Siskiyou Peaks and Serptentine Fire and Rebirth Fiddler Mt. Timber Sale Mike's Gulch Baby Foot Lake Botantical Area Blackberry Auction Illinois River This or This

ILLINOIS RIVER

The Siskiyou Wild Rivers area, the same area burned in the 2002 Biscuit Fire is endowed with the largest concentration of wild and scenic rivers in North America. The Illinois River is the largest tributary of the Rogue River (famous for rafting) and is an important habitat for salmon and steelhead. The Illinois flows right through the heart of where the Biscuit Fire burned. This stretch of the river, a popular swimming hole with local folks, has never been logged, and is regenerating from yet again another in a series of fires that have burned across this landscape for thousands of years.

Rolf Skar leads us across a footbridge over the Illinois River. The hills behind him bear a scattering of burned snags from the Biscuit fire and plenty of live green trees as well.	This shady spot along a small tributary of the Illinois upstream a ways from the bridge was a wonderful place to cool off after a hot day in Medford, Oregon, recording the Blackberry salvage sale auction.