Rachel Lee Hall - Conservationist & Citizen Scientist for the Pacific Northwest
Conservationist & Citizen Scientist Rachel Lee Hall speaking.
Forest Under Stress (FUS) contains research and observation gathered over forty seven years while living in Southern Oregon. All photos were taken in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest past and present.
Why, each year, are there record-breaking crown fires with complete loss of habitat? This question motivated me to complete this research and construct it in a way where it is understood by all who read it. The photo sequence with explanations of each photo below them shows visually and in writing the reasons for the fires. Even though science can be complicated, the photos tell the story. The remedy is expressed succinctly in the conclusion of the pamphlet. Passive forest management (management by nature) cannot resolve this problem. A great disturbance in the forest evolved over the last three decades, causing the National Forest to lose resiliency, the reason for unprecedented wildfires, including crown fires, once uncommon.
I trust this pamphlet might cause you to consider "why" the FUS is vital. Hopefully, something relevant to the remedy is applied, even if you do not agree with all that FUS presents, perhaps something will be understood better. The impact of severe wildfires in rural to urban land gradient affects are horrific. In 2018, because of a man-made wildfire, I was evacuated from my home and in September 2020 we were evacuated two more times.
The current and past passive forest management (management by nature), why it failed, and why it will only continue to fail if critical contemporary scientific application along with sustainable financial implementation are not applied, are my concerns and I hope yours, too.
Rachel Lee Hall
FUS {Gallery}
Scaffolding to the canopy occurred from wildfire suppression combined with lack of Active Forest Management (AFM) over the decades. This created access to the canopy from the forest floor in this fuel-loading, cluttered forest landscape when ignition occurs. Upon ignition there is rapid access to the crown resulting in unprecedented crown fires, once rare, which race across the canopy creating their own weather of out of control high intensity megafires, resulting in the total loss of habitat leaving behind moonscapes. The over crowded ( fuel loaded forests ) marginalizes the maximum potential of the forest to "store" carbon dioxide through sequestration and create oxygen through photosynthesis as respiration diminishes leaving a Forest Under Stress (FUS).
This current novel forest landscape is not the historical landscapes of our parents past.
They are altered by decades of neglect and prone to wildfire.
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Forest Under Stress the Movie, in it's Worldwide release received 42 Official Selections.
9 Award Winners, 1 Finalist, Nominees and Honorable Mention during 2022-2023
Rachel Lee Hall and Michal Hall Bravo Ramírez are the creators of the short 9 minute animated movie Forest Under Stress the Movie.
Forest Under Stress is a short film about Rachel Lee Hall, a longtime resident of and advocate for the Southern Oregon forest, and her citizen scientist observations regarding the forest’s diminishing resiliency caused by the continuous disruption in the hydrological water cycle during the last three decades. This disruption adversely affects root systems, aquifer recharge, respiration and in turn, the terrestrial story, causing brownout and volatile fuel load, when upont ignition by man or nature can resulte in mega wildfires. Rachel knows, Nature will correct this imbalance with wildfire, until the fuel load is exhausted, forever changing the historic landscapes we love.
The story takes place in Southern Oregon's forest plagued by decades of competitive vegetative buildup, which contributes to chronic soil dehydration and follows a trio of mycelium fungi as they struggle to broker an exchange for nutrients, minerals, and moisture to the desperate root system in exchange for carbohydrates. Through the eyes of the mycelia, the film encourages viewers to consider factors that caused stress in the terrestrial story, which helped create the conditions for devastating wildfires. This story asks the audience to remember this clarion call: Remember, the forest is more than just trees.
Crowding Forest Landscape
What Happened to Southern Oregon's Forest in Spring 2020?
It continues into 2026-27?
The ecological disaster arrived on time. The disturbance in the natural fire cycle aided by decades of passive forest management – some call lack of forest maintenance — triggered a rapid growth of competitive vegetative mass in the terrestrial story and root systems below ground for moisture, nutrients, and minerals, while reducing filters sunlight as the canopy closed, creating a Forest Under Stress.
The very act of Passive Forest Management (PFM) or hands-off forestry is lack of forest maintenance – whatever phrase you wish to use — diminished the capacity of annual precipitation to meet the demands of increasing competitive vegetative mass above and below ground. Forest resiliency declined, becoming susceptible to beetle kill, disease, and brownout. Nature will correct this imbalance by wildfires. Wildfires do not respect boundaries or ownership. The forest is fluid; however well documented and legally defended, there are no lines.
When annual moisture is equal or greater than mass, the forest is balanced. When vegetative mass is greater than moisture, the forest is unbalanced. Straight forward: Too many trees demanding the historic annual moisture caused the soil profiles to dry out and the forest lost resiliency as vegetative mass increased fuel loading above and below ground. Old Timers said: The roots are the engine that drives the forest. However, there is a major hydrological imbalance below ground in a “duel for life” to secure annual moisture to sustain the burgeoning terrestrial story.
Prescribed fire in Central Point Costco parking lot. Escape potential? High.
Almeda Wildfires in Rogue Valley, Oregon September 2020
Rachel Lee Hall --Volunteer for Samaritan Purse
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Crown fires, wildfires, prescribed fires out of boundaries, Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) fires, flare-up plumes in Southern Oregon and wilderness fires escaping boundaries in RR-SNF, Southern Oregon.
Wildfires do not respect manmade boundaries of state/private/federal or wilderness maps.
Fires can escape boundaries, especially in untreated forest landscapes endangering the
Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).
Hardening the WUI is paramount to secure safety of property and life.
"Nearly 3.3 million tons of carbon monoxide was emitted during Oregon's 2017 wildfire season, according to an estimate by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Carbon monoxide is not only a greenhouse gas, it poses a hazard to public health." As wildfires increase, so do emissions. Mega Wildfires ( a wildfire that covers 100 thousand acres or more) release tremendous amounts of carbon dioxide and other potent greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, at the same time dehydrating and hardening the forest floor.
Wildfire suppression in Oregon 2018 was $514.6 million.
Acres burned Oregon 846,411
The biggest conflagration was the combination Klondike and Taylor Creek fires, which burned together west of Grants Pass. Combined, they torched 220,000 acres. Single suppression cost $128 million.
"The 2018 wildfire season in California is estimated to have released emissions equivalent to roughly 68 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to U.S. Dept. of the Interior 11/30/18."
Acres in millions burned nationally: Interagency Fire Center.
2016 5.5
2017 10.
2018 8.8
2019 4.7
2020 10.1
2021 7.1
2022 7.5
2023 2.7
2024 8.9
2025 5.1
2026 ???
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Salt Creek Wildfire 2024 in Rogue Valley, Oregon burned 1,000 acres in 2 hours.
Photo by: Millie Carlton-Brenner
An Avid Shroomer in Oregon
As an avid mushroom hunter in Southern Oregon for nearly fifty years, I am seasonally aware of the change in the forests where I hunt ectomycorrhizal fungi (edible mushrooms) and various other non-edible oddities. The various fungi mycelium establish a complex symbiotic relationships with the associated plants near their rhizosphere barriers root system living in close proximity to conifers, pines and mixed wood forest, etc. This relationship is known to be interconnected in a 2-way nutrient exchange, including yet to be discovered relationships and extends the root system of the forest allied plants, allowing access to nutrients and minerals (moisture is the conduit), including an extended water/carbohydrate source for associated plants, in this case: the forest floors massive interconnected root system. This symbiotic interconnectedness is critical to the whole balance of the forest landscapes resiliency. When resiliency is maximized then the potential wildfire landscapes are not a fire prone stage set for wildfires to occur.
A forest at maximum potential of photosynthesis and sequestration of green carbon is at maximum respiration.
This is critical to the forest survival to be able to withstand drought, as it simultaneously stores carbohydrates and oxygen during photosynthesis at maximum sequestration of green carbon storage the forest can "weather the storm" of low snow-budget years (historic tree rings show the history of such) and the complex eco system in the soil profiles root systems can support the demands of the terrestrial story.
Which is not the current case.
Vegetative demands >moisture.
Beginning in 2017 the fall mushrooms patches where I gather mushrooms for 40 plus yeas showed significant decline. This could be directly aligned with the overall health of the forest. I attribute this trend to passive forest management, a major contributing factor creating competitive survival during limited nutrients availability, especially moisture by the demanding needs of the dense vegetative competition. This subsequently creates a massive fuel load on the forest floors upper soil horizon for scare water availability. This thirsty fuel loaded forest floor thrives in the upper soil horizon where the vegetative mass drinks first, when moisture arrives. This reduction of moisture in the forest floor for fungi could reduce emergence during competitive drought years, including an additional stress to the deeper root system of the established old growth forest or any mature tree to facilitate moisture for the trees survival.
The photos are historical hunts in Rouge River -Siskiyou National Forest. In the fall of 2017 and 2018, I began to see diminished hydration in the upper soil profiles some fall seasons. In addition, I experienced a major decline in emergence the fall of 2018 of over fifty percent, as did other seasoned hunter/gathers in my region.
This is troubling, it can affect the forest ability to sap down for long winter months and store carbohydrates, causing seasonal loss of resiliency.
Mushrooms Under Stress (MUS)
The forest floors and soil profiles are blanketed with symbiotic connections, which are critical to the forest stability and survival. Maximum respiration, the breathing apparatus of the forest has diminished rapidly due to man's lack of Active Forest Management (AFM) over the last three decades causing fire prone landscapes. This affects vital known and unknown habitats, the survival of mammals, birds, insects, microbial activity, and trees, etc. In addition, there is compound loss of moisture contributing to cumulative dehydration form the vegetative competition for limited moisture, which is the vehicle that facilitate nutrition from the crowded root system to support the clogged terrestrial story putting the forest in a constant flux of stress for moisture. Note of importance: volatile wildfire prone landscapes.
The recent infernos in southern Oregon and future wildfires in the pipeline "waiting for ignition" will adversely affect survival of numerous species, including forest floor fauna diversity, which as it diminishes, other fauna will sequentially diminish suddenly in years, not generations. AFM will reduce competitive vegetation demands that also produce threatening fuel loading wildfire prone landscapes, which compete for moisture, nutrients, minerals and sunlight increasing loss of respiration, in turn, FUS observes increases temperatures in the terrestrial story by reducing air flow movement; however subtle due to diminishing respiration.
This also increases ( likely at the same rate ) cumulative loss of photosynthesis and green carbon storage, resulting in annual diminishing returns on the entire forest landscape, increasingly leaving brown carbon shotgun pattern f standing dead and dying s, which stores less carbon without respiration and photosynthesis causing increased temperatures that dehydrating the soil profiles. That leaves a wildfire prone landscape.
AFM is required to restore the balance of filtered sunlight reopening closed canopies from the last thirty years of passive management.
What happened? The overcrowding competitive vegetative demands could not be sustained even with historical annual moisture to support the demands, including scaffolding for access upon ignition to the canopy for crown fires. Passive forest management was applied to the whole forest landscape without regards to the consequence of these events occurring. No models were run on the consequences of what would happen when there was no AFM.
A major mistake was made by forest scientist causing loss of incremental respiration. Yes, the forests are a diverse habitat. In Southern Oregon and similar forest landscapes they will be lost by mans past management based on ideological forest science applied across all forest landscapes not regarding each unique eco systems strategic needs, which translated into thirty years of applied and enforced neglect, resulting in loss of resiliency and crown fires, once rare in the forest of I forage for mushrooms.
This is a critical juncture in time -- enough studies, time for action.
Restore Respiration to Restore Resiliency: Restore Active Forest Management
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