Some folks out there might be wondering: What happened to the Tallowbox Trail? If you’ve ventured out to hike the trail recently and found it in poor condition, you are not alone, so we want to provide an update about what should have been a happy and successful new hiking trail story.
To explain the situation, we’ll provide a little backstory.
For over a decade, Applegate Siskiyou Alliance (ASA) has advocated for the Tallowbox Trail, a 4.2 mile non-motorized trail built on decommissioned roadbeds (fully decommissioned in 2013) in the Star Gulch watershed on Medford District BLM lands. Located in the Burton-Ninemile Lands with Wilderness Characteristics (LWC), the trail and the surrounding habitats contain relatively intact oak woodlands, mixed conifer forests, hardwood groves, grasslands, chaparral patches, and numerous small streams, including Ladybug Gulch.
Starting in the fall of 2015, during the collaborative process implemented to develop the Upper Applegate Restoration Project with both the Forest Service and BLM, Applegate Siskiyou Alliance first proposed the Tallowbox Trail. After five years of meetings, the BLM analyzed and approved the trail in 2020 in the Upper Applegate Restoration Project Environmental Analysis and Decision Record.
In 2022, we started both designing the trail on the ground, and coordinating with BLM to start trail construction. Finally, in the spring of 2023, eight years after starting the effort, we broke ground, and began construction of the trail with volunteer crews on Ladybug Gulch.
In the winter of 2023-2024, we organized with our partners at Applegate Trails Association on a series of volunteer work parties, clearing back brush on the upper portions of the trail near Tallowbox Mountain. ASA also coordinated multiple volunteer trail construction days on Ladybug Gulch, and hired professional trail builders with a grant from the Ashland Food Coop for the last mile of trail construction in the Ladybug Gulch canyon.
Proud of what we achieved, inspired by the views, the blooming wildflowers, and the grassy green slopes of spring, we officially opened the trail with a public hike in May of 2024.
From that day, word spread and residents began hiking and enjoying the trail for short walks both in the shady forests of Ladybug Gulch and on the sunny flanks of Tallowbox Mountain. Folks also hiked the whole trail through from trailhead to trailhead, exploring the larger Burton-Ninemile LWC area on the only non-motorized trail in the area.
Yet, just 14 months after opening the trail to the public, a series of lightning storms moved through the Applegate Valley that started small fires in the forests near Tallowbox Mountain, and in dozens of locations throughout the Applegate River watershed. None of these fires grew into significant wildfires, but one of the largest, the Jim Mee Fire, reached approximately 70 acres and burned on the flank of Tallowbox Mountain in both Tallowbox Creek, which drains into Thompson Creek, and the upper portions of Ladybug Gulch (a tributary of Star Gulch.
During the Jim Mee Fire BLM and the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) unnecessarily bulldozed approximately one mile of the Tallowbox Trail in the Ladybug Gulch Canyon. The bulldozing did not occur for fire containment and was never used as fireline. It simply provided additional vehicle access into the fire area. This bulldozing completely obliterated the single track trail we had just built with significant community investment.
The bulldozing did not just destroy the trail, it damaged the scenery adjacent to the trail, impacting the Burton-Ninemile LWC and its wildland character. It also degraded the riparian area along Ladybug Gulch, destroyed native vegetation and spread non-native and noxious weeds.
Rebuilt as a temporary road during the fire, the Tallowbox Trail in Ladybug Gulch was bulldozed to allow more vehicle access for fire crews. Ironically, crews were already using the open road at the top of the watershed where the fire was actually burning.
The 2013 decommissioning and full recontouring of the road in Ladybug Gulch canyon was implemented specifically to reduce stream sedimentation, riparian impacts and damage to downstream coho salmon habitats; however, the bulldozing of this decommissioned road during the 2025 Jim Mee Fire essentially undid all the good that this taxpayer funded road decommissioning project had achieved by reintroducing high levels of fine sediment into the stream channel, and into the coho salmon habitats below.
Blast From the Past: The BLM was so proud of the great work they did in 2013 to decomission the Ladybug Gulch road for fisheries restoration, that they led a field trip with the Native Plant Society of Oregon in June of that year to tour the revegetation and native seeding work in what was, at the time, a highly successful project.
The bulldozing destroyed multiple years of community effort to gain authorization from BLM, as well as to design and build the Tallowbox Trail. It also degraded the experience of those who wish to hike the trail, and enjoy the area for its designated purpose: backcountry, non-motorized recreation and exploration. By fully obliterating the trail, the recreational value of the area has been significantly impacted. In addition, the impacts to the area’s scenic and wilderness-like qualities are significant, and bulldozing through the heart of this wildland reserve is not consistent with the area’s protection, or the BLM’s Resource Management Plan (RMP) obligations for Lands with Wilderness Characteristics.
After the fire, on August 4, 2025 we submitted a 14-page document to BLM expressing our disappointment, looking at the history of the route and its closure, and the significant community investment in the Tallowbox Trail. In that letter we requested that the BLM rebuild the trail and the previously constructed motor vehicle closures as part of the agency’s fire suppression repair actives.
On August 15, 2025 after some prodding the BLM responded by stating, “Full rehabilitation of the trail will occur after fire season has ended. We plan to have a discussion with ODF after fire season to determine if other access points can be used in the future once the trail is rehabilitated.”
Again, after some additional emails and additional prodding, on November 24, 2025 the BLM again stated, “We are working on a plan for when the trail will be reconstructed. This is largely weather and capacity dependent. Once we have solidified a plan I will let you know.”
To date, perhaps a few hundred feet of trail has been partially rebuilt, the OHV closures have not been replaced, and BLM’s promise to repair the trail may never materialize.
Lets rebuild the Tallowbox Trail!
It is now clear that reconstruction of this beautiful trail along Ladybug Gulch will only be achieved through community effort. ASA is working to organize a group of volunteers to start taking on this effort by organizing volunteer trail days, and rebuilding the Tallowbox Trail this winter.
Want to join us? If you are interested, we will be hosting volunteer trail construction days on November 21 & November 28 2026. Please RSVP for more information or if you would like to help rebuild the Tallowbox Trail!
To RSVP contact: luke@applegatesiskiyou.org