Sun Pass State Forest
Encyclopedia
Sun Pass State Forest is one of six state forests managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry
. The forest is located 40 miles (64.4 km) north of Klamath Falls
, Oregon
near the southeastern corner of Crater Lake National Park
. It is the largest single block of Oregon state forestry land east of the Cascade Mountains. The forest is managed as part of the Klamath-Lake District, comprising 21317 acres (86.3 km²) of the 33,739 state-owned acres within the district.
lands and Common School Forest Lands. These lands were acquired from two sources, are controlled by two different state entities and each has a distinct legal mandate that guides its management.
Board of Forestry lands were acquired either through direct purchase or through ownership transfer from Oregon counties in exchange for a portion of the land’s timber revenue. The Department of Forestry manages these forest lands under the direction of the Board of Forestry. By law, these lands are managed to achieve a healthy, productive, and sustainable forest ecosystems that provides the people of Oregon a full range of economic, social, and environmental benefits. The majority of the forest revenue is distributed to Oregon counties and local taxing districts. In Sun Pass State Forest, 85 percent of the land belongs to the Board of Forestry.
When Oregon was granted statehood
in 1859, it received 3500000 acres (14,164 km²) of grazing and forest lands from the Federal Government specifically to support public schools. These lands are known as Common School Forest Lands and are owned by the Oregon State Land Board. The board consists of the Governor of Oregon, the Secretary of State, and the State Treasurer. The Department of Forestry manages Common School Forest Lands under a contract with the State Land Board. The purpose of these lands are to generate the greatest amount of revenue over the long run for the Common School Fund consistent with sound land and timber management practices. In the Sun Pass forest, 15 percent of the land is owned by the State Land Board.
deeded an additional 480 acres (1.9 km²) to the Board of Forestry to expand the Sun Pass unit. In 1947 and 1948, the Oregon Board of Forestry bought two more parcels of private land which were added to Sun Pass.
In 1955, the Board of Forestry deeded 19 acres (76,890.3 m²) of Sun Pass land to the Oregon State Highway Division to create Kimball State Park
. The park was named after Jackson F. Kimball, a district forest warden for the Klamath Forest Protective Association.
In 1970s and 1980s, the State of Oregon and the Winema National Forest (now the Fremont-Winema National Forests
) agreed on a series of forest land exchanges to expand the contiguous area of Sun Pass. The state gave up a number of small outlying parcels in exchange for 4401 acres (17.8 km²) of United States Forest Service
land adjacent to the main area of Sun Pass. These exchanges completed the expansion and consolidation of Sun Pass State Forest.
rock. These layers have been cut by numerous faults resulting in lake basins and large escarpments. One of these escarpments borders the Agency Lake basin and runs northward through the forest.
The topography
generally slopes toward the south with four major topographical features dominating the forest. Sun Mountain in the northeast corner of the forest and Sand Ridge on the forest’s northern border are highly visible features. The eastern part of the forest is dominated by a large pumice
plain while lava
flows are the main feature in the northwest. In addition, two year-around creeks shape the character of the forest. Sun Creek runs through the center of the forest, and over time, has cut a small canyon through the forest’s central plains. Annie Creek runs along the western border of the forest, and is flanked by meadow lands.
, originating in Crater Lake National Park. After leaving the park, it crosses one half miles of Winema National Forest before entering Sun Pass State Forest. It runs through the forest for approximately one mile and then flows onto private pasture land where it is joined by Sun Creek. Annie Creek flow into the Wood River about 4 miles (6.4 km) beyond the forest boundary. Annie Creek is classified as a large, fish-bearing stream under provisions of Oregon Forest Practices Act.
Sun Creek is a tributary of Annie Creek. Its source is also inside the boundary of Crater Lake National Park where it supports a population of bull trout
. After leaving the park, it flows through the middle of Sun Pass State Forest for three miles (5 km). It flows into Annie Creek about one mile (1.6 km) beyond the forest border. Once it leaves the forest, Sun Creek is tapped for agricultural irrigation
; however, the Department of Forestry protects the upper reach with a “Protective Conservancy — Critical Wildlife Habitat” land use classification.
species that live within the Klamath-Lake District’s forest lands. This total includes 12 amphibians, 5 fish
, 15 reptiles, 157 birds, and 80 mammals. Many of these species have ranges that include Sun Pass State Forest.
Every five years since 1997, the Klamath-Lake District conducts a pileated woodpecker
survey in the Sun Pass State Forest to monitor the health of the wildlife habitat. The results of the survey show a stable population of pileated woodpeckers are located within the forest.
When the State of Oregon acquired the original 14450 acres (58.5 km²) of land, it had been thoroughly logged
. State foresters allowed an existing understory of white fir
to develop. Much of the area was an ideal environment for a new generation of ponderosa pine
and sugar pine
to take hold. As a result, today’s Sun Pass forest is unusually diverse compared to similar forest areas of eastern Oregon.
The Klamath-Lake District made its first sale in May 1944, selling ten cords of firewood. In July 1949, the district completed its first regular timber sale. In 1955, the Board of Forestry appointed a full-time forester to manage the state forest lands in Klamath and Lake
counties. During the early years of active management, most timber sales were clean-up logging and salvage sales designed to cull areas of white fir and remove pockets of insect infested or diseased trees. Commercial thinning was done in the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine
stands to encourage continued growth in those areas.
The first forest inventory was completed in 1959. The inventory was updated in 1976 and expanded in 1990-91. A tree improvement program began in 1970. Its goal was to introduce genetically superior seedling into the Sun Pass forest. In 1979, tree plantations were established to provide well adapted seedling for the Sun Pass area. In 1978, the Klamath-Lake District developed a long-range plan that continues to help forest managers to balance a wide range public interests in the Sun Pass forest.
Today, most of Sun Pass State Forest is covered with uneven-aged, mixed conifer stands dominated by ponderosa pine that have been shaped by selective timber harvesting. The stands include a variety of tree sizes. Clearcutting is generally limited to the lodgepole pine areas in the northeast corner of the forest.
is along Sun Creek. The campsites are cleared areas with primitive fire pits and vehicle access from the main roads.
Sun Pass State Forest hosts the Klamath Outdoor Science School program. The science school teaches students about forestry
in an outdoor environment. Students visit in groups of 30 to 50. Some students stay only for the day classes, but most stay overnight in yurt
s and continue their learning into the evening. Students are required to maintain a field journal to gather data that can be analyzed back at their school.
Oregon Department of Forestry
The Oregon Department of Forestry is the agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon which performs a wide variety of functions relating to the management, regulation and protection of both public and private forest lands in the state...
. The forest is located 40 miles (64.4 km) north of Klamath Falls
Klamath Falls, Oregon
Klamath Falls is a city in Klamath County, Oregon, United States. Originally called Linkville when George Nurse founded the town in 1867, after the Link River on whose falls this city sat, although no falls currently exist; the name was changed to Klamath Falls in 1892...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
near the southeastern corner of Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park
Crater Lake National Park is a United States National Park located in southern Oregon. Established in 1902, Crater Lake National Park is the sixth oldest national park in the United States and the only one in the state of Oregon...
. It is the largest single block of Oregon state forestry land east of the Cascade Mountains. The forest is managed as part of the Klamath-Lake District, comprising 21317 acres (86.3 km²) of the 33,739 state-owned acres within the district.
Forest ownership
Oregon state forests consist of two types of land, Oregon Board of ForestryOregon Board of Forestry
The Oregon Board of Forestry is responsible for forest policy and oversight of forest management practices within the state of Oregon. The board appoints the state forester and oversees the Oregon Department of Forestry...
lands and Common School Forest Lands. These lands were acquired from two sources, are controlled by two different state entities and each has a distinct legal mandate that guides its management.
Board of Forestry lands were acquired either through direct purchase or through ownership transfer from Oregon counties in exchange for a portion of the land’s timber revenue. The Department of Forestry manages these forest lands under the direction of the Board of Forestry. By law, these lands are managed to achieve a healthy, productive, and sustainable forest ecosystems that provides the people of Oregon a full range of economic, social, and environmental benefits. The majority of the forest revenue is distributed to Oregon counties and local taxing districts. In Sun Pass State Forest, 85 percent of the land belongs to the Board of Forestry.
When Oregon was granted statehood
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
in 1859, it received 3500000 acres (14,164 km²) of grazing and forest lands from the Federal Government specifically to support public schools. These lands are known as Common School Forest Lands and are owned by the Oregon State Land Board. The board consists of the Governor of Oregon, the Secretary of State, and the State Treasurer. The Department of Forestry manages Common School Forest Lands under a contract with the State Land Board. The purpose of these lands are to generate the greatest amount of revenue over the long run for the Common School Fund consistent with sound land and timber management practices. In the Sun Pass forest, 15 percent of the land is owned by the State Land Board.
History
The State of Oregon purchased the original 14450 acres (58.5 km²) of Sun Pass State Forest from Yawkey, Woodson, Ourbacker, and Algoma Lumber Company in 1943. In 1944, Klamath CountyKlamath County, Oregon
-National protected areas:* Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuge* Crater Lake National Park * Deschutes National Forest * Fremont National Forest * Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge* Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge...
deeded an additional 480 acres (1.9 km²) to the Board of Forestry to expand the Sun Pass unit. In 1947 and 1948, the Oregon Board of Forestry bought two more parcels of private land which were added to Sun Pass.
In 1955, the Board of Forestry deeded 19 acres (76,890.3 m²) of Sun Pass land to the Oregon State Highway Division to create Kimball State Park
Jackson F. Kimball State Recreation Site
Jackson F. Kimball State Recreation Site is a state park in southern Oregon. The park is operated and maintained by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, and is located approximately southeast of Crater Lake National Park and north of Fort Klamath...
. The park was named after Jackson F. Kimball, a district forest warden for the Klamath Forest Protective Association.
In 1970s and 1980s, the State of Oregon and the Winema National Forest (now the Fremont-Winema National Forests
Fremont-Winema National Forests
The Fremont–Winema National Forests are two United States National Forests, Fremont National Forest and Winema National Forest, that were administratively combined in 2002. They cover territory in southern Oregon from the crest of the Cascades on the west, past the city of Lakeview to the east. ...
) agreed on a series of forest land exchanges to expand the contiguous area of Sun Pass. The state gave up a number of small outlying parcels in exchange for 4401 acres (17.8 km²) of United States Forest Service
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...
land adjacent to the main area of Sun Pass. These exchanges completed the expansion and consolidation of Sun Pass State Forest.
Topography
Sun Pass State Forest sits on multiple layers of basaltBasalt
Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
rock. These layers have been cut by numerous faults resulting in lake basins and large escarpments. One of these escarpments borders the Agency Lake basin and runs northward through the forest.
The topography
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
generally slopes toward the south with four major topographical features dominating the forest. Sun Mountain in the northeast corner of the forest and Sand Ridge on the forest’s northern border are highly visible features. The eastern part of the forest is dominated by a large pumice
Pumice
Pumice is a textural term for a volcanic rock that is a solidified frothy lava typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano. It can be formed when lava and water are mixed. This unusual formation is due to the simultaneous actions of rapid...
plain while lava
Lava
Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...
flows are the main feature in the northwest. In addition, two year-around creeks shape the character of the forest. Sun Creek runs through the center of the forest, and over time, has cut a small canyon through the forest’s central plains. Annie Creek runs along the western border of the forest, and is flanked by meadow lands.
Water resources
Annie Creek is a tributary of Wood RiverWood River (Oregon)
The Wood River is a short river in the southern region of the U.S. state of Oregon, and part of the Klamath Basin drainage. It flows through the Fremont-Winema National Forests, Bureau of Land Management land, and private property in southern Oregon. Its watershed consists of of conifer forest,...
, originating in Crater Lake National Park. After leaving the park, it crosses one half miles of Winema National Forest before entering Sun Pass State Forest. It runs through the forest for approximately one mile and then flows onto private pasture land where it is joined by Sun Creek. Annie Creek flow into the Wood River about 4 miles (6.4 km) beyond the forest boundary. Annie Creek is classified as a large, fish-bearing stream under provisions of Oregon Forest Practices Act.
Sun Creek is a tributary of Annie Creek. Its source is also inside the boundary of Crater Lake National Park where it supports a population of bull trout
Bull trout
The bull trout, Salvelinus confluentus, is a char of the family Salmonidae native to northwestern North America. Historically, S. confluentus has been known as the "Dolly Varden" , but was re-classified as a separate species in 1980. Bull trout are listed as a threatened species under the U.S....
. After leaving the park, it flows through the middle of Sun Pass State Forest for three miles (5 km). It flows into Annie Creek about one mile (1.6 km) beyond the forest border. Once it leaves the forest, Sun Creek is tapped for agricultural irrigation
Irrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
; however, the Department of Forestry protects the upper reach with a “Protective Conservancy — Critical Wildlife Habitat” land use classification.
Wildlife
There are 269 vertebrateVertebrate
Vertebrates are animals that are members of the subphylum Vertebrata . Vertebrates are the largest group of chordates, with currently about 58,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fishes, bony fishes, sharks and rays, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds...
species that live within the Klamath-Lake District’s forest lands. This total includes 12 amphibians, 5 fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, 15 reptiles, 157 birds, and 80 mammals. Many of these species have ranges that include Sun Pass State Forest.
Every five years since 1997, the Klamath-Lake District conducts a pileated woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
The Pileated Woodpecker is a very large North American woodpecker, almost crow-sized, inhabiting deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific coast. It is also the largest woodpecker in America.Adults are long, and weigh...
survey in the Sun Pass State Forest to monitor the health of the wildlife habitat. The results of the survey show a stable population of pileated woodpeckers are located within the forest.
Forest management
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
. State foresters allowed an existing understory of white fir
White Fir
White Fir is a fir native to the mountains of western North America, occurring at altitudes of 900-3,400 m. It is a medium to large evergreen coniferous tree growing to 25–60 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m . It is popular as an ornamental landscaping tree and as a Christmas Tree...
to develop. Much of the area was an ideal environment for a new generation of ponderosa pine
Ponderosa Pine
Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...
and sugar pine
Sugar Pine
Pinus lambertiana, commonly known as the sugar pine or sugar cone pine, is the tallest and most massive pine, with the longest cones of any conifer...
to take hold. As a result, today’s Sun Pass forest is unusually diverse compared to similar forest areas of eastern Oregon.
The Klamath-Lake District made its first sale in May 1944, selling ten cords of firewood. In July 1949, the district completed its first regular timber sale. In 1955, the Board of Forestry appointed a full-time forester to manage the state forest lands in Klamath and Lake
Lake County, Oregon
Lake County is a county in the high desert south central region of the U.S. state of Oregon, so named for the many lakes found within its boundaries, including Lake Abert, Hart Lake Reservoir, and Goose Lake. While Lake is among Oregon's largest counties, it is sparsely populated with 7,895...
counties. During the early years of active management, most timber sales were clean-up logging and salvage sales designed to cull areas of white fir and remove pockets of insect infested or diseased trees. Commercial thinning was done in the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine
Lodgepole Pine
Lodgepole Pine, Pinus contorta, also known as Shore Pine, is a common tree in western North America. Like all pines, it is evergreen.-Subspecies:...
stands to encourage continued growth in those areas.
The first forest inventory was completed in 1959. The inventory was updated in 1976 and expanded in 1990-91. A tree improvement program began in 1970. Its goal was to introduce genetically superior seedling into the Sun Pass forest. In 1979, tree plantations were established to provide well adapted seedling for the Sun Pass area. In 1978, the Klamath-Lake District developed a long-range plan that continues to help forest managers to balance a wide range public interests in the Sun Pass forest.
Today, most of Sun Pass State Forest is covered with uneven-aged, mixed conifer stands dominated by ponderosa pine that have been shaped by selective timber harvesting. The stands include a variety of tree sizes. Clearcutting is generally limited to the lodgepole pine areas in the northeast corner of the forest.
Recreation and education
There is no formal recreation program in Sun Pass State Forest. The forest has no developed recreation sites, and the Klamath-Lake District has no recreation staff or recreation program funding. The district does issue fire permits which are required for campers. The most popular area for campingCamping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
is along Sun Creek. The campsites are cleared areas with primitive fire pits and vehicle access from the main roads.
Sun Pass State Forest hosts the Klamath Outdoor Science School program. The science school teaches students about forestry
Forestry
Forestry is the interdisciplinary profession embracing the science, art, and craft of creating, managing, using, and conserving forests and associated resources in a sustainable manner to meet desired goals, needs, and values for human benefit. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands...
in an outdoor environment. Students visit in groups of 30 to 50. Some students stay only for the day classes, but most stay overnight in yurt
Yurt
A yurt is a portable, bent wood-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by Turkic nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall...
s and continue their learning into the evening. Students are required to maintain a field journal to gather data that can be analyzed back at their school.