Butte Falls is a small town in southern Oregon, about an hour northeast of Medford. The 400 or so residents there are surrounded by a ring of what was until recently privately owned forest. But a decades-long effort to buy and manage the land itself has finally come to fruition, with the help of state, federal and private funding - and too many agencies and elected officials to list. As reported by Inside Climate News and Columbia Insight, Butte Falls will be making forest management decisions that preserve old-growth trees, clear wildfire fuel, and directly encourage outdoor tourism. Trish Callahan is the mayor of Butte Falls. She joins us to talk about the effort and its implications for the future of the town.
Think Out Loud