The Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest is a

United States National Forest In the United States, national forest is a classification of protected area, protected and managed federal lands. National forests are largely forest and woodland areas owned collectively by the American people through the Federal government of ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

s of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. The formerly separate Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests were administratively combined in 2004. Now, the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest ranges from the crest of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

west into the

Siskiyou Mountains The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal subrange of the Klamath Mountains, and located in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately from east of Crescent City, California, northea ...

, covering almost . Forest headquarters are located in

Medford, Oregon Medford is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oregon, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census on April 1, 2020, the city had a total population of 85,824 and a metropolitan area population of 223,259, making the Me ...

Geography

The former ''Rogue River'' portion of the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest is located in parts of five counties in southern Oregon and northern California. In descending order of land area they are

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...

Klamath Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups *Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon **Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon *Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States * ...

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civi ...

, Siskiyou, and Josephine counties, with Siskiyou County being the only one in California. It has a land area of . There are local ranger district offices located in Ashland, Butte Falls,

Grants Pass Grants Pass is the county seat of Josephine County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on Interstate 5 in Oregon, Interstate 5, northwest of Medford, Oregon, Medford, along the Rogue River (Oregon), Rogue River. The population was 39,189 ...

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, and Prospect. Gold beach ranger station photo by noehill

The former ''Siskiyou'' portion of the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest is located in parts of four counties in southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. In descending order of land area they are

Curry A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...

, Josephine, and Coos counties in Oregon and

Del Norte County ), in California , seat_type = County seat , seat = Crescent City , parts_type = Largest city , parts = Crescent City , unit_pref = US , area_total_sq_mi = 1230 , area_land_sq_mi = 1006 , area_water_sq_mi = 223 , elevation_max_footnote ...

in California. It has a land area of . There are local ranger district offices located in Cave Junction,

Gold Beach Gold, commonly known as Gold Beach, was the code name for one of the five areas of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. Gold, the central of the five areas, was lo ...

, and Powers. Nearly all of the national forest is mountainous and includes parts of the

Southern Oregon Coast Range The Southern Oregon Coast Range is the southernmost section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in the southwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States, roughly between the Umpqua River and the middle fork of the ...

, the

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...

, and the

. The largest river in the national forest is the Rogue River, which originates in the Cascade Range and flows through the Klamath Mountains and Coast Range. The

Illinois River The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...

is a major tributary of the Rogue in the Klamath Mountains, while the Sixes,

Elk The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...

Pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...

, Chetco, and Winchuck rivers drain the Coast Range directly to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Climate

History

The Siskiyou National Forest was established on October 5, 1906. On July 1, 1908, it absorbed

Coquille National Forest Coquille National Forest was established in Oregon by the U.S. Forest Service on March 2, 1907 with . On July 1, 1908 it was combined with Siskiyou National Forest Siskiyou may refer to: *Siskiyou Mountains, a mountain range in northern California ...

and other lands. Rogue River National Forest traces its establishment back to the creation of the Ashland Forest Reserve on September 28, 1893, by the

General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department o ...

. The lands were transferred to the Forest Service in 1906, and it became a National Forest on March 4, 1907. On July 1, 1908, Ashland was combined with other lands from

Cascade Cascade, Cascades or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science *Cascade waterfalls, or series of waterfalls * Cascade, the CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (a protein complex) * Cascade (grape), a type of fruit * Bioc ...

and Siskiyou National Forests to establish Crater National Forest. On July 18, 1915, part of Paulina National Forest was added, and on July 9, 1932, the name was changed to Rogue River.

World War II bombing

On September 9, 1942, an airplane dropped bombs on

Mount Emily Mount Emily (Tolowa: en-may ) is a mountain in the Klamath Mountains of southwestern Oregon in the United States. It is located in southern Curry County in the extreme southwest corner of the state, near Brookings, approximately from the Pacifi ...

in the Siskiyou National Forest, turned around, and flew back over the

. The bombs exploded and started a fire, which was put out by several forest service employees. Bomb fragments were said to have

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese markings.

Stewart Holbrook Stewart Hall Holbrook (1893–1964) was an American logger, writer, and popular historian. His writings focused on what he called the "Far Corner": Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. A self-proclaimed "low-brow" historian, his topics included Ethan ...

vividly described this event in his essay "First Bomb". It was later confirmed that the plane was indeed Japanese, and the incident became known as the

Lookout Air Raid The Lookout Air Raids were minor but historic Japanese air raids that occurred in the mountains of Oregon, several miles outside Brookings during World War II. On September 9, 1942, a Japanese Yokosuka E14Y ''Glen'' floatplane, launched ...

s. It was the second bombing of the

continental United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

by an enemy aircraft, three months after the air attack by Japan on

Dutch Harbor Dutch Harbor is a harbor on Amaknak Island in Unalaska, Alaska. It was the location of the Battle of Dutch Harbor in June 1942, and was one of the few sites in the United States to be subjected to aerial bombardment by a foreign power during Worl ...

three months earlier on June 3–4.

Natural features

The national forest is home to some stands of

old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance (ecology), disturbance, and thereby exhibits un ...

, including

Port Orford cedar ''Chamaecyparis lawsoniana'', known as Port Orford cedar or Lawson cypress, is a species of conifer in the genus '' Chamaecyparis'', family Cupressaceae. It is native to Oregon and northwestern California, and grows from sea level up to in th ...

and

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

in the Copper Salmon area.Copper Salmon Wilderness Campaign
- Oregon Wild A 1993 Forest Service study estimated that the extent of

in the forest was some of which occurs in the

Quercus douglasii ''Quercus douglasii'', known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to (and found only in) California, common in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is California's most drought-tolerant deciduous oak, and is a dominan ...

'', and

Canyon live oak ''Quercus chrysolepis'', commonly termed canyon live oak, canyon oak, golden cup oak or maul oak, is a North American species of evergreen oak that is found in Mexico and in the western United States, notably in the California Coast Ranges. This ...

, ''

Quercus chrysolepis ''Quercus chrysolepis'', commonly termed canyon live oak, canyon oak, golden cup oak or maul oak, is a North American species of evergreen oak that is found in Mexico and in the western United States, notably in the California Coast Ranges. This ...

'' occur in the Siskiyou National Forest. For the California endemic Blue Oak, the disjunctive stands are occurring near the northern limit of its range, which occur no farther north than Del Norte County. The world's tallest

pine tree A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden ac ...

is a ponderosa and is located in the national forest. In 2002, the massive

Biscuit Fire The Biscuit Fire was a massive wildfire in 2002 that burned nearly in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, in southern Oregon and northern California, in the Western United States. The fire was named after Biscuit Creek in southern Orego ...

burned nearly , including much of the

Kalmiopsis Wilderness Kalmiopsis Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Klamath Mountains of southwestern Oregon, within the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. It was designated wilderness by the United States Congress in 1964 and now comprises a total of .

Protected areas

The Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest contains all or part of eight separate

wilderness areas Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

, which together add up to : *

Copper Salmon Wilderness The Copper Salmon Wilderness is a protected wilderness area in the Southern Oregon Coast Range and is part of the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest. The wilderness area was created by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, which was ...

- * Grassy Knob Wilderness - *

- *

Red Buttes Wilderness The Red Buttes Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Klamath and Rogue River national forests in the U.S. states of Oregon and California. It comprises , approximately of which is located in California, and in Oregon.Rogue–Umpqua Divide Wilderness The Rogue–Umpqua Divide Wilderness is a wilderness area located in the Rogue River – Siskiyou and Umpqua National Forests in the Klamath Mountains of Oregon, United States. It was established by the United States Congress in 1984 and compr ...

- * Siskiyou Wilderness - * Sky Lakes Wilderness - *

Wild Rogue Wilderness The Wild Rogue Wilderness is a wilderness area surrounding the Wild and Scenic portion of the Rogue River in southwestern Oregon, U.S. to protect the watershed. The wilderness was established in 1987 and now comprises . Because it spans part ...

References

External links

*
Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest National Forests of California National Forests of Oregon Old-growth forests Klamath Mountains Rogue River (Oregon) Cascade Range Protected areas of Coos County, Oregon Protected areas of Curry County, Oregon Protected areas of Del Norte County, California Protected areas of Siskiyou County, California Protected areas of Jackson County, Oregon Protected areas of Klamath County, Oregon Protected areas of Douglas County, Oregon Protected areas of Josephine County, Oregon Protected areas established in 2004 2004 establishments in Oregon