessment also examined wildfire severity across lands with different levels of protection. According to the institute’s summary, high-severity fire was more prevalent on managed lands than in protected and other undeveloped areas within the Siskiyou Crest subregion.
DellaSala said the findings support preserving intact forests while directing more wildfire protection efforts toward homes and their immediate surroundings.
He called for making homes more resistant to ignition and creating defensible space by managing nearby vegetation and other combustible materials.
“These intact watersheds are absolutely critical as climate refugia and then help communities reduce their wildfire risk by working from the home out,” DellaSala said.
Event- DellaSala is scheduled to discuss the assessment at 6 p.m. Oct. 13 at Dunbar Farms.
- Dominick DellaSala, senior conservation science associate, Conservation Biology Institute
