Forests – Upper Deschutes River Communities

UDRC Area Forest Service Projects

Links to Forest Service projects in the UDRC area
Click on webpage tabs below “Project Documents”

Junction Project
Implementation July 2015
West of Three Rivers between Roads 40 and 42

Lex Project
Implementation September 2018
South of Century Drive, East of Road 45

Kew Project
Implementation September 2019
South of Century Drive, West of Road 41

Highway 97 Project
Implementation September 2020
Four-lane highway Sunriver interchange to FS boundary

Twin Project
Decision October 2021
Wickiup, Crane Prairie, Twin Lakes area

Klone Project
Decision Jan 2022
Between Sunriver and Lava Cast Forest

UDRC Forest Service contact
Jeff Crawford
Phone: 541-549-7636
Email: jeff.n.crawford@usda.gov

USFS Upper Deschutes River WUI Fuels Reduction Project Maps

Thinning work by the contractor T2 Inc. has started in December 2018 on Forest Service land between Spring River and Sunriver. Click on the links below to view detailed maps.

Overview and Detailed Maps

Overview Map Warning: large file!
Spring River, DRRH 1-5 area
DRRH 9, River Meadows, Cougar Grove area
OWW I, Beaver Rd. District, Lazy River – Huntington Rd. area
South Century Drive area
Fall River Area

Map Legend

ITM: Individual trees marked
LTM: Leave trees marked
Grey Fill: Areas to protect

USFS Upper Deschutes River WUI Fuels Reduction Project Schedule

Haner Park, Wild River, and the non-commercial thinning units adjacent to Ponderosa Pines: Small tree thinning and piling completed by November 2017, pile burning and brush mowing to follow. Thinning remaining units near Ponderosa Pines will likely begin in 2018.

UDR units near Spring River, DRRH, River Meadows, Sundance, Stage Stop, Cougar Grove, Fall River and Lazy River: Work starting sometime this Summer with commercial harvest, small tree thinning and brush mowing completed prior to summer 2019. Prescribed underburning to follow in 2020-2021.

ODF crews, Forest Service fire personnel, DOC and some great volunteers (thank you River Meadows!) have already completed thinning and piling in most of the smaller units.

Click for Project Documents

Alex Enna
Bend-Ft.Rock Ranger District
Deschutes National Forest

Oregon State University Extension: Central Fire Service Area

Ariel Cowan will serve the Central Fire Service Area and will be housed at the Deschutes County Extension office in Redmond. As a graduate of Oregon State University, she researched the impacts of fire on soil, fungi, and forest recovery.Her experience in forestry began during her undergraduate career at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science & Forestry. Since then, she has built a passion for forest health, fire history, and ecology. She joins us from the Oregon Department of Forestry where she worked as a monitoring specialist, stewardship forester, and wildland firefighter in the Sisters-Prineville area. Her work involved neighborhood fire hazard assessments and landowner engagement on fuel reduction projects. She looks forward to interacting with and learning from the communities in her service area.

Oregon State University Extension: Central Oregon Forester

Thomas Stokely is the new Extension Forester in central Oregon, replacing Nicole Strong and serving Crook, Deschutes, Jefferson counties and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. His background is in forest and wildlife ecology, with graduate degrees from the OSU College of Forestry. Click here to contact Thomas.

OSU Lecture Series Lookout: Envisioning Futures with Wildfire

In the 11-week lecture series, we’ve invited speakers who offer perspectives from across the arts, humanities, and environmental sciences to think about questions like: What can we learn about transformation from fire’s destructive and creative force? How should we live differently, both with each other and on the planet, in this era of wildfires? How can we honor fire as an ancient, rejuvenating element while also honoring all that has been lost to wildfire? To view the webinar recordings, click on Lookout: Envisioning Futures with Wildfire

Forests of Eastern Oregon Webinar Series

Forests of Eastern Oregon webinar series from OSU Extension Service. Key features of our Eastern Oregon forest types, how site conditions and location impact forest plant communities, how to identify prominent tree species, and details on about what conditions help them thrive. Click here for webinar videos and articles.

Hazardous fuels treatments show benefits

The Rosland Road Fire has provided a strong example of how fuels treatments like thinning, mowing and prescribed fires help reduce the intensity of a wildfire. Click here for more information.