Tag Archives: fire

Climate Change Adaptation in Klamath-Siskiyou Forests: An Interview with Terry Fairbanks

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TF mugBy Max Bennett, OSU Extension Forestry & Natural Resources Extension, Jackson & Josephine Counties

Terry Fairbanks is staff silviculturist for the Bureau of Land Management, Medford District, and a small woodland owner in the Applegate Valley.  In this interview, I ask Terry for her thoughts on adapting to climate change in southern Oregon’s hot, dry, fire-prone forests.

Q: Terry, tell us about your background. 

TF: I’ve been a forester for over 30 years.  I started with the US Forest Service on the Mt Hood, and worked on the Willamette and Umpqua and made my way southward.  I switched to the BLM 13 years ago.  Most of my career I’ve been a silviculturist.  I spent a little while as a timber supervisor.  I’m responsible for reforestation, young stand management and I work with the prescription foresters.  I also participate in planning efforts at the District level.

Q: What are some of your concerns about climate change in the Rogue Basin? 

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Resiliency in the dry forests of Oregon

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By Paul Oester, OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension Agent – Union, Umatilla & Wallowa Counties

Resilience is a term that is bounced around a lot when discussing ways our forests can adapt to changing environments. But, what does it mean? Basically, it’s the capacity of a forest to withstand (absorb) a disturbance or external pressure and return, over time, to its pre-disturbance state1. We all would like our forests to be resilient in the face of natural disturbances such as fire, insects, disease and wind so they can keep providing us with clean water, wildlife habitat, beautiful vistas, grass for livestock and timber production.  Continue reading →

Risk management: a way of framing woodland management decisions

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By Amy Grotta, OSU Forestry & Natural Resources Extension – Columbia, Washington, & Yamhill Counties

Risk management – it sounds like a bureaucratic job title. Nonetheless, risk management factors into countless decisions that woodland owners make. Whether you call it hedging your bets, keeping your options open, or not putting all your eggs in one basket, these are all ways of saying that you are managing risk. Continue reading →

Extreme Weather Events in a Changing Climate

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By Jason O’Brien, OSU Forestry and Natural Resources Extension – Oregon Master Naturalist Program Coordinator

The media is buzzing with reports about fire, drought and extreme heat. And climate change is often attached to these stories. But does climate science explain how today’s extreme weather relates, if at all, to global climate change? This article will highlight some of these relationships.

First, let’s review definitions of weather, climate and climate change. Weather is the state of the atmosphere at a place and time that determines if it is hot, dry, sunny, rainy, windy, etc. Climate is the average weather condition (e.g. average temperature) over time. Climate change is a change in the typical or average weather of a region or city. This could be a change in a region’s average annual rainfall, for example, or a change in a city’s average temperature for a given month or season. Under normal conditions, a range of weather conditions that deviate from averages (e.g. severe, extreme storms) can exist. Such extremes are not necessarily related to climate change.

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