The 1991 Warner Creek Fire began as an arson attack against a Habitat Conservation Area for the Northern Spotted Owl. The Willamette National
Forest quickly proposed salvage logging the arson burned wildlife sanctuary, and over the course of five years, it became one of the most controversial timber sales in the nation. Citizen scientists countered the salvage logging plan with their proposal
to create a Research Natural Area (RNA) from the Warner Creek Burn. Proposals were submitted in February 1993 and again in June 1996, but in both cases, the Forest Service responded by authorizing salvage sales. Logging plans were finally halted in August
1996 when President Clinton cancelled all pending timber sales in response to nationwide protests. In September 1997, a revised proposal for a 44,000 acre Fire Ecology RNA was submitted. In response, the Willamette NF has only agreed to a 4,400 acre RNA.
The Warner Creek Fire area represents one of the rarest forest landscapes in the Cascadia Bioregion (Cape Mendicino, California north to Bristish Columbia and west of the Cascade Mountains): a roadless, mid-elevation, naturally recovering, burned forest c ontaining both young natural stands and high mortality old growth stands. A wide range of disturbance intensities, plant associations, and stand conditions exist. Early and late serial stages following large scale fire disturbances are not adequately rep resented within extant RNA's. The Warner Creek Fire area presents a unique opportunity to study not only single elements or communities encompassed within it, but also the complex array of fire intensities and communities, their arrangement, connections, and interrelationships through time. The relatively large area and diversity of topography, vegetation, microclimates, habitats and fire effects make the Warner Creek Fire area well suited for a wide variety of research and educational purposes.
Research and educational uses of the Warner Creek Fire area have already occurred and a large databank has already been assembled. Daily fire weather and fire behavior reports collected during the suppression effort, and the Project file gathered for the Warner Project's Environmental Impact Statements, provide an extensive datapool for use by scientists. Numerous research plots have been established by state and regional universities. The area has been visited by local schools, outdoor clubs environmenta l groups and others. What is urgently needed now is formal protection as an RNA and a comprehensive research plan for studying post-fire disturbance ecology processes.
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