Regrowing and Renewing
Before Next
Before clean-up began. March 2022
After
March, 2025
In this valley the greenhouses have been removed. Invasive plants are being removed. Native natural grasses are returning.
Oak trees are being individually planted.
Thank you,
Roger Smith and Louis Bonham.
My neighbors: Ray, Ember, and Raven.
My Family.
Morgan Fay. And the Understory Initiative.
Everyone else.
Your name here
Six more greenhouse areas.
The greenhouses covered over thirty acres. Each area had an encampment. This operation lasted three years, and over fifty workers were living on site.
The clean up is currently around 30% complete.
Oak trees, and Ceders are growing in abundance on the property and are being transplanted to areas favorable to new growth. Mountain Hemlocks and Sugar Pines and other species of native trees that have been eliminated in favor of Douglas Firs are a priority, There is a twenty acre patch of firs. A Forrest. A diverse forest heals the very soil it grows on. Out of the 160 acres, around 80 acres are now being reforested to replicate a natural Pacific Northwest forest. Sort of!
As the property borders Drew Creek, and the East Fork of Drew Creek, logging and fires have left much rehabilitation to be done on this Salmon and Steelhead spawning ground, and home to native cut-throat trout.
In addition to the land and creek, there is also the log pond, known locally as Mine lake.
Mission Statment for Drew Creek Ranch
Nestled high in the Cascade mountains is the 160 acre Drew Creek Ranch. Originally the homestead and sawmill for the Banfield Mine, patented in 1914. The mill operated continually until 1956. The mine produced silver, copper and gold.
Basically abandoned, the property was logged, sold, burned, logged again, not replanted, and the sight of one of Southern Oregon's largest illegal marijuana plantations.
The mission? Bring the land back to what it may have looked like 200 years ago. Ideally, the beautiful camping and recreation can finance such an audatious operation.
Goals for Drew Creek Ranch
Bring friends and family together. To foster young people and their parents from inner cities and expose them to a different lifestyle and culture. To give the timber industry some good press. Repair this land.
For adventure and camping info. go to www.drewcreekranch.com
Roseburg News Review article
News Review Article about Greg Ellison and the Drew 160: