Priority Landscapes in the Face of a Changing Climate: The Rogue Valley and Lomakatsi Restoration Project

In 2020, Oregon experienced the Labor Day Fires, five simultaneous megafires unlike any fire situation in the state’s history. In a matter of days, these wildfires took eleven lives, burned over 1 million acres, and evacuated 40,000 people from their homes. They also swept through watersheds that provide safe drinking water to thousands of people. Only 4 days after these first megafires in western Oregon, the Almeda Fire struck the Rogue Valley, and is estimated to have destroyed over 3,000 businesses and homes and displaced 8,500 residents. Today, Rogue Valley communities continue to face some of the highest wildfire risk in the state due to many factors related to climate change, drought, and over a century of suppressing the natural fire regime.

Blue Forest strives to address the wildfire crisis through strategic investments in landscape-scale restoration initiatives. Our projects support efforts related to watershed health, wildfire risk reduction, and post-fire restoration. In the western US, wildfire risk reduction and source water protection are among the most pressing environmental priorities. This reality, along with the increasing occurrence of catastrophic wildfires, has motivated us to explore projects throughout the Pacific Northwest, and to the recent launch of the Rogue Valley I FRB.

In our efforts to build partnerships throughout Oregon, the Rogue Valley stood out as a landscape that has both a great need to reduce wildfire risk and an innovative community of partners working to plan and implement projects aimed at protecting their communities and restoring healthy forests. It became evident in our conversations with partners in southern Oregon that Lomakatsi Restoration Project is an essential partner for the Forest Service and other federal and state land management agencies to meet the region’s lofty restoration goals to reduce wildfire risk, protect watersheds, and return forests to healthy and resilient conditions.

With nearly 30 years of experience executing high level land management projects, Lomakatsi stood out as a prime candidate for a conservation finance project. This is important to Blue Forest as we work with both land managers and investors who need confidence these projects are being managed by an organization that has a successful track record and the ability to scale as these initiatives continue to grow.

Lomakatsi is a unique implementation partner in their holistic approach to restoration. Their staff has the capacity to conduct NEPA surveys, prep and layout, technical assistance, and implementation with in-house crews, as well as coordinating contractors and managing ecologically-based timber sales. In short, they are a one-stop shop, delivering shovel-ready, well-executed, financially sustainable projects for agency partners.

Lomakatsi also deeply engages with local communities, building local restoration economies to support the growing needs of the region. Through workforce development programs, ecological forestry training opportunities for youth and young adults,, and partnerships with Native Nations, Lomakatsi is preparing the next generation of land managers to steward the Rogue Valley. Supporting the exceptional work of partners like Lomakatsi is an honor and a privilege for Blue Forest