What the Fires Have Taken

 The Oregon wildfires are still burning, some of them still with almost no containment.

However, no wind, and increased humidity with lower temps are stalling growth towards urban areas, thank goodness.

The fires are taking human lives and structures and livelihoods.  They're killing hundreds of thousands of animals and birds, insects and reptiles.  They are also taking cherished outdoor trails and getaways, the beauty of which takes my breath away, when I visit.  Those beautiful places to get away from the frenzy of living an otherwise car and concrete choked life are why many people live in Oregon.  Or move here.

The biggest fires are the Beachie Creek, Lionshead, Riverside and Holiday Farm fires.  The Beachie Creek Fire is the one that raced down the Santiam Canyon, in the high wind event, destroying Detroit, Gates, Mehama and parts of Mill City and Lyons.  This fires' southern edge goes in and out of Linn County, my county.  Towns like Mill City are part Linn County, part Marian County.  On the fires western front, there have been evacuations down into east Scio now, too.

The Beachie Creek fire started near the confluence of Beachie and Opal creeks and no one knows how it started.  No one knows if the beloved protected area of Opal Creek is destroyed or not.  The Ancient Forest Center staff, of Jawbone Flats, a tiny "town" you must hike to, was evacuated.  They can't get back in there yet to see what is left and what is gone.  

I love Opal Creek Wilderness area.  The trail to Jawbone Flats and beyond to Opal pool, then back the other side of the creek is a cherished place to me.  Some of those trees along that trail in are over 1000 years old.  They have a much better chance of surviving a fire than younger trees do.  What will be left?  No one knows.  

If you go up N. Fork Road off highway 22 out of Salem, although we from Linn County cut the backroads through Scio and Lyons to get there, you would come to several campgrounds along the N. Santiam river.  I used to go to one of them, to the day use area, and spend the day along the river, swimming and relaxing.  Or I'd go to Salmon Falls county park which has the best swimming pool you could imagine but the large rock "beach" keeps it a little less used than the extremely popular Three Pools day use area farther up, and on the right branch of the forest service road, instead of the left, that leads on up to Opal Creek.

If you keep on going past Three Pools you come to a wonderful tiny campground called Shady Cove, right by the river.  There's a bridge there and a great swimming hole under the bridge with sandy beach.

How much of any of this is left?  Nobody knows yet.  My heart aches in sadness to think of these cherished places maybe gone now for whats left of my life.

A kid and his grandmother, their dog and three cats, who lived on N. Fork Road, are dead now from the fire.  The kid's mom is badly burned.

These areas will not be the same for a very very long time.  

The Lionshead Fire was lightning started and burns around the other end of Detroit and highway 22 and may be threatening Olallie Lake now, I've heard.  It burned through Jefferson park, which is a large area of the most beautiful hiking trails around Mt. Jefferson.  

The Riverside Fire is just north of the BEachie Creek Fire and has threatened homes near Molalla, Scotts Mill and Estacada.

To the south of Linn County, outside Eugene and Springfield, along the McKenzie River, from the towns of McKenzie River and Rainbow, southwest along the highway and river, Blue River burned to the ground and parts of Vida burned, but not all.  This fire crawled north into the southern parts of my county, near Crawfordsville and Holley.

To the south of that in Douglas County, just outside Roseburg, another fire burns near the community of Glide.  And farther south, closer to Medford, the towns of Phoenix and Talent were nearly wiped out by fire.  Rescues of burned animals are going on there right now.  

Nobody has been allowed in to help animals along the towns on highway 22 affected by the BEachie Creek fire.  Not small small animals anyhow, like cats.  Only farm animals and horses.  Makes me sad.

At first, the weather report had predicted the smoke might be carried away by today.  Now they say another week maybe.  The air quality is non existant in Oregon currently.   The air is so bad people are advised to go outside only if absolutely necessary, an advisory I have heeded.

Here's a cnn story on the towns of Phoenix and Talent, now mostly gone.

I have not left the house since Saturday.  Saturday I returned the four cats to the Albany colony then drove the 5th down to Brownsville.    The smoke situation doesn't make leaving the house attractive.