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Mission
Restore ecosystems and the sustainability of communities, cultures, and economies.
Jacksonville Community Wildfire Protection Project
Update – February 2025
Attention Jacksonville: Please pardon our noise and some brief trail closures around the Jacksonville Woodlands in February
Beginning in February, Lomakatsi Restoration Project will continue ecological and community resilience work in the Jacksonville Woodlands as part of the Jacksonville Community Wildfire Protection Project. Beginning as early as the week of February 3, 2025, a Lomakatsi inter-tribal crew will be working on Bureau of Land Management (BLM)-administered land within the Woodlands Trail System, between Hwy 238 and S Oregon Street.
Over approximately two weeks, the inter-tribal crew—comprised of representatives from seven Tribal Nations throughout the region—will accomplish ecological fuels reduction on six acres of overly dense shrubs, piling slash for future controlled pile burning. The crew will also be preparing a 17-acre area for a future prescribed understory burn by digging containment line, and raking needles and duff away from trees, signage, and other sensitive areas.
What to expect
Nearby residents and trail system visitors may hear chainsaw noises. There may also be brief trail closures when there is cutting close to trails – particularly near where the Oregon Trail connects with S Oregon Street extending to Panorama Point.
About the project
The Jacksonville Community Wildfire Protection Project is a strategic, ecologically minded collaboration to help reduce the threat of wildfire within and adjacent to specific areas of Jacksonville. Partners include Lomakatsi Restoration Project, City of Jacksonville, Jacksonville Woodlands Association, Jacksonville Fire Department, local FireWise communities, and members of Rogue Forest Partners including the local OSU Extension, and Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative.
Partners have raised over $1.5 million to complete 725 acres of ecological fuels reduction—400 of which are already complete—and prescribed fire within and adjacent to the City of Jacksonville. The February 2025 phase of work described above is funded through a tribal workforce development partnership between Lomakatsi and BLM, with grant awards to Lomakatsi from the BLM, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Oregon Conservation Corps. Fundraising for the remaining project acres is ongoing. Learn more at lomakatsi.org/jacksonville.
The Jacksonville project is located within the footprint of the greater West Bear All-Lands Restoration Project, which spans 27,000 acres of the wildland urban interface west of Bear Creek and the I-5 corridor from Talent to Jacksonville. Learn more about the West Bear Project and Rogue Forest Partners at rogueforestpartners.org.
Why prescribed fire
Partners are excited for the opportunity to bring prescribed fire to the Britt Woods and Jacksonville Woodlands. Regular fire from lightening and indigenous burning has shaped the dry forest ecosystems of Southern Oregon for millennia. Low intensity fire, when carefully applied under exacting conditions, brings many ecological benefits and substantially reduces the risk of severe wildfire to the community and the ecosystem. Prescribed fire is also the most cost effective method of maintaining forest health and ecological fuels reduction treatments over time. Prescribed fire operations will be conducted by highly experienced professionals under exacting weather conditions.
Sign up for notifications
Text “RFP Update” to (541) 843-8484 to receive periodic updates about the Jacksonville Community Wildfire Protection Project – particularly when prescribed fire events are planned – and other restoration efforts in the Rogue Valley, from Lomakatsi and Rogue Forest Partners.