The Applegate Partnership has come a long way in the 27 years since a group of landowners, industry managers and public land managers began a collaborative process to discuss and improve upon the management of the proposed 1992 Blue Foot timber sale in the Humbug Creek area. This collaboration successfully repurposed a clear-cut into a more ecologically based harvest prescription, without reducing the volume of timber. Where are we today? Working with different staff, but using very similar principles; develop, plan and implement mutually beneficial projects that create winning solutions for the landowners, the public land users and our community economics.

The APWC has ebbed and flowed within the community over the last 25 years, but the current 4 person staff and 11 board members are striving to make our mark in the community by building positive relationships through successful projects. In 2018, after four years of development and design work the APWC implemented the Forest Creek Fish Passage Project in Ruch, Oregon. This project was designed by Cascade Stream Solutions to create a new stream channel, remove half of the 1950’s-built concrete dam and stabilized the streambank to protect the landowner’s infrastructure on the property. We worked with the property leasee Tom Maddox, 4M Timber, on the construction of the project and have continued to contract with him on other projects, finding
his professionalism, thoughtfulness, equipment operation and insight into the community to be an asset to this organization.

Also in 2018 through the help of RBP’s Fish Passage Program the APWC was able to complete stakeholder and technical assistance grants that have led to the development of 13 fish passage improvement projects on the mainstem Applegate River, Little Applegate River, Williams Creek, mainstem Evans Creek, Sykes Creek (a tributary of Evans Creek) and a large wood project in the West Fork of Evans Creek that spans 11 miles and multiple partners.

The APWC board members have long been leaders in upland work in the Applegate and Rogue Basins, as seen in our earliest work. We are now beginning to investigate and develop opportunities to use prescribed fire on our landscapes as a tool to reduce wildfire. For more information please visit our website, http://www.apwc.info/prescribed-burning. We have a questionnaire available on the website and an article by Aaron Krikava, a long-time board member.

The APWC has been lucky to have great partners and funders and looks forward to continuing the work we have begun.