Respect bird-nesting time

I’m not a birder or a member of any Audubon Society, but Pepper Trail’s Guest Column in the May 23 paper made a lot of sense.

This is absolutely the wrong time of the year to be doing heavy equipment snag removal and deadwood clearing along the Greenway. This extensive ground disturbance, with its accompanying noise, should definitely not be happening during the height of the nesting season of our birds.

Please pause it for a period of time and allow our birds and nature to survive. And leave a few snags.

Sally Smith / Medford

Thank you for controlled burns

Just wanted to express gratitude to the fire crews and managers conducting controlled burns in the watershed.

In recent days, large columns of smoke rose up from the mountains near Wagner Butte, giving a clue to the amount of work being done to improve the health of the forest and reduce fire hazards.

Everyone involved did a great job of planning and carrying out the work as we hardly had any smoke impacts down in the valley.

Thanks for the good work.

Manny De Aquino / Ashland

Event benefits river causes

The Rogue River Watershed Council thanks everyone who participated in our “Celebrate the Rogue!” fundraising event at the Ashland Hills Hotel on May 11. We are particularly appreciative of Martin Outdoor Property Group’s title sponsorship.

Community members and businesses contributed $62,525 to the council during the event.

We will invest this income back into the region by generating and implementing ecological restoration projects to improve water quality and stream and stream-side habitat for the benefit of wildlife, communities, residents, and visitors.

We encourage community members to learn more about our efforts to enhance resilience in Rogue River watersheds by visiting our rogueriverwc.org, or exploring one of our project sites.

The weather is spectacular — I hope you get out soon to celebrate the Rogue in your own way.

Brian Barr / Central Point

Executive Director, Rogue River Watershed Council