|
|
|
|
|
... Now the Forest Service is in the process of designating 9,500 acres as a special interest area.Historical food: Forest Service aims to improve berry bush habitat, working with Cow Creek Indians.
By Diane Huber
Cow Creek Indians want to help preserve Huckleberry Patch - an area used for many years by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians as a spiritual gathering place.
TILLER -- American Indians once spent late summer and fall gathering huckleberries near Tiller. They'd camp until the first frost, drying the berries on a flat, hot rock to provide food for winter.
Over the years, fire repression has allowed conifers to begin encroaching in the open old growth forests and around the perimeter of meadows where the berries thrive. Left alone, young trees could eventually shade out native plants.
To preserve the Huckleberry Patch area, the U.S. Forest Service is in the process of designating as a special interest area a 9,500-acre swath of land that straddles the Tiller Ranger District and Prospect Ranger District, part of the Rogue River National Forest.
The designation will allow land managers to conduct projects that benefit huckleberries, such as prescribed burning or thinning to create meadows, which would also benefit wildlife that need open areas, such as deer, elk and songbirds. The agency could also install interpretive signs to inform visitors of the huckleberry tradition in the area.
The area was used for many years by the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians as a spiritual gathering place, said Sue Shaffer, tribal chairwoman. Families from around the region gathered to harvest berries, nuts and other foods and hunt and dry meats every year from August until the first frost.
"Those weren't the days of a supermarket on every corner," she said.
She said the tribe has been working with the Forest Service for about 25 years to obtain recognition of the area's cultural heritage.
Debbie Anderson, the Forest Service team leader on the project, said the amendment will change language in the agency's forest plan to require consultation with the Cow Creeks for huckleberry projects in the area.
"It's simply a paperwork exercise," she said. "There's nothing proposed on the ground with this."
She said some people have written comments to the agency with concern that the amendment will hand over power to the Cow Creeks.
John Whiteley, a Canyonville resident and Roseburg Forest Products employee, said he supports the change as long as access remains open. He hunts and hikes in the area, and his family has picked huckleberries there for years.
"That's what I'm trying to safeguard against -- How is this going to impact people who like to have a slice of huckleberry pie twice a year?"
Tribal members say they have no interest in managing the area.
"I can't stress enough that this will not transfer management, this is not exclusionary," said Amy Amoroso, natural resources director for the tribe. "In fact, the tribe has gone to great lengths to express to the Forest Service that we share this area with other recreational uses and that we're looking to have better management by the Forest Service for future generations of all users."
Francis Eatherington, conservation director for the Roseburg-based watchdog group Umpqua Watersheds, said she wouldn't want to see any old growth trees logged in the process of creating openings. The area is mostly in "late successional reserves," where officials must conduct projects to benefit old growth.
Anderson said the designation still requires projects to adhere to the 1994 Northwest Forest Plan and go through a standard public planning process. Current uses, such as grazing, recreation and road maintenance will remain the same.
The change will, however, allow the agency to partner with the Cow Creeks in funding or monitoring projects, she said.
The changes will likely be transferred into the new 15-year forest plan, which is set to be revised in 2008 and directs broad management goals for the Umpqua.
Today, 5- to 10-acre patches of the native shrub grow in the understory of widely spaced old growth trees. That's what officials hope to protect for everyone's benefit.
"We believe this area deserves special attention because it has both cultural interest and historical interest to the people in the area," Anderson said.
<<< Cow Creek Culture >>>