Rebirth, Repair, then Rebuild! |
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Behind The Scenes:
The Forest
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In this newsletter, we share with you what is happening to the forest around us post-fire and our stand on best forest management practices. |
Trillium growing through the ashes
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Summer cabins area showing burn near Breitenbush |
Forest Service Contractor working near to Breitenbush |
Decked logs at the side of the road |
Member of Breitenbush community at a log deck |
Fire killed trees near Breitenbush |
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When you drive up Hwy 22 from Salem to Detroit, and then Hwy 46 (the Breitenbush River Road) from Detroit to the springs, you are struck by the mass effect of a massive fire. Trees, hillsides, homes, businesses—laid waste. So much impact is evident along this 40 mile stretch of highway that you could become disoriented. Many thousands of forested acres are burnt, with hundreds of trees down and decked currently at the sides of the roads.
The cutting of the trees along these roads is rationalized by Categorical Exclusion, a U.S. Forest Service management practice that is the agency’s response to the emergency. Trees considered hazardous in human habitation areas are taken down immediately in order to prevent later liability. This practice is especially evident as you get near to Breitenbush. The forest has been felled for many acres around the springs because, not only was there an actively used public road system, there were 71 summer cabins on public lands in the forest near Breitenbush. All but one burnt down, along with thousands of trees. USFS and DEQ determined that most all the trees in that massive tract of land had to be cut to reduce liability. It is like a punch in the gut to witness this much destruction in what had so recently been a densely forested area in the Western Cascades.
When you enter Breitenbush property, you see right away that the burn didn’t stop at the boundary between public and private land. The fire’s aftermath is evident on much of our property. And like the Forest Service, we are responding to the hazards wrought by fire. Our response includes, for instance, dealing with all the impacted electrical and other utility lines, and removing ash and debris from 60 burned down buildings. It also includes taking down fire-damaged trees that would otherwise pose the problem of soon failing, then falling, because the fire burned their roots to death and/or so damaged their bodies. We can’t host that threat in areas where we host people to gather and walk on the paths of our property. Reality is a heavy thing sometimes.
This newsletter is a progress report about what’s going on in the forest around Breitenbush, post-fire. We present it to you not as tragedy, but as current circumstance. The forest is a magical place. Life force is ancient and powerful here, and it will prevail. Forest fire is an elemental force that also has a part to play in the great scheme of things, but it is not a disaster. Understood correctly, it leads inevitably to regeneration and rebirth in these forested lands. This takes time, and to see nature unfolding in these ways takes patience. We have that patience, and note that, just months after the burn we are witnessing the life of the forest begin to return and proliferate.
It is in this spirit that Breitenbush Hot Springs approaches its own regeneration, to be reborn into our co-op community life with our mission of service to our guests. We are patiently working through all the current challenges, knowing that we will reopen one day.
We invite your comments, your questions and most especially, your engagement with us over the next few years as we work our way through this new reality that we find ourselves in.
From our Credo: We see ourselves as guardians of Breitenbush Hot Springs, safeguarding the earth and healing waters, assuring their continued availability to all beings who respect them. Our primary service is to provide a healing retreat, and conference center which promotes holistic health, spiritual growth, and facilitates the gathering of people in celebration of the experience of life. Our Community is supported by the services we provide.
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Samantha Krop of Forest Waters
shares what Categorical Exclusion means for the forest around us.
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In recent months the Forest Service, Detroit Ranger Station, has conducted hazardous tree removal to protect human safety along roadsides and adjacent to dwellings that were impacted by the 2020 Santiam Canyon fires. In many places along Hwy 46 and in the cabin community neighboring Breitenbush Hot Springs, this has meant the logging of most of the remaining trees within 150-200 feet along roads and around structures.
In the coming months the Forest Service could also choose to introduce post-fire logging projects in areas not proximal to roads and structures. Due to a Trump-era expansion in the size of logging projects that can advance as "Categorical Exclusions" under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), post-fire logging plans up to 3,000 acres in size could advance with no scientific analysis and, importantly, no public input/oversight. Moving forward, the Forest Service can decide whether to log more in the Breitenbush watershed, or to allow nature to take its course and only remove trees where necessary for human safety.
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FS 890 is the guest road leading to Breitenbush gate |
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Safety and Forest Regeneration at Breitenbush |
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While the Forest Service cuts damaged tree stands from the roads and summer homes areas around us, we have our own safety issues to deal with. We need to keep our community and guests safe. We are taking down damaged trees on our land that have targets of paths, roads, buildings or children’s play areas. Although this is a hard decision, we really have no choice if we want to reopen and continue to provide the springs to our guests. We are replanting hundreds of trees and shrubs native to the Pacific Northwest with an emphasis on drought resistant species.
Fortunately, half of our land was spared the worst of the forest fire, thanks to the efforts of the BFD. Many large trees still grow around the lodge and near the river. We still have mature trees in the bathing area. The view of the river and mountains from the meadow pools remains extraordinary. When you look upriver from the footbridge, the prospect is an amazing mosaic of burned and untouched forest canopy.
We look forward to watching the massive forest around us regenerate, in a natural process of great beauty — first with ferns and flowers and nitrogen fixers, then young trees and shrubs with the many animals and birds that thrive in such an environment, then bigger trees, and finally mature forest again. It is a process of many years. We manage for the safety of the now and to support this regenerative process at its beginnings. We invite you, our guests, to enjoy it with us.
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Hemlocks near Breitenbush Reservoir 4 months after fire |
Deer feeding near burnt tree in front of Breitenbush lodge |
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Peter Moore, Business Director of Breitenbush Hot Springs
shares the Breitenbush position on post-fire logging.
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The Breitenbush Board of Directors has approved Breitenbush taking a stand in opposition to post-fire (salvage) logging in the burn affected areas of the Willamette National Forest that surrounds Breitenbush Hot Springs.
First, a little about fire. We live in the age of climate change, a worldwide reality-morph that is indisputably amplified by human activity. Not only is the average wildfire season three and a half months longer than it was a few decades back, the number of annual large fires in the western USA has tripled — burning twice as many acres. Increasing heat, changing rain and snow patterns, shifts in plant communities, and other climate-related changes have vastly increased the likelihood that fires will start more often and burn more intensely and widely than they have in the past.
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And yet, the science is indisputable. Forest fires are a natural and necessary part of our ecosystem. Although often harmful and destructive, especially as measured by the metrics of humans, wildfires play an integral role in nature. When a fire reduces dead or decaying matter to ashes, nutrients return to the soil instead of remaining captive in old vegetation. Fire also acts as a disinfectant, removing disease-ridden plants and harmful insects from the forest ecosystem. When fires burn up plant debris and trees, they make way for young, healthy trees and vegetation to thrive. Because habitats for plants, birds and animals are significantly altered by fire, the first few years following a forest fire bring with them greatly increased species diversity. The ultimate outcome of fire in the forest is creation of a “mosaic” effect with a variety of habitats and different aged trees, making the forest more healthy and resilient.
Depending on the severity of the wildfire, a forest may recover quickly. For larger, more destructive wildfires, active efforts by humans to assist recovery can be helpful. These could include erosion prevention (especially with regard to road cuts, culverts, etc.) as well as establishing vegetation through re-seeding or replanting. Breitenbush will actively support such efforts, both on the land we own and beyond our property boundaries.
But mostly, we support the idea that nature knows best here, and that leaving the environment alone to do its thing and heal in its own ways over an extended period of time makes best sense. Post-fire logging does not create more resilience in forests, in actuality it causes the opposite.
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Before and after pictures one year after Eagle Creek fire showing natural regeneration process |
Natural regeneration after Eagle Creek fire |
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As we know, many variables, both natural and managerial, affect forest resilience. Although we have a well developed understanding of the natural effects of fire in the forest (briefly referenced above), what we do not have is consensus regarding best forest management practices for the post-fire environment. By ‘consensus’ I mean agreement between those of us at Breitenbush who live in this forest, and the US Forest Service personnel tasked with managing the post-fire burnt areas that surround Breitenbush. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of affected forest here. Understanding the effects of post-fire managerial practices is critical for the development of sound forest conservation and management strategies—especially in the context of ongoing global environmental changes. Assessment of the efficacy of post-fire management practices on forest recovery, as a way to support forest resilience in this era of climate change, is essential. What this means for us at Breitenbush is that, given the science—that forest fires are inevitable, and even have positive benefits in the ecosystem of this area—our position is to leave fire-affected trees standing where there are no “targets” that endanger humans and their assets. We should take the long view, to observe the succession of life over time, and oppose any plans to set up salvage logging sales in those recently burned forest tracts. We will work diligently to achieve agreement on this with our neighbors and partners in this forest, i.e. the US Forest Service.
We at Breitenbush live in the epicenter of this massive Oregon burn area. We want to study it and work with it. We are a WUI, a Wildland Urban Interface. What we do on our little 160 acre tract of land needs to accommodate humans and our behaviors, as well as natural regenerative cycles, which include trees and birds and species proliferation. We’re going to put it all together in a good way. That is our passion and our commitment. And beyond our property borders we are going to advocate strongly that no salvage logging be initiated in response to this fire.
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Learn More About Post-Fire Restoration |
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Three years ago in 2017, the Eagle Creek fire burned through beloved areas of the Columbia Gorge. A decision was made not to cut the forest, but to allow natural regenerative processes to unfold in that forest area. These processes are being studied and recorded, and the data is revealing and uplifting. We’re witnessing something good here, and we offer this video, made by greenoregon.org, which records this type of restoration.
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Columbia River Gorge Fire:
Angel’s Rest Trail & Trailkeepers of Oregon
A group of volunteers hike up the Angel Rest trail to do repair work. A year after the Eagle Creek fire tore through the area, flowers and vegetation are overflowing the damaged trail.
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Thank You for Your Continuing Support |
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With winter here, we have shifted away from immediate repairs into maintenance, as well as strategy and planning for our next phases. We are a small group of workers entirely devoted to managing the springs and this little off-the-grid human habitation zone.
The love and support from people who care about this place are what keep us going. Donations that have come in thus far have been critical in our initial response. They will continue to be as we go forward and until we are able to begin serving guests on the land again.
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Let's stay connected!
Up next we will share some of our planning ideas for the rebuild
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PO Box 13249
Salem, OR, 97309
office@breitenbush.com
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Donations to support the rebuild effort are greatly appreciated and can be made here: |
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