Day #45: Salvage Logging and the Concow Fire..

Over the past few days, I've been extending my bike range. My goal is to make it to the top of Sawmill Peak--an elevation gain of 2,200 feet and an unknown number of miles away on logging roads. I asked Angel (my dog) if she wanted to come with me today. Smart dog that she is--she refused. We went a tad far for her yesterday; she wanted to rest at home.

So I headed out. It is Sunday and sunny, which means that the ATV folks are out.

I met a family of four out enjoying the logging roads. They had come over across the canyon from the town of Magalia. My goal is to ride my bike to Magalia someday...

I had to ride my bike across a fast flowing stream...

This is as far as I made it. Sawmill Peak is behind my bike. I stopped in a "clear cut" zone of Salvage logging. A two and a half hour ride today.

If you look closely, you can see the Fire Lookout on the top of Sawmill Peak in this zoomed in photo.

A pile of Salvaged Logs (cadavers) and the torn up staging area. There are many of these torn up staging areas on this bike ride. The devastation that the logging does is very difficult to photograph. It is much worse than it appears in this photo (and subsequent ones).

Salvage logging in a clear cut fashion. This is right on the edge of the beautiful Feather River Canyon (northern branch). In the clear cut areas, the logging roads were all washed up and torn up from water run off. And all of the water, mud and debris runs down, unhindered, into the beautiful Feather River Canyon. This cut is on the very edge of the canyon.

The mountain looks as barren as the moon. And the water rushes down 1,500 feet or more to the Feather River. Goodbye trout!

A logging road that goes straight up a mountain...and the rain water is channelled down the road. In a normal year, we get around sixty inches of rain. This year is 120 percent of normal thus far. And from the condition of the logging roads, you can tell we've had a ton of rain.

The Concow Fire occurred in 2008 (the day we moved into our cabin). We were evacuated for a couple of weeks, in two seperate events. The fire burned some thirty five thousand acres--and pretty much ended at our cabin. This fire was a stand replacing "crown" fire. The worst kind.

I've been watching the forest recover over the last two years. The photo above shows an area that hasn't been logged. The burned trees fall down gradually--starting with their uppermost tips. Plenty of bio mass prevents water runoff (and the dead trees fall down in segments--almost by design). Bottom cover plants turn green. The area has had an explosion in the turkey population. The deer are doing well too.

Juxtapose the photo above, with the brown de-nuded clear cut areas. No life has returned there.

But don't we need the wood? In this recession, there is a wood glut. The mills have plenty of wood in their inventories. The Feather River is one of the more picturesque places in northern California. There really was no good reason to log this beautiful canyon area.

I found some nice raccoon tracks on my way home. This must be one large raccoon. The track is as big as my hand...

Back and front paws are evident in these tracks...