The south end of the Malheur National Forest, which lies in the north end of Harney County and is encompassed by the Emigrant Creek Ranger District, is a dry, conifer forest. Historically, frequent fires burned across its landscape every 15 to 25 years. Since European settlement, approximately 150 years ago, fires were seen as a bad thing and were routinely put out as soon as possible. As a result of a lack of fire across the landscape, what was once an open, almost savannah-like forest is now thick with small diameter trees, the trees that were formerly consumed by occasional, low-intensity naturally caused fires. As a result, nowadays, when fires do escape early containment they tend to become very large in size and very intense in their burning, often consuming entire stands of trees. Read more. This link takes to the Resources page of the Harney County Restoration Collaborative where you'll find the article, A Fire Tolerant Forest.

Wildfires dominated news coverage for much of September after fires erupted along the West Coast in Oregon, California and Washington. 

An uncommon weather event in Oregon just after Labor Day resulted in dozens of wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and burned about a million acres. 

Jeff Rose, District Manager for the Burns Bureau of Land Management, was enlisted to help with management support during the wildfire emergency, which included supporting fire districts and their cities as well as creating strategies and coordinating activities between fires. “The situation over there was a very rare event,” he said. “A lot of unfortunate things lined up at the same time.” Read more. This link takes to the Resources page of the Harney County Wildfire Collaborative where you'll find the article, Oregon Experiences Once In A Generation Fire Season.

Pictured: Bucket operations on the Lionshead Fire. Photo from Inciweb with credit to Joshua Clipp.

This program began in 2019 with a pilot run and it's back offering Harney County teens an educational program to help move their ideas from purely ideas to developing businesses. Find much more about this program including how to apply, HERE.

The Harney Internship Program is designed to enrich and inspire high school-aged students in discovering local career opportunities. The program aims to cultivate a homegrown workforce, motivated and prepared to pursue fruitful careers in a range of industries right here in Harney County. Find much more about this program including how students can apply for an internship and businesses can register their business to offer an internship, HERE.

There's a new blog in Oregon, The Oregon Way, and HDP's, Executive Director Brenda Smith is one among several individuals from around Oregon who are contributing entries to it monthly. Read her first submission about Harney County character. We believe this blog's purpose: "build a community of freethinkers that share a common interest in helpiing identify common ground among Oregonians in every corner of the state,"  lines well with HDP's and finding common ground here in Harney County.