Mission

Fly with members of the press, photographers, conservationists, and landowners to collect photo and video of logging projects, and inform press pieces and conservation blogs to educate the public and increase advocacy to protect old-growth.

We flew over a portion of the Siskiyou Crest, a biodiversity haven with some of the most diverse conifer forests in the world. From the air, we viewed expansive wildlands including Preston Peak and the headwaters of the Smith River in the Red Buttes Wilderness and Siskiyou Wilderness. We soared above beautiful old growth forests and the dramatic peaks of the Applegate River watershed. The high-country drains north into the headwaters of the Applegate and Illinois River watersheds, both tributaries of the mighty Rogue River, while the southern slope drains into the Klamath River watershed. It was an incredible way to see the largely pristine forest and the world class habitat connectivity between the Cascades all the way to the Coast Range near Crescent City.

These mature and old-growth forests are threatened by logging, irresponsible development, and the growing ecosystem stressors of a warming climate. The area is a regionally important connectivity corridor, a globally significant biodiversity hotspot, a critical fishery, and if the forests are left standing, both an important region of climate refugia and a climate mitigating carbon sink.

EcoFlight's flight partners are working to protect the Siskiyou Crest and advance protections for its old-growth and mature forests to protect wildlife habitat, regional fisheries, mitigate climate change, and biodiversity in perpetuity.

Click for photos from the flight. Click for geo-referenced flight photos. Click for aerial footage from the flight.