The roads in question are relatively well maintained and well traveled Forest Service roads that are easily driven at low to moderate speeds. The project should be canceled because it is totally unnecessary - access to the area is already more than adequate. Why Should the Klamath National Forest Cancel the Mt. Ashland Road Paving Project at the following link: Ashland and the Siskiyou Crest hope they never do! The Klamath National Forest freshly graded and graveled these roads in the summer of 2021, but has not begun the paving portion of the project, and those of us who love Mt. No open or transparent analysis of potential impacts occurred and no project design features were identified to protect rare plant species, rare pollinator species, wildlife or cultural sites. The Klamath National Forest also approved this project with a paltry, one-page Categorical Exclusion, with absolutely no input from the public or the many local residents who know and love this beautiful place. What they have not explained is why road paving is necessary and what purpose it actually serves. Ashland Ski Area to Grouse Gap Shelter, and to the summit of Mt. Ashland and the surrounding area is already receiving significant impacts associated with heavy recreational use, and the area is already highly accessible - perhaps too accessible - by gravel Forest Service roads, the Klamath National Forest has proposed paving Forest Service Road 20 from the Mt. Ashland has become a year-round high mountain escape and is very important to surrounding communities.Īlthough Mt. A” has become one of the most popular areas in southwestern Oregon for hiking, mountain biking, skiing, snow shoeing, jogging, botanizing, camping, star gazing, dog walking, and much, much more. This demonstrates that high levels of recreational use are already impacting the area’s unique plant communities, and yet recreational use in the Mt. Ashland area that were damaging rare plant populations and creating excessive erosion. In previous years, the Forest Service has closed unauthorized “use” trails and blocked off unauthorized parking areas in the Mt.
Ashland due to heavy recreational use, excessive roadside parking, the creation of unauthorized parking areas and trails, trampling from recreational use, and significant damage to native vegetation, including some extremely rare and unique plant species found near the mountain’s summit and across its southwestern flank. Ashland.Īt times, the high biological values and recreational values have conflicted on Mt. Ashland Campground and at Grouse Gap Shelter, a 1930s, CCC-era snow shelter built at the headwaters of Grouse Creek. It is also extremely popular for backcountry recreation, including hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail, hiking and mountain biking on trails leading into the Ashland Creek Watershed and the McDonald Peak Roadless Area, and camping at both the Mt. The area contains abundant biological values, unique botanical diversity, fragile granitic soils, and incredible natural scenery. Ashland to the Grouse Creek Basin and beyond to the Upper Applegate River. Ashland Ski Area, and Road 20, a gravel Forest Service road that extends from the eastern flank of Mt. Ashland Ski Road, which currently ends at the Mt. The area is spectacularly beautiful and easily accessed by the paved Mt.
Ashland is the highest peak in the Siskiyou Mountains, and the highest peak west of the Cascades in Oregon.
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