
This area north of the Red Buttes Wilderness and includes the Oregon Caves National Monument. Like much of the Klamath Mountains it is home to unique plant and wildlife species with limited ranges in Oregon, including native Pacific Fisher, Siskiyou Mountain Salamanders, and Brazilian Free-tailed Bats.
COA ID: 102
Recommended Conservation Actions
- Acquire instream water rights to augment streamflows downstream of areas with high coho rearing densities, such as Williams Creek, to produce more fish.
- Conduct fuels treaments to improve fire resiliency.
- Ensure land use practices maintain talus microhabitat and forest overstory within range of Siskiyou Moutain Salamander.
- Improve fish passage at canals that intercept tributaries to the Applegate.
- Mimic historic disturbance regime with fire and/or mechanical treatments to restore Ceanothus Shrublands.
- Promote the development of mature riparian habitat in natural bar or floodplain areas in the mainstem Applegate River to improve junvenile Fall Chinook habitat.
- Remove small diameter conifers encroaching on high-elevation meadows.
- Restore ambient streamflow, riparian vegetation, flood-plain connectivity, fish passsage, and in-stream structure.
- Thin overstocked conifer plantations to promote hardwood understory.
Local Conservation Actions and Plans
- Conservation Plan for Fall Chinook in the Rogue Species Management Unit
- Important Bird Areas of Oregon
- ODFW Coho Expert Panel Summary
- Rogue Basin Cohesive Forest Restoration Strategy: A Collaborative Vision for Resilient Landscapes and Fire Adapted Communities v.1
Potential Partners
- Bureau of Land Management
- Oregon Department of Forestry
- Oregon Hunters Association
- The Nature Conservancy
- US Forest Service
Special Features
Previously Associated With
- 2006 COA ID KM-11 (Oregon Caves-Applegate area)
Protected Areas
- Ashland
- Craggy Mountain Unusual Interest Area
- Gin Lin Mining Trail
- Grayback Glades
- Greyback
- Jackson Campground
- Oregon Caves
- Oregon Caves National Monument
- Pipe Fork Research Natural Area
- Red Buttes Wilderness
Ecoregions
Strategy Habitats

Late Successional Mixed Conifer Forests
Late successional mixed conifer forests provide a multi-layered tree canopy, including large-diameter trees, shade-tolerant tree species in the understory, and a high volume of dead wood, such as snags and logs.

Oak Woodlands
Oak woodlands are characterized by an open canopy dominated by Oregon white oak.

Ponderosa Pine Woodlands
Ponderosa pine woodlands are dominated by ponderosa pine, but may also have lodgepole pine, western juniper, aspen, western larch, grand fir, Douglas-fir, mountain mahogany, incense cedar, sugar pine, or white fir, depending on ecoregion and site conditions. Their understories are variable combinations of shrubs, herbaceous plants, and grasses.

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats
Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats include all naturally occurring flowing freshwater streams and rivers throughout Oregon as well as the adjacent riparian habitat.

Wetlands
Wetlands are covered with water during all or part of the year. Permanently wet habitats include backwater sloughs, oxbow lakes, and marshes, while seasonally wet habitats include seasonal ponds, vernal pools, and wet prairies.
Specialized Local Habitats
- Caves
Strategy Species

Acorn Woodpecker (Observed)
Melanerpes formicivorus

Pacific Marten (Observed)
Martes caurina

California Mountain Kingsnake (Observed)
Lampropeltis zonata

California Myotis (Observed)
Myotis californicus

Clouded Salamander (Observed)
Aneides ferreus

Coastal Cutthroat Trout (Documented)
Oncorhynchus clarki clarki

Coastal Tailed Frog (Observed)
Ascaphus truei

Coho Salmon (Documented)
Oncorhynchus kisutch

Common Nighthawk (Observed)
Chordeiles minor

Del Norte Salamander (Observed)
Plethodon elongatus

Fisher (Observed)
Pekania pennanti

Flammulated Owl (Observed)
Psiloscops flammeolus

Foothill Yellow-legged Frog (Observed)
Rana boylii

Franklin’s Bumble Bee (Observed)
Bombus franklini

Fringed Myotis (Observed)
Myotis thysanodes

Gentner’s Fritillary (Observed)
Fritillaria gentneri

Great Gray Owl (Observed)
Strix nebulosa

Hoary Bat (Observed)
Lasiurus cinereus

Lewis’s Woodpecker (Observed)
Melanerpes lewis

Long-legged Myotis (Observed)
Myotis volans

Marbled Murrelet (Modeled Habitat)
Brachyramphus marmoratus

Northern Spotted Owl (Observed)
Strix occidentalis caurina

Pallid Bat (Observed)
Antrozous pallidus

Red Tree Vole (Observed)
Arborimus longicaudus

Purple Martin (Modeled Habitat)
Progne subis arboricola

Ringtail (Observed)
Bassariscus astutus

Silver-haired Bat (Observed)
Lasionycteris noctivagans

Siskiyou Mountains Salamander (Observed)
Plethodon stormi

Steelhead / Rainbow / Redband Trout (Documented)
Oncorhynchus mykiss ssp

Townsend’s Big-eared Bat (Observed)
Corynorhinus townsendii

Wayside Aster (Observed)
Eucephalus vialis

Northwestern Pond Turtle (Observed)
Actinemys marmorata

White-headed Woodpecker (Observed)
Picoides albolarvatus

Yellow-breasted Chat (Observed)
Icteria virens auricollis