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by Adam Pearson
TILLER — The Umpqua National Forest and the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest jointly announced their decision Tuesday to preserve the “Huckleberry Patch” as a special-interest area.
The Huckleberry Patch Special Interest Area is a 9,500-acre swath of land that straddles the Tiller Ranger District and Prospect Ranger District in the Rogue River National Forest.
American Indians once spent late summer and fall in the area gathering huckleberries for winter food. Fire suppression over past decades has allowed conifers to encroach upon meadows where huckleberries thrive in the high elevation area southeast of Tiller, said Debbie Anderson, the Forest Service team leader on the project.
The designation allows land managers to conduct projects such as prescribed burning or thinning that benefits huckleberries and maintains meadows for wildlife that need open areas, such as deer, elk and songbirds. The Forest Service will protect and enhance the cultural values associated with the huckleberry patch and recognizes the historic and traditional values of the land, Anderson said.
The area was used for many years by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians as hunting grounds and as a spiritual gathering place. According to Sue Shaffer, tribal chairwoman, tribe members and members of the Klamath Tribe of Indians still use the area for ceremonial tradition and recreation.
Shaffer said the Cow Creek Band has worked with the Forest Service for about 25 years to preserve the area as a special interest.
“It’s just simply a protective measure. It’s not about tribal ownership,” Shaffer said. “It’s been a long effort. I want to give the Forest Service credit for their work.”
The amendment allows the Forest Service to partner with the Cow Creeks in funding or monitoring projects.
Anderson said the designation still requires projects to adhere to the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan.
“It doesn’t override it,” Anderson said.
Anderson said that some small timber sales in the area are expected to occur, and proposals may come later in the year.
The decision amends the 1990 Umpqua and Rogue River National Forest Land and Resource Management Plans and clarifies direction for overlapping management strategies. Approximately 4,783 acres of the special interest area are located in the UNF and 4,714 acres are in the Rogue River National Forest.
Francis Eatherington, conservation director for the Roseburg-based watchdog group Umpqua Watersheds, said the Forest Service did a good job of combining the Northwest Forest Plan with the 1990 Umpqua and Rogue management plan to protect old-growth areas and the huckleberry patch.
“We look forward to picking huckleberries,” Eatherington said.