February 1992: Members of the Inter-Disciplinary Team (IDT) and Public Participation Group (PPG) for the Warner Fire Recovery Project discuss the potential for managing the Warner Burn as a no-harvest natural fire recovery research area.

August 1992: Majority of the PPG advocates the inclusion of a Research Natural Area (RNA) alternative in the Warner DEIS, and asks the Decisionmaker, Darrel Kenops, to select the No Action Alternative in order to preserve the RNA option.

October 1992 to February 1993: Willamette releases the DEIS, and during the public comment period, scientists from across thePacific Northwest send letters to Darrel Kenops urging inclusion of an RNA Alternative in the Warner Fire Recovery Project.

January 1993: Darrel Kenops meets with scientists from Oregon State University and the PNW Research Station and discussesthe possibility of designating an RNA in the Warner Burn.

January 1993: PNW Research Station Director, CharlesPhilpot, sends memorandum to Darrel Kenops extolling the researchopportunities in the Warner Burn and urging an RNA assessment bedone.

February 1993: Members of the PPG and localcitizen-scientists present "Alternative EF: Ecology of Fire" toDarrel Kenops as official comments on the DEIS. Alternative EFproposes the agency manage the entire Warner Burn as a naturalrecovery research area for later establishment as a Fire EcologyRNA.

March 1993: The RNA Coordinators for the Regional Office andthe Willamette and Siuslaw Forests send a memo to Darrel Kenopsproviding rationale for an RNA in the Warner Burn. They produce a mapwith three different boundary options for the RNA, including one thatventures outside the fire perimeter in order to protect the BlackCreek bog and achieve unbroken landscape flows from creek toridge.

Spring 1993: The Oregon Natural Heritage Advisory Boardrecommends a revision of the Oregon Natural Heritage Plan to includeRNAs where natural fire recovery processes are occurring.

August 1993: Darrel Kenops agrees to include Alternative EFin the Warner FEIS. Primary authors Timothy Ingalsbee, Catia Juliana,and Jim Green collaborate with Pacific Northwest scientists and theWarner IDT to provide the complete alternative description, fireprescription zones, and map.

October 1993: Alternative EF is published in the Warner FireRecovery Project FEIS. Alternative EF proposes the entire 8,900 acreBurn to be established as an RNA for the research and restoration ofnatural fire recovery patterns and processes. However, AlternativeLNSA is selected as the final recovery plan in the Warner FireRecovery Project ROD. Alternative LNSA sets aside a 4,200 acre"Natural Succession Area," to be considered later for possible futuredesignation as an RNA.

June 1996: The Cascadia Fire Ecology Education Project(CFEEP) submits a formal proposal for a Warner Fire Ecology RNA tothe Region Six RNA Coordinator. The proposal expands the RNAboundaries beyond the Warner Fire perimeter in order to includeadjacent unburned forest and protect Kelsey ridge and the Black Creekbog.

July to August 1996: In response to nationwide protests,President Clinton orders the Warner Salvage Sale to be withdrawn, andthe Willamette puts the Warner Fire Recovery Project on permanenthold.

August 1996: Governor Kitzhaber writes personal letter to CFEEPstating, "I am interested in your proposal to create a ResearchNatural Area in the Warner Creek Fire area. I am hopeful you and yourorganization will work constructively with the Forest Service toshape such a proposal."

September 1997: Jim Green formally presents a new RNAdocument, dubbed the "W.A.R.N.E.R." proposal, representing acollaboration amongst agency and academic fire ecologists andcitizen-scientists from throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Spring 1998: The Oregon Natural Heritage Plan is formallyrevised to include new "Ecosystem Process Cells" for naturaldisturbances such as fire.

May 1998: Scientists and Conservationists send letters toPNW Research Station Director, Tom Mills, urging the Forest Serviceto move forward with the Warner RNA.

June 1998: Darrel Kenops initiates formal public scopingperiod for his proposal to establish a 4,400 acre RNA in the formerNSA from the Warner ROD.

July 1998: At the end of the scoping period, the Willamettereceives over 1,000 letters criticizing the 4,400 acre NSA-RNAproposal for being too small and unmanageable. Instead, letterwriters advocate the inclusion of the Citizen's WARNER. proposal inthe Draft EA. Only one single letter (from an OHV user group) opposesan RNA in the Warner Burn.

August to December 1998: Members of the USFS RegionalOffice, PNW Research Station, Willamette Forest, University ofOregon, Oregon Natural Heritage Program, The Nature Conservancy,Eugene Natural Heritage Society, Western Fire Ecology Center, JimGreen, and retired Forest Service employees collaborate to help theWillamette plan a science symposium on Fire Process RNAs.

April 1999: The Willamette and PNW Research Station host aworkshop with scientists from Oregon, Washington, and BritishColumbia to develop design and management criteria for Fire ProcessRNAs. The group agrees on the need for landscape-scale Fire ProcessRNAs protecting tens to several hundreds of thousands of acres.

July 1999: Senator Ron Wyden and Congressman Peter DeFaziosend a letter to Darrel Kenops inquiring about the Forest Service'splans to complete the NEPA process for the RNA, and asking forpreliminary comparative analysis of the Willamette's NSA-RNA proposaland the citizen-scientist's W.A.R.N.E.R. RNA proposal.

August 1999: Darrel Kenops responds to Ron Wyden and PeterDeFazio, stating that an EIS for the Warner Fire Process RNA couldbegin no earlier than January 2000, would cost approximately $150,000to $200,000, and take a year to complete.

November 1999: Meeting with Deputy Regional Foresters LindaGoodman and Bob Devlin, PNW Research Station Director Tom Mills,Regional RNA Coordinator Sarah Greene, Regional Fire Planner LoriParrot, Willamette Forest employee Herb Wick to discuss the status ofthe RNA NEPA process. RNA advocates were informed that theWillamette's budget has no money for continuing the NEPA process.

February 2000: Darrel Kenops announces his decision to"defer indefinitely a decision" on the Warner Fire Process RNA,citing "a climate of dramatically reduced budgets for RNAs and theuncertain outcome of the currently proposed management changes toroadless areas" as the main reasons for refusing to issue a NEPAdocument for the Warner RNA proposal.

March 2000: RNA proponents meet with Regional Forester HarvForsgren, Deputy Regional Forester Linda Goodman, WillametteSupervisor Darrel Kenops, and District Ranger Rick Scott to present anew version of the Citizen's Warner Fire Process RNA proposal andadvocate for the NEPA process for the RNA be funded from the Region'sFY2000 budget, and implemented in a timely manner.

April 2000: Congressman Peter DeFazio submits a letter tothe House Appropriations Committee formally requesting $200,000 tofund the EIS needed to establish the Warner RNA. The House passestheir version of the 2001 Interior Appropriations bill without anyfunding designated for special projects.