Campfires Restricted on Wild Portion of Lower Rogue River Beginning July 9

SW Oregon — With the record-breaking heat and increasingly dry conditions, officials with the Bureau of Land Management Medford District, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and Oregon Department of Forestry Southwest Oregon District are prohibiting campfire use on those lands located within the boundaries of the Wild section of the Rogue National Wild and Scenic River. The Wild section flows from Grave Creek to the mouth of Watson Creek.

Effective 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, Stage II fire restrictions will be in effect and building, maintaining, attending, or use of a fire is not permitted. Commercially produced pressurized liquid or gas stoves are allowed. Cooking areas are to be naturally free of vegetation. Each group must have a shovel and bucket.

Additionally, smoking is only permitted while on watercraft on waterways, or on vegetation-free sand and gravel bars located between the river and high water mark.

The BLM administers the stretch of the river between Grave Creek and Marial, where ODF Southwest provides primary initial attack for fire management. The Forest Service manages from Marial and downriver to the mouth of Watson Creek.

Additional fire restrictions may be put in place as fire season progresses, and will remain in effect through November 30, 2024, unless conditions allow them to be rescinded sooner.

BLM Fire restrictions can be found at: https://www.blm.gov/orwafire.

The RRSNF website has the full Order at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/rogue-siskiyou.

Interested in more information regarding fire safety notifications and regulations on public lands in southwest Oregon? Helpful sites include:

• The RRSNF Alerts and Notices page
• The BLM OR/WA Fire Restrictions Page
• Follow the BLM, RRSNF and ODF on Facebook; and
• The SW Oregon ODF blog.