Five Years After the Flames – Chapter 3: Lessons Learned from Archie Creek
Reforestation after fire is never a one-size-fits-all exercise.
When the fire event is one of the worst disasters in the history of Douglas County – as it was with the Archie Creek fire on Labor Day 2020, with nearly 135,000 acres of timberlands burned – restoring land to productivity requires experience, cooperation and, at times, guesswork.
Roseburg’s Resources team is the best in the industry and its foresters are veterans of several major fires. Their challenge to restore nearly 20,000 acres of Roseburg forests involved matching what they knew to the varied conditions: the fire’s intensity, stand ages, debris fields, insects, hidden seedbanks and timing all shape how the land responds.
In this third and final installment in our series commemorating the fifth anniversary of Oregon’s Labor Day 2020 fires, we talk with Roseburg team members about lessons learned in the Archie Creek fire and the differentiators that supported the company’s response.
“God forbid we ever have another event like this. But if we do, we have learned a lot and will be better prepared for it.’’ – Jerry Risk
Chapter 3: Lessons Learned from Archie Creek
In the weeks and months after the Archie Creek fire, Roseburg’s quick response in obtaining hundreds of thousands of seedlings and successfully salvaging burned logs can be credited for capturing value from what was lost and speeding forest recovery efforts. Can you say that reforestation goals were achieved?
“We can easily quantify how many trees are up there based on our stocking surveys and everything, but it’s never going to be in our eyes what it was before. I mean, all we can hope for is that we can get it back to productive land – and we’re there based on our science and what we know that land can hold.’’
– Jerry Risk
“Individual unit to unit we have had different successes. Some of the first trees we planted are rocking and rolling and look fantastic … and we’re proud of those results. And we have other stands that have additional challenges that make them harder to grow trees.’’
– Connor Gowey
“Of course, the job’s not done yet. Trees grow, but they also have to be tended, managed and maintained, and the roads kept up – all that good stuff going forward.’’
– Scott Folk
Can you describe some of the challenges faced and how the Roseburg Team managed and succeeded through those challenges?
“Older timber stands with crown closure shade out competing vegetation or brush. Fire then comes through and further ‘cleans’ the forest floor. Once salvage logging is complete, we are left with a clean site ready for herbicide … which allows newly planted seedlings to flourish without having to compete with other plants. This methodology was successful in a lot of areas, particularly areas that burned intensely and killed seedbanks that may have existed. However, in areas with younger trees where crown closure wasn’t achieved, there was a massive seedbank present that we could not see immediately. Here, we saw a much larger vegetation response than we had experienced in previous fires.
“The other big issue involved stands [where burned trees were too small for salvage]. It takes a few years for the burnt trees to degrade enough to where they fall over, and although we were able to initially plant everything before this started happening, we have unfortunately had to come back and replant some areas where trees have started to ‘melt down.’ It is incredibly difficult and, in some areas, impossible to get through the jackstraw mess of blown over burnt trees.’– Jerry Risk
“There’s no bigger single safety concern for me than the transportation aspect. I mean, driving is our biggest exposure in Resources every single day. Going to and from, as well as being in the woods. But when you have that number of literal log trucks on the road, and that much work going on in a small area… That creates an extremely high hazard.”
– Gabe Crane
Does Roseburg ever use fire as a tool in forest management?
“We use fire as a tool through burning of slash piles and broadcast burns [to reduce forest floor vegetation], and have not shied away from using it. There was one unit within the Archie Creek fire that was broadcast burned in 2017 and the majority of the unit survived the fire. The areas that did burn experienced a low intensity fire where single tree torching occurred, as opposed to it being an entire stand replacing event.’’ – Jerry Risk
What would you say were the differentiators for Roseburg in its response to the Archie Creek fire? What will you tell your grandkids about this experience?
“It was a team effort across Roseburg. We were able to leverage our contractors and relationships that we’ve gained and built over the decades. Contractors coming out, helping out and being part of the solution is another thing that sets Roseburg apart from others.”
– Matthew Bliss
“We were done salvaging well before everybody else was. And it seems like we got the most value out of what we had on the ground before it went bad, Hats off to that team for all that hard work and preparedness.’’ – Connor Gowey
Archie Creek by the Numbers
Looking Back, Looking Forward
As forester Jerry Risk reflects, “God forbid we ever have another event like this. But if we do, we have learned a lot and will be better prepared for it.”
The results speak for themselves: millions of seedlings planted, over a million logs salvaged, and miles of culverts replaced. These achievements underscore not only technical success but the enduring pride Roseburg foresters take in their work and their land.
The Archie Creek experience has reinforced that recovery is not just about replanting trees, but about investing in the future—ensuring that these forests will continue to thrive, support communities, and provide valuable resources for generations.
As Roseburg looks ahead, the lessons of Archie Creek have become an integral part of its legacy. With every new tree and every restored acre, the company reaffirms its dedication to responsible forestry and its readiness to face whatever challenges the future may bring.