Beacon Rock

Lewis and Clark passed Beacon Rock in 1905. The dense forest in this area is now more susceptible to fire due to increased drought and hot weather associated with climate change.

USFS

After making a difficult portage around the “Great Shute” rapids on November 2, 1805, the expedition continued downstream, noting the large basalt outcrop called Beacon Rock. Clark recorded that the river bottom and the mountains on each side of the river were thickly timbered with pine, spruce, cottonwood, and alder.35

Increased fire activity in the western United States is linked to climate change. Because heat and drought are more common now, stressed and dead vegetation provide more fuel for larger fires and a longer fire season. Drought and dry conditions in the summer of 2017 allowed the Eagle Creek fire to burn more than 48,000 acres along the south bank of the Columbia River, across from Beacon Rock. Scientific models project that the annual area burned in Oregon will increase by 200 percent in the future.36

Citations:
35 William Clark, November 2, 1805 entry, in Gary E. Moulton, Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/item/lc.jrn.1805-11-02.
36 U.S. Global Change Research Program, “Chapter 27: Northwest,” in Fifth National Climate Assessment, edited by A. R. Crimmins, et al. (Washington, DC: U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2023), https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/chapter/27/; U.S. Forest Service, “Eagle Creek Fire Story & Data,” accessed August 26, 2024, https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/crgnsa/fire/?cid=fseprd567631; Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, Fifth Oregon Climate Assessment (Corvalis: Oregon State University, 2021), 53, https://www.oregon.gov/highered/public-engagement/Documents/Commission/FullCommission/2021/Feb%2011/4.2%20Public%20Comment-Erica%20Fleishman%20OCAR5.pdf.

Climate Change:Lewis and Clark Trail