QDP2012/15

Klamath National Forest (KNF - Forest #05) KMB 6-8-0

The Klamath National Forest encompasses nearly 1.7 million acres of land straddling the California and Oregon border with the majority in California and a small portion in Oregon. The Forest is divided into two sections separated by the Shasta Valley and the I-5 corridor. In the mountains to the west, the terrain is steep and rugged and is arguably the most rugged in the Pacific Southwest Region. The east-side has the relatively gentler, rolling terrain of volcanic origin. Here the Goosenest Ranger District also administers the Butte Valley National Grassland, the only National Grassland in Region 5. With elevations ranging from 450 to 8,900 feet above sea level, the Klamath National Forest is one of America’s most biologically diverse regions. It is situated in a transitional region between the hotter and drier areas to the south and the colder, wetter climate to the north. At the northern boundary of the Klamath National Forest extends into Oregon and the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest extends into California in two places. The two forests are in two different Forest Service Regions, the Pacific Southwest and the Pacific Northwest and Forest Service Regions normally follow state lines with some exceptions. In this case the boundary is following the divide between the Klamath River and the Rogue River. When Regional, National Forest and Ranger District boundaries are drawn an attempt to follow drainage or hydrological boundaries so that one unit is not managing one portion of a watershed and another managing another portion. The desired outcome is to have boundaries don't follow arbitrary political lines, but those related to topographical, river and ecological boundaries. These areas contain the upper reaches of tributaries of both rivers.

The forest includes 5 Congressionally designated wilderness areas, Marble Mountain, Russian, Trinity Alps, Red Buttes and Siskiyou. In the lower elevations, you'll find park-like stands of Ponderosa Pines, while in the higher elevations, the Douglas fir, sub-alpine fir and mixed conifer stands beg to be explored. There are 200 miles of river system for rafting and 152 miles of wild and scenic rivers on the forest. The Forest also helps to meet local and national needs for timber, gold, and other natural resources. The forest is divided into the Oak Knoll (District 1), Happy Camp (District 2), Salmon River (District 4), Scott River (District 5) and Goosenest (District 7) Ranger Districts, with the Forest Supervisor's Office in Yreka.

RADIO SYSTEM

The Klamath National Forest's radio system is unique in two ways. First it has one mountain top remote base and base stations located at Ranger Stations, work centers, fire stations and such. s. The mountaintop base is at the Gunsight Peak Communications Site west of Yreka. The best information at this time suggests that this one remote base controls all the repeaters on the forest. The bases stations are located at: Oak Knoll Work Center, Happy Camp Ranger Station, Seiad Station, Happy Camp Helibase, Sawyers Bar Work Center, Scott River Ranger Station, Salmon River Ranger Station, and the Goosenest Ranger Station. There is other information that seems to indicate that Yreka Dispatch remote controls one base station at each ranger station, and the work centers at Seiad, Oak Knoll and Sawyers Bar. These are likely linked via phone lines or by VoIP. The second theory is more realistic as the rugged nature of the forest likely prevents one remote base being able to cover the entire forest.

Second, the Klamath National Forest has a separate repeater net for each of the 5 ranger districts on the forest. The Black Net covers the Oak Knoll Ranger District, the Orange Net is provided for the Happy Camp Ranger District, the Salmon Net is used on the Salmon River Ranger District,, the Sage Net is assigned to Goosenest Ranger District and finally the River Net is for the Scott River Ranger District. A simplex channel is included for each net. The R5 project/fire net is not used on this forest due to conflicts with frequency use in the Pacific Northwest Region (R6 - Oregon and Washington).

Other

The unit identifier system for non fire personnel is unknown, but is likely to be the district number, function number and position number system. District Rangers identify with the forest number (5) followed by district number. The Yreka Interagency Dispatch Center provides dispatching services for the Klamath National Forest is co-located with Cal Fire's Siskiyou Unit dispatch center located in the Cal Fire Siskiyou Unit headquarters. It is a 24 hour operation. The center's identifier is "Yreka".

Klamath National Forest Channel Lineup

Channel	Tone(s)	Rx	Tx	Alpha Tag	Description
1	7	164.175	164.175	KNF1 Frst Dir	Forest Net Direct
2	1-12	164.175	164.975	KNF2 Frst Rpt	Forest Repeater Net
3		168.2000	168.2000	KNF3 NIFC T2	NIFC Tac 2
4		167.6000	167.6000	KNF4 A/G43 CA1 P	National Air-Ground 43 CA Zone 1 Primary
5		166.8750	166.8750	KNF5 A/G08 CA1 S	National Air-Ground 08 CA Zone 1 Secondary
6	7	168.1750	168.1750	KNF6 BlkNet Dir	Black Net Direct - Oak Knoll RD
7	1,2,10	168.1750	171.5250	KNF7 BlkNet Rpt	Black Net Repeater - Oak Knoll RD
8	7	168.7750	168.7750	KNF8 OrngNet Dir	Orange Net Direct - Happy Camp RD
9	2,4,11	168.7750	170.5750	KNF9 OrngNet Rpt	Orange Net Repeater - Happy Camp RD
10	7	171.5000	171.5000	KNF10 SlmNet Dir	Salmon Net Direct - Salmon River RD
11	5,6	171.5000	172.4000	KNF11 SlmNet Rpt	Salmon Net Repeater - Salmon River RD
12	7	172.3250	172.3250	KNF12 SageNet Dir	Sage Net Direct - Goosenest RD
13	8,9	172.3250	173.3625	KNF13 SageNet Rpt	Sage Net Repeater - Goosenest RD
14	7	172.2500	172.2500	KNF14 RvrNet Dir	River Net Direct - Scott River RD
15	2,7,10	172.250	171.5500	KNF15 RvrNet Rpt	River Net Repeater - Scott River RD

KNF Repeaters

Tone	Location	CTCSS Tone
1	Oak Knoll	110.9
2	Lake Mtn.	123.0
3	Baldy Lookout	131.8
4	Ukonom	136.5
5	Orleans	146.2
6	Orleans	156.7
7	Bolivar	167.9
8	Ball Mtn.	103.8
9	Orr Mtn.	100.0
10	Collins Baldy	107.2
11	Slater	114.8
12	Paradise Craggy	127.3

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